Curated OER
Weather, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
Students compare the carbon dioxide content of four different samples. In this chemistry lesson plan, students research the causes of global warming. They explain how humans contribute to rising global temperature.
Center Science Education
Feeling the Heat
What is an urban heat island? Middle school meteorologists find out by comparing temperatures at different locations on campus. They relate their findings to what might be happening in a concrete jungle and how it impacts local weather....
Curated OER
TE Lesson: What to Wear? What to Drink? Weather Patterns and Climatic Regions
Students examine how climate affects lifestyle, clothing choices, food, and water sources. They explore climatic regions such as tropical, desert, coastal, and alpine situations. They look at the longitude and latitude, land features and...
Living Rainforest
Finding the Rainforests
From Brazil to Indonesia, young scientists investigate the geography and climate of the world's tropical rain forests with this collection of worksheets.
NASA
Water Works on a Blue Planet
Keep within a water budget. Learners find out that less than 2.5% of Earth's water is available to drink—and that there is a fixed amount of water. Scholars read an interesting article comparing the available water to a game of Monopoly...
Curated OER
How Oceans Affect Climate
Young scholars draw conclusions about how the ocean affects temperature. In this weather lesson plan, students use the Internet to gather data to help them come to a conclusion about how the climate in a certain region is directly...
Curated OER
Climate Change
Students compare weather data and draw conclusions. For this climate change lesson plan, students determine whether data collected over a period of ninety years shows a warming trend.
NASA
The Effects of Sunspots on Climate
In this sunspots and climate change learning exercise, learners use a diagram of a tree stump and its rings to determine the age of the tree. They use sunspot data from the internet and they construct an Excel spreadsheet to compare the...
Curated OER
Newport Weather Project
Students study weather and climate patterns using computer and Internet resources. They collect temperature information and share it with other classes via e-mail using graphs
Curated OER
Weather Pals
Students study maps of the United States to locate weather pals from a list of schools. They communicate with Weather Pal schools through the use of closed circuit TV. Using weather data collected in their area, they exchange the...
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
Weather: It Works, or Not?
Students discover the techniques meteorologists use to examine the atmosphere. In groups, they build their own weather station and observe the various weather conditions. They identify the types of weather patterns that allow the...
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 plan in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature...
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...
Curated OER
Is Grandpa Right, Were Winters Colder When He Was a Boy?
Students compare current weather data to historic data to see if there is a temperature change. In this weather lesson students complete a lab activity and determine average changes in temperature, precipitation and cloud cover.
Curated OER
History's Thermometers
Ancient coral beds give scientists clues to past ocean temperatures in much the same way that tree rings indicate historical weather conditions. High school scientists examine coral oxygen isotope ratios and plot the data as a function...
Curated OER
Differences Between Ground and Air Temperatures
Young scholars examine the differences between air temperature and ground temperature. In this investigative lesson students find NASA data on the Internet and use it to create a graph.
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth instructional activity 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...
Curated OER
Weather and Climate Around the World
Students explain the difference between climate and weather. They gain concepts of currents and discuss how the currents have an affect on climate and weather. Students gain knowledge of the instruments that meteorologists use to predict...
Curated OER
Weather & Climate
Sixth graders differentiate weather and climate. In this earth science lesson plan, 6th graders complete a KWL chart about the two. They complete a worksheet by identifying whether a certain statement describes weather or climate.
Curated OER
Weather in the USA
Students identify the different types of weather conditions that occur in the United States. They discover how to adapt to weather and explain forecast and warning signals.
PBS
The Landscape of the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest includes four mountain ranges and one rain forest. Explore the breathtaking scenery using a instructional activity from a larger series from PBS covering climate and weather. Starting with photographs taken from the...
Curated OER
Weather Versus Climate
Students differentiate weather and climate. In this earth science lesson, students investigate the climate of a zone they chose. They create a presentation and share their findings with the class.
Curated OER
Utah Weather
Fourth graders diagram the weather in Utah through the use of a glyph. For this Utah weather lesson, 4th graders create weather glyphs of different areas in the state. Students answer questions about the weather and then compare their...