Teaching and Learning

Within GLOBE, students can enhance their education through involvement in hands-on, scientifically valid research. Student learning goals for Atmosphere are:

• To observe and measure weather and climate-related phenomena accurately and objectively,
• To design and test students' own weather instruments as a way of understanding how standard instruments work,
• To classify objects and events based on similarities, differences, and interrelationships,
• To solve problems by experimentation,
• To interpret collected data and come to sound conclusions,
• To explore and understand the uncertainties inherent in any scientific measurement,
• To communicate information learned through their scientific investigations, and
• To develop models from data, patterns, or relationships.

The concepts which are covered in the protocols and learning activities in Atmosphere are:

• Composition of the atmosphere
• Cloud formation
• Condensation
• Cooling and warming effects of clouds
• Clouds are identified by their shape, altitude, and precipitation characteristics
• Relationship of clouds and changes in clouds to weather
• Effects of wind on precipitation measurement
• Change of state
• Density of snow
• Factors affecting the pH of precipitation
• Temperature
• Heat
• Convection
• Conduction
• Radiation
• Heat transfer through radiation, conduction, and convection
• Conduction and convection are two key forms of heat transfer
• Different substances, such as soil, water, and air, transfer energy and heat at different rates
• Heat capacity
• Substances expand and contract as the temperature changes
• Liquid-in-glass thermometers work on the basis of thermal expansion and contraction
• Using a simulation to explore the accuracy of observations

• Meniscus reading

Students should be assessed using formative and summative evaluation methods, which may be either qualitative or quantitative in nature. Such methods should reflect the development level of your students. Various tools should be used to assess the growth of students in the following areas:

• concept mastery
• use of science process skills
• attitudes toward science, science classes, and science careers
• higher level skills, including questioning, identifying cause and effect, and predicting
• applying concepts and process skills in new situations

One way to assess students' understanding of the content and processes within the Atmosphere Investigation is to monitor the daily data that students record and submit. Is the maximum temperature recorded always greater than the minimum temperature? Is the current temperature recorded equal to or between the maximum and minimum for the past 24 hours? In both instances, the answer should be yes. If it is not, you should suspect that either the students do not know how to read the maximum/minimum thermometer or they are unsure of what they are reading.

Another way to assess students' understanding of the protocols is to ask them to choose the optimum placement for instruments when presented with a variety of situations. What if your school were in a city? What if it were in a heavily wooded area?

The learning activities in this module are designed to help students understand the protocols and the instruments used to implement the protocols. They also allow you to assess students' understanding of key concepts and skills. Students may keep a log of their activities, give oral reports to the class (or maybe even weather reports to the school!), and write papers that could be reviewed by other students.

The skills covered in the protocols and learning activities of this investigation are as follows:

* Observing carefully

* Observing systematically over a period of time

* Measuring

* Reading a scale accurately

* Collecting and recording data

* Conducting an experiment

* Constructing an apparatus for an experiment

* Hypothesizing and predicting

* Designing experiments

* Organizing data in tables

* Analyzing data

* Graphing

* Correlating one observed phenomenon with another

* Communicating experimental results orally and in writing

* Communicating mathematically

* Working effectively in a group

* Estimating simulated cloud cover

* Estimating cloud cover

* Observing and describing the appearance of clouds

* Estimating cloud height

* Identifying the ten major cloud types

* Recording and organizing cloud data in the GLOBE Science Notebook

* Using a rain gauge

* Using a thermometer

* Using pH measuring equipment