Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th instructional activity in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature variations for one location, and ground-level ozone concentrations. Learners compare these three variables in order to understand if the heat wave is a weather pattern or one sign of climate change.

Concepts

weather patterns, weather data, climate change, the ozone layer

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Extend the research with a more recent heat waves, such as those in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, or 2016 in the United States
• Review the signs and symptoms of dehydration and heat stroke for those that might be unfamiliar

Classroom Considerations

• Requires prior knowledge of the radiation spectrum and the ozone

Pros

• Includes two pages of tech tips for the programs and data sets used during the lesson
• Provides a long list of links covering the prerequisites, vocabulary, learning links, student resource, and further learning
• Designed to meet the National Science Education Standards, National Education Technology Standards, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Education Standards, Climate Literacy Principles, and Energy Literacy Principles

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.7 RST.9-10.8 RST.11-12.7 RST.11-12.8