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Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Describe how wind affects the weather.
• Explain molecular expansion and contraction as it relates to temperature.
• Choreograph a sequence of movements to show understanding of wind and weather patterns.
• Perform a dance for an audience.

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Next Generation Science StandardsNext Generation Science Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

Videos

Websites

• Exploring Extremes: Music to the Max!

Additional Materials

• Analog Thermometer (mercury-free)

Teacher Background

Teachers should understand how wind is created by temperature variations.

Student Prerequisites 

Students should be familiar with basic ideas of energy, heat, molecules, and the earth’s atmosphere. 

Accessibility Notes

Modify and adapt movements as needed. Allow extra time and space for dance movements.

Engage

1. Show students an analog thermometer (mercury-free). Ask students: How does a thermometer work? Explain that heat is energy, and that molecules with more energy move around more and take up more space. Thus, when it’s hotter, the liquid in a thermometer expands and takes up more space. As it gets colder, the liquid takes up less space, and the column on the thermometer gets shorter. Display Diagram 1 from the to further elaborate.

2. Have students practice being a thermometer. First, have students make a line. Then, call out temperatures; when you call a hotter temperature, the line will grow as students move more and take up more room, and vice versa. 

3. ​​Ask students to try acting like air, referring again to Diagram 1. Air, like mercury, moves faster and takes up more space as it gets hotter. As it gets colder, it takes up less space. Model for students how to expand and collapse like air. First stand tall with raised arms then moving around for hot air. Then, sink down to the ground for cold air. Have students put it all together by standing in one place, expanding like hot air and collapsing like cold air. 

Build

1. Have students participate in a listening activity from the section, The High and Low of Pitch, in the resource Exploring Extremes: Music to the Max! As students listen, ask them to think about movements that relate to the high and low pitches. Allow students to demonstrate the movement for the class.

2. Generate a list of types of weather. Ask students to identify which pitch and movement correlate with each type of weather. Play sections of the listening activity again to help students brainstorm ideas.  

3. Explain the relationship between wind and weather. If it weren’t for the wind, we wouldn’t have any changes in weather. It’s the movement of air, and the things that happen when hot air meets cold air, that cause rain, storms, and other weather phenomena.

4. Display Diagram 2 from the slide and tell them that they are going to learn about what creates weather on our planet and how the wind is created. Using the diagram, show them that energy traveling through the atmosphere at the equator must pass through a smaller amount of atmosphere than at the poles. Explain that when the solar energy reaches the earth's atmosphere, it is very hot, but as it passes through the atmosphere, its energy spreads into the air. The solar energy passing through the atmosphere at the equator has less time and space to spread energy than the solar energy at the poles. Ask students to take some time, in pairs, to discuss what might happen to the air as the sun’s energy passes through it. For further clarity, look at a globe or world map and see what countries are at the equator and which are at the poles. This should remind students that the air at the equator is hotter than the air at the poles. Energy, in the form of heat, spreads through the air and warms it up. At the equator, this solar energy is more concentrated, and so it is hotter. 

5. Select a few students to act like polar air and some to act like equatorial air. The polar air students should sink down and make themselves small, while the equatorial air students rise and move more.

6. Display Diagram 3 from the slide. Explain that as the air from the equator rises and the air at the poles falls, it creates a cycle that becomes the wind. The hot air gets less dense (more space among the molecules) and lighter, so it goes up. What happens on the ground when the hot air is gone? Cold air moves in. What happens when the cold air moves into the space where the hot air has risen? Hot air moves in. Show students the video, , to reinforce this concept. 

7. Have equatorial air students and polar air students rise and fall in a cycle. See where more space becomes available (above the polar students, and at the feet of the equatorial students) and note that other air would rush to fill in the space. Remind students that smaller temperature changes also affect wind: night vs. day, for example, water vs. land, and different landforms.

8. Discuss what happens where the hot and cold air masses meet. Ask students: What happens when you put ice into your mouth? They’ll know that the ice melts and their mouths feel cold. Remind students that the heat energy from the hot air moves into the cold air masses where they touch. For example, this occurs when drops of water condense on a cold glass of water on a hot day. The water in the air condenses as hot and cold air meet, leading to rain and other kinds of weather.

Apply

1. Give students time to explore information about winds and weather phenomena due to strong winds. Share the following resources with students:

2. Tell students that they will work collaboratively to demonstrate a weather pattern through a movement sequence. Brainstorm possible wind-related topics that could be expressed through movement. Some examples:

- Air masses rise and expand or descend and condense

- As hot air masses move over cold air masses, temperature changes lead to storms

- The wind moves in a circle or cycle

- The wind turns clockwise or counterclockwise

- The speed of the wind depends on the pressure gradient

- Bodies of water next to land heat differently, and create winds

- Different landforms (deserts, mountains, etc.) affect wind

- Wind energy can be put to human use with windmills

3. Divide students into small groups. Distribute and review the . Tell students that together they will communicate a weather pattern by creating a dance sequence. Remind students of the way they used movement to help themselves understand about molecules, heat, and wind. Suggest that they think of a sequence of movements that would communicate their point about wind and weather.

4. Allow time for students to plan and rehearse their dance sequence. Facilitate through the groups providing feedback and support. 

Reflect 

1. Have each group perform the dance sequences for the class. As the groups perform, the audience will note which movements helped them understand molecules, heat, and wind. 

2. Assess students’ knowledge of weather and wind through their performance and an oral or written reflection on what they learned about molecules, heat, and wind. Ask students: What causes wind?

Extend

1. Expand on the topic of music and weather. Introduce students to the resource, Soundtrack to the Seasons. Ask students: How does music convey mood? Which instruments make you think of thunder, rain, a light breeze, or heavy winds?

2. Have students return to their groups to explore how classical composers are inspired by the seasons. Allow the groups time to discuss the differences between each of the sounds.

3. Select a music piece to pair with the dance weather and wind dance sequence. Using the same sequence, tell students they will choose a musical piece to go along with their dance. Students can explore free music on or other streaming services.