CIESE - Wonderful World of Weather Project

Lesson #2: Looking in on the Weather

Overview

In this lesson students will select a live web cam to use to observe the weather in a distant location. After making some basic observations, students will access real time weather data from the same location.

Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

Make weather observations based on sky observations
Understand that weather conditions vary over the day
Understand that weather varies with location
Compare and contrast the weather condition in their location with the weather in other places

Materials

Large wall map
Weather instruments (thermometer, wind vane, anemometer, etc.)
Paper and clipboards (or other hard surface for writing)
Drawing materials (pen, pencils, markers, etc.)
Weather Learning Log

Time: Four hours spread out over a three week period or a similar time allocation

Teacher Preparation

Live web cams use small digital cameras to capture images in real time and post them to a web site. You will need to select several live web cams for use in this lesson. Go to the Real Time Data Resources section and explore the few sites which are listed that contain useful web cams. Since web cams are difficult to maintain they tend to not always be available so you want to select your web cams close to the time when you will be implementing this lesson. Try and find web cams that display images that include large parts of the sky, these will be best for making weather observations.
Once you find a web cam of interest Bookmark the site (or if you are using Internet Explorer add it to your Favorites list). Continue identifying web cams until you have enough for either each group of students or each individual student depending on how you plan on implementing this lesson.
NOTE: Some web cams are located in other parts of the world, if you decide to use these just make sure it will be daylight in the location when students will need to make their observations.
For younger students you may also wish to go to the Weather Underground web site, enter in the location of the web cam(s) you select, and Bookmark the weather information for its location. This will make it easier for the students to access.

Procedures

Activity #1: Making local observations
For this activity, do the following:

Have students go outside and observe the local weather conditions. In their Weather Learning Logs, have them record as many details about the weather as they can.
Have them create sketches of the sky, again including as many details as they can.
As a class have them record some the weather variables which they have been studying using the classroom weather instruments.

Activity #2: Making distant observations
For this activity, do the following:

Either as a class, group or individually, have students access the web cam(s) from the Bookmarks (or Favorites List).
Have the students draw a sketch of what they observe, including as many weather related details as possible.
For older students, have them make some predictions concerning the conditions at the location. Some of the predictions could include:
- What is the temperature?
- What type of precipitation is occurring, if any?
- What is the wind speed?
- What is the visibility?
- What are the sky conditions?
Lastly, have students access the Weather Underground (either from the Bookmark list you made or the Real Time Data Activity site for this lesson). By typing in the city and state or the zip code, they can access the current weather data for the web cam location.
Have student compare and contrast the prediction and observation they made based on the web cam picture with the data they collected from the Weather Underground. Have them write a report in their Weather Learning Log.

Activity #3: Daily weather changes
For this activity, do the following:

Because of the time requirements for this activity, it is best done as a whole class but can be implemented with groups or individuals.
In the morning, load up a web cam for the students to observe. Have the them draw a sketch of what they observe, including as many weather related details as possible.
For older students, have them make some predictions concerning the conditions at the location. Some of the predictions could include:
- What is the temperature?
- What type of precipitation is occurring, if any?
- What is the wind speed?
- What is the visibility?
- What are the sky conditions?
Repeat this activity several more times during the day. Each time have them make their observations and predictions.
The next day have the students review the sketches and predictions they made. In their Weather Learning Logs, have them write a weather history based on what they recorded.
Next, go to the Weather Underground and look up the weather for the location of the web cam. Scroll down on the page and under the Historical Conditions menu select the previous day's date. Have the students compare their observations and predictions with what actually occurred. Ask them to explain any differences.

Extension Activities

Have students access a web cam site every 30 minutes to an hour and print out the image (color printouts work best). Have them do this for the entire day. Then have them make a poster displaying all of the images in series. This will give them a good idea of how the weather changed over the day. You can have them add the weather data for each hour as well.
Use web cams to allow students to explore the topic of time zones. Have them access web cams from other parts of the world where the local time is significantly different then your own. See if they can explain way it appears to be later or earlier in the day in the other location.
See if you can find web cams located in places with which the students are familiar. Have them make daily observations and record weather data.
Have students create a mock weather broadcast for the location of one of the web cams. Students can use the live image along with weather data from the Weather Underground to develop the broadcast. If you can tape, the event with a camcorder.