Title: Where does the wind come from?

Author: Zyta Sendecka

Target Group

Students of the 4th grade of primary school.

Core Curriculum

Grade 4

III. Weather, weather components, weather observation. Student:

1) lists different weather components and gives the names of the instruments used to measure them (air temperature, cloudiness, precipitation and atmospheric sediments, atmospheric pressure and wind direction);

2) reads the values of measurement of the weather components using the appropriate units of measurement;

3) conduct observations of weather components, record and analyze their results and recognizes the dependencies of each.

The general aim of education

Students explain how the wind is formed and assess the direction and strength of the wind.

Criteria for success

• discuss the formation wind;

• you will determine the direction and strength of the wind;

• you will build a simple anemometer.

Key Competences

• Communication in the mother tongue;

• Communication in foreign languages;

• Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;

• Digital competence;

• Learning to learn;

• Social and civic competences.

Methods/forms of work

Talk, work with text, direct observation, indirect observation, brainstorming.

Individual work and frontal work.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive or traditional board;

• tablets/computers;

• items needed to carry out „Observation 1”: scissors, cardboard, string, needle, candle;

• weather map of Poland.

Lesson phases

Beforte classes

1. Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

2. The students carry out the Task 1.

Introduction

1. The teacher, referring to previous classes, instructs the pupils to explain the concept of atmospheric pressure, determine the difference between the low and the atmospheric pressure and show the directions (N,E,S,W) of the world on the map.

2. The teacher gives the subject and the purpose of the lesson in a language that the student understands as well as the criteria for success.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to look out the window and answer the questions:

• Do the leaves move on the trees?

• Do the clouds move in the sky?

• Does the grass move?

Students assess wind strength using one of the following expressions: strong wind, weak wind, no wind (silent).

2. The teacher together with the students discuss the home‑made experience illustrating the phenomenon of wind formation. He or she asks students to read a research question, hypothesis and then observations and conclusions. If the students had difficulty with their correct formulation, the teacher again discusses the experiment and together with the students analyze it.

3. The teacher conducts „Observation 1” and explains that the differences in air temperature cause changes in atmospheric pressure and thus wind formation.

4. The teacher instructs students to read „Wind direction and strength”. Displays a weather map of Poland showing the forecasted air temperatures. The student predicts using the teachers marks on the map where the wind will blow and its direction.

5. Students independently perform an interactive exercise.

Summary

1. The teacher asks selected students to complete the sentence: „In today's lesson, I learned that ...”.

Homework

Tasks to choose from:

• According to the instructions in the abstract, build an anemometer and monitor the wind direction daily for the next week.

• Check the weather forecast daily and make notes for the next week, in which direction the winds blow over Poland.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Where does the wind come from?

Let's check if heating the air affects its movement.

The sun's rays first heat the Earths surface, and the air then heats up from it. This happens unevenly:

• rocks get hot faster than forest or water;

• dark surfaces warm up faster than light ones;

• the water warms up slower than land, but stays warmer for longer.

The uneven heating of the Earth's surface causes temperature differences. Thanks to this, there are changes in atmospheric pressure. Warm air exerts on the different atmospheric pressure than the cool air.

Clouds have a big influence on air temperature. During the day they limit sunlight, and at night they stop the heat escaping. That is why during certain times of year cloudy nights are warm compared to clear nights, and cloudy days are cooler than those when the sky is clear. The temperature also depends on the height of the Sun above the horizon – therefore it is warmer in the summer than in the winter, and it is warmer in tropical countries than in Poland.

In places where the air rises, air pressure decreases slightly, and where it falls – it grows. Thus, the air flow happens from a place of higher pressure to a place with lower pressure .Such horizontal air flow is called wind. If we want to describe the wind, we should give its direction and speed.

Knowing the areas with high and low pressure, and remembering that the wind always blows from high to low, you can predict in which direction it will blow. It is important to remember that giving the direction of the wind, we name it from which way it blows. For example, if the wind blows from west to east, it is a westerly wind. If it is different from the main directions (N, E, S, W), you can include more specific directions: NE – North East, NW – North West , SE – South East and SW – South West.
The stronger the wind the greater the pressure difference between two places. A device called anemometer is used to measure wind direction and speed.

• Wind is the level of air movement caused by a difference in atmospheric pressure.

• The stronger the wind, the greater the difference in atmospheric pressure.

• By giving the direction of the wind, we determine where it is blowing.

• The wind can be used as propulsion for sailing vessels and wind turbines.