# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Amy Cowen on April 10, 2023 3:00 PM
Use these free STEM lessons and activities to explore weather science and climate with K-12 students.
Weather science appears at various points in the K-12 science curriculum. Many elements of weather are easily observable by students of all ages, which makes teaching introductory weather concepts accessible to even the youngest of students. Evidence of "weather" can be felt in the air (do you need a jacket today?), observed in how a kite flies or how the trees move (is it windy?), or seen in the form of rain drops, snowflakes, or fog. As they continue to learn about weather science, students move from qualitative to quantitative observations. With simple tools, they can take measurements, gather and record data, and then analyze their data to make connections and draw conclusions. [See the bottom of this resource for additional summary information about teaching K-12 students about weather science.]

The free STEM lessons and activities below cover the relationship between the Sun and temperatures on Earth; how the water cycle creates patterns of precipitation; how tools like thermometers, barometers, and anemometers work to measure weather variables; how meteorologists make predictions about (or forecast) the weather; how weather patterns are related to seasons and the tilt of the Earth in relation to the Sun; how understanding weather patterns is important for the development of alternative energy solutions; and more.

To make it easy to locate materials for teaching a specific weather topic, the lessons below have been grouped as follows:

Note: Science Buddies Lesson Plans contain materials to support educators leading hands-on STEM learning with students. Lesson Plans offer NGSS alignment, contain background materials to boost teacher confidence, even in areas that may be new to them, and include supplemental resources like worksheets, videos, discussion questions, and assessment materials. Activities are simplified explorations that can be used in the classroom or in informal learning environments.

Lesson Plans and Activities to Teach About Weather

Classroom Weather Station

In the Weather Stations and Weather Forecasts: Can You Do It Yourself? lesson, students make various weather monitoring tools that function as part of a DIY weather station. With these tools, students can observe and collect weather-related data, learn about weather patterns and weather forecasting. The weather station lesson incorporates lessons for building simple weather monitoring instruments like an anemometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and a rain gauge. The lesson includes a weather forecasting activity to do with students using the weather data they collect. Questions: Why do weather patterns vary from place to place? How far in advance can meteorologists predict the weather?

Temperature

Even though the Sun is about 93 million miles away, some of the light it radiates reaches Earth. In the How Sunlight Warms the Earth lesson, students experiment to see how the Sun's light warms up the surface of materials on Earth. Using cups filled with different materials, such as soil, water, and rocks, students explore what happens to each material when the cups are placed in sun or shade. ( Note: Thermometers are discussed in this lesson, but observations of temperature in the activity are qualitative and do not use a thermometer.) Question: Why do some materials warm up more or less than others after sitting in the sun?

Precipitation

Wind

In the Wild Wind! Making Weather Vanes to Find Prevailing Winds lesson, students learn about global, prevailing, and local winds. While the direction of local winds may vary throughout the day, most wind in an area comes from the same ( prevailing) direction. For engineers, understanding typical prevailing wind patterns would be important in effectively designing and positioning electricity-generating windmills, for example, or developing other solutions to harness wind for energy. To explore wind direction, students make wind vanes out of paper, straws, and soda bottles. They then monitor local winds and use their data to complete a Wind Rose diagram that helps show prevailing wind direction at a glance. Questions: What causes winds? What are the differences between global winds, prevailing winds, and local winds?

In the Weather: Can You Measure Wind? video lesson, students learn how wind speed is measured and build anemometers (wind speed meters) from paper cups and straws. Video Lessons are self-paced and guide students through background information, a hands-on activity, and reflection.

Air Pressure & Atmospheric Science

Depending on the time of day and the weather, you might describe the sky as blue, or pink, or purple, or grey, or a combination of colors! Light from the sun is white light. It contains all the colors, which we can see in rainbow form when light is refracted by a prism. In the Sky Science lesson, students explore how the colors we see in the sky are related to how light from the sun passes through our atmosphere. Questions: Why is the sky viewed from the Moon always dark, but the sky viewed from Earth seems to have many colors at different times of the day? How does milk act like the Earth's atmosphere in this experiment? How does weather relate to the colors we see in the sky? ( Note: For an informal exploration of sky colors, see the Sunset Colors in a Glass activity. In this activity, students use white light to create a simulated sunset in a jar!)

Note: For more lessons on the physics of light, see 16 Science Projects and Lessons About Visible Light.

In the What Causes Lightning? video lesson, students learn about static electricity, and the triboelectric effect. After talking about lightning in the context of static electricity and Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment, students build a simple electroscope, a device that can detect electrical charges, and use it to investigate how well different materials build up electrical charges. Video Lessons are self-paced and guide students through background information, a hands-on activity, and reflection.

Weather and Seasons

Note: For more STEM lessons and science activities related to specific seasons, see 19 Fall Science Activities, Winter Science Projects, Lessons, and Activities, and 26 Science Experiments for Spring.

Teaching About Weather in K-12

As students learn about weather and what causes weather patterns and changes, they also make connections to seasons and the water cycle. Beginning in upper elementary grades and continuing through high school, students can build upon weather science concepts to explore climate on both local and global levels. With global climate change and global warming being important challenges faced by Earth today and in the future, learning about weather science and understanding the connections between other aspects of human society and weather is important for all students.

Vocabulary

The following word bank contains words that may be covered when teaching about weather using the lessons and activities in this resource.

Thematic Collections

Collections like this help educators find themed activities in a specific subject area or discover activities and lessons that meet a curriculum need. We hope these collections make it convenient for teachers to browse related lessons and activities. For other collections, see the Teaching Science Units and Thematic Collections lists. We encourage you to browse the complete STEM Activities for Kids and Lesson Plans areas, too. Filters are available to help you narrow your search.

You Might Also Enjoy These Related Posts:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
17 Weather Science Projects and Lessons | Science Buddies Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teach K-12 students about weather science and climate with free hands-on STEM lessons, weather science projects, and activities!

# data[].attributes.body
Use these free STEM lessons and activities to explore weather science and climate with K-12 students.

Weather science appears at various points in the K-12 science curriculum. Many elements of weather are easily observable by students of all ages, which makes teaching introductory weather concepts accessible to even the youngest of students. Evidence of "weather" can be felt in the air (do you need a jacket today?), observed in how a kite flies or how the trees move (is it windy?), or seen in the form of rain drops, snowflakes, or fog. As they continue to learn about weather science, students move from qualitative to quantitative observations. With simple tools, they can take measurements, gather and record data, and then analyze their data to make connections and draw conclusions. [See the bottom of this resource for additional summary information about teaching K-12 students about weather science.]

The free STEM lessons and activities below cover the relationship between the Sun and temperatures on Earth; how the water cycle creates patterns of precipitation; how tools like thermometers, barometers, and anemometers work to measure weather variables; how meteorologists make predictions about (or forecast) the weather; how weather patterns are related to seasons and the tilt of the Earth in relation to the Sun; how understanding weather patterns is important for the development of alternative energy solutions; and more.

To make it easy to locate materials for teaching a specific weather topic, the lessons below have been grouped as follows:

Weather Station

Temperature

Precipitation

Wind

Air Pressure & Atmospheric Science

Seasons

Note: Science Buddies Lesson Plans contain materials to support educators leading hands-on STEM learning with students. Lesson Plans offer NGSS alignment, contain background materials to boost teacher confidence, even in areas that may be new to them, and include supplemental resources like worksheets, videos, discussion questions, and assessment materials. Activities are simplified explorations that can be used in the classroom or in informal learning environments.

Lesson Plans and Activities to Teach About Weather

Classroom Weather Station

1. Weather Stations and Weather Forecasts: Can You Do It Yourself?

In the Weather Stations and Weather Forecasts: Can You Do It Yourself? lesson, students make various weather monitoring tools that function as part of a DIY weather station. With these tools, students can observe and collect weather-related data, learn about weather patterns and weather forecasting. The weather station lesson incorporates lessons for building simple weather monitoring instruments like an anemometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and a rain gauge. The lesson includes a weather forecasting activity to do with students using the weather data they collect. Questions: Why do weather patterns vary from place to place? How far in advance can meteorologists predict the weather?

# data[].attributes.body
Earth Science Projects

For high-interest Earth Science projects for elementary and middle school students, see:

Elementary School:

Model Water Flow in Rivers

Go with the Flow: Model Rivers with Cornmeal, Sand, & Water

Rocky Secrets: Where Does Oil Hide

Soil Compaction

Middle School:

Harvesting Fresh Water With a Fog Catcher

Can Plants Stop Soil Erosion?

How Acidic Waters Make Rocks Disappear

How Old Is That Rock? Roll the Dice & Use Radiometric Dating to Find Out

Is There a Whole Lot of Shaking Going On? Make Your Own Seismograph and Find Out!

Pop Goes the Geyser!

Speleology: Counting Formations in a Local Cave

For other Earth Science projects for elementary school, browse:

Geology Science projects

Environmental Science projects

Ocean Sciences projects

Weather and Atmosphere Science Projects

# data[].attributes.body
Earth Science Lessons and Activities

These STEM lessons and activities bring Earth Science to life for students:

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties & Classify: Explore the physical characteristics of different types of rocks to identify them as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary.

Model the Rock Cycle with Crayons: Make colorful sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous "rocks" from crayon shavings and experiment to learn how rocks are turned into other types of rocks. (STEM activity available.)

Candy Core Samples: Make rock "core samples" from candy bars to simulate how rock samples can be compared and identified by looking at the layers.

How Dirt Cleans Water: Experiment to see how soil can be used to filter groundwater.

Make Your Own Seismograph: Build a simple seismograph from a cardboard box and experiment to see how this device records ground movement like earthquake shaking. (See also the Measuring Earthquakes lesson.)

Make a Water Cycle Model: Build a physical model of the water cycle and use it to simulate and observe evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and other water cycle processes. (See also Make a Miniature Water Cycle Model (in a bag) activity.)

﻿

Weathering: Where Does Sand Come From? (Video lesson): Learn how weathering creates smooth rocks, sinkholes, and caves, and do a hands-on activity with sugar cubes to explore the formation of sand. (STEM activity available.)

# data[].attributes.headline
Lezioni pronte per insegnare l'elettricità

# data[].attributes.subject
Lezioni pronte per insegnare l'elettricità

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
16 Science Experiments to Teach About Electricity | Science Buddies Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teach K-12 students about electricity with free hands-on STEM lessons and activities!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Overview

If you love doing arts and crafts with your students, this lesson plan is for you! Teach them about energy, electricity, and circuits as they build light-up sculptures, using something they are all familiar with-play dough! Clear step-by-step instructions are provided and no previous experience with circuits is required.

NGSS Alignment

This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations:

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

This lesson focuses on these aspects of NGSS Three Dimensional Learning:

Science & Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations. Make observations to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution.

PS3.A: Definitions of Energy. Energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects or through sound, light, or electric currents.

PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer. Energy can also be transferred from place to place by electric currents, which can then be used locally to produce motion, sound, heat, or light. The currents may have been produced to begin with by transforming the energy of motion into electrical energy.

Energy and Matter. Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.

Credits

Ben Finio, PhD, Science Buddies

This lesson plan was inspired by the Squishy Circuits project, developed by Dr. AnnMarie Thomas at the University of St. Thomas.

Materials

For each group of students you will need:

Electric Play Dough Kit available for purchase from our partnerHome Science Tools. Includes:

4xAA battery holder

Piezoelectric buzzer

Jumbo LEDs (25 total - 5 each in red, green, white, yellow, and blue)

White insulating dough (3.5 oz)

Red, blue, and green conductive dough (3.5 oz each)

AA batteries (4, not included in the kit).

Optional: in addition to the dough included in the kit, you can make your own conductive and insulating dough (for example, if you want other colors). See Electric Play Dough Recipes for materials and directions for making your own dough. You can also use store-boughtPlay-Doh® (replaces conductive dough) andmodeling clay (replaces insulating dough).

Electricity, energy, circuit, conductor, insulator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you love doing arts and crafts with your students, this lesson plan is for you! Teach them about energy, electricity, and circuits as they build light-up sculptures, using something they are all familiar with-play dough! Clear step-by-step instructions are provided and no previous experience with circuits is required.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your retina, which covers the back of the eye, contains light receptors called rods and cones. Rods are used for night vision and they only let you see in shades of gray. You have only one type of rod but three types of cones. Cones let you see in color as long as it's not very dark.

All three types of cones respond to a wide range of wavelengths, but one type is the most sensitive to long wavelengths (the red end of the spectrum), one to medium wavelengths, and one to short wavelengths (the blue end of the spectrum). With just these three types of cones, we are able to perceive more than a million different colors.

When a red light, a blue light, and a green light are all shining on the screen, the screen looks white because these three colored lights stimulate all three types of cones in your eyes approximately equally, creating the sensation of white. Red, green, and blue are therefore called additive primaries of light.

With these three lights you can make shadows of seven different colors-blue, red, green, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow-by blocking different combinations of lights (click to enlarge diagram below). When you block two lights, you see a shadow of the third color-for example, block the red and green lights and you get a blue shadow. If you block only one of the lights, you get a shadow whose color is a mixture of the other two. Block the red light and the blue and green light mix to create cyan; block the green light and the red and blue light make magenta; block the blue light and red and green make yellow. If you block all three lights, you get a black shadow.

You can achieve a similar effect by turning off different lightbulbs. If you turn off the red light, leaving on only the blue and green lights, the entire screen will appear cyan. And when you hold an object in front of the screen, you will see two shadows, one blue and one green. In one place, the object blocks the light coming from the green bulb, leaving a blue shadow; in the other location it blocks the light from the blue bulb, leaving a green shadow.

When you move the object close to the screen, the shadows overlap, leaving a very dark (black) shadow where the object blocks both lights. When you turn off the green light, leaving on the red and blue lights, the screen will appear to be magenta, a mixture of red and blue. The shadows will be red and blue. When you turn off the blue light, leaving on the red and green lights, the screen will appear to be yellow. The shadows will be red and green.

It may seem strange that a red light and a green light mix to make yellow light on a white screen. It just so happens that a particular mixture of red and green light stimulates the cones in your eyes exactly as much as they're stimulated by yellow light-that is, by light from the yellow portion of the rainbow-so your eye can't tell the difference. Whether a mixture of red and green light or yellow light alone-whenever the cones in your eye are stimulated in just these proportions, you'll see the color yellow.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When lights of different colors shine on the same spot on a white surface, the light reflecting from that spot to your eyes is called an additive mixture because it is the sum of all the light. We can learn about human color perception by using colored lights to make additive color mixtures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Come costruire un fenachistoscopio - Laboratorio STEAM - FocusJunior.it

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Amy Cowen on September 16, 2021 3:00 PM
Teaching students about the engineering design process helps prepare them to do engineering projects and think like engineers when it comes to problem solving, troubleshooting, and brainstorming solutions and inventions. With a combination of free videos, lessons, and learning materials, you can choose the tools that best suit the needs of your classroom.
Teaching Steps of the Engineering Design Process

If you teach the scientific method to students, you know that many engineering projects don't quite fit those steps. The engineering design process (or engineering method) offers a similar set of steps for students working on engineering projects and inventions. Engineering design projects don't have a hypothesis to test. Instead, they have a challenge or problem that needs to be solved and, often, a set of design constraints that need to be taken into consideration when brainstorming and prototyping solutions.

One of the most important elements of the engineering design process is an emphasis on iteration. Using the engineering design process, solutions to meet a set of requirements are brainstormed, designs are considered, a design is prototyped and tested, and what is learned from the testing is used to improve and modify the prototype. This iterative cycle may continue a number of times as a product or solution is developed, tested, modified, and tested again. When something doesn't work as expected during testing, engineers iterate to find new or better approaches. Rather than looking at problems as failures, engineers use problems as touchstones for iteration.

Free Tools to Teach the Engineering Design Process

As you get ready to introduce or review the engineering method, these resources can help you reach students in different ways:

1. Engineering Design Process Videos

The Engineering Design Process: An Eggstronaut Mission video walks students through the engineering design process using an example involving designing a landing device for a fictional eggstronaut character. In the video, students follow along as the challenge (need) is outlined, background research is conducted, possible approaches are brainstormed, a prototype is made and tested, and then changes are made to the prototype to improve the device. The ultimate goal is a landing device that will help protect the eggstronaut. It may take many iterations of the initial design to create a solution.

Educators can watch the video with students in the classroom and discuss the steps or assign watching the video as homework. ( Note: For Google Classroom educators, the video can be assigned using our button for Google Classroom.)

Two additional videos about the engineering design process are also available. To highlight the role of iteration, see the Iteration in the Engineering Design Process video. To help differentiate between the scientific method and the engineering design process, see the Which should you choose? Scientific Method versus Engineering Design Process video.

2. Engineering Design Process Video Lesson

In the How Do Engineers Solve Problems? video lesson, Science Buddies teaches students about the engineering design process. The video lesson guides students in a hands-on activity in which they need to develop paper airplanes that meet certain requirements. By modeling steps engineers take, they learn the importance of specifying constraints and criteria for success early in an engineering task. The self-paced video lesson format allows students to follow along, pausing to do steps of the experiment and to fill in the worksheet.

3. Engineering Design Process Lesson Plans

With our NGSS-aligned lesson plans, educators can teach the engineering design process in the classroom using hands-on activities that help students put the iteration cycle in action as they work through the steps of an engineering design project.

The following Lesson Plans help educators teach the engineering design process:

These lessons each offer an interactive, guided, hands-on activity that can be used to teach the engineering design process. Each lesson contains grade-level NGSS alignment, background information for educators, a hands-on activity, discussion prompts, a worksheet, and an assessment tool. To learn more about Science Buddies Lesson Plans, see How to Use a Science Buddies Lesson Plan.

(For a lesson that focuses on the brainstorming step of the engineering design process, see the Brainstorming for Engineering Projects using SCAMPER lesson.)

There are many other lessons at Science Buddies that use the engineering design process.

To find lessons and activities for your students, see the following grade-level collections:

Examples of K-12 engineering projects include:

For additional lessons, educators can browse all lessons and use the filters to limit the search based on grade, area of science, or other criteria. See also: 12 Engineering Design Challenges Perfect for Remote Learning.

The Science Buddies Engineering Challenge is an annual challenge for students in grades K-12. Each year, students are presented with an engineering challenge that uses a limited number of materials. The challenge takes place in February-March, is open to students around the world, and is typically announced in January. To be alerted when the new challenge is revealed, sign up for our free educator newsletter.

4. Engineering Design Process Project Guide

The Engineering Design Process guide can be used alone or in combination with the videos and lesson plans described above. This resource summarizes the engineering design process and contains in-depth discussion and examples related to individual steps. Individual sections of the project guide can be assigned using the Google Classroom button. An assessment tool is also provided for Google Classroom educators.

The project guide also contains a side-by-side comparison of the scientific method and engineering design process.

What about the Scientific Method?

Like the engineering design process, the scientific method offers a framework that can help guide the design and execution of a science project or science experiment. These methods are similar in some ways, but they differ in significant ways as well.

The scientific method offers a set of steps that help students understand the process of asking a question, doing research, forming a hypothesis, and then putting the hypothesis to the test with an experiment. In learning about the scientific method, students learn about independent, dependent, and controlled variables; the importance of doing multiple trials; what to do when an experiment doesn't go as planned; and how to analyze data and evaluate whether or not the hypothesis was supported.

This video helps explain the differences between the methods:

See also: Comparing the Engineering Design Process and the Scientific Method.

For resources to teach the scientific method, see Four Ways to Teach the Scientific Method.

Bookmark this resource!

You Might Also Enjoy These Related Posts:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4 Ways to Teach Engineering Design | Science Buddies Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Four free plug-and-play lessons, videos, and STEM resources to help you teach the engineering design process with tools, examples, and learning aids that suit the needs of your classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.exploratorium.edu/tinkering/projects/cardboard-automata

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 5 Easy Science Experiments for kids to do at home with Ryan's World!

# data[].attributes.headline
Costruzione semplice di un pendolo con carta  e plastilina

# data[].attributes.subject
Costruzione semplice di un pendolo con carta  e plastilina

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
S6E4: Make your own Pendulum! | Nanogirl's Lab | STEM activities for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
STEAM Explorers Recycle Activities for Kids 2024 - Home

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids can learn about awe-inspiring disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and more with fun projects, printables, and recipes.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.exploratorium.edu/education/ifi/watch-and-do/pendulums

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pendulums Scaffolding Slides - Exploration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Whack-a-Stack_ Physics & Mechanics Science Activity _ Exploratorium Teacher Institute Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bubble Tray_ Chemistry & Waves Science Activity _ Exploratorium Teacher Institute Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Outdoor Shadows_ Light and Shadows Science Activity _ Exploratorium Teacher Institute Project

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/engineering-challenge