Teacher preparation:

Overarching learning goal: In this activity students will observe the weather every day for a month, recording what the weather was like on each day, how windy it was and what the temperature was.

Teacher content information: While climate change is a complex concept with science that is beyond the reach of most young children, students in years 1 and 2 can still engage with the topic by exploring the topic of weather and its impact on plants, animals and humans.

The IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was created to:

provide policymakers (governments) with regular scientific updates about climate change;
highlight the impact climate change will have on the planet in the future; and,
offer some ideas about how to tackle the challenges of climate change's potential effects on the planet.

In 2021-22, the IPCC released their sixth assessment report. This is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.

The report makes a number of important points:

It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.
Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades (B1). The report describes five possible climate futures, where #1 is not great and #5 is extremely bad. If we want to keep global warming at less than two degrees, which the IPCC says is the best-case scenario, we need to reduce our CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions significantly and start right away.

'Net zero' or 'carbon neutral' are terms that refer to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere. Getting to net zero means we can still produce some emissions, so long as we're doing something else to reduce the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere at the same time, kind of like balancing a set of scales (more info).

Psychological safety. The IPCC Report sets a hard challenge. While this real-world issue is essential for students to understand, there is no doubt it can make them feel sad or anxious about the future is becoming darker and scarier by the day.

So, reassure students that we can have a hopeful and optimistic outlook on this report, rather than one of doom and gloom. Explain that optimism involves looking objectively at a situation and making a conscious decision to focus on the good (more info), and that hope is the belief that you can make an impact (more info). Explain to students that you are going to look ahead, identify what needs to be improved, and then work on the skills and confidence so that they can go out and do it.

If you're interested in learning more about how to approach challenging topics around climate change and sustainability in your classroom through a Hope and Optimism lens, consider our PD course.

Student and classroom organisation:

Step 1.

Begin this activity by asking if students ever see or hear the weather forecast on the radio, television or internet. What does the weather forecast tell us? Talk to them about how the weather forecast can tell us about whether it will be sunny or rainy, how warm or cold it will be, and whether there will be strong and dangerous winds.

What words can your class think of to describe the main types of weather you experience where you are (e.g. windy, sunny, cloudy etc). Write these words on the board.

Also ask students to make connections between these types of weather and the seasons: What types of weather can we expect in different seasons? Once you have engaged students in a brief discussion around this topic ask students to write or draw the four seasons and the types of weather that they may experience in these seasons.

Step 2.

Using the student worksheet ask students to fill in the details about the weather for today, using one of the descriptive words developed in the class discussion and including a one word description about the temperature (e.g. hot, warm, cold, cool etc). You might need to head outside to gauge what the weather and temperature are doing, and if working as a class you will need to come to a consensus about what weather and temperatures words to use for that day.

Step 3.

Repeat the weather observations for as long as you like - this could be for just one week, several weeks or for a term or semester, although a longer time period will work better for observing the broader changes to weather over time that are associated with seasons.

Once you have recorded all the weather observations for the observation period you have decided upon, you can look at and discuss what the weather is doing over time.

Ask students to look at their worksheets and answer the following questions (also available on the student worksheet). These questions can also be used for a class discussion:

What is the main type of weather you observed?
What was the main temperature you observed?
Do you think this is normal for this type of year (i.e. do you think this is normal for this season?)? Why or why not?

Assessment/Reflection

Ask students to think about how the weather they observed affects the plants and animals in your area. For example, how does rain help or harm local plants and animals? What about wind or sunshine? Ask students to draw or write about one plant and one animal in the weather: is the weather helping them or are they hiding from the weather? How is it helping or why are they hiding?

Extension/Homework

Ask students to undertake independent research into finding out the definitions of a range of weather related words, such as weather, climate and season. Ask students to create a poster to share what they have learned.

Watching the weather

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