4 weeks
Unit Description
S6E4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how the sun, land, and water affect climate and weather.
In this unit, students learn about the layers of the atmosphere and how the atmosphere is responsible for keeping Earth’s temperatures regulated. Additionally, unequal heating of land and water and its effects on wind patterns will be explored. Finally, students will investigate how air masses and fronts cause weather patterns and storms and how moisture evaporating from the ocean can cause hurricanes.
Unit Resources:
Unit 5 Videos Parent Guide
Topic 1: Earth’s Atmosphere
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings:
- The earth has a layered atmosphere
- Weather takes place in the troposphere layer.
- The sun is the major source of energy for events on the surface of the earth including wind and ocean currents.
- How does the sun interact with the earth to produce weather and climate?
- How does the atmosphere shape Earth’s climate and weather?
- What can cause the dynamic balance in the atmosphere to change and what influence do humans have on it?
Content Standards
S6E4a. Analyze and interpret data to compare and contrast the composition of Earth’s atmospheric layers (including the ozone layer) and greenhouse gases. (Clarification statement: Earth’s atmospheric layers include the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere.)
Description of Key Content
Teacher Background Information
Misconceptions / Proper Conceptions
- Air and oxygen are the same thing
- Gas has no weight
- Air only exerts force or pressure when it is moving (like wind)
- Earth is primarily warmed directly by sunlight
- Greenhouse warming works like greenhouses do
- The ozone hole is a hole in the sky.
- The air that makes up our atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, and trace amounts of other gases.
- Gas molecules are matter—they have weight and take up space.
- Because gas molecules have weight, they exert pressure. Air pressure is highest at sea level because so many air molecules “stack up” there. As elevation increases, air pressure decreases.
- Earth is warmed indirectly; Gases in the atmosphere are able to absorb and reflect radiated heat from earth back to the Earth’s surface.
- The greenhouse effect is not like the solid walls of a greenhouse. Rather the gases absorb and reflect radiated heat back to Earth.
- The ‘ozone hole’ is an area of the atmosphere where the ozone levels are lower than expected. Ozone is important in the atmosphere because it helps block harmful variations of UV rays.
Instructional Strategies
S6E4a
When this standard is taught with fidelity, students are analyzing data about the layers of the atmosphere to determine major differences between them. Use theDanger in the Jet Streamlesson, a fun game-ified lesson about a real-life hot air balloon race. As part of this 3-4 day lesson, students complete the Graphing Layers of the Atmosphere lesson, plotting and analyzing temperature data of the layers of Earth’s atmosphere.
Follow up this lesson with a reading or direct instruction with more facts about the atmosphere and its layers and specifically, how the greenhouse effect works. Students can use the Greenhouse Gases pHeT ( an online simulation, to explore more about the greenhouse effect.
Evidence of Learning
By completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Compare and contrast the layers of Earth’s atmosphere
- Explain how greenhouse gases keep the Earth warm.
TBD
Adopted Resources
TBD / Literature Connections
Stickmen's Guide to Earth's Atmosphere in Layers
By Catherine Chambers / Probes
Vocabulary
atmosphere / troposphere / stratosphere
mesosphere / thermosphere / Air pressure
Greenhouse gases / Ozone layer
Web Resources
Earth’s Atmosphere- a visual guide to the layers of the atmosphere with descriptions
Earth’s Atmosphere: Facts about composition, climate, and weather:
Earth’s Atmosphere- information from National Geographic
Layers of the Earth’s Atmosphere- information about each layer:
Video: 25 Facts About Earth’s Atmosphere:
Video: Brainpop- Earth’s Atmosphere
The Greenhouse Effect: A student’s guide to global climate change
ClimateKids: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth
Greenhouse Effect pHeT: interactive simulation
Lab Activities/Lessons:
Danger in the Jet Stream / Additional Lab/Lesson Activities
Greenhouse gases pHeT: / STEM Challenges/PBL
The Greenhouse Effect (Earth Science Edition)
Sample 3-D Performance Tasks
Topic 2: Winds
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings:
- Land heats up and cools down faster than water. As warm air rises, cooler air moves down, creating convection currents.
- Unequal heating of land and water forms wind systems and weather events. Wind is caused by differences in air pressure, going from an area of high pressure to lower pressure.
- Land heats up and cools down faster than water. During the day, land heats faster than a body of water, so the air above the land becomes warmer. The warm air expands and creates a low-pressure system. The cooler air above the body of water blows inland and under the warm air. At night, the opposite happens.
- Large convection currents are formed because of the temperature differences between the equator and the poles. This produces global wind systems. The equator receives the greatest amount of direct sunlight vs. the pole regions.
- The rotation of the earth makes the large wind systems curve which is the Coriolis Effect.
- -How does unequal heating of land and water affect weather patterns?
- -How do differences in air pressure cause land and sea breezes?
- -How does the sun’s heating of water in the tropics affect climate the world’s climate
- -What is the Coriolis Effect?
- -How does the Coriolis Effect influence wind and water movement?
Content Standards
S6E4b. Plan and carry out an investigation to demonstrate how energy from the sun transfers heat to air, land and water at different rates. (Clarification statement: Heat transfer should include the processes of conduction, convection, and radiation.)
S6E4c. Develop a model demonstrating the interaction between unequal heating and the rotation of the Earth that causes local and global wind systems.
Misconceptions / Proper Conceptions
- Land does not transfer to the air
- Land and water heat up and lose heat at the same rate.
- Heat is a substance which can be added to or removed from an object.
- Objects gain coldness.
- Wind makes air move.
- Land is heated as energy is transferred to it by the sun. In turn, the land transfers energy by conduction and convection to the air above it.
- Land heats up and loses heat more quickly than water. Water has a high specific heat capacity which means it takes a lot of energy to make it gain heat or lose heat.
- Heat is a form of energy. It can be neither gained nor destroyed, only transferred.
- Objects lose heat, which causes them to become colder. There is no such thing as gaining coldness.
- Wind is moving air. Windiscausedby differences in the atmospheric pressure. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the lower pressure area, resulting inwindsof various speeds. On a rotating planet, air will also be deflected (curved) by the Coriolis Effect, except exactly on the equator.
Instructional Strategies
The lesson Unequal Heating and Winds incorporates the following instructional strategies:
S6E4b
To introduce this element, capture students attention by showing this video clip, stopping at 1:45,
After you stop the video, instruct students to plan and carry out their own investigation to determine which material gains and loses heat faster: land or water. Have available to students several supplies such as thermometers, soil, water, containers such as beakers and Ziploc bags, heat lamps, stop watches, etc. Some students may design experiments that require going outside. Students should run their experiments, collect data, and come to a conclusion that will be shared with the class. Once all groups have shared their findings, continue playing the video. (Note: unfortunately, this video oversimplifies what is actually happening—it’s not really the reflection of the sun as much as water’s specific heat capacity. Water has a very high specific heat capacity, much higher than land, meaning that it takes a lot of energy (and thus time) to raise the temperature of water by 1 degree Celsius. The opposite is also true, it take more time to lose that energy as well, which is why a swimming pool and the ocean stay warmer longer into the fall/winter than land does. To help students with this concept, immediately follow up with this video about specific heat capacity:
Discuss ways heat can be transferred: conduction, convection, radiation.
S6E4c
Once students have an understanding of unequal heating between air, land and water, they will need to make two models:
1. Local (land and sea breezes)- this can be a 2-D drawing. First, you will need to draw a connection between what students learned in the last activity to this activity by discussing how heating of land (or water) conducts heat to the air above it. This causes the air molecules to move faster and expand, causing air’s density to decrease. As air’s density decreases, it rises into the atmosphere, creating a zone of low pressure over the land (or water). Winds always move from high pressure to low pressure, so a wind flows in over the land. You can diagram this on the board or have students watch a video about it, such as this one: Then students should create a 2-D model drawing of land and sea breezes.
2. Global winds- Students now need to apply this concept on a global scale. The equator receives the most direct sunlight, causes air there to heat, expand, and rise. It cools in the upper atmosphere and sinks. There are six such global wind cells around the globe. Show this video to students and then have them complete the Global Winds activity, in which they will make a 2-D model drawing of global winds.
Make a fun 3-D, kinesthetic model of the effect of Earth’s rotation on winds (Coriolis Effect) by using the activity Modeling the Coriolis Effect.
Evidence of Learning
By completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate how energy from the sun transfers heat to air, land, and water at different rates
- Develop a model to demonstrate the interaction between unequal heating and the rotation of the Earth that causes local and global wind systems.
Adopted Resources
TBD / Literature Connections: / Probes
Vocabulary:
Wind / Global winds / Land breeze
Sea breeze / Coriolis Effect
Web Resources:
Land and Sea Breezes Video:
Crash Course Kids: Video about indirect/direct heating on Earth and how this causes global winds
Sea and Land Breezes- general information and diagrams
Global Wind Patterns- a diagram of the six global wind cells
Global Winds- this animated rotating globe helps students visualize the effect of the Coriolis Effect.
Video: Coriolis Effect: Do toilets really flush in opposite directions in each hemisphere?
Unit Lesson Plans:
Unequal Heating and Winds / Additional Lab Activities/Lessons / STEM Challenges/PBL
Sample 3-D Performance Tasks
Topic 3: Weather
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings:
• Weather is the effect of the conditions of the atmosphere at a particular time and place.
- Density differences in air are the cause of cloud formation and atmospheric storms
• Large thunderstorms and tornadoes occur most frequently in the spring and summer. The ground is warming and warm air masses move north from Mexico, while cold air masses move south from Canada.
• Oceans, holding a large amount of heat, have major effects on climate and moisture evaporating from oceans affects weather patterns and events
Essential Questions:
- Why is weather considered a system?
- How do we determine weather patterns?
- What are the major types of air masses that affect weather in North America?
- What weather conditions are most likely to cause hurricanes?
Content Standards
S6E4d. Construct an explanation of the relationship between air pressure, weather fronts, and air masses and meteorological events such as tornados and thunderstorms.
S6E4e. Analyze and interpret weather data to explain the effects of moisture evaporating from the ocean on weather patterns and weather events such as hurricanes.
Description of Key Content
Teacher Background Information
Misconceptions / Proper Conceptions
- A change in air temperature does not have an effect on whether clouds and fog form or rain falls
- Water evaporates only when the air is very warm.
- The humidity of the air will increase whenever the air is in contact with water, regardless of how humid the air already is
- Lightning never strikes the same place twice
- The high wind in hurricanes causes the most damage to coastal areas.
- Tornadoes can’t form over water
- As air temperature decreases, it can hold less condensed water so rain will fall or fog and clouds will form.
- All liquids can evaporate at room temperature and normal air pressure. Evaporation happens whenatomsor molecules have enough energy to escape from the liquid and turn into avapor. Not all of the molecules in a liquid have the same energy. When you have a puddle of water (H2O) on a windy day, the wind can cause an increased rate of evaporation even when it is cold out.
- Air can only hold so much water and it depends on its temperature (relative humidity and absolute humidity)
- Lightning tends to strike the highest points in a given area, as a result, such locations are likely to be struck repeatedly.
- While wind can cause damage, often the storm surge (high wave of water caused by winds) does more damage to coastal areas by causing flooding
- Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water
Instructional Strategies
S6E4d
When this standard is taught with fidelity, students will need to learn about air pressure, air masses, and weather fronts. They will then compile this information into an explanation of how these three things cause severe storms like thunderstorms and tornadoes. Follow the Air Pressure and Weather, Water in Air, and Air Masses and Weather lessons.
The Meteorology Unit Lessons document has several hands-on lessons that can be used to teach this element in the following order:
Air Pressure: Lab M-2 Dealing with Air Pressure (p. 150-155). In this lab, students fill up a test tube (a plastic cup would work, too) with water, leaving a little room at the top, and cover it with an index card. Then they flip over the tube or cup. The air pressure prevents the water from leaking out. Later, you do a teacher demo of an imploding can.
Once students understand that air has pressure, they need to understand why it matters. Use the Air Pressure and Weather organizer to explain how warmer air rises and exerts less pressure on an area, often bringing in storms and wind, while cooler air sinks and exerts more pressure, bringer nicer, dryer weather. An excellent visual is in this thunderstorm time lapse video: Ask students to pay particular attention to how the air moves, you can see it rising and spinning.
Water in Air (Humidity): Lab M-4 Sweating About Science (pp. 166-171). This lab teaches students about relative humidity and how air temperature affects the amount of water vapor air can hold. Students use sling psychrometers to measure the humidity of various places inside and outside of the school building. Make sure students understand at the end that the cooler the air is the less water vapor it can hold (you can discuss how dew forms in the morning because the air has cooled, causing it to be able to hold less water vapor and thus causing condensation of water onto grass, cars, etc.)
Air Masses: There is not a lab in the Meteorology Unit Lessons for this concept, but students can do a quick webquest using these two sites: and They both includea video and practice quiz students can take afterwards. Students should understand that air masses that form over water (maritime masses) contain more water vapor, those that form over land (continental masses) contain dry air, those that form closer to the polar (polar masses) have cold air, and those that form near the tropics (tropical masses) have warm air. Air masses are very large and when they meet, they form weather fronts.