Curated OER
Tanker Spills
Students predict the flow of an oil spill and depict it on a map. They explain the predicted route of the oil spill using knowledge of ocean currents in a short presentation to their peers.
Curated OER
Rain Shadows and Sea Breezes
Students plot the average rainfall for a variety of cities in the United States. Using the map, they work together to determine patterns on which toxicants are transported through the air. They determine the impacts of various weather...
Curated OER
Geographic Effects on Precipitation, Water Vapor and Temperature
Students investigate the factors affecting climate using Live Access Server. In this geography lesson, students graph atmospheric data using Excel spreadsheet. They compare and contrast temperature, precipitation and water vapor of two...
Curated OER
How Warm is the Water?
Pupils research how surface sea temperature changes throughout the year. They draw a time series of sea surface temperatures for each month of the year and a depth profile for a summer and winter month using an OceanExplorer Profiler tool.
Curated OER
Air Masses
Students examine the physical characteristics of several types of air masses to discover how air masses can be identified and defined by their temperature and moisture content.
Curated OER
A Message in a Bottle
Learners investigate the motion of water currents by mapping the possible movement of messages cast into the ocean in bottles.They accurately plot the appearance of bottles on a world map and illustrate the flow of an ocean current...
![Global Wind Systems [Pdf] Website](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Global Wind Systems [Pdf] Website")
Idaho State University
Global Wind Systems [Pdf]
A great description of the global scale circulation and heat energy. Discusses a single-cell model, a three-cell model, jet streams and more.
NASA
Nasa: Global Wind Patterns
This site from NASA lists and defines global wind patterns. It features a graphic of these patterns and a self-test with answers.
PBS
Pbs/global Weather Machine
This site explains wind systems as part of a global weather scheme, with illustrations.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Wild Wind
Students will learn the difference between global, prevailing and local winds. In this activity, students will make a wind vane out of paper, a straw and a soda bottle and use it to measure wind direction over time. Finally, they will...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Global Weather Machine
In this illustrated essay from NOVA Online, explore the cyclical process of weather creation and the effects of El Nino on the global weather system.
NOAA
Noaa: Southern Region Weather: Global Circulations
"Global Circulations explain how air and storm systems travel over the Earth's surface. The global circulation would be simple (and the weather boring) if the Earth did not rotate, the rotation was not tilted relative to the sun, and had...
NOAA
Noaa: Weather Systems and Patterns
Imagine our weather if Earth were completely motionless, had a flat dry landscape and an un-tilted axis. This, of course, is not the case; if it were, the weather would be much different. The local weather that impacts our daily lives...
Weather Wiz Kids
Weather Wiz Kids: Wind
Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Since the earth's surface is made of various land and water formations, it absorbs the sun's radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Lab 5: It's All Connected: Global Circulation
An investigation that is part of a series of lab lessons that expose students to Earth Systems through research, data, and visualizations. During this lab, students will focus on the pathways of wind and water to and from their location...
Other
Digital Library for Earth System Education: Teaching Box: Essentials of Weather
A suite of lessons focusing on the basic elements of climate and weather. Inquiry-based exploration of extreme weather events and the factors of weather including clouds, wind, air pressure, temperature, and the water cycle.
Other
Boat Safe Kids
This is a delightful site about boats and boating. Lots of games plus a terrific overview of the history of navigation. Includes a visit to a reproduction of Columbus' Nina.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Climate and Weather
Eight hands-on lessons module in which students explore climate and weather. Inquiry-based investigations include observing weather, weather reporting, weather maps, weather satellites, causes of weather, and climate change.