Fluid Streams Lesson
Fluid Streams Lesson
Focus on Inquiry
The student will complete a series of stations in order to explain how jet streams and ocean currents
influence local weather.
Inquiry Level of
Lesson Technology
Estimated Time Subskills Student Brief Description
Components Used
Used Engagement
1.3, 2.1, Students will watch a volunteer and
3.1, 3.6, the teacher demonstrate how the
5-10 4.3, 5.2, Fan/hair
Engage Day 1 5.3, 5.4,
3 airflow of a concentrated air source
min dryer
6.1, 6.2, affects the velocity of a paper/balsa
7.1, 7.2 airplane.
3.3, 3.6, Students will explore how global
Computer,
3.7, 4.2, patterns such as jet stream and ocean
Explore 90 min Day 1-4 5.2, 5.3,
i-Pad, 3
currents influence local weather
5.4, 5.9 Laptop
through investigations at 6 stations.
3.3, 3.6, Computer, Students will explain how global
3.7, 4.2,
Explain 90 min Day 1-4 5.2, 5.3,
i-Pad, 3 patterns such as jet stream and ocean
5.4, 5.9 Laptop currents influence local weather.
Students will broaden their knowledge
through a whole group discussion
Expand/Elaborate 15 min. Day 5 5.2, 5.3 None 3
applying their learning from the
stations.
Students will apply their knowledge
Evaluate 20 min. Day 5 7.1, 7.2 None 2 from their learning journey to a formal
evaluation.
Level of Student Engagement
1 Low Listen to lecture, observe the teacher, individual reading, teacher demonstration, teacher-centered instruction
2 Moderate Raise questions, lecture with discussion, record data, make predictions, technology interaction with assistance
3 High Hands-on activity or inquiry; critique others, draw conclusions, make connections, problem-solve, student-centered
Student materials:
Pen or pencil
Red and blue colored pencils or crayons
2 Globes
Scotch tape
Blue string/yarn
Arrows (from blackline master)
Colored arrows in blue and red (arrows from blackline master)
Paper airplane or cardboard plane
Hair dryer/small electric fan
Blackline Masters
1. Blackline Master 1 Student WS for Stations
2. Blackline Master 2 Student Assessment
3. Blackline Master 3 Student Station Questions
Advance Preparation
1. Prepare the stations #1-6
2. Group students into 3-4 students per group
3. Place a group at each of the stations from 1-5. Leave station 6 open as it builds off of station 5.
Lesson Information
Learning Objectives
1. The student will be able to collect data, analyze data, collaborate and discuss their findings,
compare their findings to one another, make a claim, provide evidence and justification to support
their claim, and apply their findings to unknowns.
2. The student will be able to describe how global patterns such as the jet stream and ocean
currents influence local weather.
Background Information
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents found in the upper atmosphere or
troposphere of some planets, including Earth. The main focus of this lesson is the influence of a
jet stream on Earth's weather. Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents
found in the upper atmosphere or troposphere of some planets, including Earth. The Polar jet
stream travels in a circular pattern around the North Pole while the Gulf Stream originates near
the Equator in the Gulf of Mexico and travels north up the East coast of the United States then
across the Atlantic Ocean to the North Atlantic Ocean. These jet streams help produce ocean
currents. An ocean current is any continuously directed movement of ocean water that flows in
one of the Earth's oceans. The currents are generated from any forces acting upon the water like,
Earth's rotation, the wind and convection.
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
Lesson Procedure
Engage
1. Students will watch a student volunteer and the teacher demonstrate how the airflow of a
concentrated air source affects the velocity of a paper or balsa airplane.
a. Student volunteer holds a concentrated air source (hair dryer or a small hand-held fan
turned on high) facing the teacher.
b. Have the students hypothesize how far the plane will travel when thrown in the direction
of the fan. Average the answers. Possible student answer is: 2 meters.
c. The teacher will throw the plane towards the fan.
d. Record the distance to the nearest cm.
e. Ask the students to hypothesize how far the plane will travel when thrown in the direction
away from the fan. Average the answers. Possible student answer is: Less than a
meter.
f. Record the distance to the nearest cm.
g. If time permits- the teacher may wish to repeat the experiment three times to emphasize
how repetition increases validity.
2. Students will discuss with their shoulder partner the differences between the two flights.
a. What was the original hypothesis (average) for the flight towards the fan? Possible
student answer is: 2 meters; check the average from the board
b. What was the original hypothesis (average) for the flight away from the fan? Possible
student answer is: Less than a meter; check the average from the board
c. Was there a difference in the answers? Possible student answer is: 2 meters – 1
meter (subtract the smaller number form the larger number).
d. Which flight actually went further – the one thrown towards the fan’s air direction or the
one thrown with the fan’s air direction? Possible student answer is: The flight in the
direction away from the fan should be the one that went the furthest distance.
e. What do you think was the reason for the difference? Possible student answer is: The
concentrated air (tailwind) helped to push the plane further. A misconception
might be the force of thrust, or other extraneous variable is the cause.
f. What do you think the concentrated air source represents? A fast moving current of
air. ie The (upper air; polar) jet stream.
Explore/Explain
1. Students will describe how global patterns, such as jet stream and ocean currents, influence local
weather through investigations at 6 stations.
a. Station 1: Jet Stream Picture
i. Based on the given diagram, students will make observations and answer the
following questions on their recording sheet:
1. What do you think you are looking at in this picture? Possible student
response is: A map with numbers, arrows, and a darker shaded
area, or jet stream.
2. What do you think the numbers represent? Wind speed in knots.
3. What do you think the arrows represent? Wind direction moving from
west to east.
4. What do you think the shaded area on the map represents? Jet stream.
5. What do you think would happen if an airplane flew through the shaded
area? Possible student response is: The plan will move faster when
moving in the direction of the arrows (east) and slower when going
against the arrows (west).
iii. Take the arrows at the station and place them on the polar jet stream in the
direction it is flowing. West to East
iv. Then the students will answer the following questions on their recording sheet:
1. What do the arrows represent? The arrows represent the direction the
polar jet stream is moving.
2. Which direction do the arrows flow? Students may say left to right.
Remind them it is west to east.
3. How are the temperatures above the jet stream different from below the
jet stream? The jet stream would have cooler temperatures above
and warmer temperatures below because of the arctic region.
4. Predict what would happen if the jet stream reversed directions?
Different parts of the world would experience a changing in their
local weather.
3. Can you recognize any patterns that occur in global winds? (video 4)
Possible student response is: The global winds move in similar
patterns of the jet stream.
4. How would the movement of ocean currents affect weather on land?
(video 1, 2, 5, and 6) Possible student response is: As ocean
currents move warmer water from the equator up to cooler areas it
will cause the surrounding areas to warm as well.
5. What do you hypothesize would happen if ocean currents reversed
direction? Possible student response is: If ocean currents reversed
direction, then global and local weather will dramatically change.
Warm would become cold and cold would become warm.
Expand/Elaborate
Students will broaden their knowledge through a whole group discussion applying their learning
from the stations. Students will answer the following questions:
o What did you notice was different above and below the jet stream? Air pressure and
temperature.
o What effect would that have on the air? Move the air, wind.
o What would cause the winds to move faster? Greater pressure difference above and
below the jet stream.
o What temperature does a jet stream bring? The temperature from the area it is coming
from.
o A polar jet stream would bring what kind of temperature? Colder.
o Infer what would happen in the area where the pressure differences meet. Change in
temperature, precipitation.
o If ocean currents are behaving like a giant conveyer belt transporting water, what would
the water from the equator bring up North? Warm, moist air.
o What effect would that have on the temperature and precipitation? Higher temperature,
more precipitation.
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
o A cold water current was off the coast, how would that effect the summer weather? Keep
it moderate and not too hot.
o Identify a current that would affect Florida temperature. Gulf stream
o What is the effect? Bringing warm weather and moisture.
Evaluate
FORMAL EVALUTION
1. Assessment
Supplementary Resources
Teachers
Interactive Science Florida Textbook
Students
Interactive Science Florida Textbook
CITATION OF SOURCES.
Photo Credits:
Jet Stream Wind photos (1,2, and 3) provided by Weather Channel. Retrieved
from http://www.nckcn.com/homepage/mhennes/jetstream.htm
Blackline Master 2
Fluid Streams Summative Assessment
1. Bands of high-speed global winds found about 10 kilometers above Earth’s surface that
influence weather patterns are called
a. Jet streams.
b. Polar easterlies.
c. Prevailing westerlies.
d. Trade winds.
Use the following picture to answer question 3-4. The dark area is the ocean and the lighter
areas of the map are the continents.
Image from:
s
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc= &source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwio6sqWpo
XPAhXDLSYKHQ6NCxoQjB0IBg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AJet_Stream.jpg
&psig=AFQjCNGBWRTfgKQGuQaxBsfUdUtevWIBxg&ust=1473612616205722
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
3. The Gulf Stream is a warm current that joins with the North Atlantic Drift, another warm
current, as it moves across the North Atlantic Ocean. Predict how these warm ocean
currents affect the climate of City X, which is near the Arctic Circle.
a. The climate of City X is always hot and dry.
b. The currents result in a cold, severe climate in City X.
c. The climate at City X is unaffected because it’s close to the Arctic Circle.
d. City X has a warmer average temperature than a city at the same latitude in North
America.
4. Currents that start near the equator and moves towards the polar zones are
a. Cold water currents
b. Convection currents
c. Surface currents
d. Warm water currents
5. Currents that start near the poles and moves towards the equator are
a. Cold water currents
b. Convection currents
c. Surface currents
d. Warm water currents
6. There is a polar jet stream and a subtropical jet stream. The polar jet stream originates in
the norther territories of Canada and can dip into the mid-western states of the United
States. The weather in the United States often is influenced by the by the dips and peaks of
the movement of the jet streams. If the polar jet stream drops down from Canada to
Georgia what type of air mass is the polar jet stream bringing with it?
a. Cold dry air mass
b. Cold wet air mass
c. Warm dry air mass
d. Warm wet air mass
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
1. a. Jet streams.
2. d. Sharon’s plane is flying in the same direction as the Jet Stream which pushes the air
mass toward the east making her flight move faster.
3. d. City X has a warmer average temperature than a city at the same latitude in North
America.
4. d. Warm water currents
5. a. Cold water currents
6. a. Cold dry air mass
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
Blackline Master 3
Station 1: Jet Stream
Hold the red string on one end, and have a friend hold another side. Move your hand up
and down to make bumps in the string, and see how it reacts. That’s the way the jet
stream works, with constant bumps and dips.
Now pick up the blue string and wrap it around the globe so that the string goes directly
though the United States. With the previous activity in mind create one wave that goes
through the United States. Create four more waves all around the globe and connect
the two ends of the string with tape.
Tuesday
Friday
Sunday
Station 3: Jet Stream Comparison Pictures
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
In this station you will be looking at 3 screen shots from “The Weather Channel”
website.
These 3 images come from 3 different days of the week. Notice the changes between
the lines on the different days.
2. Make sure you are reading each of the captions underneath the videos before
watching them; the captions give important information about each video.
2. How can you distinguish between the warm ocean water and the cold ocean water?
(video 2)
3. Can you recognize any patterns that occur in global winds? (video 4)
4. How would the movement of ocean currents affect weather on land? (video 1, 2, 5
and 6)
1. Color the warm water currents that come from the equatorial regions RED.
2. Color the cold water currents from the polar regions BLUE.
5. What effects would the ocean currents (both RED and BLUE) have on the ocean
water and the air above the water?
K. Clark, M. Arroyo, P. Maccio, C. Potter-Whiting, S. Robinson, D. Sayers Last Updated on 9/16/2017
Locate the Atlantic Ocean on the globe. Using your ocean current map from the
previous station, tape the arrows, in the correct order onto the globe starting at the
equator.
3. How would the land next to the red arrows be affected by this current?
4. How would the land next to the blue arrows be affected by this current?
5. What heat movement drives these currents around the Atlantic Ocean?