Goals

Students will learn about the elements of weather and its effects on human cultures by using meteorological maps and interactive Internet sites. The students will work in cooperative groups of 3-4.

Overview

Students will begin with discussion of what weather is. Based on their findings on the Internet, outdoor weather station, and a class study of television weather forecasts, satellite images, radar, etc. students will determine how weather affects how people live and work in various areas of the United States as well. Students will also apply their knowledge to a weather forecast of their own. Students will also receive a brief study in Severe Weather Safety and use this knowledge with a game.

Materials

Computers with Internet access, blank maps of U. S., television, barometer, thermometer, rain gauge, paper, pen(cil)s, and colors.

Invitation

Students will create an outdoor weather station consisting of a barometer, rain gauge and thermometer. They will monitor the station daily with each group monitoring for a specific time. (To be determined by teacher). The results of the monitoring will be placed on a classroom chart. The results of their outdoor weather station, comparisons with TV weather forecasts, and their on-line weather investigations should conclude weather affects what we do, how we live, and how we work.

Exploration

Students will find an outdoor area close to the classroom to install the weather monitoring equipment. Monitoring current weather and documenting will provide students with hands-on weather observation and opportunity to practice weather forecasting. Information will be documented on class chart and in daily logs. Students will observe similarities in barometric pressure and humidity on various weather days. Example: Low pressure; high humidity on rain days.

Explanation

Using these sites will provide the student instruction about various weather phenomena and weather instruments, and symbols with teacher guidance. Students will also be guided to relate weather to building codes, agriculture, etc. Evaluation will be satisfactory completion of each lesson and ability to apply to weather forecast at the end of unit. Students should also be able to explain how weather affects human culture in an essay format.

http://sln.fi.edu/weather/ This site provides instruction on various weather instruments as well as phenomena.

http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/hsweathr/index.html -interactive weather lessons and weather glossary

http://www.weather.com/- The Weather Channel- accesses up-to-date weather and satellite images

Take the Interactive Sky Quiz

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/ crclm- weather lessons

A quiz will be taken at: http://nesen.unl.edu/webstuff/swik/swikquiz.html to evaluate weather knowledge.

In the groups of students, one group can observe the weather by using weather folklore and compare its accuracy to scientific weather forecasting. They would take information from weather folklore and observe the weather based on the folklore. For instance, the addage, " Red sky at night; sailors delight. Red sky at morning; sailors take warning." The student would observe sunsets and sunrises to see if they actually predicted the weather. The following site:

http://members.aol.com/Accustiver/wxworld_folk.html

would be used to gather folklore in addition to parent and grandparent weather folklore obtained through interviews, or almanac-lore.

Take Action

The unit could last from a few weeks to all year. By accessing the links at the sites listed the unit could further encompass El Nino and other severe weather phenomena. Students could also go on a field exploration trip to the National Weather Service or to the Weather Channel station. Construction companies and/or architects could speak about building requirements in various areas of the country as well.