The Great Vacation Debate

Background:

You and your best friend are planning a vacation for your families over February break. Your parents want you to learn something from the vacation, so they have given you several choices:

Belfast, N. Ireland, or Moscow, Russia (~55 degrees N. latitude)

London, England or Warsaw, Poland (~52 degrees N. latitude)

It’s your job to choose one of the combinations above, research weather and climate conditions for those cities, and choose the best city from the two. Then create a PowerPoint for your parents explaining your choice of vacation destination. If your PowerPoint isn’t convincing, you might not get to go!

Process:

1.  Introduction: Tell who you are, what choices you had, and which city you chose. List three things the audience will learn during your presentation that will convince them that you made the best choice.

2.  Define weather and climate and explain the difference.

3.  Tell how different weather occurs due to the constant motion of the atmosphere. Explain how the heat of the sun, combined with the rotation of the earth, causes wind and causes the water cycle. Include the term convection.

4.  Describe the location and climate for each of your cities. Show your audience how your cities are either near or far from an ocean. Include information on average weather conditions for February.

5.  Explain how the ocean causes differences in climate for your cities. Use the terms specific heat, convection, and ocean currents.

6.  Name and describe the ocean current(s) that affect your seaside city’s climate. Why is it a warm (or cool) current? Why does it flow past your city? Where does it come from?

7.  Declare which city is your choice. Defend your choice with information about climate and weather as well as local attractions.

8.  Include a list of websites you used for your information. Google is NOT a source.

Web Sources:

Definitions of Weather and Climate

http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/climateweather.html what is the difference

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/climate.htm what is climate

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/Weather%20Words.htm weather vocabulary list

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/cli_define.html what is climate and how it’s different from weather

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/wdl/climate/kids/kid1.asp what is climate

The Sun and Earth’s Rotation cause weather

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/wind1.htm what causes wind

http://www.wxdude.com/page1.html the sun starts it all

http://www.wxdude.com/page13.html the sun heats the earth unevenly

http://www.wxdude.com/page25.html water cycle

http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_is_convection.htm

what is convection

Location

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/ outline maps of US, Europe

http://www.worldatlas.com/ more maps – choose your location

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/ more maps – choose your location

Climate/Weather for your Cities

http://www.weather.com/activities/travel/vacationplanner/?from=secondarynav Type in the name and country of your city. You can find average weather as well as attractions, hotels, etc. here

http://www.worldclimate.com/ climate for cities around the world

http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/l/bl_la_temp.htm

Los Angeles climate info

http://www.travel-climate.com/ Choose the country and then the city for climate info.

http://www.visiteurope.com/ccm/travel_information/climate/?nav_cat=256293&lang=en_US European climate info – click on the map to find info about your country.

How the Oceans affect Climate

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/educate/temps_ans.shtml conduction, convection, radiation

http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/JRD/SCHOOL/002/mt002a_2.php conduction, convection, radiation

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/ocean_heat_storage_transfer.html&edu=elem why oceans affect climate

http://physics.suite101.com/article.cfm/why_extreme_continental_climates why water moderates climate – includes definition of specific heat

http://trc.ucdavis.edu/biosci10v/bis10v/media/ch31/climate_currents_v2.html map of warm and cool ocean currents

http://www.mos.org/oceans/motion/currents.html ocean current info

http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/climate/older/British_Climate.html British Isle climate/current info

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/North-Atlantic-Drift-Gulf-Stream.htm Gulf Stream info

http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/what-causes-ocean-currents what causes ocean currents

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/circulation/ocean_circulation.html ocean current info

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=215 Gulf Stream info

http://www.cbs6albany.com/sections/weather/research/topics/topicsixteen/ differences in water and land heat capacity (specific heat)

Local Attractions

http://www.gotobelfast.com/thingstodo/index.cfm/level/page/category_key/197/Page_Key/279/Parent_Key/0/type/Page/PaGeName/Things_to_do Things to do in Belfast

http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukibel03.htm Belfast points of interest

http://www.moscow-taxi.com/4children/index.asp Moscow for children

http://www.igougo.com/attractions-l585-things_to_do_in_Moscow.html Things to do in Moscow

http://www.ukguide.org/london/attract.html London sightseeing

http://www.londonpass.com/londonTopAttractions.asp Top ten London attractions

http://www.warsawtour.pl/index.php?id=55&olang=5 Warsaw for children

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/city/135/key_attractions/Europe/Warsaw.html Warsaw attractions


Evaluation:

Omitted or Plagiarized (0 points) / Below Expectations
(7 points) / Meets Expectations (9 points) / Exceeds Expectations (11 points)
Introduction / None or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements met. / Most requirements met. / Explains the purpose of your presentation and lists at least three things the audience will learn.
Define weather and climate and explain the difference. / Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing. / All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Tell how different weather occurs due to the constant motion of the atmosphere. Explain how the heat of the sun, combined with the rotation of the earth, causes wind and causes the water cycle. Include the term convection. / Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing. / All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Describe the location and climate for each of your cities. Include information on average weather conditions for February.

Explain how the ocean causes differences in climate for your cities. Use the terms specific heat, convection, and ocean currents.

Name and describe the ocean current(s) that affect your seaside city’s climate. Why is it a warm (or cool) current? Why does it flow past your city? Where does it come from? / Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted
Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted
Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements missing.
Some requirements missing.
Some requirements missing. / All requirements met.
All requirements met.
All requirements met. / All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
All requirements met and are clear, concise, and complete.
Declare which city is your choice. Defend your choice with information about climate and weather as well as local attractions. / Missing or text is obviously cut and pasted / Some requirements met. / All requirements met. / Recommendations and results are exceptionally clear, concise, and complete
List of Sources / None / Too few sources listed / Most sources seem to be listed / List appears complete
Power Point Presentation Skills / Presentation not made to the class / Presentation lacked photos, too much text, or read from slides. / Presentation was interesting. Pictures, diagrams, and photos used for each slide. Read from notes. / Presentation was thoroughly enjoyable. Audience participation encouraged.