Bias in Charts: Temperature and Climate Change
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Provided by: Project Look Sharp|Published on: September 12, 2025
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this lesson from Project Look Sharp, students will analyze two graphs to determine how the data can be manipulated to perpetuate biases.
- Students will grow skills in media literacy by understanding that the same data may be presented in different ways, using different scales, or different time periods to support a narrative or media message.
Subjects: English Language Arts, Mathematics
Authors: Project Look Sharp
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Media literacy is a vital skill that students will need beyond the classroom.
- This is an excellent example of how data can be misconstrued to encourage confusion or misinformation.
Prerequisites
- Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials.
- Students should understand that climate change is an agreed-upon certainty in the scientific community.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To increase students' inquiry skills, teachers can give students time with the two charts to record what they notice before asking them to look for and analyze specific parts.
- Teachers can ask students to think further into bias by discussing who may stand to benefit from climate change denial. Teachers can introduce students to this article, which discusses the climate change denial campaign used by fossil fuel companies beginning as far back as the 1960s.
- To make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, teachers can discuss how many of the SDGs are interdependent and especially reliant on Goal 13, Climate Action. Teachers can highlight how misinformation or information presented to mislead can be detrimental to achieving sustainable development.
This lesson teaches students about bias and how it can present itself in charts and graphs. Students will learn the importance of understanding if a source has bias and credibility, and how the correct data can be presented in a misleading way. The lesson does contain a brief discussion about how political leaning can affect an organization's bias. The information presented is accurate, and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
Project Look Sharp
Project Look Sharp is a nonprofit, mission-driven outreach program of Ithaca College. Their mission is to help K-16 educators enhance students' critical thinking, metacognition, and civic engagement through media literacy materials and professional development.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
