Canada’s climate: Temperature and precipitation variations

Overview

Students will create graphs to illustrate the variety of climates in Canada with a focus on the connection between precipitation and temperature. The lesson uses data tables from Statistics Canada’s Summary tables.

Objectives

• To understand the influence of precipitation on temperature
• To learn the difference between maritime and continental climates
• To convert data from table to graph form
• To compare data sets to make conclusions

Suggested grade levels and subject areas

Intermediate, Secondary
Geography, Social Studies

Duration

45–60 minutes to accomplish the module’s objectives

Vocabulary

Climate — the prevailing or average weather conditions for a location.
Continental climate — a climate affected by a large land mass.
Maritime climate — a climate affected by its proximity to a sea or ocean.

Materials

• Table: Weather conditions in capital and major cities – Temperatures
• Table: Weather conditions in capital and major cities – Precipitation
• Student worksheet

Classroom instructions

1. Before proceeding, clarify with students, which of the cities listed are capitals of Canadian provinces or territories.
2. Have students answer the questions on the Student worksheet.

Note to teacher

Students may choose to use a simple bar graph similar to the example below.

Students with higher-level abilities could be directed to make a more complex and informative graph:

Using 0° Celsius as the center point of the vertical y-axis, create a graph that shows actual temperatures rather than ranges. Add a second scale on the right hand vertical axis to graph precipitation.

Review the answers to the questions. Discuss the nature of maritime and continental climates.

Evaluation

Mark your students’ bar graphs for accuracy and clarity using the following example as a guide:

Enrichment

Find the temperature and precipitation figures for Iqaluit, the new territorial capital for Nunavut.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.