Dynamic Planet: the Water Cycle

Description

Participants will be quizzed on their understanding of the water cycle and the inplicatons of the water cycle in the physical, earth, and life sciences.

The Competition

A series of stations will be set up with questions relating to water cycle. The competition may include not only factual knowledge questions, such as definitions of condenstation and evaporation, but also questions that demonstrate an understanding of the water cycle, such as factors that affect condensation and evaporation.

Content

Questions will include all six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, comparison and contrast, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Questions higher on the taxonomy will count for more points. Points will be awarded based on the quality of the response as well as the accuracy of the answer for higher-order questions.

Each team will be provided with access to a set of chapters from a middle grades earth science text on the topic of the water cycle and related subjects. This resource shall serve as a basis for the content of the competition.

Please note: only studying the information provided in the text will not be sufficient preparation for this event. Topics should be investigated further and in greater depth with other resources.

Scoring

The winning team will be determined by the greatest number of points earned.

Content Outline

I.  Atmosphere
        A.  Layers:  Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere
        B.  Ionosphere is a sublayer of the mesosphere and thermosphere
        C.  Composition:  types of gases and relative amounts
        D.  The water cycle

II.  Weather Factors
       A.  Energy source -- heat --  the sun is the ultimate source
             1.  how the sun affets the air
             2.  how heat is transferred;  conduction, convection, radiation
             3.  measuring temperature (in Celsius), freezing point and boiling point
       B.  Air pressure
             1.  factors affecting air pressure
             2.  measuring air pressure (in millibars), instruments used to measure pressure
       C.  Moisture
             1.  relative humidity
             2.  measuring humidity -- sling psychrometer
             3.  dew point
             4.  types and measurement of precipitation

III.  Weather Effects
       A.  Wind
             1.  causes of wind
             2.  measurement and instruments
             3.  how winds are named
             4.  global winds:  polar easterlies, prevailing westerlies, trade winds, doldrums, jet stream
             5.  the Coriolis effect
       B.  Clouds
             1.  types and identification:  stratus, cumulus, cirrus, nimbus
             2.  location in the atmosphere
       C.  Air Masses
             1.  types:  maritime and continental, tropical and polar
             2.  fronts:  warm, cold and occluded
       D.  Severe weather -- causes and characteristics
             1.  tornadoes
             2.  hurricanes

IV.  Forecasting weather
       A.  maps and symbols
             1.  wind speed and direction
             2.  temperature
             3.  pressure:  highs, lows and isobars
             4.  precipitation and cloud cover
             5.  severe weather symbols
       B.  forecasting instruments
             1.  weather balloons
             2.  satellites
             3.  weather stations / local observers