 Unit 5: Cycles of the Earth Activity 3: Climates (SI GLEs: 3, 7, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21, 28, 31, 32; ESS GLE: 25)
CC: Provide students with pictures of the Sahara Desert and the town of Sitka, Alaska. Ask the students to predict in which of the two locations would more water vapor be found if one looked from the ground to the top of the atmosphere. Have the students form teams of two or three and discuss their predictions. Then have one of the group members report their conclusions. Draw out the explanations for their predictions, emphasizing how the water vapor got into the atmosphere.
The teacher can either show the students the PowerPoint presentation of the Sahara desert and Sitka, Alaska or make copies of the slides and provide copies to the students. PowerPoint Show - Sahara Desert
CC: Using a whole-group discussion, ask the students what they think the temperature is like during the year in these two places. Have them gather data from the World Climate Website at http://www.worldclimate.com about average temperatures and precipitation month-by-month through the year for two cities: one in the Sahara Desert and the other in Alaska.
World Climates http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm
The following are the websites which are requested by the comprehensive curriculum: World Climate
Koppen Climate Classification System http://www.geofictie.nl/ctkoppen.htm
Earth and Space Science Grade 8 Water Cycle, Weather and Climate http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/uploads/2540.pdf
CC: Students should recognize that there is an acceptable range of variation in collected data. They are to complete a chart of their findings, and discuss their findings relating the data to the pictures and to the water cycle.
Use Excel to create a chart. Excel Office Online Learn Excel http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010858001033.aspx
The climatic presentations are an obvious place to use PowerPoint. |