ALEX Classroom Resource

  

Severe Storms StudyJam

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

Severe Storms StudyJam

URL:

https://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/weather-and-climate/severe-storms.htm

Content Source:

Other
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/
Type: Interactive/Game

Overview:

Severe storms can really wreak some havoc on the Earth. Thunderstorms bring lightning and strong winds, but tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards can cause even greater destruction.

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe types of severe weather that can occur and their possible impacts on Earth. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: K
10 ) Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasts in planning for, preparing for, and responding to severe weather.*


NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.8: Weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.

NAEP Statement::
E4.9: Scientists use tools for observing, recording, and predicting weather changes from day to day and during the seasons.


Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth and Human Activity
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecast in planning for severe weather.
  • Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecast in preparing for severe weather.
  • Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecast for responding to severe weather.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Weather
  • Forecasting
  • Severe
  • Purpose
  • Obtain Information
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • There are patterns related to local severe weather that can be observed (e.g., certain types of severe weather happen more in certain places).
  • Weather patterns (e.g., some events are more likely to occur in certain regions) help scientist predict severe weather before it happens.
  • Severe weather warnings are used to communicate predictions about severe weather.
  • Weather forecasting can help people plan for, and respond to, specific local weather (e.g., responses: stay indoors during severe weather, go to cooling centers during heat waves; preparations: evacuate coastal areas before a hurricane, cover windows before storms).
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the world.
  • Obtain, evaluate and communicate information from observations and grade appropriate text or media.
  • Obtain information to describe patterns in the natural world.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Severe weather has causes that generate observable patterns.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Weather Walk
*Weather, STC
*Sunny Sandbox, ETA/hand2mind
*Clouds, GLOBE

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.K.10- Associate seasons of the year with various weather conditions and identify how to prepare for certain conditions (e.g., tornados, floods, snow).


Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 6
Earth and Space Science
12 ) Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information (e.g., weather maps; diagrams; other visualizations, including radar and computer simulations) to support the claim that motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

a. Use various instruments (e.g., thermometers, barometers, anemometers, wet bulbs) to monitor local weather and examine weather patterns to predict various weather events, especially the impact of severe weather (e.g., fronts, hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, ice storms, droughts).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information; Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Support the claim that motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions using qualitative scientific and technical information.
  • Monitor local weather using a variety of instruments.
  • Examine weather patterns to predict various weather events, especially the impact of severe weather.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Integrate
  • Qualitative scientific information
  • Technical information
  • Weather map
  • Radar
  • Visualization
  • Weather
  • Air mass
  • Temperature
  • Pressure
  • Humidity
  • Precipitation
  • Wind
  • Uniform
  • Temperature
  • Moisture
  • Landform
  • Current
  • Probability
  • Atmosphere
  • Monitor
  • Instruments
  • Predict
  • Weather patterns
  • Severe weather
  • Temperature
  • Moisture
  • Pressure
  • Humidity
  • Precipitation
  • Wind
  • Atmosphere
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Qualitative scientific and technical information may include weather maps, diagrams, and visualizations, including radar and computer simulations.
  • Qualitative scientific information may be obtained through laboratory experiments.
  • Weather is the condition of the atmosphere as defined by temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind.
  • An air mass is a large body of air with uniform temperature, moisture, and pressure.
  • Air masses flow from regions of high pressure to low pressure, causing weather at a fixed location to change over time.
  • Sudden changes in weather can result when different air masses collide.
  • The distribution and movement of air masses can be affected by landforms, ocean temperatures, and currents.
  • Relationships exist between observed, large-scale weather patterns and the location or movement of air masses, including patterns that develop between air masses (e.g., cold fronts may be characterized by thunderstorms).
  • Due to the complexity and multiple causes of weather patterns, probability must be used to predict the weather.*Local atmospheric conditions (weather) may be monitored by collecting data on temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, and wind.
  • Instruments may be used to measure local weather conditions. These instruments may include, but are not limited to, thermometers, barometers, and anemometers.
  • Weather events, specifically severe weather, can be predicted based on weather patterns.
  • Severe weather may include, but is not limited to, fronts, thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, ice storms, and droughts.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Make a claim, to be supported by evidence, to support or refute an explanation or model for a given phenomenon, including the idea that motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
  • Identify evidence to support the claim from the given materials including qualitative scientific and technical information.
  • Evaluate the evidence for its necessity and sufficiency for supporting the claim.
  • Determine whether the evidence is sufficient to determine causal relationships between the motions and complex interactions of air masses and changes in weather conditions.
  • Consider alternative interpretations of the evidence and describe why the evidence supports the claim they are making, as opposed to any alternative claims.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence and evaluation to the claim that motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
  • Use instruments to collect local weather data.
  • Monitor local weather data.
  • Use patterns observed from collected data to provide causal accounts for weather events and make predictions.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns. Because these patterns are so complex, weather can only be predicted based on probability.
  • Instruments may be used to monitor local weather.
  • Weather patterns can be used to predict weather events.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Understanding Weather and Climate (for both 12 and 12a)

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.6.12- Recognize interactions of air masses as the cause of changes in weather.
SCI.AAS.6.12a- Distinguish which scientific instrument would be used to measure weather conditions (i.e., temperature, wind speed, and air pressure); identify weather conditions including sunshine, clouds, rain, ice storms, and blizzards.


Tags: blizzard, hurricane, severe storms, thunderstorms, tornado
License Type: Custom Permission Type
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Accessibility
Comments

The test may be completed as a whole group or independently on student devices. 

  This resource provided by:  
Author: Hannah Bradley
Alabama State Department of Education