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Clouds, Models, and Climate Change
Provided by: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative |Published on: April 27, 2021
Lesson Plans
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Synopsis
- This lesson explains the impacts of human activity on the formation of clouds and the role that clouds play in climate change.
- Students will listen to a podcast, create a cloud in a jar, read articles, analyze precipitation maps, answer discussion questions, use an interactive model to learn more about particulates and clouds, and participate in a NASA citizen science project on classifying clouds.
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences
Authors: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will learn that human activity results in increased particulate matter in the air, which affects clouds and their formation.
- A full transcript of the podcast is available and the speed of the audio is adjustable.
- Students will get to work with a real-time interactive model to see how clouds impact weather conditions.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should be familiar with the water cycle and the greenhouse effect.
- Teachers will need materials such as a transparent jar, warm tap water, a metal tray or an ice pack, ice, a spoon, and a match for the activity, Make a Cloud in a Bottle.
Differentiation
- Teachers could use the Wrap-Up Discussion Questions as essay prompts for assessments or homework.
- After reading the passage Climate Models and Uncertainty, students in computer programming or design thinking classes could discuss the role of software development in climate modeling.
- Other resources related to these topics include this lesson on airplanes and climate change, this video on geoengineering, and this video on cloud formation and types of clouds.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Founded in 2014, the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) is MIT’s institute-wide effort to mobilize the substantial scientific, engineering, policy, and design capacity of the MIT community to contribute to addressing climate change and other environmental challenges of global import. ESI pursues multidisciplinary research, education, events, and partnerships to help move society toward an environmentally and socially sustainable future. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts on MIT’s main campus, ESI is powered by a lean staff working closely with students and faculty across the full spectrum of disciplines. Led by architecture professor John E. Fernandez, a leading scholar in the emerging field of urban metabolism, ESI is advised by students, faculty, alumni, and thought leaders from many sectors of society.
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