Clouds are both universal and mysterious. The science of clouds helps students feel closer to the sky and in awe of nature as they learn elementary concepts of physics, the water cycle, and atmospheric science. Explore the educational resources in this teaching box and bring cloud science to your elementary students.
Resource Type: Activities
Students learn about the ingredients needed to make a cloud, and the role that air pressure and temperature play in cloud formation.
Students learn that clouds change over time.
Students will understand how different types of clouds form where warm and cold air meet in mid-latitude cyclones and that these storms and clouds will likely change as the climate warms. Students will also learn that changes in clouds due to climate warming may cause even more changes in climate and that this is an area of active research.
This Teaching Box combines activities, data analysis, and discussion to help high school students consider how weather can affect clouds and how clouds can affect climate.
Resource Type: Activities
Students learn that storms with unusual amounts of rainfall can cause a flash flood.
Flash floods happen when quick and heavy rainfall causes placid waterways to turn into raging torrents. This teaching box is filled with explorations and readings that help secondary students learn the science of flash flooding. Students will learn that storms with unusually heavy rainfall can cause a flood, that the shape of the land and the ability of the ground to hold water influences whether a flood is likely, and they will learn how flash flood risk and probability is assessed. Get your feet wet by bringing the science of flash floods.
Resource Type: Activities
Students learn that water flows downhill on land and that the shape of the land and the ability of water to soak into the ground influences whether a rainstorm causes a flash flood.
Students learn how flash flood risk and probability is assessed.
Build your own understanding of flash floods with additional resources, data, maps, and research.