Weather Scope: An Investigative Study of Weather and Climate is an Internet-based multidisciplinary project which will enrich a student's learning experience through "Unique and Compelling" applications of instructional technology. In particular, this project taps into some of the exciting applications of the Internet in education by having students access real time weather data, interact with experts online, and publish their own work to the project web site. This standards-based Real Time Data Module has been created for use by students in the elementary and middle school grades to allow them to investigate weather phenomena both locally and in other places around the world.
Specifically, students will be presented with a scenario to write a report on current weather conditions and the general climate in your area, specifically identifying which factors most affect your daily temperature. By using hands-on activities and real-time data investigations, the students will develop a basic understanding of how weather conditions, such as temperature, wind, and precipitation, can be described in measurable quantities by studying and reporting on their local weather as well as the weather from other cities around the world over a period of time. After completing this project, the students will learn how to how to record weather data and represent it in graphs and maps, how to compare weather in different places or at different times, and ultimately be able to identify and explain the factors that affect temperature and current weather conditions and possibly forecast future ones. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to complete other real-time data lessons that address topics such as the difference between weather and climate, cloud classification, and severe storms.
This project is broken up into five (5) core lessons and additional Supplementary and Enrichment activities. It is recommended to complete each of the core lessons in order beginning with Activity 1: Make a Weather Station before continuing on to the other activities as it will build the necessary ground work. Each lesson gives a recommended time for completion and each of the core activities is designed to be used in a 45 minute class period, although this may depend on the grade level of your students. Additionally, students will need a small amount of class time (approximately 5 - 10 minutes - see Activity 3: Track Weather like a Meteorologist) every day for a couple of weeks to record the current weather data. Please review each of the lessons carefully and use your judgment for allocating class time for the project.
The Teacher Guide contains detailed, printable lesson plans for each of the lessons and provides a list of curriculum standards that are satisfied by the projects as well as other related project information. Students and teachers are welcome to submit work for publication in the Student Gallery. The Reference Material section features links related to weather and the Ask an Expert section contains a list of online experts you can contact with weather questions. Finally, if you have any questions pertinent to project, pleas contact the project leader in the Project Leader section.
Additionally, you may need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader if you have not done so already to access some pages that are stored in .pdf format.
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