Goals:

To explain the difference between climate and weather.

To gain an understanding of currents and discuss how the currents have an affect on climate and weather.

To gain an understanding of the instruments that meteorologists use to predict the weather.

Content Areas:

Science - weather, climate

Language Arts - map reading, discussion

Materials:

world maps

maps of world climates

maps of ocean currents

barometer (optional)

thermometer (optional)

Procedure: (2 hours)

1) Students should be asked to independently find definitions of weather and climate and bring these to class, ready to discuss. Working in groups, have students come to a mutual agreement on clear definitions of the two concepts and list some examples of each.

2) The teacher should lead a discussion, comparing and contrasting weather and climate, using examples that the students provide. Discuss the local climate, and the current weather patterns. How does the climate affect the weather? Discuss seasons and different climates around the world.

3) Using world maps, have students determine locations that have various types of climates. Examples are: tropical rain forest, savanna, desert, and tundra. Students should justify why they matched particular locations and climates.

4) Have students compare their predictions to a map of world climates. “How accurate were your predictions?”

5) How does the ocean affect the climate and seasonal weather? Look at a map of ocean currents. Can a correlation be made between similar ocean currents and climates? Have students discuss similarities and differences.

6) What factors are involved when determining the weather and the climate? What information does the local weather person give you during a forecast? Discuss barometric pressure, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. If necessary, show a video clip of a weather forecast to the students.

7) Working in groups have the students prepare a weather forecast for a particular climate and give examples of typical readings. For example: no precipitation in desert climate.

8) How often is the weather person right at predicting the weather? Keep a log for a couple of days, noting the forecast and what actually happened.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their group explanations and justifications of matching climates with location. Criteria for success: Excellent = used some solid criteria, such as rainfall or prior knowledge of an area, in order to assign climate to a particular location; Poor = randomly picked locations on the map. Students will also be assessed on group discussion (see Discussion Rubric). Presentation of weather forecast will be assessed based upon providing correlating data for a particular climate, including rainfall, temperature, and wind speed.

Extensions:

A good internet site:


NOAA - United States Department of Commerce national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (http://www.noaa.gov/ )

The Franklin Institute Science Museum - Franklin's Forecast (http://sln.fi.edu/weather/index.html)

Making Waves - written by Jennifer Cannistra, Jamie Hanna, Michael LeRoy, & Kim Mongoven

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