High schoolers differentiate weather and climate. In this earth science lesson, students compare weather and climate in different regions of the world. They interpret weather graphs and compare isotherm lines of northern and southern...

Young scholars describe connections between wind patterns, surface currents, and ocean climate zones. In small groups, they color the ocean climate zones in four different shades of blue. Students then answer questions like what four...

Ice is nice, and its condition on the planet has a significant effect. Junior geoscientists experiment with ice melting in both water and on land to discover how each affect the rising sea level. This detailed lesson outline even...

Stimulate interest in ocean currents with a simulation. The first installment of a five-part middle school series teaches future oceanographers about the forces that interact to cause ocean currents. A simulation shows how wind and...

Learn how ocean currents are vital to humans and marine life. The eighth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program, focuses on ocean currents and how they affect global climate. The...

Begin a full lesson on climate change by demonstrating how carbon dioxide gas contributes to increased temperatures. Be aware that pressure inside the antacid-containing bottle in Activity 2 may cause the lid to fly off; keep viewers at...

Students use satellite data to explore sea surface temperature. They explore the relationship between the rotation of the Earth, the path of ocean current and air pressure centers. After studying maps of sea surface temperature and ocean...

Students investigate the climate changes occurring locally, regionally and globally over the last one hundred years. They brainstorm and predict whether the current year's weather was warmer or colder than last year then check the...

Students explain the impact of glacial melting to global climate change. In this environmental science lesson, students design an experiment to investigate the effect of salinity change to melting glaciers. They share their results to...

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...

In the second lesson of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a general understanding...

Students observe how wind generates currents and the effect of islands and banks on currents. They determine ocean circulation affects climate and plant and animal populations on land and in the ocean and that surface currents are...

Swirling and churning, the waters of the North Atlantic play a vital role in Earth's climate! Discover the many factors that produce circulation using a multimedia instructional activity from PBS's Weather and Climate series for high...

Students investigate wind driven surface currents and prevailing winds by playing a card game. The cards are sorted by north or south and Atlantic or Pacific. They then predict where the two currents are found and what their...

Learners examine ocean currents. In this investigative lesson, students examine ocean currents and the relationship between the ocean, our atmosphere, and the weather. They will create a model of an ocean current.

Students study how the ocean stabilizes our planet's climates and how global warming is becoming a threat to this fine balance.  In this climate change lesson, students identify that fossil fuel emissions are responsible for...

The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...

El Niño sure creates a stir when it comes around! Why not stir up your earth science class with this data analysis activity that examines the temperature and precipitation over the 2002-2003 water year. A tracking chart is provided...

Young scholars 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.

Students describe the role of density in driving deep ocean currents and the density layers of the ocean. They determine that the ocean is one continuous body of water with global currents that interact, with water surrounding all...

High schoolers conduct a variety of investigations to see how water, heat, and salinity affect the flow of the world's ocean currents,as well as, explore many factors that affect the flow of the world's ocean currents. They also describe...

Students observe the interactions of different temperatures of water using colored ice and a thermometer and then compare the results with global ocean current solar heating. They identify where floating ice would be found in the ocean,...

Students investigate the seasonal changes to sea surface and near-surface air temperatures near the equator. They use actual satellite data to track and graph the differences in air and sea temperatures during different seasons in the...

Students discuss global warming, greenhouse effect, permafrost and other key words.  In this climate lesson students create a web that connects global warming, the Arctic and world climate then write a paragraph explaining the role...