#4550. Weather in the World

Mathematics, level: Middle
Posted Sun Apr 24 19:34:54 PDT 2011 by AMathTeacher (AMathTeacher).
Beatrice, NE, USA
Materials Required: Computers with Internet & MS Word
Activity Time: One Class Period
Concepts Taught: Addition & Subtraction of Integers

Weather in the World

Subject Area: 7th Grade Math
Grade Level: 7

Lesson Summary
Students will choose ten cities throughout the world that they would like to travel to with their grandparent(s). They will use an internet weather website to research the actual high temperature for a specified day for their chosen locations. They will then determine whether their grandparent would be able to handle the temperature change between home and their chosen location. This will be accomplished by researching an internet weather website to find actual high temperatures on a given date.

Instructional Objectives
Objective 1: Students will determine the difference between two temperatures using proper rules for addition and subtraction of integers.
Objective 2: Students will organize their data and draw conclusions for which cities they could travel to with their grandparent(s).

Computer Functions
1. Students will use internet maps to find a city they would like to travel to.
2. Students will use an internet weather website to research historical high temperatures for a given city.
3. Student will prepare a table in Microsoft Word that summarizes their findings.

Specific Problem
Your grandparent(s) would like to take you on a trip. You must choose ten cities throughout the world that you might like to travel to on December 30. The average high temperature for the city you will be departing from is -14ºF. Your grandparent(s) do not handle temperature changes of more than 50 degrees very well. Determine which of the ten cities you could travel to and keep your grandparent(s) in good health.

Research and Analysis
1. Students will use Google Maps to select ten cities from varying locations (at least one city from each continent excluding Antarctica) throughout the world.
2. Students will determine the high temperature for each location for December 30 of the previous year using an internet weather website.
3. Students will use proper rules for addition and subtraction of integers to determine the temperature difference between the two cities.
4. Students will organize their data and determine which cities they could travel to with their grandparent(s).

Results Presentation
Students will create a table in Microsoft Word that lists the ten cities, temperatures, and temperature differences. One paragraph at the end of the table will summarize the results of their research and calculations.

Student Activities During Computer Use
1. Students will use Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to round out their list of ten cities they want to travel to.
2. Students will look up the actual high temperature for the city on December 30 of the previous year using a weather history website (http://www.wunderground.com/history/).
3. Students will create a table in Microsoft Word that lists the ten cities, their temperatures, and temperature differences. They will write one paragraph at the end of the table that tells which cities they could travel to while keeping their grandparent(s) in good health. The paragraph will also indicate which city they would prefer to travel to and one reason why they want to go there.

Student Activities Before Computer Use
1. Students will brainstorm and record names of cities they would like to travel to.
2. Before using Microsoft Word, students will compute the difference of temperatures between departing city and arrival city. They will also review their data, determine which cities would be safe for their grandparent(s) to travel to, and decide which city they would prefer to go to.

Student Activities After Computer Use
Students will review their data, verify there are no calculation errors, and make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes in their Word document.

Supporting Activities
1. Students can play an integer addition and subtraction game on the internet called Diffy (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_326_g_3_t_1.html?from=category_g_3_t_1.html)
2. Students can research actual temperatures and averages for the city they want to travel to for different times of the year and determine the best time of year to travel there.

Assessment
The Word document will be evaluated using a rubric.