Title: Keeping a Record of the Weather and Making a Barometer
Topic: Weather Changes and Air Pressure
Grade Level: 3-5 (Intermediate)

Summary Statement

   These two integrated science activities deal with weather and more specifically air pressure.  The activities are both ongoing, in which they call for active participation daily.  The first activity, “Keeping a Record of the Weather”, students have to chart the daily weather and then compare it to predictions made in local newspapers.  In the second activity, “Making a Barometer”, students have to make daily readings of the air pressure and then apply their readings to predictions of future weather.  For example, when the air pressure rises, chances are a high is coming bringing fair weather.  On the other hand, when the air pressure drops, chances are a low is coming bringing stormy weather along with it.
 

Science Concepts

Students will be able to:
1. record daily weather data for one month.
2. read instruments that are used to measure weather patterns.
3. interpret instruments that are used to measure weather patterns.
4. predict weather patterns from the rise and fall of air pressure.
 

Integrated Concepts

Students will be able to:
 1. compare and contrast the actual weather to the weather predicted in daily
newspapers.
2. manually construct a homemade barometer using various materials.
 

Benchmarks For Science Literacy

BY THE END OF 5th GRADE, STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW THAT:

The Nature of Science – Scientific Inquiry
· Scientists’ explanations about what happens in the world come partly from what they observe and partly from what they think.  Sometimes scientists have different explanations for the same set of observations.

The Nature of Technology – Technology and Science
· Measuring instruments can be used to gather accurate information for making scientific comparisons of objects and events and for designing and constructing things that will work properly.

The Mathematical World – Numbers
· When people care about what is being counted or measured, it is important for them to say what the units are (three degrees Fahrenheit is different from three centimeters and three miles from three miles per hour).

The Mathematical World – Uncertainty
· Events can be described in terms of being more or less likely, impossible, or certain.

Habits of Mind – Values and Attitudes
· Keep records of their investigations and observations and not change the records later.
· Offer reasons for their findings and consider reasons suggested by others.

Habits of Mind – Communication Skills
· Use numerical data in describing and comparing objects and events.
 

Pennsylvania State Standards

Unifying Themes 3.1.4
C. Illustrate patterns that regularly occur and reoccur in nature.
· Identify observable patterns (e.g., growth patterns in plants, crystal shapes in minerals, climate, and structural patterns in bird feathers).
· Use knowledge of natural patterns to predict next occurrences (e.g., seasons, leaf patterns, and lunar phases).

Inquiry and Design 3.2.4
C. Recognize and use the elements of scientific inquiry to solve problems.
· Generate questions about objects, organisms, and events that can be answered through scientific investigations.

Earth Sciences 3.5.4
C. Know basic weather elements.
· Identify weather patterns from data charts (including temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation) and graphs of the data

Technological Devices 3.7.4
B. Select appropriate instruments to study materials.
· Develop simple skills to measure, record, cut, and fasten.
· Explain appropriate instrument selection for specific tasks.
Types of Writing 1.4.3
B. Write informational pieces (e.g., descriptions, letters, reports, and instructions) using illustrations when relevant.

Research 1.8.3
B. Locate information using appropriate sources and strategies.
· Locate resources for a particular task (e.g., newspapers and dictionaries).
 

Activity Information

Materials:
Activity #1
paper
pencils
newspapers
thermometers
barometers
hygrometers
wind vane
rain gauge
Activity #2
glass jar
rubber balloon
rubber band
soda straw
wood from a match
rubber cement
cardboard scale

Implementation:
Activity #1
1. Have the students keep a daily weather chart for a month.
2. Make six columns on a sheet of paper.
3. In the first column write the date and time the weather observations were made.
4. The weather should be observed at about the same time each day.
5. In the other columns record the following information: temperature outdoors, air pressure, humidity, direction of the wind, condition of the sky, and kind and amount of precipitation.
6. In the column describing the condition of the sky, make a small circle.
7. Show how much of the sky is covered with clouds by filling in all, part, or none of the circle.
8. While the students are keeping this chart, have them clip the weather forecast from the newspaper each day of the month.
9. Then, have them compare the actual weather for each day with the weather predicted for that day, to see how often the weather forecast was correct.
Activity #2
1. Obtain a glass jar with a medium-to-narrow mouth.
2. Cut out the dome-shaped end of a rubber balloon and stretch the rubber tightly across the mouth of the bottle or jar, fastening the rubber sheet securely with a rubber band.
3. Flatten both ends of a soda straw and attach the flattened end to the middle of the upper sheet.
4. Cut a tiny piece of wood from a match and glue it at the edge of the rubber sheet so that the straw rests on top of the wood.
a. When the air pressure in the room increases, the rubber sheet is pushed down, making the straw move up.
b. When the air pressure in the room decreases, the greater air pressure inside the bottle now pushes the rubber sheet up, making the straw move down.
5. A cardboard scale can help the students see the change in air pressure.
6. Calibrate the marks on the cardboard scale with the readings on a standard barometer.
7. Keep the homemade barometer in a place as free from temperature changes as possible.
8. Otherwise, the air inside the jar will expand and contract, pushing the rubber sheet in and out.
9. Have the students take barometer readings each day for two weeks or one month and predict the weather on the basis of rising or falling air pressure.
 

Activity Sources

Victor, Edward, and Richard Kellough.  Science for the Elementary and Middle School.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2000.
Benchmarks For Science Literacy  http://www.project2061.org/
Pennsylvania Academic Standards http://www.pde.psu.edu/standard/stan.html