Lesson plan science_Layout 1 12/06/2015 14:50 Page 2

LESSON SCienCe – KS3

PLAN

WHY
TEACH THE
THIS?
Science and drama are not PERFECT
STORM
the most obvious cross-
curricular combination links
but there is no better topic for
them to converge than the
weather. Meteorology and
climate change provide an
opportunity for students to
become weather forecasters,
THERE’S NOTHING BORING ABOUT THE WEATHER, SAYS
meteorologists, newsreaders, DR JOANNA RHODES – AND SHE HAS A FANTASTIC SELECTION
presenters, weathermen,
actors and activists for global
OF ACTIVITIES TO PROVE IT...
climate responsibility. By
teaching this, your students As a nation we talk about the weather more than any other topic of conversation; it is the perfect
will learn about the patterns icebreaker. But how much do your KS3 science students really know about the weather and the processes
of different forms of weather that affect it? How is our weather changing, and will we experience more extreme weather events due to
around the globe, they will be climate change? In this perfect storm of a lesson you can use engaging weather clips from film and
able to describe and television as well as creating your own weather station to bring the weather to life.
understand the effect of The aim of this lesson plan is to really get students active and involved in weather, meteorology, climate
extreme weather and change and media. Weather is an important part of our social identity and it occupies a prime position in
empathise with how climate everyday news media, on phones and apps and in conversation. ‘The Weatherman’ can become a
change is affecting people household name to be both praised when the weather forecast is correct and derided if incorrect (in some
around the globe. cases for years – think hurricanes in the South of England!) Harness the drama of the weather to inspire
your students to make links with media and current affairs in this whirlwind of a lesson.

STARTER ACTIVITY
Rainbow
You usually see a rainbow outside
in the sun and rain. As a visual
starter to this lesson on the
weather, create a rainbow in the
classroom using the technique
described by PhysicsCentral [AR1].
You will need: a shallow pan;
water; a flashlight or sunlight; a
white surface or piece of paper;
and a mirror. To make a rainbow,
fill the shallow pan half full with
water and place the mirror in the
water at an angle. Shine the light
into the water where the mirror is
under water (or, using the sunlight,
bring the pan and mirror outside
so the sun can shine on the mirror
underwater). Hold the white paper
above the mirror; adjust the angle
until you see the rainbow appear!

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Lesson plan science_Layout 1 12/06/2015 14:50 Page 3

LESSON
PLAN

MAIN ACTIVITIES

1. Build a
weather station
Students will enjoy creating their
own instruments to measure the
weather at home or at school.
The Met Office has an online
guide to making your own rain
gauge, weather vane and
thermometer housing [AR2].
Franklin’s Forecast from the
Franklin institute [AR3] has
produced a resource which
explains how to create a number
of additional instruments for
measuring the weather including
barometer, hygrometer and
anemometer for use with the
weather vane. Another superb
weather station resource with
clear and colourful diagrams as
a downloadable pdf file is
available from America’s Ocean
Service nOAA [AR4]. Once
students have created their
instruments they will enjoy using
them over a period of time to log
the weather and compare it with
the local met office weather
station measurements available
online. To help students the Met
Office provides a downloadable
pdf Weather Diary [AR5]
although you may want to
encourage more able students
to create their own and to
design their own ways of
displaying the data graphically.
The Met Office WOW website
(Weather Observations Online)
[AR6] is a source of verified
weather measurements and
even provides members of the
public with the opportunity to
enter their own weather
observations and to register
the impact of severe
weather events.

2. The Perfect Storm

Can you become a storm
chaser? Climate change may be
responsible for more extreme
weather events such as those
attributed to a strengthening of
el niño on land and at sea. news
and film clips can bring this to
life in the classroom. You could
show the super tornadoes
across the central belt of the
USA [AR9], a clip from the film
The Perfect Storm [AR10], a
sandstorm in iraq [AR11] and an
avalanche in the Alps [AR12].
The challenge in this activity is to

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Lesson plan science_Layout 1 12/06/2015 14:51 Page 4
HOME LEARNING
1. Global
Forecasting
In addition to making their
weather station and recording
their local measurements ask
students to select a
worldwide city of their choice
and monitor the weather for a
week using a weather app or
website. Highly rated weather
apps I would recommend on
the Apple App Store include
Weather +, World Weather
Radar and Living Earth, which
shows global cloud patterns,
hurricanes and tropical storms
in stunning 3D simulations as
well as offering an Apple
Watch App. For android users,
the BBC Weather APP and
Met Office Apps lead the way.
Ask students to plot
temperature, wind speed and
rainfall on a graph; using the
activity to practise plotting
different types of graph such
as bar charts for rainfall and
scatter graph for temperature
and wind speed. You could
use the work generated to
create an engaging display
of weather around the world.
Ask students whether they
can spot some patterns
between cities in the Northern
Hemisphere and those in the
Southern Hemisphere and ask
them how they would expect
the results to differ if they
were carried out again in
during each season of
the year.
2. Breezy blogs and
precipitating
podcasts
Ask students to read BBC
weatherman Paul Hudson’s
blog [AR7] and listen to a
podcast on WeatherBrains
[AR8] and then to create their
own blog or podcast based on
either their measurements
with their weather station or
their global city data.
divide into groups and use video
cameras, footage from the
internet and scientific graphics
created using Powerpoint or
similar to film and produce a news
report of an extreme weather
event. Cross-curricular links with
drama and media studies will
ensure this is an activity that will
engage the more visual and
TAKING IT FURTHER
AS AN EXTENSION TO THIS ACTIVITY A MORE ABLE GROUP OF STUDENTS COULD CREATE,
SCRIPT AND FILM THEIR OWN WEATHER FORECAST USING METEOROLOGICAL DATA AND MAPS
FROM THE MET OFFICE WEBSITE AND THEIR OWN PROPS. STRETCH AND CHALLENGE THESE
STUDENTS BY SUGGESTING THEY PROJECT SATELLITE IMAGES AND DATA ON WEATHER FRONTS
ONTO THE CLASS WHITEBOARD AS PART OF THEIR OWN WEATHER FORECAST.
active learners in your groups and
careful group selection is helpful in
putting together teams of students
with a range of skills.
example jobs that each team
could have include researchers,
presenters, scientific experts,
eyewitnesses, a director,
scriptwriter, cameraman
and producer.
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SCienCe – KS3
INFORMATION
CORNER
ABOUT OUR EXPERT
Dr Joanna L. Rhodes
M.Chem, D.Phil, MRSC is a
teacher of science at Shelley
College, Huddersfield.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
[AR1] MAKE A RAINBOW
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM
[AR2] MET OFFICE WEATHER STATION
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM2
[AR3] FRANKLIN’S FORECAST
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM3
[AR4] OCEAN SERVICE NOAA
WEATHER STATION
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM4
[AR5] MET OFFICE WEATHER DIARY
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM5
[AR6] WOW FROM THE MET OFFICE
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM6
[AR7] PAUL HUDSON WEATHER BLOG
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM7
[AR8] WEATHERBRAINS PODCAST
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM8
[AR9] OKLAHOMA
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM9
[AR10] THE PERFECT STORM
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM10
[AR11] SANDSTORM IN IRAQ
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM11
[AR12] AVALANCHE IN THE ALPS
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM12
[AR13] CLIMATE WITNESS
TINYURL.COM/TSPERFECTSTORM13
SUMMARY
Climate Witness
Climate Witness [AR13] is an
online initiative from the World
Wildlife Fund to give people who
are impacted by climate change
the opportunity to share their
stories and experiences. The
website includes Climate
Witness accounts translated
from numerous languages and
from around the world. It is a
very powerful way to begin to
understand the impact climate
change has on people’s lives.
Ask a group of students to pick a
climate witness of their choice
and to present their account as a
play or drama performed for the
rest of the class. You could even
share the best performances as
a whole school assembly or as
part of PSHEE.
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