Science Club Quiz

We have Science Club on Wednesdays and right now we are just finishing up a series of lessons on Air Pressure (Air Pressure: How We Measure It and Why It Matters). Prior to this week's session I wanted to check in and see whether the children were understanding what we were learning about, and if we could move on to Wind Direction or if we needed to spend some more time on Air Pressure. So I came up with a Science Club Quiz!

Here are the questions. This quiz is designed specifically to follow chapter 1, "The Air Around You," of The First Book of Weather by Rose Wyler AND pages 26-27 (the eardrum diagram) of Eric Sloane's Weather Book by Eric Sloane.

download Science Club Quiz (PDF)

Science Club Quiz

1. At sea level, air is pressing on one square inch of the ground with a weight of 15 lbs. If you were standing on a mountain, would the weight of the air be higher or lower than at sea level? Why?

2. Circle the correct word to complete the following: A blobfish’s body is designed for the deep deep ocean. It collapses when it come to the surface because of the increase / decrease in pressure.

3. If you had a bad head cold and a clogged Eustachian tube, and you flew on an airplane, your eardrum could burst. True or false?

4. The gravity of the Earth pulls air molecules toward it. True or false?

5. Fill in the blank: Most of our planet’s air is warmed indirectly by the Earth absorbing thermal energy from the Sun and then releasing it into the air from the ground up. This is why it is ___________ on the top of mountains.

6. Is there any wind in the highest levels of the atmosphere? Explain why or why not.

7. What happens to the liquid in a thermometer to make the level go up or down?

8. Choose one question above and draw a diagram to further illustrate and explain your answer.

9. What is a question you still have about temperature or air pressure?

This assessment was very interesting! They had the most trouble with 7 and 8 (so we need to spend more time drawing diagrams and clearly labeling them). A lot of people struggled with 9 as well, which surprised me.

What I found out is that everyone understood Air Pressure fairly well but they did NOT know what happens inside the liquid of a thermometer to make the level go up and down. So we spent some time running around the living room being molecules that were absorbing more thermal energy, speeding up, moving and bouncing off each other more, and taking up more space. Then we cooled off and contracted and took up less space. Even if I hop up and act things out with my body (which I do a LOT when I'm teaching), they need to hop up and act it out as well for the lesson to take full effect.

Remember that the liquid inside a thermometer is stuck in a tiny little tube, so when it heats up and wants to expand... it has nowhere to go but up!

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