We are excited to announce the return of our popular EI LIVE K12 series, which will continue to provide educational content for K12 students, educators, and parents for the 2021-2022 academic year. The series will feature experts from across the Columbia Climate School in 45-minute live sessions where they will share aspects of their work through lectures and interactive activities.
During fall 2021, the sessions will take place on Monday mornings between 11:00am-12:00pm EDT on a semi-monthly schedule. During winter/spring 2022, the sessions will take place between 4:00-5:00pm EDT on a semi-monthly schedule. Most sessions during winter/spring 2022 will take place on Wednesday afternoons, with a few exceptions, which are noted with an asterisk.
All sessions are free, but pre-registration is REQUIRED for each event. RSVP links, along with the schedule from October to May, are below. We will send a Zoom Webinar link to all registered participants prior to the start of the programming. All sessions will be recorded and hosted on the EI LIVE K12 page for easy accessibility.
Parents/Students: Each session has a specific age range, so please make a note of that.
Educators: We suggest tuning in for the sessions that correspond with the age groups that you teach, and where we are able to, we will share additional readings and resources.
Fall 2021 Sessions
Climate Negotiations – What Are They and What to Expect?
Monday, October 25, 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Presenter: Melody Braun, Senior Staff Associate, International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
We are approaching the 26th session of annual climate negotiations (in November 2021), and yet we are still seeing a worsening climate crisis. In this session we will discuss how climate negotiations work, the progress they’ve achieved so far, and what to expect in the future.
Ice Flows: Using Math and Physics to Understand How
Monday, November 8, 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Presenter: Jonny Kingslake, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Target Audience: Grades 10-12 (and undergraduates)
Ice flows like a fluid. This incredible fact explains why there is any water left in the oceans, controls the shape of the large sheets of ice near the Earth’s poles, and excites and confounds glaciologists trying to understand sea level rise. This talk will introduce ice flow and use high school math and physics to explain the shape of the ice sheets.
Unearthing Microfossils – Keepers of the Earth’s Climate Record
Monday, November 22, 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Presenter: Nichole Anest, Curator, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Core Repository
Target Audience: Grades 1-5
The Lamont-Doherty Core Repository is home to one of the world’s largest collections of ocean floor samples called sediment cores. Why are 20,000 cores not enough? Join the curator, Nichole Anest, for a look inside this unique library and a hands-on activity where we will explore what is in all that mud.
Seeking Climate Justice – Past, Present, and Future
Monday, December 6, 11:00am – 12:00pm EDT
Presenters: Melody Braun, Senior Staff Associate and Dannie Dinh, Program Officer, International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
This session will review and reflect on overlapping socio-economic, racial, and environmental/climate injustices faced by marginalized communities in the past and present times, as well as identify and address their vulnerability to future risks as acerbated by climate change.
Winter/Spring 2022 Sessions
Using Tools to Explore the Changes of the Polar Regions*
Thursday, January 13, 4:00 – 5:00pm EDT*
Presenters: Margie Turrin, Director of Educational Field Programs and Laurel Zaima, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
The polar regions are extremely dynamic with the ice always changing and flowing in response to forces, including climate change. This session focuses on empowering students with accessible and user-friendly remote sensing tools that allow them to explore, observe, and make hypotheses about our ever-changing world.
Coral Chemistry and Paleohydrology*
Thursday, January 27, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT*
Presenter: Brad Linsley, Lamont Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Target Audience: Grades 9-12 (and undergraduates)
In this session we will discuss how Panamá coral skeletal barium concentration and oxygen isotopic ratios can be used to reconstruct near-monthly resolved changes in river discharge and hydrology in Panamá back to the early 1700s CE. We will then evaluate the implications of the paleohydrology results for understanding El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects on Central American drought cyclicity and the long-term management of the Panamá Canal.
Solving Mysteries of the Past-Tree Rings & Archaeology
Wednesday, February 9, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Cari Leland, Lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Target Audience: Grades 3-5
Did you know that we can learn about the history of wooden material and artifacts through studying their tree rings? In this talk, students will explore how scientists study tree rings from historical structures to uncover mysteries of the past.
Climate Change Conversations: Decoding Perspectives and Facilitating Engagement
Wednesday, February 23, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Joshua DeVincenzo, Senior Instructional Designer, National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Target Audience: Grades 8-12
This interactive session will allow students to understand a variety of perspectives people hold on the topic of climate change. Students will gain a toolkit of communication strategies for engaging in difficult conversations around climate change with people who may or may not agree with them. By the end of the session, students will have practice addressing climate skepticism and acquire skills to steer the conversation into a learning opportunity.
What was the Little Ice Age Climate Period from the 14th to 19th Centuries and Why Do We Care?
Wednesday, March 9, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Mike Kaplan, Lamont Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Target Audience: Grades 9-12
Before the 20th century, from about 1400 AD to 1900 AD, glaciers were larger and climate was much colder than present. This period is known as the Little Ice Age in Europe and North America, and studying it might help us learn about present climate changes.
River to Reef: Using the Coral Time Machine to Learn About the Coast
Wednesday, March 23, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Logan Brenner, Assistant Professor, Barnard College
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
Corals might look just like rocks, but they are living animals that grow their own stony skeleton. In this session we will explore how the chemical components of this hard skeleton can tell us about the coastal conditions in which the coral grew. We will focus on how corals can take us back in time and tell us the history of nearby rivers.
Planning a Mission to An Icy Moon
Wednesday, April 6, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Christine McCarthy, Lamont Associate Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Target Audience: Grades 3-8
So, you’re thinking about a trip to an icy moon of Jupiter or Saturn? In this session you will learn about what to consider when turning your concept into a mission. In particular we will identify threats and complications you might encounter on a moon with a cold, inhospitable icy shell.
Can you Outsmart Disaster? Make Your National Disaster Plan with An Uncertain Forecast
Wednesday, April 20, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Dan Osgood, Lead Scientist, Financial Instruments Sector Team, International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Target Audience: Grades 6-12
Governments can take action to prepare for disasters, like national droughts, if they know the disaster is coming. Unfortunately, forecasts for disasters are uncertain probabilities. If you act too aggressively on a forecast, you may spend money in vain, preparing for forecasted droughts that do not occur. If you are too tentative, you may fail to act on a forecast when a drought does happen. In the real world, a leader must balance how much they face each of these, knowing that if you need more time to prepare, you are more likely to get it wrong. In this session you will work with the tools that real government leaders around the world are using to make the tough choices between failing to act, and acting in vain.
How Do We Know the Temperature of the Earth?
Wednesday, May 4, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Nathan Lenssen, PhD Candidate, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Target Audience: Grades 9-12 (and undergraduates)
Over the past 150 years, human emission of greenhouse gases has led to increased global temperatures with the last seven years being the seven warmest years on record. While the global mean temperature is important to know, it is not straightforward to calculate, particularly 100+ years ago. In this session, we will explore the history of global mean temperature calculations, discuss how scientists currently calculate changes in the temperature of the Earth, show how confident these calculations of global temperature are, and discuss the various sources of data used to calculate and verify the temperature record over the past 150+ years.
Natural History of the Hudson River
Wednesday, May 18, 4:00 – 4:45pm EDT
Presenter: Frank Nitsche, Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Target Audience: Grades 9-12
During this session, we will explore how nature has influenced human use of the estuary and how human beings have shaped nature in the context of the Hudson River. Learn about the development of the Hudson River since the ice ages, how its location and nature drove European settlements along the river, and how human beings have made changes to the river to further development.
