This demonstration shows that an increase in temperature will speed up the water cycle. One outcome will be an increase in rainfall. A second outcome will be the increase in total evaporation of water and subsequent drought. Materials required include two aquariums, plastic wrap, 2 clamp lamps with 60 watt light bulbs, pebbles and rocks, modeling clay, blue food coloring, and water. Student worksheets, background information for teachers, and a scoring rubric are included. This is Activity 2 in Too Many Blankets, a module in the lesson series, Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists use computer simulations to explore the question of how supercell thunderstorms produce tornadoes.

This formative assessment item uncovers students' ideas about the conservation of water and the water cycle. The probe is aligned with the National Science Education Standards and can be used before, during, or after instruction. Resources are provided as well as instructional strategies.

This video segment adapted from KET's Where the River Bends demonstrates how climate change and glacier movement during the Ice Ages destroyed the old Teays River and created the Ohio River, Kentucky's northern border.

Students learn about the human water cycle, or how humans impact the water cycle by settling down in civilizations. Specifically, they learn how people obtain, use and dispose of water. Students also learn about shortages of treated, clean and safe water and learn about ways that engineers address this issue through water conservation and graywater recycling.

In this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada, learn how the Inuit people have used their traditional knowledge to understand and adapt to changes in their Arctic environment, particularly when hunting and navigating the landscape.

In this three lesson series, students will analyze the effects of the drought in California. Students will analyze rainfall data and graph the annual rainfall for California. Students will understand the water cycle and explain how a drought affects the water cycle. Students will research methods to conserve water and write a persuasive argument.

This module discusses the hydrologic cycle and its impacts on the planet Earth. Additionally, the module addresses connections between the hydrologic cycle, climate and the impacts humans have had on the cycle.

Hands-on group activity in where children go outside to find clouds, document with pictures, and identify them.

This activity is a classroom investigation where students predict, explore and evaluate what happens to water as it travels through the water cycle.

In this video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Michelle Thaller introduces the world of infrared light and demonstrates how infrared cameras allow us to see more than what the naked eye can perceive.

This activity relates water temperature to fishery health within inland freshwater watersheds as a way to explore how environmental factors of an ecosystem affect the organisms that use those ecosystems as important habitat.

Students are presented with examples of the types of problems that environmental engineers solve, specifically focusing on water quality issues. Topics include the importance of clean water, the scarcity of fresh water, tap water contamination sources, and ways environmental engineers treat contaminated water.

This activity is an investigation where students gather information about the rate of evaporation, interpret their findings, and apply this knowledge to the water cycle.

This article highlights resources that can be used to supplement lessons on extreme weather, including games and video clips. The article appears in the free, online magazine for K-Grade 5 teachers Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine focuses on the essential principles of climate science.

This activity is an outdoor lab in which students investigate the process of evaporation, record their findings, and use the data to make connections to the environment around them.

In this science activity, students investigate the water cycle by testing the water evaporated from leaves (transpiration) in a field experience. Students use elements of this information to track the water cycle through it's various stages.

Through multi-trial experiments, students are able to see and measure something that is otherwise invisible to them seeing plants breathe. Student groups are given two small plants of native species and materials to enclose them after watering with colored water. After being enclosed for 5, 10 and 15 minutes, teams collect and measure the condensed water from the plants' "breathing," and then calculate the rates at which the plants breathe. A plant's breath is known as transpiration, which is the flow of water from the ground where it is taken up by roots (plant uptake) and then lost through the leaves. Students plot volume/time data for three different native plant species, determine and compare their transpiration rates to see which had the highest reaction rate and consider how a plant's unique characteristics (leaf surface area, transpiration rate) might figure into engineers' designs for neighborhood stormwater management plans.

In this video from Science City, Kerri-Ann Richard, an environmental engineer, describes how she became interested in the field and why it is important to clean up the environment by removing contaminants from soil and ground water.

ZOOM guest Amy wants to be a meteorologist and volunteers at a weather observatory. In this adapted video segment, she shows us instruments used to predict the weather and describes how air pressure affects weather patterns.