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How do I explain to my students that the earth has different bands that are caused by the rotation of the earth? I teach 8th Grade so I want them to be able to visualize this and understand it.

You could possibly adapt this lesson for your students: http://teachingboxes.org/jsp/teachingboxes/weatherEssentials/wind/sequence/lesson4_activity1.jsp

Rebecca,

Here's a linklink to a great website that has some fantastic general information about the effects of the earth's rotation on weather patterns. TheAnnenberg Learner website has some good pictures of how the Earth's rotation effects the wind current.

Hope those help!

Maureen

Hi Rebecca,
You might want to check out this lesson called 'Convection in a Fish Tank', too, since convection is an important concept to grasp in order to better understand concepts like global wind patterns.
It sounds like a fairly easy activity to set up.
Carolyn

Nasa has this site on global wind patterns http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/nino/global.html National Geographic http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/earths-atmosphere/wind/ http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-wind.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWjeHtdpFjE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLiDZOqFqD8 love this one