How Do We Classify Climates?

Videos

Grades5, 6, 7, 8Earth and Space Sciences, Geography

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Provided by Crash Course

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What it is

This video uses potato cultivation in the Andes to describe different climates around the world.
The video features sections on weather vs. climate, vertical climate zones, geo-literacy, ecological niches, and the Köppen climate classification system.

Teaching tips

Positives

The video ends with an Indigenous land acknowledgment, focusing on the original inhabitants of South America.
Excellent animations and graphics make this video easy to understand.

Prerequisites

This is a great video to show students before discussing climate change.

Differentiation & Implementation

Social studies and history students could watch this video when studying the Age of Exploration or the Columbian Exchange.
Science teachers could show this video before starting a group project where students researched different climates around the world.
Students could also explore this BiomeViewer or create a biome map.

From the scientist review

This resource from Crash Course uses the history of potato cultivation to showcase the classification of the different climate zones across the globe. The information provided is accurate and verifiable. This resource is recommended for teaching.

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At a glance

Grades: 5, 6, 7, 8
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
Language: English
Location: Earth, South America
Provider: Crash Course
Authors: Crash Course
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D2.Geo.10.6-8 + 6 more

Core

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D2.Geo.10.6-8Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
D2.Geo.7.3-5Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-ESS2-D.1.Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns. (MS-ESS2-6)

Maine Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

SL.5.2Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Science and Engineering

MS-ESS2-6Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

Social Studies

Geography1: Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world by explaining that geography includes the study of Earth's physical features including climate and the distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

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