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:
- 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.
