Colorado Weather Diagrams

Colorado Weather Diagram

This week, students created Colorado weather diagrams in order to think more deeply about significant weather events and what must be done to prepare for these events. The lesson also provided an opportunity to talk about using primary resources when conducting scientific research. Not surprisingly, with this week's early-season snowstorm, many students chose winter storms as their primary research focus—although tornadoes are always popular, too.

Here are the guidelines for the lesson:

Pick one Colorado weather event to research in more detail. Use the primary resources on our science website and the materials (primary resources, posters, textbooks, etc.) in the classroom for your research. Create a labeled and illustrated diagram about your event, and include the following information:

• What are the necessary ingredients for this type of weather event?
• How/why/when/where does this weather event occur?
• What are the hazards and impacts of this event on humans? 
• What are some good safety preparations and guidelines for this type of weather event?
• Don’t forget descriptive title, caption, color, etc...

Use the space on the paper to organize your notes and create a rough draft. Your final draft goes on a separate sheet of paper.

There are several reasons that I like this lesson:

• It reviews/reinforces the concept of using primary resources when conducting scientific research. We get a chance to discuss the appropriate use of resources such as Wikipedia and textbooks, and the benefits of getting as close to the primary source as possible when engaging in scientific research. In the case of severe weather, NOAA and the National Weather Service are definitely excellent primary resources. A list of the guides we used appears at the end of this post.
• The research questions are multidimensional, covering both the mechanics of weather and its impacts on human beings. Students complain that sometimes their favorite TV shows are interrupted by severe weather warnings—this lesson helps them understand and appreciate the necessity of these interruptions and the potential life savings that occur because of them.
• There is room for creative expression. The more I teach, the less I specify how a particular assignment should be presented by students. I speak in terms of generalities: a well-designed diagram with appropriate communication elements such as title, caption, labels, arrows, color, etc. Our classroom standard of excellence is that students may be as creative as they wish, but they cannot distort, exaggerate, or dilute the scientific data; and, their presentation must be such that an intelligent stranger would fully understand their work without being confused or needing to ask basic questions such as "What is this?" or "What does this mean?"
• Students are expected to rough draft and peer edit their work, which emulates the peer review process in science.

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Here are links to the primary resources used in this lesson:

NOAA Safety and Awareness Publications, Brochures, Booklets for Children and Adults

NOAA Preparedness Guides:

• Floods: The Awesome Power
• Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Lightning: Nature's Most Violent Storms
• Winter Storms: the Deceptive Killers

NOAA Owlie Skywarn Guides:

• Floods Ahead!
• Lightning Ahead!
• Tornadoes Ahead!
• Winter Storms Ahead!

In Defense of Hands-On Science

Investigating Rates of Heating and Cooling

"The debate over how best to teach science has amplified as school districts and states place more emphasis on standardized testing." —David Klahr, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh

In a Palm Beach Post article, middle school science teachers in a Florida school have discarded hands-on science learning activities in favor of demonstrations, videos, PowerPoint lectures, and other direct instruction techniques. Their argument is that lengthy, hands-on science investigations do not translate into significantly positive gains on state standardized tests. As a scientist and educator, I am disturbed and unsettled by this decision to sacrifice a vital component of the process of science in the name of test scores.

Two years ago, our school district adopted a curriculum that promotes inquiry-based learning as an essential component of our students' science education. This inquiry focus is derived from the National Science Education Standards:

Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work. Inquiry also refers to the activities of students in which they develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, as well as an understanding of how scientists study the natural world. [National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.]

In addition to an inquiry focus, our curriculum strives to teach for enduring understanding, whereby students make mindful meaning of their learning as well as transfer their learning to new situations or problems; simple knowledge acquisition is insufficient. To achieve this worthy goal, which ultimately benefits students and society, requires a commitment to creating an environment where the process of science is paramount, where our students are engaged in authentic, hands-on learning.

In my opinion, taking away hands-on learning opportunities denies students access to a rich, quality scientific education experience. It prioritizes extrinsically-driven, short-term knowledge acquisition and test score gains over intrinsically-motivated, deep understanding and lifelong learning. I choose depth of understanding over breadth of knowledge—a depth developed through student engagement in well-designed, meaningful, time-worthy (not time-wasting), hands-on laboratory investigations.

The debate on how best to teach science will continue, but I hope that a rational commitment to authentic, inquiry-based science education—which includes hands-on investigations—survives the pressures of high stakes testing.

Meteorology Questions

Image Credit: Pics4Learning

I frame our science learning in terms of questions—learning goals, laboratory research questions, daily warm-up questions, one-on-one student conversations, etc. Questions stimulate thinking and conversation; the more questions, the better. I am famously known for never giving students "the right answer," but always asking them that one additional question. Of course, my favorite question is, "Why?"  :)

Throughout the school year, I will share some of the questions we ponder as we engage in the process of science. Here is a sampling of some of the "big idea" questions that I pose during our study of meteorology:

Atmospheric Structure

• What are the features and characteristics of Earth's atmosphere?
• What is the composition of Earth's atmosphere?

Heat Transfer

• How is heat transferred in Earths's atmosphere?
• What are the three types of heat transfer in Earth's atmosphere, and how does each work?
• What is Earth's energy budget?

Weather Maps

• How do scientists measure, record, and analyze various types of weather data?
• How do we measure air temperature?
• How do we measure dewpoint and humidity?
• How do we measure atmospheric pressure?
• How do we measure wind direction and wind speed?
• How do we draw isobars?
• What are fronts and how do we locate them on a weather map?

Types of Weather

• What causes weather?
• How are clouds formed?
• How do scientists forecast the weather?
• How do different types of severe weather form?
• How do scientists monitor severe weather? 
• How do we prepare for and stay safe during severe weather?

Climate Change

• How do scientists study global climate and climate change?
• What are the factors affecting climate change over time?
• What is the greenhouse effect and how does it work?
• How do we measure "parts per million?"
• How does carbon cycle through the Earth system over time?
• What is our current understanding of climate change?

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For more information about effective questioning:

Ivan Hannel, Insufficient Questioning, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 91, No. 3, November 2009, pp. 65-69. In this article, author Ivan Hannel discusses how highly effective questioning can keep students interested and improve their learning.

Thanks for Being Insanely Great

Steve Jobs is one of my heroes.

Credit: Jonathan Mak

Steve's genius and vision has touched my life for more than a quarter century. He brought us the best damn pieces of technology on the planet, and disguised them as works of art. He breathed joy and wonder into otherwise dull, utilitarian objects. When I imagine a world without Steve Jobs, I see a world where technology lacks heart and soul — a DOS-colored landscape of intolerable digital devices moldering in the dusty recesses of our lives.

I cannot help but smile when I reflect on the influence of Steve Jobs and Apple in my classroom. The attention to detail and the audacity to "Think Different" have made huge, positive impacts on my students:

• Grape iMac = coolest, most enticing computer ever
• Stickies = most elegant, colorful, and simple text display utility
• Keynote + beautiful fonts + stunning transitions and animations = rapt audience
• iTunes + iPod = musical therapy
• iPad + NASA = wow!

Thank you, Steve, for being insanely great…

What Is Excellent?

While I recognize their utility and purpose, I've never been a big fan of rubrics. So time-consuming to create, and all those "less than proficient/unsatisfactory" categories that aren't even appropriate for students to consider. Back in 2009, I attended a presentation by Rick Wormeli—author of Fair Isn't Always Equal—in which he advocated the use of a much simplified, more holistic Standard of Excellence over the traditional, multi-column rubric. What a relief to discover a more flexible alternative to the perennially rigid rubric! In a Standard of Excellence guide, only the highest standards are defined and presented to students. Gone are all those mediocre and meaningless categories, such as "proficient," "adequate," "poor," etc. (To paraphrase Mr. Wormeli, "Do you really want your students to settle for being mediocre?")

Image credit: Discovery Clip Art Gallery

What does this look like in my science classroom? I have a collection of help guides that students use over and over throughout the year, and these guides define the standard of excellence: this is what an excellent graph looks like, this is what an excellent data table looks like, this is what an excellent masterpiece caption looks like. No confusion, no waffling. It's so much simpler to say to students, "Your work is not done until you have addressed every item in our Standard of Excellence." I find that students generally strive to achieve the defined level of excellence—they want to do well.

A key to successful application of this model is clearly defining what the standard of excellence looks like and regularly asking students if they have met that standard. I teach my students to self-assess their own learning against the standard before asking me to check their work. I can modify the standard for students with different needs by having them focus on particular items within the standard, rather than just watering down the whole standard.

While good rubrics have their rightful place in education, they are no panacea. We must be careful when applying rubrics to our students—no single rubric can quantify the learning styles of the children we teach. Over-reliance on rubrics can stifle the intrinsic creativity and thirst for discovery our students possess.

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Excellent Sample Guides

• Experiment Planning Guide Standard of Excellence
• Graphing Help Guide
• Data Table Help Guide

Additional Reading

• The Trouble with Rubrics by Alfie Kohn