Topic: What are the characteristic features of different types of climates?

Target group

Students of the 5th grade of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Geographical knowledge.

6. Identifying interdependencies between elements of the natural and socio‑economic environment as well as relationships and dependencies in a geographical environment on a local, regional and global scale.

Detailed requirements

IV. World landscapes: the forests of the Equator and the temperate climate, savannahs and steppes, hot and ice deserts, taigas and tundras, the Mediterranean climate, high altitude Himalayas; zonal vegetation and altitudinal zonation in the world. The student:

2) reads the value and describes the course of air temperature and the distribution of atmospheric precipitation based on climographs and climate maps.

The aim of education: The student will learn about the climatic diversity on Earth

Criteria of success

• exchange and discuss examples of climates on Earth;

• based on the climograph for the selected region, discuss the distribution of monthly average temperatures and precipitations in this region;

• discuss the mountain variety of the climate;

• list factors that are conducive to the formation of a mountain climate.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• mathematical competences;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Methods / forms of work

• the expository methods: lecture;

• the problem‑solving method: discussion;

• programmed learning: via computer, e‑textbook;

• practical learning: exercises on the subject;

• individual activity, activity in pairs, and collective activity.

Teaching aids

• computers (or tablets) with internet access;

• multimedia resources under “What are the characteristic features of different types of climates?” in the e‑textbook;

• world map, atlases containing climatographs for different climate zones;

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, marker/chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. During the class, the teacher defines the purpose of the lesson, informing students about its planned course.

2. The teacher asks the students to get familiar with all the material under “What are the characteristic features of different types of climates?” in the e‑textbook, paying particular attention to the attached climograph and descriptions of examples of climates.

Realization

1. After learning the material, the students perform an interactive exercise in pairs, which aims to master the ability to read data from a climograph. The exercise should be carried out as follows: one of the students solves the exercise, draws a climograph and elements constituting its description and assesses, whether these elements actually refer to the drawn picture. The second student checks if the correct answer has been given, using the resources in the e‑textbook if necessary. The students switch roles several times, generating new combinations of climographs and elements of their description. The teacher observes the students' work and helps only in situations, when the students have obvious difficulties in completing the exercise.

2. The teacher briefly discusses the mountain climate variety as an example of a climate found in all climate zones. Then he asks the students to choose at their own discretion one of the types of climates described in the e‑textbook and to check in the atlas, e‑textbook or on the Internet, what the climate is characterized by (air, temperature, precipitation) and where it occurs.

3. Volunteers or people indicated by the teacher approach the map and discuss examples of climates, starting with climates occurring in the equatorial zone and ending with the climates of the circumpolar zone.

4. Basing on the discussed examples, students formulate conclusions about the impact of factors such as latitude, altitude or distance from the seas and oceans to the type of climate. The validity of each of the proposed conclusions is analyzed and discussed in the class forum.

5. The students individually carry out exercise 3 from the lesson, and an interactive exercise, which aim is to check, whether students are able to properly determine the factors conducive to the formation of a mountain climate.

Summary

1. The teacher initiates a discussion on the class forum concerning the diversity of climates on Earth and the characteristic features of the basic types of climates.

2. The last stage is a summary of the lesson during which the students ask questions and clear any doubts and complete their notes.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

What are the characteristic features of different types of climates?

Why do people build houses? A Papuan protects himself against rain and sun in his home, an Arab – against the daily heat and night cold as well as against the dry wind. A Pole needs a house to hide from the rain, snow and cold, while an Eskimo hides from the cold and wind.

Each climate zone has its own characteristic zonal climate. There are different types of climates in each zone.

• In equatorial climates, all types of climates (expect the highest mountain peaks) have really high air temperature. The types of climates characteristic for this zone are different in e.g. precipitation times. The humid equatorial climate is characterized by slight temperature variations and almost daily precipitation throughout the year; the wet subtropical climate is distinguished by slightly higher fluctuations in air temperature and slightly lower precipitation; the dry subtropical climate is equally warm, but has a few months of dry season.

In the tropical climate zone, we can distinguish, among other things, the humid climate in the monsoon zone, the continental dry climate further from the shores, the extremely dry climate within the continents.

• In the subtropical climate zone, the further from the coast, the drier the climate is: the humid (Mediterranean) climate occurs on the coast, the continental dry climate away from the sea, and the extremely dry climate is within the continents.

• In the temperate climate zone – both hot and cold – we distinguish such climate types as: marine climate with small annual temperature variations, transitional climate and continental climate with very large annual temperature variations.

• In the subarctic climate, characterized by very low precipitation and low temperatures, we are dealing with a subpolar climate, where short cold summers and long cold winters are typical, and with a polar climate with a negative temperature throughout the year.

Apart from the mountain climate, found in all climate zones, there is also the monsoon climate, typical for the equatorial, tropical, subtropical and temperate climate zones. The main areas of occurrence of the monsoon climate are South Asia, South‑East Asia, and Northern Australia. The monsoon climate is very important for agriculture, especially in Asia - it allows cultivation in areas deep within the continent.

• There have been several climate zones distinguished on Earth: equatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate and subarctic.

• Climatic conditions in each climate zone are a result of latitude, but may be modified by the presence of other geographical factors.

• There are different types of climates in each zone.

• There are also, independently from climate zones, non‑zonal climates, e.g. on mountains.

• The characteristic features of the climate can be simplified by using a climograph.