- Lessons and Life Lessons in Biology

IB Biology Y1 students model climate change

From November 8th to 20th, over 100 heads of state met to hold urgent talks on how atmospheric global warming may be limited to a 1.5 degree rise. In IB Biology, students modeled the effect of carbon dioxide on the enhanced greenhouse using simple laboratory apparatus. 

Simply by using a light source to represent the sun, two samples of the atmosphere were captured and then one spiked with enhanced CO2 – the latter generated by the well known degradation of a carbonate salt by a dilute acid.

This led to reflections by students on the paramount importance of high quality data on climate change, as world leaders tackle this great challenge.