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This activity is part of the Climate Change Challenge unit.
1. Create a concept map of interconnections in extreme weather based on students’ responses to a short video.
- Play the Extreme Weather: Interconnections in Extreme Weather video (2:17) to introduce the topic of extreme weather. Begin a concept map using students' responses to the questions below. List examples of extreme weather events inside circles in a visible place, then use responses to the second question to connect events with lines, writing students’ ideas nearby.
- Ask: What extreme weather events are discussed in this video? (Droughts, heat waves, typhoons, powerful storms, and flooding.)
- To elicit knowledge from the Carbon Concerns lesson, ask students:
- How do you think these extreme weather events connect to Earth’s climate? (Student responses may vary, but will help give a sense of their current understanding regarding the differences between weather and climate.)
2. Support students as they read to differentiate the terms climate and weather.
- Distribute copies of the first two sections (Understanding Weather and Understanding Climate) of the Weather or Climate…What’s the Difference? article to pairs of students.
- In each pair, assign one student to read and annotate the Understanding Weather section and the other to read and annotate the Understanding Climate section. Direct students to pay special attention to statements relating these two terms.
- Distribute the Weather Interconnections Meaning Maker handout and prompt students to define the terms climate and weather with their partners. (The key distinction from this article is that weather is a day-to-day phenomenon, whereas climate is the pattern of weather over long periods of time, usually decades.)
- Solicit definitions from volunteers to ensure that pairs are on the right track. Then assign students to complete the rest of the Weather Interconnections Meaning Maker handout using their understanding from their partner discussion of the readings.
- Prompt students to consider and describe in words on their chart how each term is distinct from the other.
3. Assign students an extreme weather focus and facilitate the creation of an initial meteorological model of this event.
- Explain to students that the next few activities will focus on an extreme weather event of their choice: droughts, hurricanes, or tornadoes.
- Form small groups of three to four students based on their preferences for each of these events, and provide each group a link to the appropriate resource(s) relevant to their weather type and its impacts:
- Droughts: Extreme Weather: Droughts (3:01)
- Hurricanes: Hurricanes 101 (2:42)
- Tornadoes: Tornadoes 101 (3:00) / Upturning Tornadoes (5:16)
- Instruct each small group to use their assigned video to determine and record causes and effects of their extreme weather event on the T-chart in Part A of their Extreme Weather Model Builder handout.
- Assign each small group to use the video and their chart to draw an initial systems diagram model of their extreme weather event in Part B of their Extreme Weather Model Builder handout. This model should include:
- A visual depiction of the event itself.
- At least three causes of the extreme weather event labeled.
- At least three effects of the extreme weather event labeled.
- Arrows and accompanying plus and minus signs to show the relationships among causes and between causes and effects.
- Ask students who considered the same extreme weather event to mingle, forming pairs from different groups to compare and contrast their initial models. Ask students to consider:
- How is your work similar to, or different from, others who studied the same extreme weather event?
- Prompt students to make brief notes on their initial model of any elements from their peer’s diagram that they would like to incorporate in later revisions, and to give their peers at least one piece of positive feedback regarding their work.
- Lead a final debrief discussion to elicit students’ ideas about the common themes of meteorological conditions that lead to, and result from, the extreme weather events.
Informal Assessment
Informally assess students’ prior and developing knowledge of the factors leading to extreme weather events by examining their initial model in the Extreme Weather Model Builder.
Subjects & Disciplines
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Earth Science
- Climatology
- Meteorology
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Read to compare and contrast the terms weather and climate.
- Create an initial model of an extreme weather event.
- Link causes and effects of multiple types of extreme weather.
Teaching Approach
- Project-based learning
Teaching Methods
- Discussions
- Multimedia instruction
- Reading
Skills Summary
This activity targets the following skills:
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21st Century Student Outcomes
- Learning and Innovation Skills
- Life and Career Skills
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Critical Thinking Skills
- Remembering
- Understanding
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Science and Engineering Practices
- Developing and using models
Connections to National Standards, Principles, and Practices
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.
Next Generation Science Standards
- Crosscutting Concept 2: Cause and Effect: Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.
- MS-ESS2-5: Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.
- Science and Engineering Practice 2: Developing and using models
- Science and Engineering Practice 8: Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.
What You’ll Need
Required Technology
- Internet Access: Required
- Tech Setup: 1 computer per pair, Monitor/screen, Printer, Projector, Speakers
Physical Space
- Classroom
- Computer lab
Grouping
- Large-group instruction
- Large-group learning
- Small-group learning
- Small-group work
Background Information
Weather describes the state of the atmosphere at a specific place and a short span of time. Six key variables contribute to weather: temperature, precipitation, pressure, wind, humidity, and cloudiness. Scientists and forecasters precisely measure these variables with tools such as a thermometer, barometer, and anemometer. In contrast, climate is the typical pattern of weather over the course of many years. Climate determines the frequency of particular weather events through the decades, as well as the distribution of organisms within ecosystems across Earth’s surface.
Extreme weather events include hurricanes, tornadoes, and droughts. Each of these extreme weather events has the capacity to powerfully influence the lives of humans, and can sometimes even be deadly. Extreme weather can also lead to other destructive impacts. For example, droughts can increase the frequency of wildfires, and hurricanes can lead to storm surges.
Prior Knowledge
- None
Recommended Prior Activities
Vocabulary
all weather conditions for a given location over a period of time.
rare and severe events in the Earth's atmosphere, such as heat waves or powerful cyclones.
tropical storm with wind speeds of at least 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour. Hurricanes are the same thing as typhoons, but usually located in the Atlantic Ocean region.
a violently rotating column of air that forms at the bottom of a cloud and touches the ground.
state of the atmosphere, including temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, humidity, precipitation, and cloudiness.
Articles & Profiles
Tips & Modifications
Tip
Step 1: The Teacher Toolkit has a video and article on Concept Map that may be helpful for concept mapping extreme weather events with students. It is important that students differentiate between extreme weather events and their consequences. For example, drought is an extreme weather event, and wildfires are a potential and destructive consequence.
Modification
Step 2: The Weather or Climate…What’s the Difference? article is leveled to accommodate readers at multiple levels. Additionally, encyclopedic entries for weather and climate provide another opportunity to make the distinction between these two terms clear to all students.
Tip
Step 3: Consider having students perform additional online research to add to their list of the causes and effects of their extreme weather events.
Tip
Step 3: Use the Q Design Pack on Systems Thinking from the Institute of Play to support students in creating and discussing their systems diagrams. See p. 33 on Causal Maps, specifically.
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Extreme Weather
Students examine the causes and effects of extreme weather events and read to contrast weather and climate. Next, they create and revise models of an extreme weather event using knowledge of weather variables. Finally, students link extreme weather events and climate change. Students use an interactive graph and long-term datasets, as well as create their own graphical representations of weather data. This lesson is part of the Climate Change Challenge unit.
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Meteorological Models
Students read encyclopedia entries to define key variables associated with weather. Next, they use a weather station or online source to collect and graph current local data for these variables. Finally, they incorporate these variables to revise their extreme weather models from the Weather Interconnections activity, and discuss factors common and unique to extreme weather events.
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Extreme Weather on Earth
Students use prior knowledge, a photo gallery, and a video to discuss what they already know about extreme weather on Earth and brainstorm and categorize a list of weather-related words and phrases. Then they identify the necessary conditions for weather events to occur, and the factors that affect extreme weather. Students organize information about weather events and conditions, identify patterns, and make connections between weather and climate.
-
Extreme Weather
Students examine the causes and effects of extreme weather events and read to contrast weather and climate. Next, they create and revise models of an extreme weather event using knowledge of weather variables. Finally, students link extreme weather events and climate change. Students use an interactive graph and long-term datasets, as well as create their own graphical representations of weather data. This lesson is part of the Climate Change Challenge unit.
-
Meteorological Models
Students read encyclopedia entries to define key variables associated with weather. Next, they use a weather station or online source to collect and graph current local data for these variables. Finally, they incorporate these variables to revise their extreme weather models from the Weather Interconnections activity, and discuss factors common and unique to extreme weather events.
-
Extreme Weather on Earth
Students use prior knowledge, a photo gallery, and a video to discuss what they already know about extreme weather on Earth and brainstorm and categorize a list of weather-related words and phrases. Then they identify the necessary conditions for weather events to occur, and the factors that affect extreme weather. Students organize information about weather events and conditions, identify patterns, and make connections between weather and climate.