SC.912.E.7.4

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson challenges students to compare the climates of two cities, one coastal and one inland, that are located at the same latitude. Students will create illustrated posters that will be analyzed by the class during a gallery walk.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity has been designed as an inquiry lab to introduce weather and weather patterns. The students will explore the concept of weather through one of the factors that causes the weather that surrounds us, wind production.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will investigate the ability of water to retain it's temperature, and explain how the proximity of an area to an ocean or lake will contribute to the climate of an area. Students will measure the temperature of three beakers; one empty, one with water, and one with sand to determine how quickly their temperatures will change over specific time period.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create 3 graphs showing the average monthly temperatures of 6 cities. Cities at similar latitudes are paired together on a graph. One city represents inland conditions and the other represents ocean-side conditions at that latitude. There are 2 versions of the activity. Version A for independent learners asks them to formulate a conclusions about how proximity to an ocean affects a community's climate. Version B for developing learners, follows each graph is the same set of 3 questions which are designed to focus student attention on the temperature differences experienced between inland and ocean-side communities. In the final portion of the activity, students are asked to come up with general temperature patterns for inland vs. ocean-side communities.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn to differentiate and describe how geologic features affect the climate patterns of a region in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

A discussion focusing on the predictions that underestimated the storm surge from Hurricane Dennis on the Florida panhandle.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

A climatologist rains down information about how physical factors form regional climates.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Angela Dial discusses how she solves systems of equations to determine how the composition of ocean floor sediment has changed over 65 million years to help reveal more information regarding climate change.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

In this activity, students investigate the effects of melting ice sheets and ice caps on sea level by constructing a pair of models and seeing the effects of ice melt in two different situations.

Type: Teaching Idea

With an often unexpected outcome from a simple experiment, students can discover the factors that cause and influence thermohaline circulation in our oceans. In two 45-minute class periods, students complete activities where they observe the melting of ice cubes in saltwater and freshwater, using basic materials: clear plastic cups, ice cubes, water, salt, food coloring, and thermometers. There are no prerequisites for this lesson but it is helpful if students are familiar with the concepts of density and buoyancy as well as the salinity of seawater. It is also helpful if students understand that dissolving salt in water will lower the freezing point of water. There are additional follow up investigations that help students appreciate and understand the importance of the ocean's influence on Earth's climate.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation