KS3 fieldwork ideas - Weather and Climate

This live lesson is also from the FSC, but looks at how you can investigate weather and climate. I apologise, the start (1:30 mins) is missing as their servers crashed with the amount of people trying to access the site.

The missing part was an explanation about the difference between weather and climate, which is a common misconception, which if not careful, can be carried through to KS4 and 5 and make the biomes topics and atmospheric circulation much more difficult to pick up. This is why I feel that this lesson should also get credit for its importance in the curriculum.

Weather - the daily, hourly changes that you see from sitting outside or the weather forecast on TV.
Climate - the 30 year average weather, which has been recorded over long periods of time and is used as an average to predict the weather conditions that we should be seeing for this time of year. e.g. that is why the 'beast from the east' was such a big deal, as a weather event like that had not been seen in the climatic data.

The excellent thing about this lesson is that it lets the student complete hands on learning along with the presenter, to record weather conditions, and also talks through the equipment that is being used. This equipment could be used in their KS4 and 5 fieldwork, so it's a great addition. There is also a consolidation exercise, where students use data, answer questions, look at the causes of weather and climate and summarise what they have learned.

It's very comprehensive and detailed - you should definitely give it a go and let us know how you get on! If you're stuck, then tweet or comment for help. We will be having a go at recording weather at home as Storm is learning the words for the different weather types - she likes clouds.

You can find the resources to print here: resources
The lesson here: lesson

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox