This site facilitates a classroom activity in which students create a hypothesis on cloud formation and then conduct online research to either validate or refute their initial hypothesis. The activity begins with a brief laboratory experiment that demonstrates cloud formation and asks students to generate a hypothesis on how clouds form. The activity then switches to students conducting Internet research. ... Full description.

This is a basic lesson on clouds. Very nice photos of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds are presented on the page as well as a description of all major cloud types and their associated weather. Two activities are presented. One invites the learner to create a cloud, while the other involves creating a collage of cloud images along with information about the weather associated with each cloud type. Full description.

This activity is designed to teach students about the different classes of clouds, as well as how they are classified. Students will learn about classification by performing their own classification of clouds based on information given them by instructors. Students will also use infrared ATP images to study clouds by height, temperature, and appearance. Full description.

This applet presents a visualization of the albedo of the earth. It is one of a series for a textbook. Users can adjust the speed of the visualization. Full description.

This is a simpe Javascript program that allows users to calculate the reflection of solar radiation from various surface conditions on Earth. Full description.

This program uses actual weather data from recent forecasts as part of the students' learning experience. The Users' Guide covers three areas: how to get started (equipment and internet requirements, navigating the homepage), available weather products (maps, datasets, remote imagery), and a listing of miscellaneous materials (map symbols, update schedules for weather products, listings of weather ... Full description.

Clouds comprise a wonderful focus for classroom study. They're ubiquitous, ever-changing, scientifically interesting and, most importantly for teachers, they're cheap. The material presented here includes sections on cloud formation, cloud types, cloud pictures, other cloud-related phenomena, and a glossary. Full description.

In this activity, students track a real winter storm, collect imagery and data, perform an analysis, and make predictions on the storm's path. They will summarize their findings by writing a press release for their local radio station or by producing a report with visuals and graphics for a television broadcast. Instructions for downloading and processing data, images, and weather reports are presented ... Full description.

This activity prepares the student to launch an investigation of the relationship between precipitation and Streamflow for a local watershed. It can enrich a study of the water cycle. Following the step-by-step instruction in a case study you will locate, download, format, and finally graph one year of Web-based data for these two variables. The graph highlights the details of this often complex precipitation-streamflow ... Full description.

In this lesson plan students observe a teacher-directed demonstration that provides a conceptual understanding of latent heat. A reusable handwarmer that uses a solution of sodium acetate is used to illustrate phase changes and the release of energy and latent heat. Full description.