What’s the Bigger Picture? Students analyze climate graphs and create art to translate data into powerful visuals, sparking dialogue and insight about the bigger picture of climate change. What’s the Bigger Picture? invites students to merge art and science to interpret climate change data. By analyzing real graphs, researching trends, and creating artwork inspired by Jill Pelto, students translate scientific data into powerful visual narratives. This lesson builds skills in graph interpretation, data analysis, and creative communication while fostering critical conversations about climate change. Through gallery walks and presentations, students share their art and insights, ultimately addressing the essential question: What is the bigger picture in the data? Topics Climate Change Authors Joanna Chierici, Kathleen Couchon, Nancy (Harris) FitzGerald Teacher Resources Lesson Plan Lesson Presentation Sources Extension: Lesson | Tutorial | Sample Summative Rubric Student Resources Graph analysis worksheet Exemplars: Penguin | Increase in Carbon Dioxide Example Graphs Additional Resources The Movie, Antarctic Edge: 70° South, https://beyondtheice.rutgers.edu/ is a good resource of how the climate is changing in Antarctica Jill Pelto—http://www.jillpelto.com/#intro Good sources of data and graphs for many different ecological regions LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) https://lternet.edu/ NASA Climate Change http://climate.nasa.gov/ NOAA Clmate Change http://www.noaa.gov/climate National Geographic – Climate Change is Here http://www.nationalgeographic.com/climate-change/special-issue/ National Geographic Climate Change http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/ Gallery walk ideas http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/gallery-walk http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/how.html Antarctica Could Lose Most of Its Penguins to Climate Change, National Geographic, June 29, 2016. Common Core English Language Arts Standards Writing – Grades 6-8 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/WHST/6-8/ Writing – Grades 9-12 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/WHST/9-10/ Next Generation Science Standards Crosscutting Concepts Patterns Systems and System Models Core Ideas LS2.C Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience ESS3.D Global Climate Change Practices Analyzing and interpreting data Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information Ocean Literacy Fundamental Concepts 7.F: Ocean exploration is truly interdisciplinary. It requires close collaboration among biologists, chemists, climatologists, computer programmers, engineers, geologists, meteorologists, physicists, animators and illustrators. And these interactions foster new ideas and new perspectives for inquiries.