Melting Icebergs Experiment

I have not seen many laboratory activities that so effectively introduce and describe the realistic problems associated with global warming. Too often, global climate change is approached as a political issue and we lose sight of the science and research that has gone into the conclusions that have been made by scientists. We begin to replace pragmatic solutions to this problem with emotional rhetoric that does nothing to address the actual problem that we face. This lab activity, if coupled with an open and honest discussion that focuses on the scientific facts, will introduce students to this topic in a much more effective way. Students will learn through actually experiencing the issue rather than being taught with opinions.
There are questions, however, that this experiment raises (which, I feel, is the indicator of a good experiment). For example, how could this lab be enhanced to show the actual flooding of solid material ("land") instead of simply overflowing a bowl? Also, could the experiment be enhanced so that multiple trials, under different variables (temperatures), could be implemented so that students can see that the actual temperature of an environment plays a role as well?

First Lesson Plan

After completing the most recent, and first, lesson plan for the Nature of Science class for Walden University, I have realized the importance, as well as the possible variations, of a lesson/project that I have done since my first year teaching. I have always grown confused, and almost aggitated, when students enter my class with plenty of scientific factual knowledge, but little relevant and realistic knowledge. Students can name much of the equipment in the laboratory and how to safely use them, but they have little knowledge about how actual experimentation is carried out when they are not given a recipe to follow. I created the lesson to try and remedy that, at least as much as possible.
Students often believe that scientists perform experimentation using a similar recipe (or as they have always been taught, the "Scientific Method") as their classroom labs and that this ultimately leads to a major breakthrough (which, from the beginning, is exactly what they expected). By researching a historical experiment and the process that led to a breakthrough of their choosing, they realize the unpredictable and surprising path that most experiments take.  Not only do they realize the unpredictability of research, but also how often times a scientist ends up with more questions than answers at the end of a study. Students enjoy this assignment and I have found that they gain an appreciation for the hard work a scientist puts into their research and also for the historical relevance and importance for a major breakthrough.