Now that students have learned about local winds, they will learn about the coriolis force which drives global winds and storm systems.  To do this, students cut out globes and tacked them to a sheet of paper.  When viewed from space, the northern and southern hemispheres rotate counter-clockwise and clockwise, respectively.  To simulate this, students will draw lines on the hemispheres while rotating them the appropriate directions.  After this, students can see that the coriolis effect deflects wind to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

Students are learning about local winds through notes, discussions and problems.  We relate these to the previous topics of convection and our P.O.E.  Here is an example of the problems they have to do.

Next up is our weather unit! To begin, students will learn about winds.  Students will use their knowledge of temperature, density and freshly learned pressure to understand how global winds form.  

Today, students completed a P.O.E. (Predict, Observe, Explain) using a convection box demonstration.  They also had to draw a diagram showing the movement of air.  Here are some pictures of the demonstration!

Afterwords, students were assigned a three part class/homework assignment.  Students are presented with three images: the convection box from class, a flat image of the earth showing the Equator and North Pole, and a globe.  Students are to indicated the hot/cold locations, draw arrows of air movement, and explain why air moves that way.

Next class, students will learn about the Coriolis force and how this causes the wind patterns on Earth.