Baylor College
People and Climate
Model how the sun's energy strikes the planet and help your class relate it to a climate map. Assign small groups an individual climate zone to discuss. They reflect on and research how humans survive in the assigned climate and write a...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over time....
US Environmental Protection Agency
Weather and Climate: What's the Difference?
Future weather forecasters collect daily temperatures over a period of time. Afterward, they compare their data with monthly averages, as researched on national weather websites, in order to grasp the difference between weather and...
Curated OER
Micro-Climate
Atmosphere aces investigate the microclimates that exist within a larger area. They use a thermometer to record the varying temperatures and identify the microclimates on a map that they have drawn. This exercise helps them to understand...
Curated OER
Climatic Changes
Investigate the greenhouse effect and global warming with this weather worksheet: scholars describe the seasonal variations of temperature and day length at its greatest and its least. Then they describe the effects of El Nino and how...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
Scientists use ice core samples to obtain temperatures of the earth from 400,000 years ago! The third of five lessons instructs pupils to interpret historical climate data to see changes over time. In part I, participants interpret...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Carbon Through the Seasons
Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...
Curated OER
Climate Change
Young scholars focus on the production of maple syrup in Northern New England as they study the effects of climate change. They investigate other environmental factors on the forests of Northern New England.
Curated OER
The Climate Change Skeptic's Argument: Natural Solar Cycles or Human Activity?
Teachers explore patterns in sunspots and total solar irradiance to understand the counterpoint to the human effect of global warming. In this professional development tool, teachers work through a lesson on the sun's natural patterns to...
Curated OER
Climate Change
Students discuss problems associated with a world climate change. They examine how animals would be affected if the world heated up.
National Wildlife Federation
Get Your Techno On
Desert regions are hotter for multiple reasons; the lack of vegetation causes the sun's heat to go straight into the surface and the lack of moisture means none of the heat is being transferred into evaporation. This concept, and other...
National Wildlife Federation
Stifling, Oppressive, Sweltering, Oh My!
Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th lesson in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature...
It's About Time
How Do Earth's Orbital Variations Affect Climate?
How does Earth's orbit around the Sun affect climate? This third installment of a six-part series looks at how Earth's orbit affects the amount of insolation at locations on Earth involves different experiments used in conjunction...
Curated OER
The Prairie Climate
Ninth graders research the average temperature and precipitation of a prairie region to determine the type of climate it is, and how it differs from other biomes. They examine the types of adaptions animals have made to live in the...
Curated OER
Variation in Human Skin Color
High schoolers explore factors that control variation in human skin color and the implications of this information for human society. They understand that skin color is no longer considered a credible scientific standard by which to...
National Wildlife Federation
Branching Out – Exploring Dendrochronology
Tree rings from North America give a continuous history of El Nino intensity over the last 1,100 years. Scholars learn how scientists use tree rings to create timelines demonstrating variations in weather patterns. The cumulative...
NASA
Climate Change Online Lab
What are the key indicators that show scientists that our planet is in the fastest warming trend ever? Learners go on a WebQuest to examine the evidence for themselves. Following several links to NASA sites, kids see how the global...
Curated OER
What Does Plant Biology Teach Is About Climate?
Students examine what factors influence climate. In this investigative lesson students compare the factors that influence climate and how they effect tree growth.
PBS
Rain Shadows
Satellite images from NASA help scholars focus on the similarities on the planet rather than the differences. The photos from the installment of a larger PBS series exploring weather and climate compare geological formations in the...
Curated OER
Photosynthesis: Variations on the Theme
Leaf structure and its specializations for photo-respiration are detailed here. Slides provide information about Photo-respiration biochemistry and its impact. A class learning about classic respiration will appreciate the comparisons...
Curated OER
Tree-Ring Dating
In this tree-ring dating worksheet, students use activity sheets to determine a tree's age and to observe changes in climate from the tree-rings. Students investigate how archaeologists use tree rings to date evidence and they answer 5...
Curated OER
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS: CLIMATE
Students explore the various global climates and apply cultural adaptations of the peoples in various zones due to climate.
Curated OER
Canada's Climate: Temperature and Rainfall Variations
Middle schoolers analyze data about various climates in Canada. In this data analysis and climate instructional activity, students use Canada Year Book 1999 to complete a worksheet and make connections between precipitation and...
Curated OER
Graphing Sea Ice Extent in the Arctic and Antarctic
Students graph sea ice data and predict long term trends in the data. In this climate change lesson, students use sea ice data from the Arctic and Antarctic to construct line graphs. They use their graphs to predict the effects of global...