Using Multiple PhET Sims to Investigate Greenhouse Gases within a Real-World Context

The need for educational resources that effectively address contemporary scientific and societal challenges is exemplified by the global issue of climate change. This article describes a lesson utilizing multiple PhET sims in a general chemistry course examining greenhouse gases and their contribution to global warming. This is a cumulative lesson that integrates topics from earlier in the course such as Lewis structures, VSEPR predicted geometries, and molecular polarity. The lesson plan also incorporates a socio-political context, which includes exploring the views of citizens from various countries and analyzing the opinions of current American politicians on climate change. Student feedback highlights the strong appeal of this approach, noting particularly its relevance and effectiveness in linking scientific principles to real-world issues.