NOAA
Climate, Weather…What’s the Difference?: Make an Electronic Temperature Sensor
What's the best way to record temperature over a long period of time? Scholars learn about collection of weather and temperature data by building thermistors in the fourth installment of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series....
Space Awareness
Continental Climate and Oceanic Climate
There's nothing better than a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean. Scholars explore how water affects change in temperature using a hands-on experiment on climate. They use measurement tools to compare the continental and oceanic...
Curated OER
Analyzing Tree Rings to Determine Climate Change
Middle schoolers examine how to locate and access data sets. In this climate change lesson plan students import data into Excel and graph it.
Curated OER
A Comparison Study of Water Vapor Data to Precipitation over North America
Students use NASA satellite data to compare water vapor over the United States. In this data analysis lesson students use an Excel spreadsheet to map their data.
Curated OER
Differences between Climate and Weather
Students collect weather data over weeks, graph temperature data and compare the temperature data collected with averaged climate data where they live.
Curated OER
Weather, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
Eighth graders compare and contrast weather and climate. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders research weather data site and analyze historical data. They present their findings in class and explain identifiable trends.
Curated OER
The Earth's Atmosphere and Temperature
Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Plant Phenology Data Analysis
Studying data over time can paint a pretty interesting picture. Learners use data they collected in the previous instructional activity to compare to historical data in a similar region. They graph the data of the first bloom of a...
Curated OER
Changing Weather: Comparing Climate from Voyageur Times to Today
Fifth graders compare climates. In this weather activity, 5th graders observe and record weather observations and discuss the impact of weather on people. Students also discuss the concept of global warming and determine how weather...
Curated OER
Comparing Climates - Three Ring Venn Diagram
In this Venn diagram worksheet, students read about the use of the graphic organizer to make comparisons. They compare three different climate types in the three rings of the diagram.
Curated OER
Climate Change
Ninth graders compare the Arctic and Antarctic. In this climate lesson students work in groups, research and complete an oral report or a poster.
Curated OER
Industrial Revolution & Climate Change
Students examine the Industrial Revolution and write an essay about the problems it brought to cities. They also examine the environmental impact of the Industrial Revolution. They take a quiz to test for comprehension.
Curated OER
The Search for El Nino
Sixth graders complete an El Nino scavenger hunt. In this earth science lesson plan, 6th graders describe the conditions that create El Nino and compare it to normal condition. They discuss how this phenomenon affects marine ecosystem.
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...
Polar Trec
Beacon Valley Weather
In Beacon Valley, katabatic winds regularly knock fit adults to the ground. The lesson plan compares the actual temperatures to the wind chill after factoring in katabatic winds in Beacon Valley. Scholars learn to calculate wind chill...
National Park Service
Climate Science in Focus: A Streamflow River Study
Data speaks, but it's our job to determine what it's trying to say. Young scientists explore the changes in weather and climate using data from the Yosemite National Park in a six-day unit. Learners first compare weather and climate and...
Teach Engineering
Air Under Pressure
Introduce your class to air masses and how they affect the weather with a lesson that focuses on the differences between high and low air pressure systems. The class explores actual weather data using archived weather data.
Radford University
A Change in the Weather
Explore the power of mathematics through this two-week statistics unit. Pupils learn about several climate-related issues and complete surveys that communicate their perceptions. They graph both univariate and bivariate data and use...
Curated OER
Weather Watchers - Interdisciplinary
Students investigate weather and climate through a variety of interdisciplinary activities.
Curated OER
Weather v. Climate
Ninth graders discuss the differences between climate and weather as a class. Using data they collected, they create a graph of the data to share with the class over a specific time period. They compare and contrast this data with...
Curated OER
Living With the Weather
Mini-meteorologists visit the National Climate Data Center online to gather past weather information for the area that they live in. They consider how the weather patterns may have influenced the architecture of the area. Finally, they...
National Wildlife Federation
Conceptualizing Module II - Putting It All Together
"Creativity is just connecting things." - Steve Jobs. After weeks of researching climate change, the ninth lesson in a series of 21 combines the data and analysis to address essential questions. It covers natural phenomenon, human...
National Wildlife Federation
Is It Getting Hot in Here, or Is It Just Me?
Currently, only 2.1% of global warming is felt on continents, while over 93% is felt in the oceans. The fourth lesson in the series of 21 on global warming is composed of three activities that build off one another. In the first...
National Wildlife Federation
I Speak for the Polar Bears!
Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this lesson focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly variability and...