Math
Lesson Plan

Temperatures Are Not Rising!

Learning Objective:
Organize and display data using tables, charts and graphs.

Teacher Directions:
Most people know that temperatures tend to decrease as you go up a mountain. That is why you will still see snow-capped mountains in places like California, even in the summer time. But how fast does the temperature fall as you climb Mt. Everest?

Let’s take a look at some data taken at precisely noon during two days in May of 1999.

May 7			May 28
10,000 ft.	61 degrees F		10,000 ft.	54 degrees F
18,000 ft.	25 degrees F		18,000 ft.	27 degrees F
24,000 ft.	1 degree F		24,000 ft.	10 degrees F
30,000 ft.	-27 degrees F		30,000 ft.	-17 degrees F

To get a better understanding of how fast the temperatures fall as you climb the mountain, let’s graph these two data sets to see if it helps us visualize the rate of decrease better.

First, get a piece of graph paper. Decide how many feet in altitude the vertical units equal. Have the horizontal units represent temperatures ranging from -30 degrees to 70 degrees. Next, plot and label each days temperature at each altitude reading. Then connect each day’s temperature reading with a different colored line.

Now you should be able to see the rate of temperature decrease for each day. What would you predict the temperature to be at 18,000, 24,000 and 30,000 feet if the temperature at noon at 10,000 feet was 65 degrees F?

Resources:
Mount Everest Daily Forecasts

Activity Sheet:
graph paper

Assessment:
Math Assessment Sheet*