Next Generation Science Standards
A charming thing about NGSS is that they do the codes so you can match them up vertically. We’re looking at Core Idea ESS2-D. It will be coded around Earth and Space Science 2, at all the levels:
From less verbal/analytical…
Weather is the combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time. People measure these conditions to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time. (K-ESS2-1)
Scientists record patterns of the weather across different times and areas so that they can make predictions about what kind of weather might happen next. (3-ESS2-1)
Climate describes a range of an area’s typical weather conditions and the extent to which those conditions vary over years. (3-ESS2-2)
Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns. (MS-ESS2-6)
Because these patterns are so complex, weather can only be predicted probabilistically. (MS-ESS2-5)
The ocean exerts a major influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents. (MS-ESS2-6)
To the most verbal/analytical…
The foundation for Earth’s global climate systems is the electromagnetic radiation from the sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space. (HS-ESS2-4)
Each lesson will start with a “Scientist You Should Know.” To make this part multisensory/creative, consider printing the image to trace. Alternatively, ask learners to draw or act out the data collection process of that scientist. Certainly read it aloud. Maybe dramatize the lesson, pretending you are the scientist. To make it more verbal, learners can journal about questions they would ask this person if they could or write about things they would enjoy or not enjoy about the job. In terms of analytical treatment, learners can calculate the scientists age (my 5th grade learners did this without being asked) and try to think of other events that were happening at the time. Consider building a timeline. For living scientists, look up their data and see if you can interpret a graph.
Lesson 1: Energy in Air can be seen in Temperature and in Wind…
Scientist You Should Know
Eunice Foote (1819-1888) published the first paper about carbon dioxide and warming. Fortunately we can still get the paper and read what she did! Recreating original research is really #PracticingScience #ClimateExperiments #EnergyInAir Read more about Eunice Foote (all over the internet, but also in the excellent article I screen captured here): https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/02/11/why-climate-science-needs-more-women-scientists/
Here is the actual manuscript as published in 1856:
Listen, you can make carbon dioxide/carbonic acid by putting a little baking soda with a little vinegar in a glass juice bottle with a lid and replicate a pioneering 1856 experiment. Her data tables are super straightforward.
Introducing the Concept
I mean, I guess we can use the phrase “Kinetic Molecular Theory,” but why? It depends on the verbal level of the learners.
Here’s some dancy stuff. You can just make everybody wiggle more when the temperature goes up.
So, next, Crash Course Kids does some super verbal explanations of weather. Here’s the one on Wind (Energy in Air). If you want to keep going, try watching the one on Convection also.
SciShow Kids is somewhat less verbal. It also has a squeaky little mouse situation…
Experiencing the Science
I have two formal air convection demos for you to try. Also, though, go watch the wind. Feel the wind. It’s fun to move stuff around with a little fan or by blowing through a straw. Maybe different fan settings push a paper boat differently. Just blowing a fan on our face and letting it move our hair. Wait, why does our hair move? Can we shield our hair from the wind? (If you want to know why we can make wind with our breath, explore the way your torso gets big and small to change air pressure in our bodies. The IB Biology curriculum (Topic 6) calls it “Ventilation” because it’s not the same as the biochemical process of respiration. It’s the diaphragm, but also muscles between the ribs called intercostal muscles.)
“Convection” comes from the Latin “con” that means “together” and “vehere” that means “carry.” It refers to movement in a fluid that results from less dense hot material rising and more dense cold material falling. You can “see” and “hear” convection with this little candle pinwheel situation I grew up having as a Christmas decoration. You can make it into an experiment if you change one variable in the system (e.g., candle number, candle length, pinwheel mass) while you measure some response to that change. The little tingling bells can provide a way to count rotations.
Okay, here’s a demo you can try at home. I used an empty aquarium, a lamp with an incandescent bulb (purchased at a thrift shop, bulb included), ice, incense, and aluminum foil to cover the aquarium (it makes an atmosphere). I also used an infrared surface thermometer to measure the temperature.
Below is a link to a sea breeze diorama craft! I love a diorama:
Responding and practicing
I will do a post on variables. It’s a whole lesson. But, the idea is that for every system you can make a list of things that can change or be changed. Isolated little factors that impact the system. I made an anchor chart at school.
Well, so, what are the variables in the smoky aquarium?
Change some stuff around and see what happens. Now it’s an experiment.
Make it more verbal
List the variables, talk about which ones are controlled and measured and changed. Talk about how this system compares to the system it’s meant to model (global wind currents). Write a well-cited research paper about global wind currents and how the Earth’s change in temperature is likely to impact them and what impact that will have on weather patterns. OR, get more creative and tell a story. Watch a movie about Eunice Foote and review it. Read this article on Science Journal for Kids:
Make it more analytical
What can you measure in all these systems? How can you analyze your data? Keep a lab notebook of your observations, measure everything you can think of. Can you take still photos of the smoke and measure the sizes of the currents? Can you count chiming bells to see how fast the pinwheel is turning? Can you subtract anything from anything else or calculate a rate or draw some graphs and calculate some slopes? Take a look at the scientific journal articles by Eunice Foote and the one in Science Journal for Kids. Check out the data. Do you agree with the authors’ analyses?
Try upcycling some household objects to make an anemometer or a weathervane.
Make it multisensory (often for younger or less verbal learners)
Can you move your body like a tree in light wind? What are you moving? What are you keeping still? How do we know it’s a tree? Now, what about strong wind? What about a hurricane?
Fly a kite. How strongly is the wind pulling on the string?
One (compound) word, y’all: windchimes
Make it creative
Those verbal creative kids can write a story about wind. Do y’all do that thing where you tell stories with three things? Do wind, a tree, and a hairdo OR make it analytical and do heat, air molecules, and a pinwheel.
Draw something or sculpt a tree that’s in different types of wind. Another game we play is “add-on” wherein everybody draws the same stuff in their picture, but everyone takes turns adding on. Start with drawing a lady on a windy day. Add on a kite. Add on her dog. This kind of thing.
Pretend to blow each other over.
Listen to music inspired by the Wind. (Here’s another list.)
Hold it, what is happening here!?!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eerie-instruments-played-by-the-wind
Also, obviously there are an absolute ton of instruments played with breath, right? They’re called “wind instruments.” Play some. Think about air having energy and moving around and transferring energy to other stuff…