FOSS Next Generation Weather and Water

The Weather and Water Course focuses on Earth’s atmosphere, weather, and water. Understanding weather is more than reading a thermometer and recording measurements. Students learn about atoms and molecules, density, wind, and energy transfer, then investigate phase change, the water cycle, ocean currents, climate change, and meteorology.

Introduce the concept of weather and the tools that meteorologists use to measure and study weather factors.

Investigate the relationship between changing air pressure and wind, and explore a particle model for air pressure.

Develop the concept of density on the way to understanding convection as a mechanism for energy transfer.

Compare cities at different latitudes to discover climate differences, then discover how climate is related to the amount of solar energy transferred to Earth.

Explore conduction to round out understanding of energy transfer and apply the understanding with an engineering challenge to insulate a model house.

Apply the concept of energy transfer by convection, radiation, and conduction to develop a model of global wind patterns.

Focus on the wet part of weather by investigating phase change to understand cloud formation and precipitation.

Learn that the water cycle is complex and involves water everywhere in the global environment.

Refine the distinction between weather and climate, and consider evidence for climate change.

Pull together all the physical science concepts students learned in the course to explain weather.