Collecting and Interpreting Weather Data

Description of Activity:

Overview
Students will collect weather data over a period of time to determine how weather variables are related. They will use the data to make short term and possible long term weather predictions. They will graph the data and make comparisons with other class members and previous years data.

Duration of activity

• Three class periods are required to teach basic equipment skill labs, weather frontal systems, and cloud classification.
• Five minutes of each class period are required for a two to four week period for the daily gathering of weather data by one student group and sharing that days data with the class.
• Two class periods are needed at the end of the project for students to write up and share their findings and assessment.

Materials:

• Thermometers and gauze, or a sling psychrometer
• Rulers
• Rain/snow collection device (a jar and a funnel)
• Cloud classification chart
• Anemometer or weather vane (wind sock)
• Relative humidity chart
• Weather chart
• One barometer
• One 10-gallon aquarium.
• Incense stick
• Ice
• Heat lamp

Background Information:

This investigation is designed to actively stimulate the student's involvement in weather. A foundational knowledge in meteorology is essential in order to assist students with this investigation.

Teaching and Learning Strategies:

Ensure inquiry
Students should be the investigators and should not be told the relationships between weather variables. The teacher should only assist students in obtaining the skills necessary to collect and graph weather data. Students are to interpret and make comparisons. Weather variables to be collected are temperature, relative humidity, wind direction (speed if possible), barometric pressure, precipitation measurements, and cloud coverage. Some excitement could be generated school wide by daily announcements of weather data over the school intercom system.

Multitasking
The class should be divided into groups of three to four for lab work and data collection; however, each student should be responsible for his/her own interpretation and graphing of the data.

Prerequisite instruction
Students should be familiar with the use of the scientific method and graphing skills.

Development of Lab Skills and Tools:

Background
To successfully complete this investigation, students will need to know how to successfully read a thermometer, use a sling psychrometer and read a relative humidity chart, classify clouds, read a barometer, use an anemometer or wind sock, and collect precipitation correctly.

Activity
Set up room or/and outside into different lab stations with equipment at each station to teach students how to use weather instruments. Have students rotate to each station until they have completed all labs. Have some type of check off list or assessment to establish students completion of each lab. A brief instructive lecture should proceed the labs, and the outside lab should be done together as a class to help with discipline.

Lab 1

1. Set up trays with materials that absorb or reflect heat and light in varying degrees. (e.g., water, dirt (dark and light), grass, and gravel.)
2. Measure the temperature of materials and then shine a lamp on the surface of each tray for a specific amount of time and record temperature. (Alternative: have students go outside and collect temperature readings from the grass in sun and shade, the sidewalk in sun and shade, and the dirt in sun and shade, etc.)
3. Ask students to hypothesize and why temperatures vary in the sun and the shade.

Lab 2

1. In front of the class, set up a covered aquarium with a towel in the bottom of one end.
2. Place several cubes of ice on that towel.
3. On the other side of the aquarium, shine a heat lamp.
4. Light an incense stick and stick it in the aquarium directly over the ice.
5. Watch the smoke movement for at least two minutes.
6. Describe how the difference in heat can cause air to move and how that relates to the heating of Earth's surface.

Lab 3

1. Have each group build a psychrometer by wrapping a gauze over a thermometer's bulb and wrapping an elastic around it to secure it.
2. Soak it in water and swing it in the air.
3. Compare it to a dry bulb thermometer.
4. Show students how to read the relative humidity chart and have them determine one reading inside and outside of the classroom.
5. They can compare the relative humidity at their location to the weather information found on the Internet.

Lab 4

1. Ask students to construct a weather vane at home and experiment with it outside, or have one made and instruct students to determine the wind direction by observing it.
2. Have students make a map of Utah and show the direction of the wind locally.
3. Ask students to relate local or regional geological features to wind direction.

Lab 5

1. Ask students to bring precipitation collection devices from home, or have one pre-made.
2. Practice using the device with water or crushed ice (snow).
3. Tell students to collect rain or snow (when possible) during class by placing the device outdoors for 24 hours.
4. Each group could report their findings to the class so each student can enter the information in his/her record book.

Lab 6

1. Use cloud identification charts, worksheets, and outdoor observations to help students identify different levels and types of clouds.
2. Take five minutes of each class and study the clouds for a week.
3. Have them write a poem or story about the clouds.

Lab 7

1. Instruct one group of students to record and report (to the class) all the weather data accessible at school each day.
2. Additional information can be collected from the Internet daily.
3. Ask all students to record this data on a daily basis
4. The URL is: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/ut/hourly.html

Lab 8

1. Have students collect weather maps from newspapers for a week.
2. Help them to interpret the symbols and data found on the charts.
3. Coincide this information with the data they are collecting.
4. Many of the these basic skill labs can be found in most general Earth Science text or lab manuals.

Invitation to Learn:

Problem: Determine the causes of and relationships between weather variables as they relate to current weather conditions and weather forecasting.

After basic lab skills have been reviewed, a discussion should take place regarding weather variables. Students' questions should be answered with questions to promote inquiry and lead to hypotheses for their investigations.

Student Designed Experiment:

After the discussion and question period, ask the students to pose a problem related to the activity. They should formulate a hypothesis, and design an investigation which relates to their knowledge of weather variables. Each student should formulate their own problem and hypothesis. There will be some duplication, but they are working as individuals not as groups in their investigation. Allow students to gather weather data daily for the specified amount of time students deem necessary for their investigation. Instruct students to display their data in graph form. Ask students to draw a conclusion based on their data and the relationships between variables. Upon completion of the activity, students will communicate their findings with the class. They will then verify their findings based on the conclusions of other classmates.

Summary of Learning:

Assessment

The assessment will consist of the following:

1. The written investigation, including their data in graph form and their conclusion.
2. The student's ability to defend their interpretation to the class.
3. Possible student weather predictions (See Extensions).
4. Weather "Newscasts" (See Extensions).
5. Test Questions

Multiple choice questions

1. Which two variables can be used to most accurately forecast the local weather on a short-term basis?
   1. Temperature and cloud type
   2. Barometric pressure and relative humidity
   3. Temperature and relative humidity
   4. Barometric pressure and wind direction.
2. Which weather variable is the most reliable in predicting precipitation?
   1. Temperature
   2. Barometric pressure
   3. Relative humidity
   4. Cloud cover

Extensions:

1. For assessment purposes, ask students to choose a date and then use what they have learned about weather variables to predict the weather for that date.
2. Students could also research past weather conditions, compare to their current data, and make long rage predictions for the coming season(s). Local TV. stations or Clayton Brough's book Utah's Comprehensive Weather Almanac is very useful for this type of information.
3. A fun way to end the unit is to give students some "fictional" weather data and have them do a "News Cast" related to the data. (Example, the lead stories, sports stories and weather portions of the news cast, must all be related to the fictional weather data.) The Newscasts can be done in groups of four, videotaped, and viewed at a later date.