Responding to Patterns of Change

Allow students time to answer these questions. Once they have had time to complete their responses, you may want to hold a class discussion on some or all of them.

1. In the Explore activity, you wrote your ideas about how the miniature events that you explored at each station compared with the real-life events. Revisit your explanations and observations in Step 5 of the miniature events investigation. How would you change your answers now? Use a different–colored pen or pencil to make changes or add new information.

   Students should be able to add information about the causes of each type of event. By using a different color, they will be able to recognize what they have added now and how their thinking has changed. If they are resistant to revising, remind them that their goal is to provide the most complete answer they are able to provide. If they need more space, have them add to the current place in their technology notebooks instead of to the Explore pages.

   The conceptual links that students may now make are described below.

   Station 1, Fires: Fires cannot burn without oxygen; this is why the candle went out. The initial heat was provided by a match, and the fuel was the burning candle. The length of time that the candle remained lit was related to the volume of oxygen available in either the small drinking glass or the large jar.

   Station 2, Droughts: The climate pattern is drier and probably warmer than usual during droughts. Droughts threaten to kill plants that normally shade the soil. Because the soil is unshaded, it is warmed to a higher temperature. Evaporation increases, and soil moisture decreases. Droughts also make it more difficult for animals to find food and shelter.

   Station 3, Floods: Floods along river channels occur when rivers overflow their banks. The land nearest the river is most susceptible to flooding, and this may be part of the floodplain. Floods occur as a result of too much rain as well as by failure of dams.

   Station 4, Hurricanes: Water vapor that has evaporated into the atmosphere from a warm ocean surface supplies the energy of a hurricane. If you do this experiment in the Southeast or East, you may have a high humidity reading during some parts of the year. Overall, however, expect students’ humidity readings to be lower than they are in a hurricane.

   Station 5, Tornadoes: In a tornado bottle, the water spirals like a tornado.

2. Which natural events tend to occur together? Why?

   Fires start more easily in drought conditions because the fuel is so dry. Hurricanes often spawn tornadoes and cause floods. Floods, however, can also be caused by intense downpours of rain, especially if the area has been in a drought—the soil may be so hard and parched that it is unable to suddenly soak up so much rain.

3. How did you benefit from working with your team?

   By working together, students can ask questions of and receive feedback from their teammates. By having several people work together to plan the presentation, each team member can make suggestions about content, sequence, and the best way to present the information.