OpenSciEd Unit 6.3 · Lesson 21
Look for: Pacific Northwest: Stampede Pass has the high…
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
What to look / listen for
Look for these observed patterns:
Pacific Northwest
Stampede Pass has the highest elevation, coldest temperature, and most precipitation. There is much less precipitation east of the mountains and further inland where it is warmer and lower in elevation.
Gulf Coast
Precipitation slowly decreases, temperature decreases, and elevation slowly increases moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico.
Look for these ideas in students’ WIM statements and group models:
As air passes over tall mountains (e.g., Stampede Pass), it gets pushed upward and cools down, causing water vapor to condense and form precipitation. Once the air passes over the mountains, there is little water vapor left in the air mass, causing less precipitation. The air can fall back downward along the mountains as elevation decreases.
- As a warm, wet air mass passes over a relatively flat landform (e.g., New Orleans to Chattanooga), it can move a long distance, so there can be a lot of precipitation over the entire pathway.
- Air can pick up some moisture as it moves over land (e.g., Wenatchee to Spokane).
What to do
If students have difficulty identifying key patterns from the data, project the profile view as a class and use visual representations to illustrate patterns of precipitation and air temperature (e.g., draw lots of rain and an image of it being very cold over Stampede Pass). If students’ ideas are not accurate at the end of Day 1, have students compare their models with other groups prior to the whole-group Scientists Circle discussion on Day 2. This will allow them to get new ideas from their peers. Pay attention to students’ ideas during the Scientists Circle. If students’ explanations are still incomplete, project an example of a group model that is complete. Encourage students to try to use this example model to explain what is happening.