Water Cycle - Weather (6)
Post Lab 

   
OBJECTIVES:
  • Researching reference material for information on weather.
  • Retrieving information from reference material.
VOCABULARY:
  • atmosphere
  • weather
  • meteorologist
MATERIALS:  
  • Internet reference material
  • worksheet

Students research the Internet or reference material to find out  more about weather.

BACKGROUND:

Weather is of interest to everyone. Although we see and hear about the weather every day, there are many weather phenomena that we don't fully understand. We cannot teach our students everything on the weather, but we can emphasize how to research information so they can find answers on their own.

It is important to go over how they derived their answer. Students need to develop a logical approach to problem solving. They can learn from other students or adults to learn how they solved a problem.

As students learn more about the meteorology, they realize that there is more to the science than the temperature. The field is a specialized career under atmospheric sciences, which is a subfield of earth sciences. Meteorologists need to understand not only the atmosphere but the interaction of the ocean with air masses. The career may be very mathematical because of the modeling that is required for the field or it can be observational that interacts with the public. Career paths can specialize in marine or continental weather.

PROCEDURE:
  1. This exercise can be done as independent learning or in groups. Ask students to ask a question about the weather that they don’t know, and then search for the answer. Several topics are listed below to help them think about questions. The object is to learn more about weather, but also to teach students to use reference material.

Possible Research Topics

  1. How do tornadoes form? 
    Why are some tornadoes more devastating than others?
    How do you survive a tornado?
      
  2. How do hurricanes form? 
    Are there certain areas that have more hurricanes than others? 
    Why?
      
  3. What are monsoons?
    Are there certain oceans where monsoons occur? 
    Why?
      
  4. What causes lightning? 
    Can you have thunder without lightning?
    Is lightning dangerous?
      
  5. What kind of work does a meteorologist do? 
    Is a TV weather person really a meteorologist?
  1. The world wide web can help find answers to question. If you have Internet access have students search out where they find the information. If you don't have Internet access use your library or give this as a homework assignment. The worksheet can help guide your student’s thoughts.
  1. http://www.weatherimages.org/
    This site links to many other sites that have live image feeds. You can find your local area so students can learn how to access information. You never know when students want to know the weather for a sporting event!
      
  2. http://www.noaa.gov/
    This site is the government agency responsible for weather services. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency provides information from satellite feeds and other types of monitoring system throughout the world. The National Weather Service is responsible for the weather.
      
  3. http://www.wxdude.com Weather Dude web site has a TV personality help explain weather through some fun methods. A glossary can help students find information.

  1. Discuss other possible references you might use for weather like encyclopedias, Farmer's Almanacs, newspapers, or textbooks. Calling the local National Weather Service can also get you specific answers. You may want to mention that calling a TV weather person is probably not a good idea, because most of them are not meteorologists. 

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