| Wild Weather/ Patagonian Style Instructional
Objectives
Background Material
Activity
Procedure
Web
Resources
Instructional
Objectives:
Students will:
1. Access the World Wide Web to find the different
temperatures on a given day in
Patagonia.(or use sample data provided from the World
Wide Web)
2. Identify the unusual differences in temperatures
from different locations in Patagonia.
3. Record the temperature data from Patagonia on the
map included below.
4. Graph the temperatures found at different sites in
Patagonia and identify the drastic weather
changes in this wilderness area.
Background
Material:
The weather in Patagonia is changeable. Argentine
Patagonia is semi-arid to arid. The Andes in Chile
block storms from the Pacific Ocean. Argentine
Patagonia has very short days in winter and the winds
from the west are very powerful in Patagonia. There
is a remarkable change in temperature between the
north and south in Patagonia. Most of the climate in
Patagonia is temperate; however, temperatures in
winter drop to temperatures below freezing. There is
also forest in Chilean Patagonia and it is more
likely to have stormy weather than in Argentina.
(Bernhardson, Wayne, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay,
A Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit, Lonely Planet
Publications, Australia, 1996.)
Activity:
Wild Weather/ Patagonian Style
Target Grade Level: Middle Level Grades 5-9
Materials Needed:
-Computer with access to the World Wide Web
-Access to the following weather Web site: http://www.weatherunderground.com/global/AG.html
- Printed map and sample weather data included in
this lesson
- Science Journals
- Pencil, graph paper
- Crayons or colored markers.
Procedure:
Have students work in cooperative teams of 2-3 students.
1. Click here
to view and print the map.
2. Access the world wide web and locate the
temperature in each Patagonian Zone. Temperatures
will be in Celsius. These temperatures may be changed
to Fahrenheit . To change to Fahrenheit degrees,
multiply 9 times the Celsius temperature, divide this
by 5 and add 32 degrees. This will give the
Fahrenheit temperatures. I suggest that Celsius
degrees be used as that is the world standard.
3. Read the temperature, change to Fahrenheit degrees
if needed and post temperatures by region on the
Patagonian map.
4. Record temperatures on a given day in science
journals.
5. Create a graph for both minimum and maximum
temperatures from Patagonia map.
6. Discuss reasons for drastic differences in weather
in the different parts of Patagonia.
Evaluation/ Alternative
Assessment:
- Have students present their research on weather
in Patagonia to class.
Display Patagonian weather maps
- Have students display graphs in class, during
presentations or in the school hallway.
- Assess whether the translation from Celsius to
Fahrenheit degrees is correct.
Elementary
Extension:
Have students download map, use Celsius or Fahrenheit
temperatures (Instructor may have to change C degrees
to F degrees depending on grade level)
High School
Extension:
This is an opportunity to develop major projects on
weather and satellite map reading. Have students
research satellite maps and interpret these maps from
key at web sites:
Web
Resources:
The National Weather Service
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
Weather Channel Maps
http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/garden/index_large.html
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