METEOROLOGY METEOROLOGY 
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Assignments:
Each student will be expected to purchase a reading booklet at the time of registration or at the first class. This booklet will contain material that should be read before the beginning of the second class. For our typical course, there are two full eight hour days of classes, although other schedules are possible. There must be several days between the two full day classes to allow a project to be completed.
Between the two classes, each student is required to research and build a project having to do with meteorology. The primary consideration is your understanding of the project, your ingenuity in producing it, and your description of how other teachers could also use it. A short typed description (perhaps only 2-3 pages) must be handed in giving resource material, instructions for building and using the item. A short discussion of how this project might be useful in the classroom would be appropriate. Also during the second class you will give a short (5-8 minutes) presentation to the class. A list of possible projects is given in the booklet, but each student is expected to do further research to improve on the ideas presented here. Do not just copy what is given here. Try to improve it.
Grading:
Because this is a graduate level class, only passing grades of A and B (with + and - possible) are given. A C grade is failing. It is also possible to audit the class, but ALL the work must be completed, including the project. Grades will be primarily assigned by the local adjunct professor and will depend on class attendance and participation as well as the presentation of the homework project. This presentation includes the oral one before the class as well as the document handed in describing the project. See the discussion above in Assignments.
Reading booklet:
A reading booklet will be prepared for class members that includes useful information on meteorology as well as teacher applications. This booklet will be available at the first class.
Instructor Contact:
Contact the local adjunct professor during the first class for her/his address and office hours. Professor Thornton may be contacted as described on the previous page. He will try to respond and will inform the adjunct professors of any decisions concerning the class.
1st Class Day (full eight hour class)
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8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. |
Videotaped lecture, Introduction, Video: Weather: Come Rain, Come Shine, Atmosphere (air pressure) |
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9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. |
Hands-on experiments for Atmosphere (pressure) |
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10:30 a.m. - 12 noon |
Videotaped lecture: Energy- heat transfer, radiation, absorption; Seasons; Optical Phenomena; Water Vapor and Hydrologic Cycle |
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12 noon - 12:30 p.m. |
Lunch |
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12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. |
Hands-on experiments for Energy, Seasons, Optical Phenomena, and Water Vapor and Hydrologic Cycle. |
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3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
Videotaped lecture on Clouds; Assign homework and discuss projects. |
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4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. |
Choose project. Go through resource material locally & Do evaluation. |
2nd Class Day (full eight hour class)
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8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. |
Present projects. Discuss homework assignment. |
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10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. |
Videotaped lecture on Wind - Coriolis force; Air Masses and Fronts; Severe Weather: hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, thunderstorms; Video: Water Vapor: The Unseen Weather |
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11:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. |
Hands-on experiments for wind, air masses and fronts, severe weather with 30 minute lunch break. |
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1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. |
Videotaped lecture on - Weather forecasting; Video: Trying to Bat a Thousand; Video: Radar Reflections: Soul of a Storm. (Delete the two previous videos if additional time was needed for homework project presentations. It is more important to do hands-on experiments than to watch the videos.) |
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2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. |
Hands-on experiments on weather forecasting. |
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3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
Other phenomena |
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4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. |
Hands on experiments on other phenomena and evaluations. |
 Activities |
Projects
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SOLs Covered |
Both of the two following assignments should be completed.
1) Each teacher should choose and do their homework project, write up a 2-3 page description, and be prepared to show it to their local class on the next Saturday.
2) Each teacher should complete the following homework assignment (adapted/copied from Activity 1 in Project Earth Science: Meteorology). One way to become an excellent forecaster is to carefully observe the weather around you and relate that to weather in other parts of the country.
Procedure
1. Make several copies of the Weather Watch data sheet contained here and use one each day.
2. Obtain a copy of the daily national weather map found in a newspaper or other source for at least seven days in a row.
3. Record on your data sheet the daily weather conditions for every day until the next class. This includes
a) Cloud type - look at the data sheet for descriptions. Record all the kinds of clouds you see each day.
b) Precipitation - record the type (rain, snow, etc.), amount, time of day, and duration (steady or intermittent). If you are unable to measure the amount of precipitation, use some published or reported source.
c) Record the high and low temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.
d) Record the barometric pressure.
4. Note any unusual national weather condition on your data sheet.
Questions/Conclusions
Write out the answers to the following questions:
1. Find one of your data sheets that indicates precipitation for that day. What kinds of clouds did you observe that day? Did you notice any change in the barometric pressure during the days leading up to the precipitation? What was the change?
2. Hopefully you have a national weather map for the same day that you noticed precipitation. Where in the country are major fronts located? What kinds of fronts were they? Were any of the fronts near you? What kind of front was it?
3. Do you have any other days for which you had precipitation? Were there any similarities in the cloud patterns and front movements for the rainy/snowy days? Explain.
4. Look at the national weather maps that you have. Do you notice any movement in the fronts or precipitation locations from day to day? If so, in what direction do they move?
5. Does there appear to be any general direction of the weather movement over North America? If so, in what direction?
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Lesson Plan |
Activities |
Projects
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SOLs Covered |
The following is a list of Teacher Activities that are available in the course. We have attached several of the activities. Click here to see some TEACHER ACTIVITIES.
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Number |
Title |
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2-1) |
Effects of Air Pressure |
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2-2) |
Rising Air Bubble |
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2-3) |
Does Air Have Weight |
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2-4 |
Expanding and Contracting Balloon |
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2-5) |
Sucking a Balloon into a Flask |
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2-6) |
Collapsing a Plastic Bottle |
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2-7) |
Transferring Water with a Straw |
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2-8) |
A Bottle with Two Holes |
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2-9) |
Can You Lift a Newspaper? |
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2-10) |
Two Bottles Stuck Together with Paper |
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2-11) |
Building a Balloon (aneroid) Barometer |
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2-12) |
Building a Bottle Barometer |
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2-13) |
Another Bottle Barometer |
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3-1) |
Building a Thermometer |
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3-2) |
Which Gets Hotter: Light or Dark Surfaces? |
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3-3) |
Does Dark Soil Absorb More Heat than Light Soil? |
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3-4) |
Does Soil Absorb Heat Faster than Water? |
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4-1) |
Why Are Winter Days Shorter than Summer Days? |
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4-2) |
Why is it Colder in the Winter? |
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4-3) |
Sunlight and the Earth |
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5-1) |
Blue Skies and Red Sunsets |
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6-1) |
Building a Hygrometer |
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6-2) |
Building a Sling Pyschrometer |
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6-3) |
Is High Humidity Comfortable? |
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6-4) |
Evaporation of Water |
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6-5) |
How Evaporation Cools |
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6-6) |
Condensation of Water, part A |
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6-7) |
Condensation of Water, part B |
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6-8) |
Making a Rain Gauge |
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6-9) |
Making Rain |
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6-10) |
Measuring the Dew Point |
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6-11) |
Making Clouds and Fog |
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6-12) |
Making a Simple Cloud |
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6-13) |
Making Frost |
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6-14) |
Making Hail |
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8-1) |
Measuring the Wind Direction |
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8-2) |
Making a Wind Sock |
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8-3) |
Measuring Wind Speed, part 1 |
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Beaufort Wind Scale |
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8-4) |
Measuring Wind Speed, part 2 |
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8-5) |
Measuring Wind Speed, part 3 |
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8-6) |
Making a Wind Gauge |
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8-7) |
Hot Air Rises |
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8-8) |
Pressure Differences Cause Wind |
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9-1) |
Bodies of Different Densities Don't Mix |
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9-2) |
Mixing Oil and Water |
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9-3) |
Floating Talcum Powder |
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9-4) |
Twirling Mobile |
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9-5) |
Air Front Simulation |
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9-6) |
Warm and Cold Fronts |
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10-1) |
Paper Snapper |
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10-2) |
Popping Balloons |
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10-3) |
Seeing a Vortex |
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10-4) |
Making a Vortex |
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10-5) |
Motion in a Vortex |
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10-6) |
Modeling a Hurricane |
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10-7) |
Using Hurricane Maps |
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10-8) |
Water Vapor: The Unseen Weather from Project Atmosphere |
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10-9) |
Looking at Severe Weather: Lightning and Tornadoes |
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11-1) |
Interpreting Weather Maps |
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11-2) |
Checking the Forecast |
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11-3) |
Using Weather Symbols |
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11-4) |
Weather Map Game |
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11-5) |
Forecasting by the Weather Chart |
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11-6) |
Weather Sayings - True or False |
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12-1) |
Making Smog |
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12-2) |
The Greenhouse Effect, part 1 |
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12-3) |
The Greenhouse Effect, part 2 |
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12-4) |
Greenhouse Effect: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right? |
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Lesson Plan |
Projects
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SOLs Covered |
Only one person in a class can do a project unless otherwise indicated below. Some reference material is contained in the Teacher Project folder that your Instructor has, but we do not have copyright permission to make copies. A list of references follows the list of Teacher Projects.
1. Making a Cloud in a Bottle - Invitations to Science Inquiry, 2nd ed., Tik L. Liem, p. 71.
2. Making a Cloud in a Wide Mouth Jar
3. Making a Fire Cyclone - Invitations to Science Inquiry, 2nd ed., Tik L. Liem, p. 86
4. Making a Jar Hygrometer - Invitations to Science Inquiry, 2nd ed., Tik L. Liem, p. 84.
5. Making a Barometer - Neil Ardley, The Science Book of Weather, p. 26.
6. Observing Humidity. More than one person can do this project.
7. Building an anemometer - Terry Cash, et al., 175 More Science Experiments, page 143.
8. Building a Wind Station - John Farndon, How the Earth Works, page 168.
9. Building a Stevenson Screen.
10. Wind Patterns - John Farndon, How the Earth Works, page 172.
11. Build a Weather Station. More than one person can do this project.
12. Making a Hair Hygrometer (measures relative humidity)
13. Making a Hair Hygrometer (measures relative humidity)
14. Making a Hair Hygrometer (measures relative humidity)
15. Make and write a report on the Great Blizzard of January, 1996.
16. Produce a report on clouds.
17. Hydrologic Water Cycle
18) Do Activity 4 in Project Earth Science: Meteorology.
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Lesson Plan |
Activities |
SOLs Covered |
1) Bill Nye, Bill Nye the science guy's big blast of science (Addison Wesley, Reading, Mass) 1993.
2) Robert W. Wood, When? Experiments for the Young Scientist. (Tab Books, New York, 1995.
3) Dave Prochnow and Kathy Prochnow, Why? Experiments for the Young Scientist. (Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA , 1993 .
4) Dave Prochnow and Kathy Prochnow, How? More experiments for the young scientist, Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1993.
5) Robert W. Wood, Where? Experiments for the young scientist. Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1995.
6) Brenda Walpole, 175 Science Experiments, Random House, New York, 1988.
7) Terry Cash, Steve Parker, and Barbara Taylor, 175 More Science Experiments, Random House, New York, 1989. Not real useful.
8) Neil Ardley, The Science Book of Weather, HBJ, San Diego, 1992.
9) Vera Webster, Weather Experiments, Childrens Press, Chicago, 1982. Not useful.
10) Linda Allison, The Reasons for Seasons, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1975.
Not useful.
11) Margaret Kenda and Phyllis S. Williams, Science Wizardry for Kids, Barron's, Hauppauge, New York, 1992.
12) Craig F. Bohren, Clouds in a Glass of Beer, John Wiley, New York, 1987.
13) Craig F. Bohren, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?, John Wiley, 1991.
Not useful for this course.
14) John Farndon, Weather, Dorling Kindersley, New York, 1992.
15) The Earth and Sky, Scholastic, New York, 1992. Not useful.
16) John Farndon, How the Earth Works, Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, NY, 1992.
17) Robert Hirschfeld and Nancy White, The Kids' Science Book, Williamson Publishing, Charlotte, Vermont, 1995. Not very useful.
18) Janice VanCleave, 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird & Fun Experiments, John Wiley, New York, 1993. Not useful.
19) Judith Hann, How Science Works, Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, NY, 1991.
20) Tik L. Liem, Invitations to Science Inquiry, 2nd ed., Science Inquiry Enterprises, 14358 Village View Lane, Chino Hills, CA 91709, 1987. Very good book.
21) Muriel Mandell, Simple Weather Experiments with Everyday Materials, Sterling Publishers, New York, 1990.
22) Robert W. Wood, Science for Kids, 39 Easy Meteorology Experiments, Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1991.
23) Barbara Taylor, Weather and Climate, Kingfisher, New York, 1993.
24) Jack Williams, The Weather Book, Vintage Books, New York, 1992. Copyrighted by USA Today. Very nice book.
25) Michael Allaby, How the Weather Works, Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, New York, 1995,
26) Janice VanCleave, Weather, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1995. Nice book.
27) Brian Cosgrove, Weather, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1991.
28) George Barr, Science Projects for Young People, Dover, New York,
29) Muriel Mandell, Physics Experiments for Children, Dover, New York.
30) Diane Willow and Emily Curran, Science Sensations, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. Not very useful.
31) Scienceworks, Ontario Science Centre, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.
Not very helpful.
32) Angela Wilkes, My First Science Book, Knopf, New York.
Not very helpful.
33) The Stories Clouds Tell by Dr. Margaret LeMone, Project ATMOSPHERE
34) Ranger Rick's Nature Scope: Wild about Weather, National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC, 1985, 1989.
35) SAM, Student Activities in Meteorology, Version 2, June 1994, by Beverly L. Meier and Elisa Passarelli. NOAA/Environmental Research Laboratories/Forecast Systems Laboratory Publication. Received from U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Office of Public and Constituent Affairs, Washington, DC 20230.
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Lesson Plan |
Activities |
Projects
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SOLs Covered |
Places to Write for Useful Information about Meteorology
Some Good Weather Sites on the World Wide Web:
http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/states/virginia.html Virginia weather
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~climate/ Virginia State Climatology Office
http://www.weather.com/twc/homepage.twc The Weather Channel
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wfront.htm USAToday Weather
http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS/amshomepage.cfm American Meteorological Society
http://www.mjjsales.com/articles/the-weather-resource-page.html Weather Resource Page
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Kindergarten |
K.1, K.8, K.9 |
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Grade 1 |
1.1, 1.8 |
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Grade 2 |
2.1, 2.6 |
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Grade 3 |
3.1, 3.8, 3.11 |
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Grade 4 |
4.1, 4.6, |
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Grade 5 |
5.1 |
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Grade 6 |
6.1, 6.2 |
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Earth Science |
ES.1, ES.2, ES.3, ES.4, ES.7, ES.12, ES.13 |
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Lesson Plan |
Activities |
Projects
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