Science, Earth and Space Science

Grade 5- 8

Objective

Students analyze the atmosphere and light.

Directions

First, you need to introduce the investigation to the students: Due to great public demand, you have been hired as the assistant to Weatherman Walt. In the past two months, there has been an extended inquiry into the sky. Your job is to help Walt teach the viewers why the sky is blue.
Notes
The Science Made Simple Web site is an extension of their newsletter. Their philosophy is as follows: Children are natural scientists, curious about the world around them. They ask a lot of questions. That's how they learn. The Science Made Simple newsletter will help provide answers. Each issue begins with a question children might ask as they notice the changing world around them. All their articles are written for every level in the K-12 spectrum. The top of each article is devoted to grades 7 and 8 while the middle section is for older students and the bottom section of the page is for younger students.
For the one-computer classroom
You might want to print out the article or project the site on a screen or TV.
Activity: The Survey
Introduce the activity sheet to the students: As a part of your new job, you send out a survey to all viewers asking them what they would like to know. The survey results are in and the questions the viewers are asking are compiled on the activity page titled Results from Weatherman Walt's Atmosphere Survey. Find the answers to their questions.

Resources

• copies of page 58 (see the activity page link below)