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Overview
Students will record today's
weather for their own location and the weather from another
location using the Internet and compare their findings with
their own measurements for their city. This activity serves
two purposes: to orient the students to the weather web site
so they know how to enter a city, read and record the
weather information, and access archived data for previous
days and to introduce them to some of the graphs used to
compare and analyze weather data.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- collect data about weather using the Internet;
- compare weather data with student-built tools to
data from the Internet;
- interpret information on a chart;
- understand that weather varies with location; &
- compare and contrast weather in
their location with the weather in another location.
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Time
One 45 minute class period. This
activity can also be combined with the previous activity if
time is limited or computer / Internet access is limited
(see notes on
Combining
Activities 1 & 2 from the previous activity).
Materials
- Weather Learning Log or
Student Worksheet.
- Weather instruments.
- Computer with Internet access.
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Teacher Preparation
- LIMITED ACCESS: If technology resources
are limited, you can access the weather web site
previously and print the weather data or display the
weather web site using a projector or television
screen.
- GRAPHING: Students will be creating three graphs
for this lesson. If you are new or not familiar with
graphing, please review the
Graphing Tips.
- Weather related-topics:
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Procedure
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Part 1: Data Tables
If you are using the
Weather Learning Log, students should make the tables exactly as they
appear in the activity. If you are using the Student
Worksheet, they can simply record their measurements in
the tables. As an optional activity, you can make a
wall-sized table to record and share the data.
Part 2: Use the Internet to observe weather
- Class Instruments
: As in the previous
activity, it is recommend to arrange the students in
teams with specific tasks assuring that each team member
has a role. Before
students begin to take measurements, you should discuss
how to make entries in the weather log using the table.
For example, students in each group can take turns
making entries, but all should go outside and
participate in the data collection.
- Students should record the time of day that they
are taking the current measurements in the "Time
Conditions last updated" cell under Class Instruments.
- IMPORTANT: Above all, emphasis should be placed on
making careful observations and recording them
accurately.
- Your City / Town:
The first thing you should
do before students access the Weather Underground
web site is log on to the Internet and review the
web pages with the students. You should begin by explaining
how to access the web page, how to enter a city's name
in the "Fast Forecast" box in the upper left hand
corner, how to read the weather data under the "Current
Conditions" table, and how to access the archived
weather data by scrolling down to "Historical" below the
current conditions and selecting the date, and then
clicking on "GO". You should also consider the
following.
- Tell the students that they will see several
pieces of data reported, but that, for now, they will
only look at the items in their table.
- NOTE: if the exact location is not in the
database, select the next closest city or town.
- Explain that the last update refers to the last
time the information was reported.
- Explain that air pressure is measured in hPa, also
known as millibars
(mb). Commonly observed values at sea level vary
between 970 mb and 1040 mb however the average is 1013
(at sea level). Sometimes, atmospheric pressure is
also quoted in inches of mercury (in Hg). This is an
older form of measurement related to measuring
pressure using a mercury barometer. To convert the two
terms, 1 in Hg
is equal to 33.86 mb.
- Barrow, AK:
Students should repeat the steps
above however for Barrow, AK.
- NOTE: Many factors may be different between your
city / town and Barrow, AK such as the time zone,
latitude, etc. Students will be asked later in this
activity to provide some reasons that might account
for the different weather readings.
Part 3: Analyze the Data
The purpose of this section is to introduce students to the charts
and graphs meteorologists use to compare and analyze weather data and how to
analyze real-time weather data from the internet. Students
will create and compare two bar graphs and one line graph comparing the
temperature for the last 7 days for their city and Barrow, AK.
Barrow was selected since your city / town will most likely have current weather conditions
that are significantly different however you are free to select a different
or additional city if you would like.
- Class Instruments vs. the Internet
:
Students will create a bar graph comparing the
temperature collected with the class instruments with
the data from the Internet for their city / town. The
purpose of this is so that they will both value the
need to use accurate weather instruments when taking
measurements and understand how the web site and
meteorologists determine the weather data found on the
page.
- Encourage the students to create a formula to
convert units from the barometer and thermometer
they created to standardized units, mb and șC
respectively.
- Your location vs. Barrow, AK:
Students will
create a bar graph and answer questions comparing and
contrasting your city with the weather data from
Barrow, AK.
- Several reasons that might account for
differences in weather and temperature include
different geographic locations of both cities
(Barrow is located at 71° N, 157° W), the time
difference between your city / town and Barron since
these are real time weather readings, the last time
the weather data was updated to the web page, etc.
- Temperature for the last seven days:
Students
will learn how to access archived data from the
weather web site and compare the two cities using a
line graph to look for trends and/or relationships.
Homework (optional):
The homework questions will get the students thinking
about how the weather, specifically temperature, is
different in other parts of the world. It is highly
recommend that students complete this prior to beginning
the next activity. |
Assessment
Make each student or cooperative group responsible for
their answers.
Student Activity NOTE: The following
instructions also appear in Student
Activities.
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Activity 2: Use the
Internet to observe Weather |
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Part 1: Data Tables
Make the following two tables in your
Weather Learning Log to record your weather data:
- Current Conditions
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Class Instruments |
Internet |
Barrow, AK |
| Latitude, Longitude: |
NA |
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| Time
Conditions last updated: |
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| Temperature: |
șC |
șC |
șC |
| Sky Conditions: |
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| Wind: |
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| Wind Direction: |
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| Wind Speed: |
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| Precipitation Type: |
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| Precipitation Amount: |
mm |
mm |
mm |
| Air Pressure: |
units |
mb |
mb |
- Temperature for the last seven days
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7 days ago |
6 days ago |
5 days ago |
4 days ago |
3 days ago |
2 days ago |
Yesterday |
| Your City |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
| Barrow, AK |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
șC |
Part 2: Use the Internet to observe weather
- Class Instruments: Record your measurements in the column
marked "Class Instruments" using the weather instruments you made in the
previous activity.
NOTE: If you are combining Activities 1 and 2, you
should record your measurements as you build each of the instruments.
- Your City / Town
- Go to the Weather Underground
site.
- Enter the name of your city in the "Fast Forecast" box which is
in the upper left hand corner and click the return button on your
keyboard. If the exact location is not in the database then select the
next closest city or town.
- Locate the latitude and longitude on the right-hand side of the screen
in the navy blue bar and write it in the "Current Conditions" data table.
- Locate the current weather conditions in the center of the page and
write the time the conditions were last updated, the current temperature, wind, air pressure, etc. in the "Current
Conditions" data table.
- Scroll down to "Historical" below the current conditions and select
the date for yesterday and then click on "GO".
- Write the "Mean Temperature" in the corresponding column for
your city / town (i.e. yesterday) in the Temperature for the last seven
days Data Table.
- Click the "Previous Day" link and write the mean temperature in the
2 days ago column.
- Repeat until you complete for the seven days.
- After you've entered the data, click the back button to return to this
page.
- Barrow, AK
- Return to the Weather Underground
site and enter Barrow, AK in the "Fast Forecast" window.
- Repeat the steps above and enter the corresponding information into
both Data tables.
- After you've entered the data, click the back button to return to this
page.
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Part 3: Analyze the Data
- Class Instruments vs. the Internet: Compare and contrast the weather you collected for your city with the data from the Internet
for your city.
- Create a bar graph comparing the temperature you collected with the
class instruments with the data from the Internet for your city / town (see example).
- Is your temperature the same as reported on the web site? If not, can
you think of any reasons why they're not the same?
- Will the temperature be the same tonight? tomorrow? in one week? in
one month? Why
or why not?
- Why is it important to use standardized terminology for sky
conditions? Are your sky conditions the same as reported on the web site? If not,
can you think of any reasons why they're not the same?
- Does your wind data (direction and speed) match the data from the web? If not, can you think of any reasons why they're not the same?
- For air pressure, you used general units while the Internet posted
the measurement in mb. How could you
correlate the two?
- What are some of the other items listed on the weather web page?
What do they measure?
- Your location vs. Barrow, AK: Compare and contrast your city
with the weather data from Barrow, AK.
- Was the weather similar or different? Describe the similarities and
differences.
- Create a bar graph comparing the current temperatures in Barrow, AK
with your city.
- Were the temperature similar or different in both cities?
- What reason (s) do you think might account for the similarities or
differences?
(Hint: there are several)
- Temperature for the last seven days: Analyze the changes in
temperature for the last week and compare the two cities.
- Draw one graph containing two line graphs comparing the
temperature from your city and Barrow, AK for the last seven days
over Time (see
example).
Label the x-axis using each of the different dates starting with 7
days ago to the left and ending with today's date to the right and
the y-axis in șC.
NOTE: Don't forget to label each of the lines to
distinguish between the two graphs.
- For your city, did the temperature go up, down, or stay the same over the
past week?
- For Barrow, AK, did the temperature go up, down, or stay the
same over the past week?
- How did the two cities compare?
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Homework (optional):
Do you think weather is the same all over the world? Choose a city in
another country where a family member or friend lives and write a short narrative
about what you think the weather is like there. In your paragraph, try to answer the
following questions:
- Do you think the temperature in your relative's town will be warmer
or colder then in your own? Why?
- How would this affect their lives? For example, their house,
clothes, etc.
- What type of precipitation might you expect? Why?
- Will the wind speed be higher or lower? Why?
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