Outdoor spring science activities: Weather and air movement

Spring is here! Get outside and get your students active with these hands-on science demos.

Spring is here! Get outside and get your students active with these hands-on science demos.

The following exercises are created with science classrooms of all levels in mind and work best when paired with Britannica LaunchPacks: Science. Contact your school librarian to see if your institution already has access, or claim your own LaunchPacks Free Trial.

Elementary and Middle: Experiment with air pressure

Use the mini paratroopers on parachutes and the giant parachute with your class to demonstrate how parachutes work with air pressure and air resistance. Questions you could ask might be:

  • How is air pressure used to save lives?
  • What other factors come into play?

LaunchPack: Friction (Grades 3-5)

EXTRA CREDIT

Kites! Kites were used by early airplane inventors to study air movement. Have students research the history of kites on Britannica School, then see if they can construct their own working kites.

High School: Experiment with air movement

Use the giant air blaster to help students visualize wind and how air moves through our atmosphere. Ask students:

  • How does the air around you affect your lifestyle and the living things around you?
  • What is an air vortex and where do they occur?

Graphic Organizer: Observation, Inference, Explanation

LaunchPack: Air, Wind, and Weather (Grades 9-12)

EXTRA CREDIT

Research your neck of the woods! Using the LaunchPack as a springboard, have students research the topography and common weather of where you live, other regions of the U.S., or even other countries. Britannica E-Books and Britannica School have all the resources they need to learn about different biomes and geographical zones. Students can present these findings to the class on their own or even as groups.


Watch my webinar on these topics to get more instructions in-depth:

Watch me demonstrate these ideas live!

We took to the streets of Chicago to break down these activities for you. Watch the Facebook Live video below to see how they look.


Don’t have access to LaunchPacks? Try it here for free! Or CHECK HERE to see if your region is one of our state-wide subscribers.

Try this with your class? How did it go? Tweet us feedback to @BritannicaLearn.

Become an expert in minutes! Watch this two-minute video on how to use LaunchPacks annotation features.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Jennifer Boller

Curriculum Specialist
Britannica Education

Recent Posts

AI In Education:
Introduction

AI and Why It Matters Ready or not, here it comes. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept; it’s here, stirring up both excitement about new opportunities—and plenty

Let us help you!

Find out how Expedition: Learn! can accelerate your students’ learning.

Let Britannica help build the right training plan for your staff.

Let us help you!

Find out how Expedition: Learn! can accelerate your students’ learning.

Expedition: Learn! Scope & Sequence

Click to expand

View the available lessons for elementary and middle school science and social studies

Expedition: Learn! Languages

Spanish, Arabic, French, and 100+ more...

Spanish

Arabic

French

And 100+ more...

Translations available in 100+ languages for each lesson

Expedition: Learn! Reading Levels

Choose between 4 reading levels to meet the needs of every learner

Expedition: Learn! Spark Video

Each Expedition: Learn! Lesson begins with a video to spark students’ interest in the topic

COMING SOON!

Britannica Expedition: Learn!

Ignite the spark of curiosity and accelerate learning

You are reading a Middle School level article.

For Elementary or High School reading levels, please contact us.