Original Project
Weather and Climate I: Basic Elements
Clouds and rain form as air cools and water vapor in the air condenses into water droplets.
Item WC083002: It will not rain if the tiny water droplets that make up clouds are not heavy enough to fall from the clouds.
Which of the following statements could explain why sometimes when there are clouds in the sky there is no water falling from the clouds?
- Sometimes clouds do not have any water in them.
- Sometimes there is not enough wind to release the water droplets from the clouds.
- Sometimes the water droplets in the clouds are not heavy enough to fall from the clouds.
- Sometimes there is not a large enough pool of liquid water in the clouds for water droplets to form and fall.
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1425 | 2845 | 50% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 814 | 1688 | 48% |
| 9–12 | 607 | 1152 | 53% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 688 | 1354 | 51% |
| Female | 722 | 1450 | 50% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 1277 | 2551 | 50% |
| Other | 97 | 212 | 46% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- ESS2.C Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.
- NRC Framework
- Practice 6: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions: ...evaluate…explanations for consistency with the evidence.