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Overview:
This lesson has students consider how various parts of the world and the United States are affected by climate controls such as world air currents. They will read about climate controls and will create maps showing how these controls affect the climate in various places around the country.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, science
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 8: "The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
Objectives:
Students will
- read and discuss the Climate Controls section of the Creative Climates activity;
- use outline maps to label areas that might be affected by climate controls; and
- create maps of specific places in the United States and write captions to show how each of these places might be affected by climate controls.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Have students read the Climate Controls section of the Creative Climates activity, and hold a brief class discussion on the different types of climate controls that are mentioned, using a world wall map as a reference.
Development:
Give each student a blank world outline map. Have them refer to the video clip of world air currents in the Family Xpeditions Xtras section of Creative Climates, and a physical world map (available at MapMachine). Ask them to mark areas on the outline map that they think might be affected by the climate controls they have read about (except for latitude, which is the obvious one).
After students have had a chance to label some places on their own, discuss what they've done and ask them to label the following places in the United States that are definitely affected by climate controls: coastal California, California and Nevada deserts, the Rocky Mountains (and other mountain ranges).
Closing:
Have students look carefully at their maps, and discuss the ways in which they think each of the regions they have mapped is affected by climate controls.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Ask students to write captions to go with their maps describing the factors that control the climate in each place they have labeled. As an option, have students research one or two of these places to find out about the effects of the climate controls on vegetation, animals species, and human life in these areas.
Extending the Lesson:
Have students look at the world climate map and predict what the weather might be like in the following cities: Juneau, Alaska; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Jakarta, Indonesia. Then have them research these places on the Internet and/or in print materials to see if their predictions were accurate. Ask them to find out about each city's weather, including its temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and seasonal variations.
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