The difference between sea breeze and land breeze

Lesson Plan providing an experiment which helps explain the different between sea
breeze and land breeze
By: Craig OConnell and Jack Hord
A. State Standards Addressed
a. Standard 6.1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of
technological design and scientific inquiry, including process skills,
mathematical thinking, controlled investigative design and analysis, and
problem solving.
i. Indicator 6-1.1: Use appropriate tools and instruments (including a
spring scale, beam balance, barometer, and sling psychrometer)
safely and accurately when conducting a controlled scientific
investigation
ii. Indicator 6-1.4: Use a technological design process to plan and
produce a solution to a problem or a product (including identifying
a problem, designing a solution or a product, implementing a
design, and evaluating the solution or the product).
iii. Indicator 6-1.5:
Use appropriate safety procedures when
conducting investigations
b. Standard 6.4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the
relationship between Earths atmospheric properties and processes and its
weather and climate. (Earth Science)
i. Indicator 6-4.4: Summarize the relationship of the movement of
air masses, high and low pressure systems, and frontal boundaries
to storms (including thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes) and
other weather conditions.
ii. Indicator 6-4.8: Explain how convection affects weather patterns
and climate
B. Objectives
a. Students will learn characteristics about warm air and cold air
b. Students will learn about the movement of air of different temperatures.
c. Students will conduct an experiment demonstrating how the earth heats up
throughout a 24 hour cycle
d. Students will use mathematical techniques to create a graph so they can
visualize the daily trends in the heating of the earth
C. Lesson Plan
a. Engage. The lesson will begin with a quick PowerPoint presentation. The
PowerPoint presentation will introduce the students to the characteristics
of cold air and warm air, the movement of cold and warm air, and how the
heating of the earth leads to land breezes and sea breezes. A quick video
will be shown to demonstrate these types of breezes to reinforce the
concept to the students.
The video can be found at:

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/
es1903/es1903page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization.
b. Explore. After the video, an experiment pertaining to the heating of the
Earths surfaces will be demonstrated. It is essential for students to
understand the difference between the heating of land versus water and
how this translates to air movement. To demonstrate this concept the
students will conduct the following experiment (Please see Sea Breeze and
Land Breeze Lesson Plan Experiment). As students progress through the
experiment, they will be recording a step by step methodology, a results
section, and a conclusion section to help each student understand the
process that scientists go through to conduct and complete an experiment.
Steps of experiment:
i. Instructor will have students pair off into two person groups
ii. Prior to the experiment, students will be asked to hypothesize
about the heating of Earths surfaces. Does land or water heat up
faster and why?
iii. After each group has made a hypothesis, the instructor will place
the materials needed for the experiment on the lab tables. Students
should be following closely by taking notes within their lab
notebook.
iv. Next, the instructor should guide the students through the
experiment.
v. Students will then record their data on the laboratory sheet (Please
see Sea Breeze and Land Breeze Lesson Plan Experiment Data
Sheet)
vi. Instructor will assist students with graphing the data
vii. Instructor will guide students to reaching conclusions by using
their data obtained from the experiment
c. Explain and Elaborate. This experiment requires the students to take a
big leap because they must use the data obtained from the experiment and
the information given in the beginning of the lecture to understand why
sea breezes and land breezes occur. What students must gain in terms of
the experiment is that the land heats and cools much faster than the water.
So during the day (while heat lamp is on), the land will heat up faster than
the water. The warm air above the land rises, causing the cooler above the
ocean to take its place. As the warm air increases in altitude, it slowly
cools and falls back down. This is a land breeze (to fully understand this,
students must remember that cold air is denser than warm air, warm air
rises, and an increase in altitude will decrease the temperature of the air).
Also, students will take measurements with the heat lamp off (this
represents nighttime). Students will notice that once again, the land
changes temperature the fastest and cools much faster than the water. This
means that the warmer air above the water will rise, and the cooler air

above the land will takes its place. As the air above the water rises, it
cools and falls back down. This process is called the sea breeze.
d. Evaluate. This lab will be graded by a (1) worksheet asking students to
demonstrate/draw a land breeze and a sea breeze and a (2) test.
1.

Post Lesson Notes from Teacher:

This was a very exciting exercise for the students and took an entire 100 minute
class period.