Teaching Activities

Lawrence Hall of Science
In this activity, students will use hot and cold water to see how fluids at different temperatures move around in convection currents.

Grade Level: Intermediate (3-5), Primary (K-2)
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Solar radiation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

NOAA Ocean Odyssey: Ocean Currents part of CLEAN Collection

https://aambpublicoceanservice.blob.core.windows.net/oce...

National Ocean Service
This lesson provides a demonstration and lesson focused on ocean currents. The demonstration of how cold water and warm water interact is a strong learning tool for the topic.

Grade Level: Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable, Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Natural Hazards:Extreme Weather, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Meteorology:Extreme weather, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

NOAA Ocean Odyssey: Cycles in the Ocean part of CLEAN Collection

https://aambpublicoceanservice.blob.core.windows.net/oce...

National Ocean Service
In this activity, students connect art and science by creating a drawing and conceptual model of the thermohaline circulation. Students get to create drawings to understand how water moves in the ...

Grade Level: Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person, Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climatology , Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Weather Stations: Winds part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/solar_system/...

Lunar and Planetary Institute
Children use a toaster to generate wind and compare the appliance's heat source to Jupiter's own hot interior. They discover that convection drives wind on Jupiter and on Earth.

Grade Level: Informal, Intermediate (3-5)
Online Readiness: Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Solar radiation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Meteorology:Atmospheric circulation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Weather Stations: Storms part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/solar_system/...

Lunar and Planetary Institute
Children test how cornstarch and glitter in water move when disturbed. They compare their observations with videos of Jupiter's and Earth's storm movements.

Grade Level: Informal, Intermediate (3-5), Primary (K-2)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Meteorology:Atmospheric circulation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Met 101: Basic Weather Processes part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.meted.ucar.edu/mobile/moddescription.php?id=...

The COMET Program
This activity is an overview of basic weather processes, starting with incoming solar radiation and how that establishes basic atmospheric processes.

Grade Level: High School (9-12), College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Solar radiation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Meteorology:Atmospheric circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Climate Variability in the North Atlantic part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/c...

Cindy Shellito, University of Northern Colorado
In this activity, students examine climate variability in the North Atlantic associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NOA) in a case study format.

Grade Level: High School (9-12), College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Oceanography, Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Natural causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Regional climates, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Climate Change:Natural causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Climate Change and the Oceans part of CLEAN Collection

https://explainingclimatechange.com/lesson8/lesson8.html

The King
This activity covers the role that the oceans may play in climate change and how climate change may affect the oceans. It is lesson 8 in a nine-lesson module Visualizing and Understanding the ...

Grade Level: High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14)
Online Readiness: Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Biology:Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Global energy balance, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Modeling the oceanic thermohaline circulation with STELLA part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/complexsystems/a...

Dave Bice, Penn State University
In this activity for undergraduate students, learners build a highly simplified computer model of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and conduct a set of simulation experiments to ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Online Readiness: Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Gulf Stream Heat Budget and Europe's Mild Climate: A Problem-based Learning Activity part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/ex...

Warren C. Tomkiewicz, Plymouth State University
In this role-playing activity, learners are presented with a scenario in which they determine whether the Gulf Stream is responsible for keeping northern Europe warm. They must also address the ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Regional climates
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary