Teaching Climate

In this resource, students learn about changes in water availability due to drought in California from 2013 to 2017. This resource provides opportunities for students to interpret data and analyze imagery for observational evidence of drought conditions through maps, satellite images, and photographs.

This is a STEM activity to learn how different colors absorb light better than others. Vocabulary and investigating questions are included to facilitate discussion, and a rubric is provided for assessment.

Students work in pairs to pick black and white beads out of a bag to represent the percent of renewable and nonrenewable resources used in different countries, and then graph the information.

This short video demonstrates what causes a thunderstorm.

Students learn about the climate zones of the world by interpreting graphed data, identifying climate zones described in postcards, and deciding what they should pack to visit each of the locations described in the postcards.

Children experiment with freezing water to observe a state change of water, and discover that it is less dense as a solid (ice) than it is as a liquid (water). Amazing Expanding Ice is an overnight activity requiring 20 minutes of preparation, overnight freezing of the experiment, and 10 minutes of follow-up discussion.

Children discover the relationship between temperature and pressure in the lower atmospheres of Jupiter and Earth. They chart the increasing temperature as they add pressure to a 2-liter soda bottle with a Fizz-Keeper Pump.

Students first learn about the complexities of Earth's climate system and the different factors contributing to Earth's energy balance. Then, students categorize the factors that influence climate as warming or cooling factors. Finally, students design art pieces to depict the science behind Earth's climate system and share these artistic creations with families and communities.

Students consider the ways their climate affects their region, by identifying a type of food unique to the region and selecting (and possibly cooking) a recipe that features that ingredient. Optional activities to make the food are also provided.

Children get to know each other through an icebreaker activity that introduces the importance of water on Earth.