Block 10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback
Bar chart: number of days per year in Chennai above 38°C, decade by decade, 1980-2020. The bars approximately triple.
Task: How would you explain this trend to someone with no science background? What policy action does this trend point toward?
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I have a complete first draft of the Climate Brief across all 5 sections (Executive Summary, Background, Evidence + Projected Impacts, Recommendations, Sources) AND a peer feedback note flagging one specific improvement per rubric strand.
I can use models and data tools to show how human activity is changing the links between Earth's systems.
"Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity."
Where this runs:
- U4 B9: Adaptation vs. Mitigation: What Chennai Can Actually Do
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback ← you are here
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
- U4 B12: Briefs Submitted + Policy Panel Q&A
Assessed:
Chennai Climate Brief: adaptation analysis (T/T) + Policy Panel (C)
On track looks like:
Your recommendation connects a human decision to a system response, with a tool or dataset behind it.
I can build an explanation from evidence, not just state an answer.
"Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions"
Where this runs:
- U0 B2: OPVL Across Source Types
- U2 B7: Reading the Landscape: Worked Example + OPVL
- U2 B8: Landscape Reading Drafting + Peer Feedback
- U3 B5: Case Study Jigsaw + Hazard Profile Due
- U3 B8: Case-Study Mastery + Comparative Reflection Due
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback ← you are here
Assessed:
Every summative's analysis sections (K/U + T/T strands)
On track looks like:
Your explanations name mechanisms ('because the core cooled…'), not just outcomes ('it's cold').
I can use AI to make MY work better, and show exactly who changed what.
In brief: "Direct generative AI to elicit feedback, refine work, and support reflection (paraphrased)"
Where this runs:
- U1 B8: Goldilocks Report Drafting: Substantive Writing Block
- U1 B9: NASA Stakeholder Q&A Prep: Practicing the Defense
- U2 B8: Landscape Reading Drafting + Peer Feedback
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback ← you are here
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
Assessed:
Revision Trail: practiced U1/U2 Block 8, assessed with the U5 Position Paper
On track looks like:
Your trail has modified and rejected rows, not just accepted ones; the judgment stays yours.
I choose when to use AI and when to think it through myself, and I can defend either choice.
In brief: "Decide whether AI is the right tool for a task before using it (paraphrased)"
Where this runs:
- U0 B3: AI as a Source + Documentation Protocol
- U0 B5: Source Dossier Work Day 2: AI Source + Documentation
- U0 B7: Defenses + Unit Close
- U1 B8: Goldilocks Report Drafting: Substantive Writing Block
- U1 B10: NASA Committee Q&A + Unit Reflection
- U2 B8: Landscape Reading Drafting + Peer Feedback
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback ← you are here
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
Assessed:
AI-use log across the year; the defended not-using-AI reflection
On track looks like:
You can name a step where you chose NOT to use AI, and your reason survives a 'why?'
I can break a task into steps and say which ones I will do, which AI will do, and why.
In brief: "Decompose a problem to determine when and how AI systems should be used to automate or augment tasks (paraphrased; full framework at ailiteracyframework.org)"
Where this runs:
- U3 B6: Scenario Choice + Iteration
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback ← you are here
Assessed:
U3 Block 6 rehearsal; U4 Climate Brief plan; assessed with the U5 Position Paper division-of-labour plan plus a post-hoc check against what actually happened
On track looks like:
Your plan names a step you kept for yourself and says why AI was the wrong tool for it, not just which steps you handed over.
What today is about
The highest-leverage teacher move of the unit. Watch a complete Brief built live.
Ms. Jayanthi/Mr. Ignash demos a complete Chennai Climate Brief on a familiar challenge: outdoor workers and heat mortality (the Heat Mortality worked example, printed + in Classroom). The point: make the policy-brief voice visible. Image-led opening (a specific worker's death, not a generic statistic). Physics embedded in human context (wet-bulb temperature explained as the physiological limit, not as abstract climate science). Three scenarios differentiated (status quo vs. increased monsoon variability vs. sea-level rise, each with distinct consequences for outdoor workers). Equity-aware recommendations (who acts, what it costs, who benefits, who bears burden). Honest AI Doc (the AI made up a death-count figure; the student verified against TN Public Health Department data and cited the discrepancy).
Then 30 minutes of work time on YOUR Brief, with the Policy Aide available for voice-coaching. Then 20 minutes of structured peer feedback in pairs, focused on the three rubric gates: policy voice (not academic-essay), audience awareness (Greater Chennai Corporation officials, not students), recommendation concreteness (no "raise awareness").
Today's drafting starts from your FourThought page: four quadrants become four sections, and the hard thinking is already on it.
Before you start the work
Start with the Watch: a live worked demo, and the day's anchor. The Read is the rubric section, and the Interact is structured peer review in pairs.
Today's work: choose one path
All four paths end the same: first full draft of Brief + peer feedback note. The path is about how you spend the 30 minutes of work time before the peer feedback round.
Four rows, before you write anything. Step, then whether you will do it yourself or with AI, then why. One row must be a step you are keeping for yourself, and the reason has to be about the nature of that step, not about convenience or about a rule. Keep the plan. Block 11 asks you about it.
Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Feb 16 | U4 B10 | Climate Brief Work DayB: Feb 17 | U4 B10 | Climate Brief Work Day
What you're submitting today
Components 3 (K/U) and 4 (T/T) of the Climate Brief lock today: Background + Evidence & Projected Impacts, inside your first full draft.
(1) Drafted Climate Brief with all 5 sections present (Executive Summary, Background, Evidence + Projected Impacts, Recommendations, Sources). Two sections lock today: Component 3: Background (the climate science, pitched for the GCC audience; K/U) and Component 4: Evidence + Projected Impacts (now / 20 years / 50 years, uncertainties named; T/T). The Executive Summary and overall voice stay open; they lock with the final Brief in Block 12. (2) Peer feedback note from your partner: one specific suggestion per rubric strand (K/U / T/T / C), citing the rubric language. Audit the remaining caps: is your voice policy-brief (not academic-essay)? Is your AI Documentation specific (not "I used AI for help")?
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)One question before you leave
Three to five minutes. Your answer is saved to your reflection journal, where you can read back everything you have written this year.
Use this to plan Block 11's final-drafting day.
Today's reflection is in Google Classroom, under Reflection Journal.
Link posted in AugustSign in with your school account. Your teacher can see what you write here.