2015
Understanding Weather, Climate and Climate Change
Activities for informal and formal teachers
Background information for educators:
Climate change and global warming are topics that come up in conversation and frequently are
misunderstood. Children need to understand what these terms mean and that they are not topics that
are intended to describe the end of the world, the end of human civilization or the end of nature.
These topics mean that the world is changing, and with all change, there are positive things and
negative things that can happen. We need communicate with children that what happens to this
planet is impacted by everyone’s actions and the changes will ultimately impact every living thing on
this planet (positively and negatively).
Definitions:
Climate: the average course or condition of the weather at a place usually over a period of years as
exhibited by temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation (Merriam-Webster, 2013)
Climate Change: A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical
tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended
period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or
external forces, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in
land use. (IPCC, 2011)
Global Warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally
attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons,
and other pollutants. (Cambridge Dictionary, 2013)
Weather: the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm,
clearness or cloudiness (Merriam-Webster, 2013)
Weather and climate confuse most people. As per the definitions above climate is based upon long
term weather data. Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.
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Using Climate:
We use climate for a number of important long term planning tasks including agriculture (when to
plant crops), travel and leisure (when and where to go on vacation), construction (how and what to
build), fashion (how we dress), and nutrition (what we eat). Looking at climate provides a snapshot of
what the weather is expected to be during a specific time period in a region. The overall climate of an
area can dictates the survival or the failure of living things.
Using Weather:
Weather is used for short term planning. We can look at forecasts a few days in advance to see what
clothing we are going to wear on a given day, or if we are going to be inside or outside for our
activities. Where individual weather events may have catastrophic effects (such as tornadoes,
hurricanes, flash floods, drought) it is generally not weather that causes the survival or failure for
survival of living things in a region.
Activity: Knowing when to use Weather and Climate
Supplies needed:
Note cards (one for each student or group)
Set up instructions:
Print each of the following scenarios on a note card.
Divide the students into groups (this activity can be done without groups if you have a small class).
Hand a note card to each student/group and have them decide whether looking up the climate of a
location is appropriate or looking at the weather would be appropriate. Have the students discuss. The
answer is in parenthesis; however, your students may have a valid reason to look at something
different.
Scenarios:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
You are planning on going to a new state for college. (Climate)
You are going to a football game on Friday of this week. (Weather)
You are buying new clothes for a vacation you are taking next year. (Climate)
You need to know if you need an umbrella at 12:00pm today. (Weather)
You are planting a garden. (Climate)
You are going sailing today and need to know about the wind. (Weather)
You are planning a hike along the Appalachian Trail which will take 6 months. (Climate)
You are building a house. (Climate)
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9. You are starting an ostrich farm. (Climate)
10. You are jogging and need to know if you should wear shorts or sweatpants. (Weather)
Activity: A practice in using climate
This activity is one that can be used for all ages. It may be adapted for everyone from preschool to
college age.
Purpose:
To give students an opportunity to use climatic information as opposed to weather.
Preschool (non-readers):
Supplies:
Create a yearlong calendar of a fictional land. (If you are doing a unit on a children’s book this could
easily be incorporated)
Either cut outs of weather appropriate clothing, or visit a thrift shop and collect various clothing that
would be appropriate to the weather that you put on your calendar.
Suitcase (or box decorated like a suitcase)
Weather calendar or chart for your area
Procedure:
Put out the clothing on the floor in the middle of a circle.
Have the children sit around the pile of clothing (either real clothing or cut outs)
Work around the circle and assign each child a month that they are traveling to the fictitious land.
Instruct the child to stand up, and collect the clothing they would pack for the weather that they
“Should” experience.
Keep a weather calendar in the classroom for a month showing what the weather was like
(temperature for older children, symbols of the weather conditions for young children). Have the
children decide at the end of a month what type of weather they had the most of. Create a calendar
like the one below representing the weather that was mostly observed. Show the children that this is
your climate calendar-what you expect the weather to be. Even though you may get a rainy day here
or there, the most of the weather would be something different. Climate is when you expect the
weather that you experience the most, during a time period.
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Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
PreK climate weather calendar
Lower/upper Elementary School:
Supplies:
Travel guides to locations your children would be interested in traveling to.
Outdoor Thermometer
Weather calendar
Procedure:
Prior to this unit have your students chart the weather for each day they are in school. Have them look
at the temperature, and the overall conditions at the same time each day. At the end of the month,
have them decide what they would tell someone about that month in your location. Is it mostly sunny,
rainy, or snowy? Explain that weather is a day to day occurrence, but climate is what the average
weather looks like. So what they tell people to expect would be the climate of the region, not
necessarily the weather of the region.
Demonstrate to your students how to use a travel guide. Show them how to look up the climate of the
location and assign them a time of year that you are sending them to that location.
Lower elementary: Have your students draw a picture of what they would pack during that time of year
at that location based upon the climate. Have them also prepare for mysterious events in the weather
that they might encounter based upon their research.
Upper Elementary: Have your students write an essay on what they would pack during that time of
year at that location based upon the climate. AND/OR Have them write an essay on what time of year
they would like to visit that location with reasoning based around climate and what activities they
would do and what they would pack.
Middle School:
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Supplies:
Travel guides for various countries around the world (or access to the library with those guides)
Access to a computer with internet (Weather Underground wunderground.com, NOAA noaa.gov, or
weather channel weather.com)
World maps that students can copy or write on
Graph paper, excel spreadsheet, or science notebook
Procedure:
This project can be adjusted depending on the time available and learning abilities of your students.
Begin this project at the beginning of the month to be optimal. Discuss the difference between climate
and weather with your students. Assign your students one or more countries from around the world
to research. Have them find the countries on the map, and make a prediction as to what they would
expect the weather to be during this time of year (temperature, overall weather conditions, rainfall
etc) based upon the location in the world. Once they have made their predictions have them use the
travel guides to look up what is the climate for this country during this time of year. Have them create
a graph showing the temperature and rainfall expected for an entire month.
Using the internet and a respected weather website (NOAA, Weather Underground, Weather Channel
etc) have your students take a daily reading on what the weather is in their country(ies) (temperature,
overall weather conditions, rainfall). Have them keep track of this in their spreadsheet or in their
science notebook. At the end of the month, have them graph the temperature and rainfall on the
same chart that they graphed the climatic information. Have them take an average rainfall and an
average temperature to see how close the climate prediction was to the actual weather.
**note some countries use Celcius to describe their temperature so you may have to demonstrate how
to convert Celcius to Fahrenheit or vice versa. Data should be consistent in order to do an accurate
comparison.
High School:
Food production is a big concern when we discuss the world and climate change. For this project you
will have students take on a project of researching how to maximize crops for a given climate. This can
be a lengthy project. (But most of it can be done from home).
Supplies:
Access to a computer with internet
Map of the United States (large map)
Bulletin/cork board/magnet board
A dart (with a point if you are using the cork board, magnetic if you are using the magnet board)
Zone Map of the United States (can be found in seed or nursery stock catalogs)
Seed catalogs
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Travel guides or access to travel bureaus across the United States
Science notebooks or excel or another database program
Procedures:
Put your United States Map onto the cork board/magnet board
Have each of your students throw the dart, and wherever their dart lands that is the town they are
tasked with creating a successful garden plan. Assign them an area of land (Acre, 2 Acres, 25 Acres, etc)
to farm.
First have the students research what the expected climate/growing season is in that area. They can
do this by researching tourism bureaus for that state or contacted the Extension Service in that state.
(Extension Agents might even suggest plants that would grow in an area as a bit of a cheat, but they
are getting a skill in asking).
*For an added challenge, have them create a planting plan for the time of year you do this project
Provide the students with a budget for the amount of seeds/plants that they can purchase.
Each student has to decide how to use their money to grow enough food to take care of their family
for that growing period.
Have the students create a representation showing how they would set up their garden for maximum
production and which plants they would use. (**For an added challenge have them use graph paper
and put things to scale, using the space guidelines for the plants)
In their science notebooks, have the students write down requirements for each plant that they have
chosen (water, sunlight, temperatures, etc) as well as the time to maturity. They should also write the
expected average temperature, rainfall, and sunlight amount for the area.
Each day have the students look up the weather for their location. Have them create a database with
the daily high and low temperatures and the amount of rainfall and the overall weather conditions. If
possible have them do this for the time period of the plants maturity.
Have each student come to a conclusion based upon the weather information that they have taken if
their plants succeeded or failed.
Have the students average their daily high temperatures and rainfall amounts to see how it may have
differed from the climate they had been told to expect.
Activity: What is Climate Change?
For Upper Elementary-High School
Supplies:
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At least 2 blank dodecahedron dice for each person or group working on this project
Permanent markers in 2 or more different colors
Graph paper
Colored pencils in 4 colors for each group
Set Up:
Choose three different sharpie pens to use to identify your dice (It is not recommended to use red and
blue because students will associate these colors with heating and cooling.)
On one die per group (this die should be labeled with a distinct color sharpie) label 5 sides with 78, 5
sides with 76, one side with 70 and one side with 80
On another one of the dice label as follows (this die should be labeled with a distinct colored sharpie):
5 sides with 77, 1 side with 80, 2 side with 70, 4 sides with 76
On the final die for the group label as follows (this die should be labeled with a distinct colored
sharpie): 5 sides 80, 4 sides 78, 1 side 76, 1 side 70, 1 side 77
Give each group one die at a time.
Procedures:
Discuss what climate is (A long term average of weather conditions). Climate information is generally
taken over the course of 10-20 years. Tell your students they are going to be doing a simulation of 1020 years of data collection. Each roll of the dice represents an average temperature for the month of
September in one year. (e.g. roll #1 September, 2000 average temp 78 ⁰ F; roll #2 September, 2001
average temp 81 ⁰ F)
Have the students roll the die and record what number it lands on. The number represents degrees
Fahrenheit.
Younger groups will roll the die ten times. Older student will roll the die twenty times.
When they are finished with rolling the die and recording their temperatures they should plot them on
the graph paper. (Using a designated colored pencil they should create a line graph).
Once they graph their results they should then average their results and graph that line (using a
different colored pencil)
Exchange the original die with a different colored die. Have the students repeat the exercise.
When everyone is done, ask if they noticed a big change in temperatures when they were rolling the
dice. (Most children would argue no, since they see similar temperatures within a degree or two).
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Then ask if the average temperature overall was different. (The answer will most likely be “Yes” but
not by much).
Ask them if they were outside during September would they notice the difference between the first
average temperature and the second average temperature? (Most large animals can’t discern
between a degree or two difference in climate)
Discuss with your students how microbes have very narrow bands of temperature and conditions that
they are able to survive and thrive in. If the average temperature changes by just ½ a degree that may
mean that something that would typically die off won’t or something else that may typically thrive
won’t.
Carbon Sources and Sinks:
For Upper Elementary through High School Students
Supplies needed: Bubble solution, various different bubble wands, optional: Bubble machine
Purpose: To demonstrate to students what causes carbon to enter the atmosphere and what collects
carbon from the atmosphere. This activity also demonstrates how challenging it can be to keep the
carbon cycle in balance.
Set up: Start the game with giving each child access to one bubble wand. Provide access to bubble
solution and access to additional wands.
Procedure: Explain that carbon makes up all living things. It is an extremely important element on the
planet Earth and it is required for the survival of the planet. As with most important elements there is
a cycle for Carbon where it flows from one living thing to another keeping a perfect balance. Carbon is
released into the atmosphere from Carbon Sources, some examples of natural sources are: Animals
(respiration, digestion and decomposition), forest fires, volcanoes, and oceans.
Carbon is reabsorbed from the atmosphere through Carbon Sinks, some examples of natural carbon
sinks are: Plants and trees, the ocean (the ocean is both a source and a sink), and the atmosphere.
To demonstrate a successful balance have your class divide into two groups. One group will be the
sources, and they will be blowing bubbles, and one group will be the sinks…they will be popping the
bubbles. The goal of this exercise is to not have a lot of bubbles floating around in the room.
Now to add human caused sources of carbon. Humans can emit extra carbon by utilizing fossil fuels
and burning plant matter to provide power and warmth for their life styles. Ask the students if they
participate in the following activities:
1. Use coal electricity or natural gas to power the following: TV’s, lights, refrigerators, heaters, air
conditioners, gaming systems, radios, computers, cell phones, and any other gadgets or gizmos
in their homes. (If they do, they can add an additional bubble wand)
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2. If they use a private family vehicle to do all of their errands even short distance errands. (If so
they can add another bubble wand).
3. If they send their garbage to an incinerator. (If so, they can add another bubble wand).
4. If they cut down trees to use as firewood, without replacing them. (If so they can add a bubble
wand)
5. If they purchase items from far away from their home. Foreign cars, toys, clothing, etc. (If so
they can add a bubble wand).
6. If they use ATV’s, gas and electric lawn mowers, or other gas or electric tools (If so add another
bubble wand)
Once the students have their wands together set up the room similar to how you did when observing
the cycle. They may utilize any way possible to get all of the wands to produce bubbles, they can wave
their arms, they can blow across them, and they can put their wands in front of a fan. Set an amount
of time for blowing bubbles and popping bubbles 2-3 minutes should be adequate.
The carbon sink students will have to pop the bubbles. Were there any bubbles still left in the room
after the popping was over? Was it easier or harder to pop the bubbles with so many bubbles in the
air?
Now, reduce the number of sinks…when we remove vegetation and trees for construction and other
projects it changes the carbon cycle. So choose a few people who were bubble poppers to become
bubble blowers. Have the new bubble blowers assess how many wands they will need.
Run the exercise again and see what happens. You should see that there is more carbon in the
atmosphere with fewer sinks present.
Have your students brain storm about what they can do to reduce the amount of carbon in the
atmosphere based upon this exercise.
A Melting Ice Cap
Understanding the Albedo Effect
Supplies needed: White paper and dark blue or brown or black construction paper (enough for one
sheet per child).
Purpose: The Polar Ice Cap has been melting at an alarming rate, which leads people to believe that the
temperature change at the poles is extremely large. This is not necessarily the truth. What we are
experiencing with the polar ice cap melting is a loss of heat reflective material (ice and snow) and an
increased amount of heat absorbing material (open ocean). This creates a negative feedback loop
which increases the melting process of the snow and ice. We do not see the rapid nature of the ice
melting at the South Pole because the ice cap is on land, and land is not as heat absorbent as the dark
open ocean is.
Procedure: Give all but one student a white piece of paper. Have them old the white piece of paper
above their heads. Give the other student a dark piece of paper. Explain to the class that white
reflects the sun’s rays and heat where dark absorbs the sun’s rays. Imagine if the temperature of the
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North Pole went up a half of a degree F. What do you think would happen? Would the ice melt or stay
the same? Would it be fast or would it be slow?
The ice would melt, slowly.
Have three children put down their white paper and pick up dark paper. Now talk about the open
ocean. The ocean is dark, and absorbs heat. Would it slow down the melting of the ice, or would it
speed things up?
The ice would begin to melt quicker.
Have anyone who is next to the dark paper put down their white paper and pick up a dark paper.
Now we have even more open ocean. What is going to happen to the ice around it?
The ice will melt even faster.
Anyone next to a dark paper should put down their white paper and pick up a dark paper.
Do this until all the white is gone.
Follow up question:
Did the ambient (air) temperature change any more than the ½ degree F?
Answer: No. However, the ocean absorbed the sun’s rays and it increased the ability to melt the
surrounding ice.
Resources:
NASA.edu. “Radiation Budget Lesson: Exploring Albedo.” Web 7. Aug. 2015. http://scienceedu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/scierbe.html
Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge, n.d “Global Warming.” Web 3. Sept. 2013.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/american-english/global-warming
IPCC.ch. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. n.d “Climate Change.” Web 3. Sept. 2013
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/srex/SREX-Annex_Glossary.pdf
Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d "Climate." . Web. 3 Sept. 2013. <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/climate>.
Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d,. "Weather." Web. 3 Sept. 2013. <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/weather>
The Science Museum. “Climate Changing….A Series of Thought Provoking Events.” Web. 7.Aug. 2015
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http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ClimateChanging/ClimateScienceInfoZone/ExploringEarthsclimate/
1point6/1point6point1.aspx
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Kim Dixon
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