Earth and Environmental Science · 40 minutes
Suggested grades 9–12 · Unit 1: Earth Evidence and Energy · Lesson 2 of 2
Model a Changing Energy Budget
Connect reflection, outgoing radiation and an initial energy imbalance without treating the model as a weather forecast.
Mr. S Teaches · Original starter lesson · HS-EARTH-02 · Grade range is planning guidance.Watch, notice, discuss
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NASA: Earth's Energy Budget Model
By My NASA Data
Pause the balance animation to label incoming and outgoing radiation and compare two modeled budgets.
Open on YouTube: NASA: Earth's Energy Budget Model (opens a new tab) ↗NASA: Why does the Sun Matter for Earth’s Energy Budget?
By NASA Goddard
Connect solar input with the energy-balance account; distinguish changing input from changes in outgoing energy.
Open on YouTube: NASA: Why does the Sun Matter for Earth’s Energy Budget? (opens a new tab) ↗What idea from the video helps you construct two energy budgets and explain the direction of the initial change under stated assumptions? Identify one useful example and one limit of the video's model or explanation.
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Learning objective
Construct two energy budgets and explain the direction of the initial change under stated assumptions.
Before you begin
- Add and subtract energy quantities.
Gather your materials
- Paper or notebook
- Pencil; calculator optional for numerical work; all task data supplied below
Language to know
- albedo
- The fraction of incoming radiation reflected by a surface or system.
- energy imbalance
- A difference between energy entering and leaving a chosen system.
- feedback
- A response that changes the effect of an initial disturbance.
Understand the concept
Idealized budget: Over one interval, 100 model energy units enter Earth’s system; 30 are reflected and 70 leave as outgoing thermal radiation, giving balance. If reflection falls to 25 while outgoing radiation initially remains 70, five units are retained. The system can respond, including through changing outgoing radiation. This short model connects energy flow with a possible warming tendency, not an exact future temperature. Cloud, ice, ocean and atmospheric responses complicate real climate behavior and act on different timescales.
Teach it step by step
- Read the budget and draw incoming, reflected and outgoing arrows with distinct labels.
- Calculate the original net balance and the perturbed initial balance.
- Explain why lower reflection increases absorbed energy under the stated input.
- Add one possible response arrow and identify what is missing before predicting an exact temperature change.
Make the thinking visible
Worked example or model response
Original net=100−30−70=0. Perturbed initial net=100−25−70=+5. If a later state reflects 25 and emits 75, that selected budget balances again, but the arithmetic alone does not determine the temperature or time needed to reach it.
Guided practice
Together analyze an initial outgoing-radiation decrease from 70 to 68 while reflection remains 30.
Independent practice
Create two labeled diagrams and a six-sentence explanation. Distinguish an initial energy imbalance, a possible response and a numerical temperature forecast unsupported by the model.
Quick assessment
Would zero net energy imbalance mean Earth’s surface must be at zero degrees?
Answer key & assessment criteria
Answers and teaching guidance
- Guided: 100−30−68=+2 units initially retained; balanced flows and absolute temperature are different quantities.
- Independent: Require correct arithmetic, explicit stated assumptions, a response mechanism and acknowledgment that temperature conversion/timescale parameters are missing.
- Quick check: No. Zero net refers to balanced transfers, not an absolute temperature value.
Look for: Assess the stated objective using the concrete criteria and explanations in the answer key. Invite an alternative supported solution; distinguish a model’s prediction from an established observation.
Make it work for your learner
More support
Use a three-column incoming/reflected/emitted ledger before drawing arrows.
Extension challenge
Compare a reinforcing ice-reflection response with a response that increases outgoing radiation, keeping mechanisms and timescales explicit.
Verified references · Selected contributions
Standards connections
Selected NGSS high school-band contribution; full performance requires additional evidence and instruction.
Subject-content standards
These records identify the part of a subject standard practiced here. Course placement is instructional guidance; the source’s category or band remains authoritative.
Contributes to NGSS performance expectation
HS-ESS2-4
NGSS · High school band
Model links between Earth’s energy flows and climate change.
Read the official performance expectation ↗This selected energy-flow model contributes mechanistic climate reasoning. It omits detailed climate processes, timescales and empirical validation and cannot produce an exact temperature forecast.
Verified 2026-11-04. Selected contribution, not full attainment.
Supporting literacy connections
These records apply to the specified reading, writing or communication task. They do not establish subject-content alignment.
Supporting Common Core literacy connection
RST.9-10.7
Common Core · Grades 9–10
Translate technical prose into visuals and explain mathematical or visual information.
Read the official standard ↗The activity explicitly analyzes the provided technical text, table or model. It contributes selected literacy practice rather than complete grade-band reading coverage or independent subject-content alignment.
Verified 2026-11-04. Selected contribution, not full attainment.