Galva High School and Stark County High School

Integrated Science Curriculum

Year 3: Theme - Grand Designs

VIII. Weather Unit (Chs 1, 2, 3)

A. Elements of weather

  1. Temperature
    1. Activity 2-3: "Air temperature" (SEOF, pp. 1-2)
    2. Activity 2-15: "Calibrating a liquid thermometer" (SEOF, pp. 1-2)
    3. Activity 1-18: "Hot box" (SEOF, pp. 1-4)
    4. Lab 17: "Make a thermometer" (IWW, pp. 78-80)
  2. Humidity
    1. Minilab: "How wet is the air?" (SI, p. 25)
    2. Minilab: "Why does the grass get wet at night?" (SI, p. 27)
    3. Activity 2-8: "Dew formation" (SEOF, pp. 1-3)
    4. Investigation: "Relative humidity" (ES, p. 496)
    5. Lab 19: "Measuring humidity - make a psychrometer" (IWW, pp. 86-90)
  3. Barometric pressure
    1. Minilab: "Does the air exert pressure?" (SI, p. 74)
    2. Activity 2-2: "Air pressure" (SEOF, pp. 1-3)
    3. Lab 2: "Air pressure" (SILab, pp. 7-10)
    4. Investigation: "Air density and temperature" (ES, pp. 476)
    5. Investigation: "Barometric pressure" (ES,p. 458)
    6. Activity 2-5: "Making a barometer and using it" (SEOF, p. 1-3)
  4. Wind
    1. Investigation: "Windchill" (ES,p.510)
    2. Activity 2-18: "Wind" (SEOF, p. 1-3)
    3. Activity 2-1: "Wind vane" (SEOF, p. 1-3)
    4. Activity 2-4: "Making an anemometer & calibrating it" (SEOF, p. 1-4)
  5. Clouds
    1. Investigation: "Evaporation" (ES,p.527)
    2. Lab 1: "Clouds" (SILab,p. 1-6)
    3. Activity 2-7: "Cloud formation" (SEOF, p. 1-3)
    4. Lab 13: "How does your cloud grow?" (IWW, p. 61-63)
    5. Lab 14: "Make a cloud wheel" (IWW, p. 64-70)
B. Weather prediction
  1. Weather forecasting
    1. Minilab: "How accurate is your weather forecaster? (SI, p. 23)
    2. bInvestigation: "Can you predict the weather?" (SI, pp. 42-43)
    3. Lab 21: "Weather recording & forecasting" (IWW, pp. 96-98)
  2. Radar
    1. Minilab: "Why does the sound of a moving object change?" (SI, p. 35)
C. Mapping and using weather data
    1. Mapping weather data
    1. Thinking lab: "What information should be represented on a " (SI, p. 38)
    2. Investigation: "aweather map interpretation" (ES, pp. 520-521)
    3. Activity: "Maps in action - Snapshots of the weather" (ES, pp. 540-541)
    2. Using weather data
    1. Minilab: "What is the weather like around the country?" (SI, p. 41)
    2. Investigation: "Factors that affect climate" (ES, p. 538-539)
D. Severe weather
  1. Moving air (conduction, convection, radiation)
  2. Lecture: Heat transfer in air
  3. Minilab: "How does sunshine affect air?" (SI, p. 51)
  4. Investigation: "What affects solar radiation on Earth?" (SI, pp. 54-55)
  5. Minilab: "How does convection occur in a fluid?" (SI, p. 56)
  • Winds
  • Air masses & fronts
  • Pressure systems
  • Types of severe weather
    1. Lab 7: "Simulationg a thunderstorm downdraft" (IWW, pp. 38-40)
    2. Lab 10: "Supercooled H20" (IWW, pp. 48-51)
    E. Effects of storms
    1. Moving storms
      1. Minilab: "How fast do hurricanes move?" (SI, p. 83)
      2. Activity 2-16: "Tornado model" (SEOF, pp. 1-3)
      3. Lab 6: "Design a lightning calculator" (IWW, pp. 33-37)
    2. Agents of destruction
      1. Minilab: "How strong is a house?" (SI, p. 86)
      2. Minilab: "Why do bridges fail in high floodwaters?" (SI, p. 89)
    3. After the storm
      1. Thinking lab: "How have storms affected your local economy?" (SI, p. 94)
      2. Minilab: "What happens when salt water floods a freshwater ..." (SI, p. 98)
      3. Investigation: "How sensitive is an ecosystem?" (SI, pp. 100-101)
      4. Applying technology: "Emergency preparedness" (SI, p. 104)
    F. Performance assessment: "Design a school weather station" (SI, p. 1H8) or "Produce your own~ television weather report" (SI, p. 109)
  • Program Contact: Tim Wagner - twagner@starkcounty.com
    Web Maintainer: ed-webmaster@fnal.gov
    Last Update: August 24, 2001
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