Overview of Activity

This exercise helps students understand the differences between climate and weather by comparing daily weather data with average data for their hometown.

Grade Level: 6 to 8

Difficulty: Beginner

Activity Type: In Class
URL: http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_2_2_8t.htm
Amount of Time Required for Activity: Introduction: 30 minutes; Student Data Collection: 50 minutes per week; Analysis/Discussion: One 45-minute period

Description
Students collect weather data from a local news source and record the daily data on a graph. They can chart this information for a week or more depending on the length of the unit. They then compare the daily weather data to the average data for their region. Students will observe that daily weather is more variable than the averages for their area. Students make observations about how the daily weather varies from the average climate.

This activity is presented by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Relation to the Science Standards
Middle School
Content Standard D - Structure of the Earth System

Related Part of the Exhibit
Causes of Change

Information on using the material
http://www.dlese.org/dds/view_resource.do?description=COMET-16

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