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The Science of Weather: How Doppler Radar reads weather
Students read about how radar detects changes in the weather. In this instructional activity on weather reporting, students read a diagram that shows how radar reads weather. This instructional activity includes discussion questions and...
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Interplanetary Travel Guide
In groups of six, middle school space scientists create an imaginative travel brochure for attracting visitors to the planet Mars. Information must include surface features and atmospheric conditions. Although time-consuming, this is a...
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Graphing the Weather
Fourth graders predict the weather for their area using simple weather instruments. They take readings for a month during a season and graph their results. Students describe weather patterns based on their data and predict future weather...
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Weather Tools of the Trade
Fourth graders study the basic meteorological instruments (thermometer, barometer, weather vane, anemometer, and rain gauge). They explore how they are used, data that can be collected from them, and why records of the data are kept.
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Geography: Water, Water Everywhere
Students discuss flooding and its causes. They view a Powerpoint presentation about floods and prevention methods. After creating a model with clay and pans, they investigate river behavior in various terrains with different amounts of...
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Dripping Wet or Dry as a Bone?
Students use a sponge and water model to explore the concept of relative humidity and create a percent scale. They define humidity and saturation, build a simple humidity/saturation model, collect, predict and interpret data, and create...
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Climate And the Greenhouse Effect
Students demonstrate the greenhouse effect. They recognize that relatively small changes to our environment can stimulate significant climate changes. They determine that the "scientific method" is a process of testing hypotheses and...
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Weather Walks
Students study weather by taking walks in various types weather conditions.
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Making Decisions
Students explore how decisions are made and practice solving problems that require choices. They comprehend that solving problems requires a strategy or plan. Students recognize that "common sense" is really practiced decision-making. ...
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Winter and Summer Storms Scenarios
Fourth graders discover the patterns that create summer and winter storms. Working in groups, they create model storms for summer and winter. Students discuss the reasons why summer storms and winter storms are different and explain...
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Sunlight and Warm Air
Students examine the different ways heat can be felt. In this radiation and conduction lesson plan, students recognize that the sun radiates heat. Students conduct three experiments to find how the sun warms the Earth and how that heat...
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Daniell Cell
Students explain how Daniell cells work. In this electrochemistry lesson plan, students conduct a variety of experiments to explore the different types of cells. They create a model of Daniell cell.
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Investigation 8 - Weather Forecasts
Fourth graders examine how to predict and evaluate weather forecasts. Discuss with students why weather predictions are important to us. Ask them what people do after they hear a forecast. They brainstorm reasons forecasts are important...
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Everyone Knows It's Windy
Students create an anemometer, an instrument that measures wind speed.
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Atmospheric Processes -- Convection
Young scholars work together to discover how temperature changes can affect the density of water and air. They make predictions on what they believe is going to occur. They answer questions to complete the instructional activity.
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Winter and Summer Storms Scenarios
Fourth graders analyze how summer and winter storms are different. In this weather lesson, 4th graders construct a winter storm simulation box and a summer storm bottle and record the temperature and barometer readings. The directions to...
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Air Pressure and Wind
Fourth graders explore weather by reading weather measurement text. In this barometer lesson, 4th graders discuss ways weather is measured on Earth and how these measurements lead to predictions. Students read assigned text, discuss...
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Investigation 6 - Collecting Weather Data
Fourth graders collect data for two weeks. They start seeing patterns and make predictions. They can predict what the weather be like the next day and for the next few days. They see if their predictions were correct from the previous day.
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What's Going to Happen at Any Given Barometer Reading?
Fourth graders brainstorm a list of words associated with weather. In groups, they sort the words into categories and observe the weather in their area for a month. To end the lesson, they compare the barometer measurements for a...
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Where Will Your Future Take You?
Eighth graders discuss career choices in geosciences. In this science lesson, 8th graders discover how extracurricular activities can help them in college and eventually in life.
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Investigation 7 - Interpreting Weather Data
Fourth graders interpret the weather data they gathered in Investigation 6. They take an average of each component in each season. They compare the same components of each season and write the differences they see between the seasons.
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Plate Tectonics: Recycling the Seafloor
Students classify earth's layers and plates using Ocean Seismicity data. For this plate tectonics lesson, students outline where the plate boundaries are on the world map. They then compare these predicted boundaries with USGS map of the...
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Weather Instrument Use and Application
Eighth graders measure temperature, wind speed and pressure using Skymaster SM-28. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders collect data and record observations taken from outdoors. They explain why numerical values are different in...
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Weather Forecasting Basics
Eighth graders analyze weather diagrams and weather maps. In this earth science lesson, 8th graders explain why it is important to know the weather. They complete a handout at the end of the lesson.