ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

In this video Paul Andersen describes both weather and climate.  Weather is the day-to-day conditions on the Earth's surface, including temperature, wind, humidity, air pressure, and precipitation.  Climate are the long term conditions on the Earth's surface.  Both climate and weather are determined by sunlight, water, landforms and life forms.  A K-12 teaching progression is also included.

CCC1: Patterns

Paul Andersen explains patterns and describes why pattern recognition is an important skill in science and engineering.  He begins by discussing patterns in nature, including snowflakes, flower petals, seasons and nucleotides in DNA.  He then illustrates the importance of classification in describing and eventually understanding patterns.  He gives a progression instruction in the science classroom from grade K to 12.  A secret pattern is hidden within the video.

SEP8: Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

Scientists and Engineers spend over half of their working day reading, evaluating and producing text.  Therefore it is important that we produce students that have a high level of scientific literacy.  Students normally struggle with scientific reading due to the high level of jargon and multiple modes of presentation (i.e. graphs, images, data).  We can help our students become more scientifically literate by having them consume and produce scientific text from K to 12.  Several strategies for teaching this progression (e.g. adapted primary literature and mini-posters) are included.