Weather and Climate: a Teachers’ Guide
Pathway: Basic Weather, Climate
Weather in our Lives – Weather Measurements – Weather and Climate
Lesson overview: In this lesson we look at the difference between weather and climate and introduce climate graphs.
Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. The weather, or the current atmospheric conditions in a given place, can change rapidly and from place to place. The climate is the average weather. Climate information tells you what weather is most likely (the weather you ‘expect’) as well as what extreme weather might occur. The climate changes on timescales which are much longer than the timescales over which the weather changes.
Learning objectives:
- To be able to distinguish between weather and climate.
- To understand and be able to plot a climate graph.
- To be able to interpret climate graphs for different places and make comparisons.
Key Teaching Resources
Weather and Climate PowerPoint
Weather and Climate PowerPoint (easier)
Climate Graph Worksheet
Climate Graph Worksheet (easier)
Dalwhinnie and Reading data
Teacher CPD/ Extended Reading
Weather and Climate – More for Teachers
Alternative or Extension Resources
Weather and climate data from tree rings for Teachers and Student worksheet
A dice game to investigate the difference between weather and climate Excel spreadsheet and Introductory ppt
