This lesson explores climate data at local, national, and global levels to determine that temperatures are changing all over the world, and that there are certain locations where temperatures are warming faster than the global average.

In this activity students will play an “around the world” game to express and explain their preferences when it comes to weather and temperature. Each round, students will choose a photo that best represents their opinion and will then explain to other students why they have that opinion.

Understanding the hazards of space weather on crewed and robotic missions is vital to informing plans for NASA's Journey to Mars and other missions into our solar system, and beyond.

This lesson introduces why certain cities in Colorado are getting hotter using a video by the Denver Post that describes the pattern.

This formative assessment item uncovers student understanding of weather and seasons. It uncovers student ideas about differences in seasons depending on whether a person lives in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, or along the Equator. The probe follows along with National Science Education Standards. Resources are available to assist teachers in background information as well as lesson ideas dealing with the seasons of the world.

How does our climate affect us? How do we decide what to wear each day? What factors determine if our clothing choices are comfortable? What is the source of our water? Students explore characteristics that define climatic regions. They learn how tropical, desert, coastal and alpine climates result in different lifestyle, clothing, water source and food options for the people who live there. They learn that a location's latitude, altitude, land features, weather conditions, and distance from large bodies of water, determines its climate. Students discuss how engineers help us adapt to all climates by designing clothing, shelters, weather technologies and clean water systems.

This resource was created by Jason Smith, in collaboration with Lynn Bowder, as part of ESU2's Mastering the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education and experiential learning.

This resource was created by Dave Privett, in collaboration with Lynn Bowder, as part of ESU2's Mastering the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education and experiential learning.

In this video segment from Planet H20: Water World, experts and teens inside and outside the Great Lakes watershed provide different perspectives on sharing the water from one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world.

During this lesson, students explore the increase in summer temperatures and describe the pattern as it relates to Colorado using a video by the Denver Post.

This lesson has students investigate how albedo is contributing to temperature increasing in some places, like cities, are increasing at faster rates than elsewhere.

This lesson has students explore what land use changes are happening and how changes in surface color affects temperatures in cities.

In this video segment adapted from United Tribes Technical College, listen as six Native American students share their concerns, hopes, and knowledge about climate change.

Understand that tornadoes are weather-related hazards. Understand the characteristics of tornadoes. Identify ways people can protect themselves during a tornado.

Students will learn the difference between global, prevailing and local winds. In this activity, students will make a wind vane out of paper, a straw and a soda bottle and use it to measure wind direction over time. Finally, they will analyze their data to draw conclusions about the prevailing winds in their area.

Students learn about wind energy by making a pinwheel to model a wind turbine. Just like engineers, they decide where and how their turbine works best by testing it in different areas of the playground.

Global wind patterns are dictated by the movement of the Earth on its axis and are significant factors in determining the climate for regions of the planet. Students learn how the Coriolis effect and Hadley convection cells determine the location of deserts on Earth. They manipulate inflated plastic globes to discover how the Coriolis effect drives wind clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Then they incorporate latitudinal differences onto this modeling exercise to understand why deserts form at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Once students understand the importance of global winds, they discuss hydropower in the desert. They compare and contrast two case studies: China’s Three Gorges Dam, and Chile’s proposed plant in the Atacama Desert that would creatively use solar power to move seawater up to the top of a mountain so that it can flow back down and generate power. Students note the economic, environmental, cultural and social impacts, issues and benefits of both power plants. Then they reflect, write, debate and discuss their ideas and opinions using evidence from the case studies and their own research.

This lesson will help students understand how to work as a forensic meterologist. Students will watch a short video of an area experiencing increased weather and storms. Through the use of prompts, students will be able to create a model of what they think is happening and then use that pre-model in other lessons to figure out how water and heat from the sun increase stroms. 

Learn about the environmental conditions of Death Valley in this video from Nature.