Unit 5: 3.3 Energy in the Atmosphere; Weather and Climate

1. How does energy transfer from the Sun to Earth and the atmosphere?
2. What causes air and water to flow?
3. How do the interactions of air masses cause changes in weather conditions?
4. What factors determine regional climates?

1. Students will investigate the transfer of energy from the Sun to Earth and the atmosphere.
2. Students will develop and use models to describe the unequal heating of Earth by the Sun and how energy flows through the system of Earth and the atmosphere.
3. Students will explore atmospheric and ocean circulation.
4. Students will develop and use models to describe how unequal heating and rotation of Earth cause global patterns of winds and ocean currents.
5. Students will look for patterns in the weather and explore how and why weather changes.
6. Students will collect data to provide evidence for how the interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
7. Students will explore climate and the factors that determine regional climates.
8. Students will develop and use models to enhance their understanding of how factors including unequal heating by the Sun, latitude, altitude, and patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation determine regional climates.

Formative and Summative assessments.