Lesson Plan

Extreme Temperatures: Pre-Virtual Trip

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Weather monitoring equipment in a desert landscape.
Grade Level:
Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Subject:
Science
Lesson Duration:
90 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
5.RI.7, K.SL.1, 1.SL.1, 1.SL.1.a, 1.SL.1.b, 1.SL.1.c, 1.SL.2, 2.SL.1, 2.SL.1.a, 2.SL.1.b, 2.SL.1.c, 2.SL.2, 3.SL.2, 4.SL.2, 5.SL.2, K.W.8, 1.W.7, 1.W.8, 2.W.8, 3.W.7, 3.W.8, 4.W.8
Additional Standards:
Next Generation Science Standards: K-ESS2-1, K-ESS3-2, 2-ESS2-3, 3-ESS2-1, 3-ESS2-2, 3-LS4-3, 3-LS3-2, 3-LS4-2, 4-LS1-1, 4-PS3-2, 5-ESS2-1, MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS2-5, HS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-3, HS-ESS2-4
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.

Essential Question

How can the landscape affect the weather and climate in an area?

Objective

Students will be able to:
• Locate temperature and precipitation data of their local area and three National Park System units.
• Record and analyze data provided by the National Weather Service.
• Express, illustrate, and model data onto charts and graphs.
• Interpret, evaluate, compare, and contrast data.

Background

Death Valley National Park is known as the land of extremes: one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places on Earth. The park drops 282 feet below sea level (-86m) and rises to 11,049 feet (3,368m) above sea level. Geographically, it is in a rain shadow, which means the park experiences the orographic effect lending to extreme temperatures and a dry, barren landscape. These factors are the ingredients to a recipe for an area with extreme temperatures.

Preparation

Download all materials listed under "Lesson Materials." Gather, in addition:

  • Web-enabled laptop(s) or computer(s) for the class or each student

  • Internet connection

  • Access to the National Weather Service’s climate data pages

  • Extreme Temperatures video (available to download)

  • “Collecting Weather Data Tutorial” PowerPoint

  • Printed copies of the “Data Collection Form”

  • Printed copies of “Graphing the Information” templates

Materials

Print a copy for each student (or group).

Download Data Collection Form

Print blank templates for each student (or group).

Download Graphing the Information

Step-by-step instructions on how to complete the data collection form.

Download Collecting Weather Data Tutorial

Lesson Hook/Preview

Ask students, "What words come to mind when you hear the words 'Death Valley'?”

Have them discuss with a partner. After five minutes of partner discussion, in popcorn fashion, ask students to share results to the entire class.

Optional: Record responses to share with the live ranger during the scheduled Virtual Trip.

Procedure

Video

Play the Extreme Temperatures video for students.


Collecting Weather Data

After the video concludes, explain to the students that they will collect data to make observations about the weather in three National Park Service units in the Western United States, plus their home community. Data is collected from the National Weather Service’s climate data pages (*see note below):

  1. Load and project the "Collecting Weather Data Tutorial" PowerPoint for the entire class to see.

  2. Distribute a copy of the "Data Collection Form" to each student.

  3. Using the notes in the PowerPoint for reference, guide students through the process of collecting weather data.
     

Note: Weather data may be missing (“M”) for some months. Consider adapting the activity by pre-selecting months with complete data available.

The tutorial covers and displays two months (July and November) for one park unit/location: Death Valley National Park. During the tutorial, classes should fill in information for ALL months.

Data reported on the National Weather Service climate data pages is reported in degrees Fahrenheit for temperature and inches for precipitation. Classes can convert recorded data if preferred by using the following formulas:

  • °C = (°F – 32) × 5/9
  • mm = in / 0.039370 (number of inches divided by 0.039370)
 

Adaptations:

  1. Students work in teams of 2-4. Each student can be responsible for 1-2 locations.

  2. Students choose their fourth location (instead of the default of their home/local community) for variance across the class.


Graphing the Information

Using the information recorded on the data collection sheet, students will plot the data on two graphs and four charts:

  1. Line graph for maximum daily temperature

  2. Line graph for average daily temperature

  3. Bar chart for average monthly precipitation (by season)

  • Spring

  • Summer

  • Fall

  • Winter

Vocabulary

  • Climate: the usual weather conditions in a certain place or area.

  • Data:  facts about something that you can use for reasoning and math.

  • Evaporation: the act or process of evaporating (changing from a fluid to a gas).

  • Forecast: a guess about the future, especially about weather.

  • Precipitation: water that falls to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

  • Rain shadow: a region of reduced rainfall on the dry side of high mountains.

  • Variable: something that may or does vary or change.

  • Table: a way to organize data using rows and columns.

  • Weather: the state of the atmosphere in a place. Includes heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness.

Assessment Materials

  • Why do some areas get less precipitation than others?

  • How do mountains affect the weather or climate in an area?

  • What factors or variables can affect weather (or climate) in an area?

  • What features affect the weather (or climate) in your home or community?

  • How can extreme temperatures affect living organisms?


Verify the students' graphs accurately reflect the data reported on the data collection form. Graphs should have a title; labels for each axis; and a legend.

Using recorded data and graphs, students should correctly identify which park unit’s weather is most similar to their location or community.

Additional Resources

Contact Information

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Tags: extreme temperatures dry hot temperature desert death valley national park death valley distance learning virtual program earth science geology rain shadow orographic effect virtualdeva weather climate

Last updated: March 3, 2022