Written by and ,
Illinois Central College
Earth's Atmosphere and Its Seasons Version 1.1 helps students investigate and understand the causes of the seasons, Earth-Sun relationships, the composition of the atmosphere, Sun's role as the main source of energy that drives weather and climate, the greenhouse effect, and more. Clear, narrated explanations along with thought-provoking review questions and lab activities, a visual index, clickable glossary, colorful animations, and video clips provide a fun way to learn many important lessons about weather and climate. Version 1.1 adds student quiz scoring that can be used to generate a printed record of the student's responses to the quizzes. You may print the record, save it to file, or email it through your computer's print dialog or document viewer. Version 1.1 appears in a window on the desktop. The window can be moved and resized. (Grades 5-12)
Student Worksheets available online!
Student Quiz Sheets available online!
- The Importance of Weather
- Weather and Climate
- Composition of the Atmosphere
- Understanding Seasons
- Earth-Sun Relationships
- In the Lab: Sun Angle and the Seasons
- Solar Radiation
- What Happens to Incoming Solar Radiation?
- The Greenhouse Effect
- In the Lab: The Influence of Color on Albedo
- Basic Temperature Data
- Controls of Temperature
- different types of weather and how it impacts them.
- differences between weather and climate.
- the composition of air, and the important roles of water vapor and carbon dioxide.
- why we have seasons.
- Earth's motions and orientation in relation to the Sun.
- why the amount of solar energy received on Earth varies for different latitudes.
- the nature of solar radiation.
- paths taken by solar radiation.
- the greenhouse effect.
- how color influences the amount of light reflected by a surface.
- how to convert Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures.
- why land and water heat up and cool off differently.
- how ocean currents, altitude, and prevailing winds influence temperature.
See how Earth's Atmosphere and Its Seasons aligns with NSES standards
| System Requirements | |
| Macintosh® | PowerPC™ G5 or Intel® Core™ Duo 1.33GHz or faster; RAM: 1 GB; Mac OS® X 10.4.11 or later. |
| Windows® | Intel® Pentium® 4 or faster processor (or equivalent); RAM: 1 GB; Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, or Windows® 7. |