Curated OER
Meet Meteorology
Students explore meteorology, discuss Earth's atmosphere, create drawings of the water cycle, create meteorology journals, and role play forecasters. Nine lessons on one page; includes unit test.
Curated OER
Oceanic Heat Budget Activities
Students map and research imaginary islands located in different parts of the world. They describe the weather and climate of their island and show how local currents, water temperatures and waves may influence the weather patterns.
Curated OER
Introduction to Climatology
Students are introduced to the topic of climatology. In groups, they use the Digital Atlas of Idaho to identify the layers of the atmosphere and review concepts of weather. To end the lesson, they examine different photographs and...
Curated OER
Wind Circulation, Surface Currents and Climate
Students describe connections between wind patterns, surface currents, and ocean climate zones. In small groups, they color the ocean climate zones in four different shades of blue. Students then answer questions like what four...
Curated OER
Severe Weather
Ninth graders investigate the cause and effect of severe weather. In this Earth Science lesson, 9th graders use a learning contract and a rubric to develop a presentation about severe weather.
Curated OER
Earth's Energy Budget - Seasonal Cycles in Net Radiative Flux
Learners attempt to understand seasonal variation by viewing images of the energy received by the earth. In this weather lesson, students view images from NASA of the influx of energy from the sun and make predictions about resulting...
National Wildlife Federation
Why All The Wiggling on the Way Up?
Some of the CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels is removed from the atmosphere by natural sinks, such as the ocean. The fifth engaging lesson in the series of 21 examines the CO2 data from three very different locations. It then makes a...
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth lesson in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with connections to the...
Curated OER
Climate Patterns across the United States
Students articulate differences between climate and weather using examples in a written statement. Using climate data from across the country, they describe climate patterns for various parts of the United States on a map. Students...
Curated OER
Oceans and Weather
Students analyze the impact the ocean and its currents have on weather. In this oceans and weather lesson, students analyze data comparing inland and coastal weather, and analyze satellite data for evidence of El Nino.
Curated OER
Weather and Climate
Students explore all the facets about weather and analyze how weather and climate are connected through time. They consider how weather changes and the effects of weather on the present state of the Earth's climate. Alterations to our...
Curated OER
Biomes: Extreme Climate
Middle schoolers discuss the causes of global warming. For this earth science lesson, students examine how global warming is connected to the arctic and world climate. They write a paragraph about their interconnection.
Curated OER
Whales and Sea Ice: Investigating Insulation
Students investigate the properties of insulation as it relates to whales and sea ice. They research whales and examine the atmospheric changes that occur when there are changes in sea ice.
Curated OER
Local Weather And Location
Students explain how uneven heating of Earth affects wind and water currents. They describe the limits on current technology in predicting weather and how the Water Cycle is related to local weather.
Curated OER
EarthTrek Gravestone Project
Students explore the effects of acid rain. In this acid rain lesson, students investigate the effects of the weathering from acid rain in different places. Students visit cemetaries to collect data about the effects of acid rain on the...
Curated OER
El Niño
In this weather instructional activity students complete an interactive activity on El Ninos then answer a series of short answer questions on how they occur.
NOAA
Climographs
In the second instructional activity of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a general...
NOAA
The Incredible Carbon Journey: Play the Carbon Journey Game
Class members explore the carbon cycle in the final installment of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They play a simulation game where they walk through the steps carbon takes as it cycles through the different layers of...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Are Global CO2 Levels Changing?
According to the Mauna Loa observatory, carbon dioxide levels increased by 3 ppm in our atmosphere between 2015–2016. Individuals analyze carbon dioxide data from around the world and then share this with a home group in instructional...
Polar Trec
Where is the World's Water?
Scholars discover the amount of the Earth's water in various locations such as the ocean, ice, the atmosphere, etc. They then make a model of the how much water those percentages represent. Finally, analysis questions bring the concepts...
University of Texas
Heat Transfer and Energy Balance
Learn about conduction, convection, and radiation with an illustrative presentation. It includes slides about atmospheric movement and how it affects the climate, solar radiation, and how latent heat can form storms.
National Park Service
It Was a Very Good Year
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park includes whitebark pines that are over 1,200 years old, meaning they have been there since before medieval times. The second lesson of five details how to read tree rings for climate change and...
Global Oneness Project
Witnessing Icebergs
Camille Seaman's photoessay, "Witnessing Icebergs" documents just a tip of the problem of climate change through images of icebergs in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. After viewing the haunting images, viewers respond to a...
NASA
Freshwater Availability Classroom Activity
This science assignment produced by NASA teaches inquiring minds the distribution of Earth's water. Learners will appreciate and understand the importance of fresh water and how weather and climate affects everything.