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Symposium on Education (4th, Dallas, Texas, January15-20, 1995).American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass.World Meteorological Organization, Geneva(Switzerland).Jan 95257p.; A few pages contain light type that may notreproduce well.American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street,Boston, MA 02108.Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021)

MF01/PC11 Plus Postage.Climate; Educational Technology; Elementary SecondaryEducation; Higher Education; *Meteorology;*Oceanography; Research Projects; *ScienceCurriculum; Weather

The theme of this symposium was "Opening the Doors tothe Future: Education in the Classroom and Beyond." Presentations,both oral and poster, are devoted to both K-12 and universityeducational issues in meteorological and oceanographic education.Oral presentations include: (I) "The Bachelor's Degree in AtmosphericScience-Revision of the 1987 AMS Statement" (Phillip Smith, S.Businger, E. Pani, and J. Zebransky); (2) "Meteorology's EducationalDilemma" (Paul Croft and M. Binkley); (3) "Involvement ofUndergraduate Meteorology Students in Faculty Research Projects"(Gregory Byrd, R. Peinback, R. Ballentine, A. Stamm, and E.Chermack); (4) "Creating and Maintaining Enthusiasm for theUndergraduate Major" (Dayton Vincent and P. Smith); (5) "WeatherEducation at the Introductory College Level" ( Robert Weinback and I.Greer); (6) "Weather and Life: A Cognitive Apprenticeship inPersonalized Multidisciplinary Problem Solving" (Paul Croft and M.Tessmer); (7) "New Meteorology Program at the U.S. Air Force AcademyIntegrates Comet Multimedia and Computer Weather Lab intoUndergraduate Curriculum" (Thomas Koehler, K. Blackwell, D. Knipp, B.Heckman); (8) "Integration of Interactive Multimedia into theMeteorology Curriculum at the United States Air Force Academy"(Delores Knipp and B. Heckman); (9) "A Survey of the Use ofCOMET's(R) Forecaster's Multimedia Library in the Academic Community"(Brian Heckman); (10) "Symbolic Manipulators in the Classroom: UsingStudent Research Topics in Oceanography and Meteorology to EnhanceTeaching/Learning of Advanced Mathematics" (Reza Malek-Madani, D.Smith, and C. Gunderson); (11) "Classroom Applications of InteractiveMeteorological Visualization" (Michael Biggerstaff and J.Nielsen-Gammon). The poster presentations include topics of interestfor both K-12 and university educators. Two joint sessions focused onK-12 educational programs and new technologies for the classroom. Thejoint session with the llth Conf:erence on Interactive InformationProcessing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrologyincluded demonstrations of hardware and software systems designed toenhance meteorological and oceanographic education. Contains an .

author index. (JRH)

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL

HAS BEEN GRA TED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

r1:771OVERVIEW

GLOBEEXPERUISENTS

4PARTNER

SCHOOLS

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A.MLR1CAN FLOROIA.),GIC 11. S()(:11 III

Publicationsof the American Meteorological Society MIMUMIMMIMM.M.11-M.1111

JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES (ISSN 0022-4928), Vol. 52, 1995. Semi-monthly. Original researchpapers related to the atmospheres of the earth and other planets with emphasis on the quantitative and deductive aspects of thephysics and dynamics of atmospheric processes and phenomena. $355

JOURNAL OF APPLIED METEOROLOGY (ISSN 0894-8763), Vol. 34, 1995. Monthly. Original papers and critical surveysconcerned with the applications of the atmospheric sciences to operational and practical goals. Its editorial scope encompassesthe full range of applications of meteorology to safety, health, industry, the economy, and general well-being of the humancommunity $215

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY (ISSN 022-3670), Vol. 25, 1995. Monthly. Original research and surveypapers devoted to the communication of knowledge concerning the physics and chemistry of the oceans and of the processescoupling the sea to the atmosphere. Papers will deal with the theoretical and observational aspects of topics such as: oceancirculation, surface waves, internal waves, inertial oscillations, oceanic turbulence, interpretive regional studies, oceanic tides,and other long-wave phenomena. $255

MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW (ISSN 0027-0644), Vol. 123, 1995. Monthly. Original research and survey papersconcerned with weather analysis and forecasting (non-operational); observed and modeled circulations including techniquesdevelopment and verification studies, and seasonal-anneal weather summaries. $335

JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY (ISSN 0739-0572), Vol. 12, 1995. Bimonthly. Originalresearch and survey papers related to instrument-system descriptions, exploratory measurement techniques, calibrationmethods, and performance analyses for the ma'. istream of atmospheric and oceanic technology, including the development ofdata-acquisition hardware, real-time and post analysis software, and signal-processing techniques. $135

WEATHER AND FORECASTING (ISSN 0882-8156), Vol. .0, 1995. Quarterly. Original research and survey papersimmediately related to the operational forecasting or weather events significant to operational forecast problems including suchtopics as operational-forecasting techniques, applications of new analysis methods, forecasting-verification studies, and casestudies with direct application to forecasting. $110

JOURNAL OF CLIMATE (ISSN 0094-8755), Vol. 8, 1995. Monthly. Articles concerned with climate data and analysis, long-term atmospheric variability (seasonal, interannual), climate change and prediction on seasonal and longer time scales, and theimpacts of climate change on society. $210

BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY (ISSN 0003-0007), Vol. 76, 1995. Monthly. The officialorgan of the society, devoted to editorials, topical reports to members, articles, professienal and membership news, conferenceannouncements, programs, and summaries, book reviews, and society activities. $60

METEOROLOGICAL & GEOASTROPHYSICAL ABSTRACTS (ISSN 00'46-1130), Vol. 46, 1995. Monthly. Abstractsof current world literature in meteorology, climatology, aeronomy, planetary atmospheres, solar-terresirial relations, hydrology,oceanography, glaciology, cosmic rays, and radioastronomy. The abstracts of books, articles, and reprints are arranged bysubject categories with extensive cross-referencing. Monthly author, subject, and geographical indexes. MGA subscriptionincludes yearly cumulative index. All inquiries for MGA and MGA's computerized database should be directed to Infolonics,550 Newtown Rd, Box 458, Littleton, MA 01460. $985

Member prices may be obtained by calling AMS at (617) 227-2425, ext. 246 or ext. 214. Please send prepaid orders to:Publications Department, American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108-3693. Subscriptions includepostage and handling, and are accepted on a calendar-year basis only. There Is an additictial charge of ", .10 for surface mail outsidethe U.S. ($20 for Weather and Forecasting and the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Tech. ology, $40 for the Journal ofAtmospheric Sciences), and $90 tor airmail to all countries ($30 for Weather and Forecasting, $45 for the Journal of Atmosphericand Oceanic Technology, and $180 for the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences). Foreign subscription for MGA is $1010. Theavailability and prices of back Issues of AMS periodicals will be furnished upon request.

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3

FOURTH CONFERENCEON

EDUCATION

January 15-20, 1995 Dallas, Texas

Sponsored by

American Meteorological Society

Cosponsored by

World Meteorological Organization

Front Covor: Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a new international environmentaleducation program established earlier this year by Vice President Al Gore. Its objeotives are to increase understanding of

environmental issues among the children of the world and to collect observations important to environmental scientists.

Many schools participating in the GLOBE program will use the Multimedia GLOBE School Display System shown on the

cover for classroom GLOBE activities. This system is being developed by NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder,

Colorado. In addition to schools within the United States, over 100 other countries have formally indicated a desire to

participate in the GLOBE program.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical.

Including photocopying, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems -- without the prior written permission of the publisher. Contact AMS

for permission pertaining to the overall collection. Authors retain their individual rights and should be contacted directly for permission to use

their material separately. The manuscripts reproduced herein are unrefereed papers presented at the Fourth Conference on Education. Their

appearance in thin collection does not constitute formal publication.

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY45 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts USA 02108-3693

4

FOREWORD

In 1992, the Board on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education (BSPMOE) and the Board onMeteorological and Oceanographic Education in Universities (BMOEU) jointly sponsored the First AMS Symposium onEducation as part of the AMS Annual Meeting. Since that time, the amount of interest in educational issues hasincreased dramatically throughout the atmospheric and oceanic communities. Precollege educational activity hasreceived a tremendous stimulus with the emergence of Project ATMOSPHERE and several othei K-12 educationalprograms across the country. Further, there has been renewed interest in university educational issues at theundergraduate and graduate levels, as programs attempt to cope with Increasing technology and an expandingknowledge-base in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. The primary purpose of the Symposium on Education isto acquaint the general membership of the Society with new educational initiatives within AMS and its constituent

membership.

The Fourth AMS Symposium on Education is held in conjunction with the 75th AMS Annual Meeting. The theme ofthis Symposium is "Opening the Doors to the Future: Education in the Classroom and Beyond.' Presentations, bothoral and poster, are devoted to both K-12 and university qducational issues. This year the K-12 Educational Programincludes a joint session with the 24th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology. There is also a poster session which hasattracted a record number of presenters and includes topics of interest for both K-12 and university educators.University papers focus on introductory meteorology courses, undergraduate research activities, new requirements forthe bachelor's degree in atmospheric science, and emerging technologies for the classroom. There is a joint sessionwith the 11th Conference on Interactive Information Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and

Hydrology, with demonstrations of hardware and software systems designed to enhance meteorological andoceanographic education.

The papers and posters presented at this year's conference clearly demonstrate how much our educational involvementhas increased in recent years. Further, the evolving programs and emerging technologies can open doors ofopportunity for the future of atmospheric and oceanic science education.

David R. Smith Lisa Bastiaans

Symposium Cochairperson Symposium Cochairperson

AMS BOARD OF SCHOOL AND POPULAR METEOROLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC EDUCATION

David R. Smith, ChairpersonRaymond L. BoylanFrederick J. GadomskiPatrick HughesRenee McPhersonJoseph M. Moran

Rene MunozMichael J. PassowRobert W. PophamNezette N. Rydell

Jim VavrekRichard A. WagonerH. Patricia WarthanRobert S. Weinbeck

AMS BOARD OF METEOROLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES

Timothy Spangler, ChairpersonLisa M. BastiaansSteven BusingerKenneth C. CrawfordSteven B. Newman

Eric PaniPhillip J. SmithNoreen StewartRoland B. Stull

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

David R. Smith & Lisa Bastiaans, CochairpersonsRobert F. BrammerFrederick J. GadomskiTodd S. GlickmanBrian E. Heckmrn

Troy M. KimmelPatricia M. Pau leyG. V. RaoH Patricia Warthan

iii

Donna F. TuckerJulie A. WinklerJoseph Zabransky

H. Patricia WarthanRobert S. WeinbeckJon W. Zeit ler

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON EDUCATIONPAGE

iii FOREWORD

xi AUTHOR INDEX

SESSION 1: UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

1 1.1 THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE - REVISION OF THE 1987 AMSSTATEMENT. Phillip J. Smith, °urdue Univ., W. Lafayette, IN; and S. Businger, E. Pani, andJ. Zebransky

3 1.2 METEOROLOGY'S EDUCATIONAL DILEMMA. Paul J. Croft, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile, AL;and M. S. Binkley

9 1.3 INVOLVEMEN1 OF UNDERGRADUATE METEOROLOGY STUDENTS IN FACULTY RESEARCHPROJECTS. Gregory P. Byrd, State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Brockport, NY; and R. S. Weinbeck,R. J. Ballentine, A. J. Stamm, and E. E. Chermack

11 1.4 CREATING AND MAINTAINING ENTHUSIASM FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR. Dayton G.Vincent, Purdue Univ., W. Lafayette, IN; and P. J. Smith

15 1.5 WEATHER EDUCATION AT THE INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE LEVEL. Robert S. Weinbeck, SUNY,Brockport, NY; and I. W. Geer

19 1.(.3 WEATHER AND LIFE: A COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP IN PERSONALIZED MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROBLEM SOLVING. Paul J. Croft, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile, AL; andM. A. Tessmer

23 1.7 NEW METEOROLOGY PROGRAM AT THE U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY INTEGRATES COMETMULTIMEDIA AND COMPUTER WEATHER LAB INTO UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM.Thomas L. Koehler, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO; and K. G. Blackwell,D. J. Knipp, and B. E. Heckman

25 1.8 INTEGRATION OF INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA INTO THE METEOROLOGY CURRICULUM ATTHE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY. Delores J. Knipp, U.S. Air Force Academy,Colorado Springs, CO; and B. E. Heckman

29 1 9 A SURVEY OF THE USE OF comErs* FORECASTERS MULTIMEDIA LIBRARY IN THEACADEMIC COMMUNITY. Brian E. Heckman, Univ. Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR),Boulder, CO

34 1.10 SYMBOLIC MANIPULATORS IN THE CLASSROOM: USING STUDENT RESEARCH TOPICS INOCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY TO ENHANCE TEACHING/LEARNING OF ADVANCELMATHEMATICS. Reza Malek-Madani, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; and D. R. Smith and

C. R. Gunderson

37 1.11 CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS OF INTERACTIVE METEOROLOGICAL VISUALIZATION.

Michael I. Biggerstaff, Texas A&M Univ.. College Station, TX; and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon

POSTER SESSION P1: K-12 AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PROGRAMS

41 P1.1 USING MATHEMAT1CA TO ENHANCE LEARNING OF ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES:ENTRAINMENT INTO CUMULUS CLOUDS. Julie A. Preyer, U.S. Naval Academy,Annapolis, MD;

and D. R. Smith and R. Malek-Madani

Manuscript not availableV

TABLE OF CONTENTS


44 P1.2 USING MATHEMATICA TO ENHANCE LEARNING OF OCEANOGRAPHIC PROCESSLZ: WIND-DRIVEN CIRCULATION. Brent M. Strong, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; andC. R. Gunderson and R. Malek-Madani

47 P1.3 A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR TEACHING ABOUT ENSO: APPLYING THE FIVETHEMES OF GEOGRAPHY TO TOPICS IN METEOROLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY.Peggy L. Killam Smith, St. Mary's High School, Annapolis, MD; and D. R. Smith

50 P1.4 USING MATHEMAT1CA TO ENHANCE LEARNING OF OCEANOGRAPHIC PROCESSES:BREAKING OF WAVES AND BURGERS' EQUATION. Camille A. Garrett, U.S. Naval Academy,Annapolis, MD; and R. Malek-Madani

54 P1.5 WEATHER RELATIVE TO A RELATIVE. Lawrence E. Greenleaf, Atmospheric Education ResourceAgent (AERA) Project ATMOSPHERE, Belfast Area High School, Belfast, ME

56 P1.6 AIR-SEA INTERFACE EDUCATION. Lawrence E. Greenleaf, AERA Project ATMOSPHERE, BelfastArea High School, Belfast, ME

58 P1.7 Sk OF THE PACIFIC RAINFALL CLIMATE EXPERIMENT: BRINGING GLOBAL ISSUESTO irlE LOCAL CLASSROOM. Susan Postawko, Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; andM. Morrissey and B. Gibson

59 P1.8 THE ARM EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH MANUAL FOR OKLAHOMA TEACHERS.Stephen J. Stadler, Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK; and T. Mills, R. A. McPherson, andK. Crawford

63 P1.9 INTRODUCING THE MODERNIZED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TO PRIMARY ANDSECONDARY SCHOOLS. Michael A. Mach, NOANNational Weather Service Forecast Office(NWSFO), Ft. Worth, TX; and J. J. Johnson

68 P1.10 THE EXCITEMENT OF METEOROLOGY! AN INTERACTIVE STUDY IN THE GEOSCIENCES.Paul J. Croft, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile, AL; and A. Williams, Jr.

70 P1.11 ON-LINE CLIMATE RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSROOM. E. Hope Poteat, Southeast RegionalClimate Ctr. (SRCC), Columbia, SC

72 P1.12 SHARING WEATHER WITH CHILDREN: A GUIDE FOR METEOROLOGIST, ENGINEERS, ANDOTHER SCIENTIST. Steve Carlson, AERA Project ATMOSPHERE, Blaine County Schools,Halley, ID

78 P1.13 WEATHER: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH. Rene T. Carson, Little Rock School District,Little Rock, AR

80 P1.14 ILLINOIS CLIMATE NETWORK EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES. Beth C. Reinke, IllinoisState Water Survey (ISWS), Champaign, IL; and R. A. Peppier

82 P1.15 THE FLORIDA STATEWIDE WEATHER NETWORK. Paul Ruscher, Florida State Univ. (FSU).Tallahassee, FL; and K. Kloesel, W. Jordan, S. Graham, and L. Mazarowski

86 P1.16 TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP: THE NEXT STEP IN METEOROLOGICALINTERNSHIP PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. William R. Krayer, Gaithersburg HighSchool, Gaithersburg, MD

Manuscript not available

v i 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS


00 P1.17 ESTABLISHING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN BUSINESSES AND SCHOOLS. Hector lbarra, West

Branch Middle School, West Branch, IA

93 P1.18 PROJECT ATMOSPHERE GIVES TEACHERS A NEW LOOK AT THE WATER CYCLE.Jerri J. Johnson, AERA Project ATMOSPHERE, Barton Elementary School, Irving, TX

94 P1.19 PROJECT WEATHERWATCH: A COOPERATIVE METEOROLOGICAL EFFORT BETWEENPROJECT ATMOSPHERE AND THE GREATER NEWARK CONSERVANCY. Richard L. Lees,

Lyndhurst High School, Lyndhurst, NJ

96 P1.20 LIGHTNING HAZARD EDUCATION. Ronald L. Ho Ile, NOAA/National Severe Storms Lab. (NSSL),Norman, OK; and R. E. Lopez, K. W. Howard, R. J. Vavrek, and J. Allsopp

P1.21 PAPER WITHDRAWN

152 P1.21A FORECASTING THE FUTURE: TEACHING ABOUT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE. Hung Nguyen,Scripps Inst. of Oceanography (slo), Univ. of California, San Diego; and S. Franks and S. Birch

100 P1.22 HOW'S THE WEATHER UP THERE? ...DOWN THERE?...AND OVER THERE?Kathleen A. Murphy, St. Anthony's School, High Ridge, MO

103 P1.23 A POLAR EXPRESS - NEW YORK TO TEXAS. Rose Marie Camarda, Syracuse City Schools,

Syracuse, NY

105 P1.24 OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS VIEW THE 10 MAY 1994 ECLIPSE. Renee A. McPherson, Univ. of

Oklahoma, Norman, OK

111 P1.25 A GUIDE TO TORNADO PREPAREDNESS PLANNING IN SCHOOLS. Michael A. Mach,

NOAA/NWSFO, Ft. Worth, TX

116 P1.26 ATMOSPHERIC CLASSROOMS: THE FUTURE IS NOW. Faye McCollum, AERA ProjectATMOSPHERE, Muscogee County School District, Columbus, GA

119 P1.27 PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES BY LEARNING ABOUT THE

PAST. Natalija Janc, Millersville, MD

121 P1.28 A NEW LOOK TO THE SKY. Jonet Anderson, Earth Watch Communications, Minnetonka, MN; and

J. J. Johnson

123 P1.29 FROM THE GROUND TO THE SKY. Matthew Gilmore, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX; and

J. J. Johnson

125 P1.30 USING SCIENTIFIC THEORY AS METAPHOR TO ENHANCE EQUITY IN URBAN PRIMARYSCHOOLS. John P. Byrne, Jamaica Plain Community Ctrs. at the Agassiz School, Boston, MA

P1.31 META-ANALYSIS OF MINORITIES ENTERING SCIENTIFICFIELDS. Elvia Solis, Illinois State Univ.,

Normal, IL

P1.32 This paper has been transferred to Joint Session J1, paper # J1.10A

153 P1.32A AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTION FOR SCIENCE, MATH, ENGLISH, SOCIAL STUDIESAND HEALTH IMPLEMENTED BY THE USE OF THE INQUIRY METHOD. Judy A. Lee, William

R. Blocker Middle School, Texas City, TX; and A. Maier

Manuscript not availablevii

PAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON EDUCATION

P1.33 TEXTBOOKS FOR TEACHING METEOROLOGY AT THE ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLLEVELS. Jonathan D. W. Kahl, Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

129 P1.34 UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING INITIATIVE FOR RESEARCH AVIATION. A. R. Rodi, Univ. ofWyoming, Laramie, WY; and J. D. Marwitz

131 P1.35 AN AVIATION WEATHER MINOR AT EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY.Richard Bagby, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach, FL

133 P1,36 STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATIC CHANGE. Kent M. McGregor, Univ. of North Texas,Denton, TX; and M. D. Schwartz

139 P1.37 YOU HAVE THE DATA. NOW WHAT? Elliot Abrams, Accu-Weathor, Inc., State College, PA; andJ. Levin

141 P1.38 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT BASED STUDIES EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OFMETEOROLOGY IN UNDERSTANDING MIE GLETSCHERVORFELD ENVIRONMENT: LOCATION

BODALSBREEN, JOSTEDALEN, NORWAY. Jennifer Lykens, State College Area High School,State College, PA; and M. A. MacDonald, P. R. McCormick, S. B. Bremner, and R. G. Me !drum

144 P1.39 MICROMETEOROLOGICAL STUDIES IN THE BODALEN GLACIAL VALLEY, NORWAYINTERPRETATION OF THE ENERGY BUDGE OBSERVATIONS. Eric Y. Lee, State College AreaHigh School, State College, PA; and M. A. MacDonald, E. S. Thomson, D. J. Higgins, andC. A. Williams

148 P1.40 STUDIES OF WINDS IN THE BODALSBREEN VALLEY IN NORWAY. Jennifer Lykens, StateCollege Area High School, State College, PA; and E. Y. Lee, P. R. McCormick, E. S. Thomson,D. J. Higgins, and C. A. Williams

150 P1.41 LOOKING AT EARTH FROM SPACE. Colleen J. Steele, W.T. Chen & Co., Arlington, VA

* * * PAPERS IN ME FOLLOWING JOINT SECTIONS HAVE BEEN EDGED IN GlE`f * *

JOINT SESSION J1: K-12 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS (Joint with 24th Conference on BroadcastMeteorology)

(J1) 1 J1.1 MAP READING AND INTERPRETATION SKILLS DISPLAYED BY HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN.Paul J. Mroz, Spencerport Central Schools and WOKR-TV, Rochester, NY

(J1) 5 J1.2 EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS LEADING TO THE PROMOTION OF STUDENT CENTEREDMETEOROLOGICAL FIELD STUDIES IN A GLETSCHERVORFIELD ENVIRONMENT.JOSTEDALEN, NORWAY. George G. Me !drum, James Gillespie's High School, Edinburgh, UK; andT. C. Arnold

(J1) 10 J1.3 PROJECT ATMOSPHERE: AMS PRECOLLEGE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE - AN OVERVIEW OFPROGRESS. Ira W. Geer, American Meteorological Society (AMS), Washington. DC; andD. R. Smith, R. S. Weinbeck, and J. T. Snow

(J1) 13 J1.4 THE MAURY PROJECT: A TEACHER ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM IN PHYSICALOCEANOGRAPHY. David R. Smith, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; and P. L. Guth,M. E. C. Vieira, D. W. Jones, J. F. H. Atangan, D. S. Di liner, C. A. Martinek, A. E. Strong. E. J. Miller,R. D. Middleton, G. A. Eisman, D. E. McManus, and I. W. Geer


TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON EDUCATIONPAGr

(J1) 17 J1.5 THE WEATHERWATCH LEADERSHIP NETWORK. Steven J. Richards, City College of New York,

New York, NY

J1.6 FORMING PARTNERSHIPS: PRECOLLEGE TEACHERS, ACADEMIA, INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT,

AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Sharon H. Walker, Gulf Coast Research Lab., Ocean Springs, MS

J1.7 THE EVOLVING "NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS": AN UPDATE. John T. Snow,

Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

(J1) 20 J1.8 HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE? Anne-Marie Henry,

Environment Canada, Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada

J1.9 PAPER WITHDRAWN

J1 .9A BLUE SKIES 2.0: INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS OVER THE INTERNET. Alan Steremberg, Univ. of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; and J. Ferguson and P. J. Samson

J1.10 PAPER WITHDRAWN

J1.10A A REPORT ON GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN THE 1990s. M. J. Ceritelli, Immaculate Conception

School, Worthington, OH (transferred from paper # P1.32)

(J1) 22 J1.11 4-WINDS, A TELEVISION EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP. Robert T. Ryan, WRC-TV,

Washington, DC

(J1) 25 J1.12 THE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS OF EDUCATION RESOURCES ENHANCES THE PRODUCT.

Raymond L. Boylan, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, NC; and H. r . Warthan

JOINT SESSION J6: NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM (Joint with 11th Conference on

Interactive Information and Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology)

(J6) 1 J6.1 EXPLORING THE USE OF WEATHER SATELLITES IN THE K-12 CLASSROOM. Kevin Kloesel,

FSU, Tallahassee, FL; and P. Ruscher, S. Graham, F. Lans, and S. Hutchins

(J6) 3 J6.2 BRINGING McIDAS TECHNOLOGY INTO THE HIGHSCHOOL CLASSROOM. Thomas Achtor,

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; and W. L. Smith, L. Buescher, and R. Graewin

(J6) 5 J6.3 BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH EARTHLAB. Edward J. Hopkins, Ross Computational

Resources, Madison. WI

(J6) 9 J6.4 A COLLABORATIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY UNIT ON WEAT1-IER FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATORS

ON THE INTERNET. Dee A. Chapman, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL; and D. E. Novak and

W. L. Chapman

(J6) 13 J6.5 CoViS: A NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION COLLABORATORY. Mohan K. Ramamurthy, Univ.

of Illinois, Urbana, IL; and R. B. Wilhelmson, R. D. Pea, L. M. Gomez, and D. C. Edelson

(J6) 19 J6.6 THE DAILY PLANET--; AN INTERNET-BASED INFORMATION SERVER FOR THE ATMOSPHERIC

SCIENCES COMMUNITY AND THE PUBLIC. Robert B. Wilhelmson, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL;

and M. K. Ramamurthy, D. Wojtowicz, J. Kemp. S. Hall, and M. Srldhar

(J6) 23 J6.7 COMEr: A PROGRAM UPDATE AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE. Timothy C. Spangler, UCAR,

Boulder, CO; and V. C. Johnson

Manuscript not availableix

1 0

TABLE OF CONTENTS


(J6) 29 J6.8 AN UPDATE ON NCDC'S CD-ROM PRODUCTS AND ON-LINE SERVICES AVAILABLE FOREDUCATORS. Thomas F. Ross, NOAA/National Climatic Data Ctr. (NCDC), Asheville, NC

(J6) 34 J6.9 THE USE OF HYPERTEXT CLIMATOLOGIES TO TRAIN WEATHER FORECASTERS.Scott A. Straw, U.S. Air Force Environmental Technical Applications Ctr. (USAFETAC), Scott AFB,IL; and K. R. Walters, Sr.

(J6) 37 J6.10 A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF AUTOMATED WEATHER STATIONS: USING REAL-TIMEWEATHER DATA AS A HANDS-ON EDUCATIONAL TOOL. Robert S. Marshall, Automated WeatherSource, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD

(J6) 42 J6.11 APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITE IMAGERY AND REMOTE SENSING INENVIRONMENTAL/SCIENCE EDUCATION: AN EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE APPROACH.John D. Moore, Burlington County Inst. of Technology, Medford, NJ

(J6) 47 J6.12 THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT VISUALIZER: A TOOL FOR THE SCIENCE CLASSROOM.Douglas N. Gordin, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL; and R. D. Pea

(J6) 53 J6.13 WHERE IS YOUR DATA? A LOOK AT STUDENT PROJECTS IN GEOSCIENCE. Steven McGee,Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL

J6.14 A VISUALIZATION WORKSTATION TO IMPROVE INSTRUCTION IN THE ATMOSPHERIC ANDOCEANIC SCIENCES. Steven A. Ackerman, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

(J6) 57 J6.15 ANALYSIS AND DISPLAY OF SINGLE AND MULTIPLE DOPPLER RADAR DATA USING GEMPAKAND VIS-5D. Michael R. Nelson, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX; and S. Hristova-Veleva,J. W. Nielsen-Gar, lion, and M. I. Biggerstaff


X 11

AUTHOR INDEX


A

PAPER* PAGE

G (continued)

PAPER* PAGE

Abran-is, E. P1.37 139 Geer, I. W. J1.4 (J1)13

Achtor, T. J6.2 (J6)3 Geer, I. W. 1.5 15

Ackerman, S. A. J6.14 " Gibson, B. P1.7 58

Allsopp, J. P1.20 96 Gilmore, M. P1.29 123

Anderson. J. P1.28 121 Gomez, L. M. J6.5 (J6)15

Arnold, T. C. J1.2 (J1)5 Gordin, D. N. J6.12 (J6)47

Atangan, J. F. H. J1.4 (J1)13 Graewin, R. J6.2 (J6)2Graham, S. P1.15 82

BGraham, S. J6.1 (J6)1

Bagby, R. C. P1.35 131Greenleaf, L. E. P1.5 54

Ballentine, R. J. 1.3 9Greenleaf, L. E. P1.6 56

Bigg,arstaff, M. I. 1.11 37Gunderson, C. R. 1.10 34

Biggerstaff. M. I. J6.15 (J6)57Gunderson, C. R. P1.2 44

Binkley, M. S. 1.2 3Guth, P. L. J1.4 (J1)13

Birch, S. P1.21A 152

Blackwell, K. G. 1.7 23 HBoylan, R. L. J1.12 (J1)25 Hall, S. J6.6 (J6)19

Bremner. S. B. P1.38 141 Heckman, B. E. 1.7 23

Buescher, L. J6.2 (J6)3 Heckman, B. E. 1.8 25

Businger, S. 1.1 1 Heckman, B. E. 1.9 29

Byrd, G. P. 1.3 9 Henry, A.-M. J1.8 (J1)20

Byrne, J. P. P1.30 125 Higgins, D. J. P1.39 144

Higgins, D. J. P1.40 148

CHo Ile, R. L. P1.20 96

Camarda, R. M. P1.23 103Hopkins, E. J. J6.3 (J6)5

Carlson, S. P1.12 72Howard, K. W. P1.20 96

Carson, T. P1.13 78Hristova-Veleva, S. J6.15 (J6)57

Ceritelli, M. J. P1.32 ' Hutchins, S. J6.1 (J6)1

Chapman, D. A. J6.4 (J6)9

Chapman, W. L. J6.4 (JC.)9 I

Chermack, E. E. 1.3 9 lbarra, H. P1.17 90

Crawford, K. P1.8 59

Croft, P. J. 1.2 3 JCroft. P. J. 1.6 19 Janc, N. P1.27 119

Croft, P. J. P1.10 68 Johnson, J. J. P1.9 63

Johnson, J. J. P1.18 93

D Johnson, J. J. P1.28 121

Dillner, D. S. J1.4 (J1)13 Johnson, J. J. P1.29 123

Johnson, V. C. J6.7 (J6)23

EJones, D. W. J1.4 (J1)13

Edelson, D. C. J6.5 (J6)15Jordan, W. P1.15 82

Eisman, G. A. J1.4 (J1)13K

FKahl, J. D. W. P1.33

JFerguson. . J1.9AKemp, J. J6.6 (J6)19

Franks. S. P1.21A 152Kloesel, K.Kloesel, K.

P1.15J6.1

82(J6)1

Knipp, D. J. 1.7 23

G Knipp, D. J. 1.8 25

Garrett, C. A. P1.4 50 Koehler, T. L. 1.7 23

Geer, I. W. J1.3 (J1)10

Manuscript not availablexi

2

AUTHOR IN:3EX


LLans, F.Lee, E. Y.Lee, E. Y.Lee, J. A.

Lees, R. L.Levin, J.Lopez, R. E.Lykens, J.Lykens, J.

MMacDonald, M. A.MacDonald, M. A.

Mach, M. A.Mach, M. A.Maier, A.Malek-Madani, R.Malek-Madani, R.Malek-Madani, R.Malek-Madani, R.Marshall, B. S.Martirtek, C. A.Marwitz, J. D.

Mazarowski, L.McCollum, F.McCormick, P. R.McCormick, P. R.McGee, S.McGregor, K. M.McManus, D. E.McPherson, R. A.

McPherson, R. A.

Meidrum, G. G.Meldrum, R. G.Middleton, R. D.Miller, E. J.

Mills, T.Moore, J. D.

Morrissey. M.Mroz, P. J.

Murphy, K. A.

Nelson. M. R.Nguyen, H.Nielsen-Gammon, J. W.

Nielsen-Gammon, J. W.

Novak, D. E.

Pani, E.

PAPER # PAGE

P (continued)Pea. R. D.Pea, R. D.

Peppier, R. A.Postawko, S.Poteat, E. H.Preyer, J. A.

RRamamurthy, M. K.Ramamurthy, M. K.Reinke, B. C.Richards, S. J.

Rodi, A. R.Ross, T. F.Ruscher, P.Ruscher, P.Ryan, R. T.

Samson, P. J.

Schwartz, M. D.Smith, D. R.Smith, D. R.Smith, D. R.Smith, D. R.Smith, D. R.Smith, P. J.

Smith, P. J.

Smith, P. L. K.Smith, W. L.Snow, J. T.

Snow, J. T.

Solis, E.Spangler, T. C.Sridhar, M.Stadler, S. J.Starnm, A. J.Steele, C. J.

Sterem berg, A.

Straw, S. A.

Strong, A. E.

Strong, B. M.

Tessmer, M. A.

Thomson, E. S.Thomson, E. S.

VVavrek, R. J.

PAPER * PAGE

J6.1

P1.39

P1.40

P1.32A

P1.19

P1.37

P1.20

P1.40

P1.38

P1.38

P1.39

P1.9

P1.25

P1.32A

1.10

P1.1

P1.2

P1.4

J6.10

J1.4

P1.34

P1.15

P1.26

P1.38

P1.40

J6.13

P1.36

J1.4

P1.8

P1.24

J1.2

P1.38

J1.4

J1.4

P1.8

J6.11

P1.7

J1.1

P1.22

J6.15

P1.21A

1.11

J6.15

J6.4

1.1

(J6)1

144

148

153

94

139

96148

141

141

144

63

111

153

34

41

44

50

(J6)37

(J1)13

129

82

116

141

148

(J6)53

133

(J1)13

59

105

(J1)5

141

(J1)13

(J1)13

59(J6)42

58

(J1)1

100

(J6)57

152

37

(J6)57

(J6)9

1

J6.5

J6.12

P1.14

P1.7

P1.11

P1.1

J6.5

J6.6

P1.14

J1.5

P1.34

J6.8

P1.15

J6.1

J1.11

J1.9A

P1.36

1.10

P1.1

P1.3

J1.3

J1.4

1.1

1.4

P1.3

J6.2

J1.3

J1.7

P1.31

J6.7

J6.6

P1.8

1.3

P1.41

J1.9A

J6.9

J1.4

P1.2

1.6

P1.39

P1.40

P1.20

(J6)15

(J6)47

80

58

70

41

(J6)15

(J6)19

80

(J1)17

129

(J6)29

82(J6)1

(J1)22

133

34

41

47

(J1)10

(J1)13

1

11

47

(J6)3

(J1)10

(J6)23

(J6)19

59

9

150

(J6)34

(J1)13

44

19

144

148

96


>di

AUTHOR INDEX


V (continued)

PAPER # PAGE

W (continued)

PAPER * PAGE

Vieira, M. E. C. J1.4 (J1)13 Wilhelmson. R. B. J6.5 (J6)15

Vincent, D. G. 1.4 11 Wilhelmson, R. B. J6.6 (J6)19

Williams, Jr., A. P1.10 68

W Williams, C. A. P1.39P1.40

144148

Walker, S. H. j1.6Williams, C. A.

J6.6 (J6)19Walters, Sr., K. R. J6.9 (J6)34

Wojtowicz, D.

Warthan. H. P. J1.12 (J1)25Weinbeck, R. S. 1.3 9 ZWeinbeck, R. S. 1.5 15 Zebransky, J. 1.1 1

Weinbeck, R. S. J1.3 (J1)10


14

THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

- REVISION OF THE 1987 AMS STATEMENT

Philip Smith

Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, Indiana

Steven Businger

University of Hawaii at ManoaHonolulu, Hawaii

A. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The AMS Board on Meteorological andOceanographic Education in Universities (BMOEU)has been charged viith revising the AMS statement onthe Bachelor's degote in atmospheric science. The laststatement was adopted on October 2, 1987 (seeBulletin of American Meteorological Society,December 1987, P. 1570). The BMOEU in turnappointed a subcommittee, composed of the co-authorsnamed above and chaired by the first author, todevelop a revised statement. This paper is a report onthe status of the subcommittee's deliberations. Therevised statement, which follows, contains somefeatures carried over from the 1987 statement; somefond in the new National Weather Serviceemployment standards; and some added to reflect thediffering career paths of contemporary atmosphericscience undergraduates.

B. PROPOSED STATEMENT

1. Introduction

This statement describes the minimumcurricular composition, faculty size, and facilityavailability recommended by the AmericanMeteorological Society for an undergraduate degreeprogram in atmospheric science (meteorology).

Corresponding author address: Phillip Smith, Dept.of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1397 CIVL Bldg.,Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1397.

Eric Pani

Northeast Louisiana UniversityMonroe, Louisiana

Joseph Zabransky

Plymouth State CollegePlymouth, New Hampshire

Its purpose is to provide advice to universityfaculty and administrators who are seeking to establishand maintain undergraduate programs in atmosphericscience and guidance to prospective students who areexploring their educational alternatives.

It should be noted that, while manysimilarities exist, the curricular composition describedbelow does not conform to the federal civil servicerequirements for employment as a meteorologist.Rather, this statement recognizes that contemporaryeducation in atmospheric science must includefundamental background in basic atmospheric scienceand related sciences and mathematics, while at thesame time providing flexibility for students to pursuealternative career paths.

2. Attributes of Bachelor's Degree Programs

a. General objectives

The objectives of a Bachelor's Degreeprogram in atmospheric science include one or moreof the following:

1) in-depth study of meteorology to serve as theculmination to a science or liberal artseducation;

2) preparation for graduate education; or

3) preparation for professional employment inmeteoroloo or a closely related field.

4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 1

b. Course offerings

A curriculum leading to the degree Bachelorof Science (or Bachelor of Arts) in AtmosphericScience should contain:

1) At least 24 semester hours (or 36 quarterhours) of credit in atmospheric science thatincludes

i) 12 semester hours of lecture andlaboratory courses, with calculus as aprerequisite or corequisite, inatmospheric thermodynamics anddynamics and synoptic meteorologythat provide a broad treatment ofatmospheric circulations rangingfrom large scale to mesoscale;

ii) three semester hours of atmosphericphysics with emphasis on cloud/precipitation physics and solar andterrestrial radiation;

iii) three semester hours of atmosphericmeasurements, instrumentation andemote sensing, including both

lecture and laboratory components;and

iv) an additional six semester hours inatmospheric science electives;

2) calculus through ordinary differentialequations in courses designed for majors ineither mathematics, physical science, orengineering;

3) a one-year sequence in physics, withlaboratory, with calculus as a prerequisite orcorequisite;

4) a course in chemistry appropriate for physicalscience majors;

5) a course in computer science appropriate forphysical science majors; and

6) a course in statistics appropriate for physicalscience majors.

As in any science curriculum, students shouldhave the opportunity and be encouraged to supplementthese minimum requirements with additional course

2 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

work in the major or any of the supporting areas,including not only courses in the basic sciences,mathematics, and engineering, but also coursesdesigned to broaden the student's perspective on theenvironmental sciences (e.g., hydrology, oceano-graphy, and solid earth sciences) and scienceadministration and policy making. Also, studentsshould be urged to give considerable attention tocourse work or other activity designed to developeffective communications skills, both written and oral.Further, academic programs are urged to provide theflexibility that may be required to accommodate thediverse educational and cultural backgrounds ofcontemporary students.

Finally, as noted in the Introduction, thecurriculum described above does not conform exactlywith federal civil service requirements. However, it isrecommended that courses required to fulfill federalemployment requirements, even if not required, bemade available. Furthermore, if the offering of suchcourses is not consistent with the educationalobjectives of the program, then the institution has anobligation to inform prospective students that thecompletion of their undergraduate degree will not fullyqualify them for entry-level employment in federalagencies.

c. Faculty attributes

There should be a minimum of three full-timeregular faculty with expertise that is sufficiently broadto address the subject areas identified in 2b.1) above.The faculty role should extend beyond traditionalteaching and research to providing academiccounseling to students with diverse educational andcultural backgrounds.

d. Facilities

There should be coherent space for theatmospheric sciencc program and its studcnts.Contained within this space should be access to real-time and archived meteorological data throughcomputer-based data display systems, the availabilityof applications software suitable for the diagnosis ofdynamical and physical processes in the atmosphere,and facilities for studying atmospheric observation andmeasurement techniques. Further, course require-ments should include components which utilizemodern departmental and/or institutional computerfacilities.

16

1.2METEOROLOGY'S EDUCATIONAL DILEMMA

Paul J. Croft*University of South Alabama

Mobile, Alabama

Mark S. BinkleyMississippi State University

Mississippi State, Mississippi

I. INTRODUCTION

The pedagogical philosophy of college education hasbeen to provide undergraduate students with basictheory for use in the identification and solution of newproblems. However, a growing number of statelegislators and policy makers now question whethercollege faculty are more concerned with research,publication, graduate education and their ownprofessional activities than undergraduate education(Layzell, 1992). It is increasingly perceived (e.g..Barnett, 1992 and Greenberg, 1993) that undergraduateteaching is secondary to these and often lacking insufficient application and practicum opportunities forundergraduate students.

Atmospheric science is particularly affected by theseperceptions as many findings and applications from thefield arc directly related to the general population'sdaily activities. Although some of these issues havebeen addressed as they pertain to meteorologicaleducation (e.g.. Dutton, 1992 and Fritsch, 1992), amuch finer examination is warranted. For example,rapid changes in theory. applications, and technologydemand constant revision and updating of the theoryand applications taught to undergraduate students. Ifthis is not routinely done, then education becomes asuperficial study of the various aspects of a field ratherthan a detailed study of its significant problems andconcepts.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Many present tlay meteorology unilergraduate programswere fashioned alter that of the California Institute ofTechnology. The program of study there wasestablished in 1933 in response to commercial and

* Corresponding author address: Paul J. Croft,University of South Alabama. Department of Geologyand Geography. Mobile, AL 366-0002.

email address: peroft (g. jaguar I .usouthal .edu

military aviation operational needs (Lewis, 1994) andtherefore had strong synoptic and climatic components.However, rapid advancement in the field ofmeteorology in terms of theory (e.g., quasigeostrophicflow; synoptic, mesoscale, and stratospheric dynamics),applications (e.g., air pollution meteorology), andtechnology (e.g., increased computational power,satellites, and doppler radar) since that time havechanged and greatly expanded the role of meteorology.

Many meteorologists are now working asenvironmental consultants, broadcast meteorologists, oras consultants in applied meteorology and climatology.Since 1970 the number of private sector meteorologistshas increased 20% with an equivalent decrease ingovernment and university positions (Dutton, 1992).Specialization in agriculture, business, forensics, andindustrial applications now account for 35% of allmeteorologists. The proliferation of alternativemeteorology careers, in conjunction with themodernization of the National Weather Service, and theautomation afforded by improved technology andartificial intelligence, requires a reassessment ofundergraduate meteorology education in terms of itscontent and delivery.

3. EDUCATIONAL DILEMMA

Despite acknowledgement of advancements in the fieldand recognition that changes in course content anddelivery may be appropriate, traditional meteorologicaleducation has remained mostly static with regard to theprinciples taught and the required courscwork. Mostundergraduate meteorology programs offer courses indynamic meteorology, meteorological instruments,synoptic meteorology, structure of the atmosphere, andmeteorological laboratories and remain remarkablysimilar to thc original program offered by the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology.

Yet the field continues to change and the knowledgeconsideted necessary to work in metetorology continuesto expand. This presents meteorology with an


educational dilemma: How do we adequately preparefuture meteorologists for their careers using traditionalapproaches as those approaches and the wealth ofmeteorological information, theory, and applicationschange? Although individual and group attempts havebeen made to update, revise, and revitalizeundergraduate meteorological education the amount ofinformation that meteorologists must assimilatecontinues to grov, making it more diffiCult to properlyprepare new meteorologists. This is analogous tohistory instruction in that either old materials must bereplaced by new or more superficial coverage must begiven to all material.

In considering meteorology's educational dilrnma it isfirst necessary to re-evaluate the nature of basiceducation and training with regard to employerrequirements and user needs. Such an assessment, andan analysis of its component issues, is necessary for thedevelopment of solutions to the dilemma. Fritsch(1992) has addressed some of these issues, such as thecosts of making changes to university curricula, inoutlining three solutions that have been offered:requiring a five year meteorology Bachelor's Degree,making the study of meteorology graduate level only,or the development of subdiscipline specialties withinmeteorology.

However, before these may be considered, the nature ofmeteorology's educational dilemma must be definitivelycharacterized. This may be accomplished through anevaluation of the appropriateness of current educationalrequirements with regard to employer needs and basedon current and future changes in the field ofmeteorology. In this way the effectiveness ofundergraduate meteorological education, andcontinuing education and professional training, may beevaluated. Only then can possible approaches to solveany problems be outlined and properly reviewed basedon their merits and cost-effectiveness. In this way aninformed plan of action can be developed to ensure thefield's viability and its ability to produce qualifiedmeteorologists.

3.1 Federal Requirements

Educational requirements for meteorologists establishedhy the federal government, known as the x-118Qualification Standards, were originally based on theNatimal Weather Service's mission of forecast andwarning service to the general public. Theserequirments include 20 semester hours of meteorologywith a minimum of six hours i n weather analysis andforecasting, six hours in dynamic meteorology,


differential and integral calculus, and six hours incollege physics. These requirements have been used asthe basis for meteorology programs at collegesthroughout the United States and serve as the basis for aBachelor's Degree in meteorology.

With the recent modernization of the National WeatherService, changes in the requirements are beingconsidered so as to include six hours ofdynamics/thermodynamics (with calculus), six hours ofanalysis and prediction of weather systems, three hoursof physical meteorology and two hours of remotesensing of the atmosphere and/or instrumentation. Inaddition, nine hours from statistics, chemistry,aeronomy, computer science, or other related courseswould be required_ This requirement reflects the factthat future meteorologists are expected to havebackgrounds in environmental science, engineering,systems education (Zevin and Carter, 1994) and willwork in a "laboratory for testing and refining appliedresearch" (Carter, 1994).

3.2 Undergraduate Meteorology Programs

The federal educational requirements have traditionallybeen used by universities as the basis for a "minimallysound" undergraduate program. Both existing andproposed (Smith et al., 1994) curriculum requirementsfor a Bachelor's degree in atmospheric science aresimilar to those of the federal government. However,some differences appear when other coursework (e.g.,computer science) or total credit hours are considered(e.g., synoptic and dynamic). The differences, althoughlargely related to institutional requirements for a degreegranting program, do illustrate a difference of opinionon the preparation of meteorologists and has someintriguing characteristics.

Although the majority of schools offering meteorology(1992 AMS Curricula Guide) meet both the current andproposed standards, many lack a physical meteorologycomponent or instead offer a series of specializedcourses on topics from this field, or which offerprofessional experiences (e.g., see Hallett et al., 1990,Lewis and Maddox. 1991, Orville and Knight, 1992,Navarra ct al., 1993, and Hindman, 1993), or which areapplied in nature (e.g., air pollution meteorology,applied meteorology, ct cetera). Although theseprovide evidence that university meteorology programshave attempted to remain current in thc field, and doattempt to provide a wide range of knowledge andexperience to students, it indicates inconsistentmeteorological preparation.

16

3.3 Continuing Education and Training

The proliferation and extensive use of continuingeducation and training courses in meteorology is due toincreased specialization within the field, thedevelopment of new findings and techniques, and theincreased amount of knowledge meteorologists arcexpected to acquire. Education and training workshops(such as on the use and interpretation of doppler radar)are held by NCAR/UCAR, private industry, theNational Weather Service, and organizations such asthe AMS and the NWA to meet this need. TheCooperative Program for Operational Meteorology,Education and Training (COMET) has developedseveral educational programs, inc'.uding multimedialearning modules, to assist in this task.

Although a necessary and important component of thefield, this additional training and education raisesquestions as to the preparation lel, el of newmeteorologists, the accreditation of undergraduateprograms, and the assignment of graduate or continuingeducation credits. In the first instance, it is implied thatnew meteorologists have not been, or are no longer,adequately prepared for their jobs. In the secondsituation, the issue of accreditation arises due toinconsistent preparation and suggests that a formalstandardization of meteorology programs, in terms ofcourse content and delivery, is necessary. In the lastinstance, those with specialized training do notnecessarily receive credit towards graduate educationcommensurate with their experience.

4. UNDE RCURRENTS

Even though traditional meteorological instruction hasproduced leading researchers, academicians andoperational forecasters, there is a growing body of bothanecdotal and hard evidence that traditional methodsare no longer adequate. In private discussions amongprofessional meteorologists, and from Internetcorrespondence amongst undergraduate and graduatemeteorology students, there is a sense of uneasiness anddissatisfaction over the ability of current education andtraining programs to meet the needs of today's andtomorrow's meteorology careers or thosc of thestudents.

4.1 Faculty Perspectives

In academia, the lack of quality pre-college preparation,the degradation of college standards, the out-datednature of some instructional techniques and texts, andthe lack of a practical context or practicum (e.g.,

BES1 COPY AVAILABLE

Slakey, 1994) have all been cited as contributing factorsto both this perception and the real problems observed.

Summary cesults (Mooney, 1994) of a global survey ofscholars by the Carnegie Foundation indicate thatalthough 79% of United States college faculty believeyoung people are capable of completing secondaryeducation, only 20% believe that undergraduates areadequately prepared in written and oralcommunications skills and only 15% believe themprepared in mathematics and quantitative reasoning.

4.2 Student Perspectives

An informal sampling of students who have graduatedfrom various programs within the last five yearsrevealed that most had a high regard for their overallcollege preparation, particularly that provided insynoptic classes and the emphasis on the use ofcomputers. These students were currently employed bythe National Weather Service, private consultants, orother agencies and are therefore indicators of thecurrent effectiveness of meteorological education.

However, more than three-fourths of these students feltthat their calculus courses focused more on theory thanapplication, that the dynamics sequence was toomathematical (and not applied sufficiently), and thatcareer counseling in meteorology was severely lacking.As most of these students are recently new employees,they suggested that current students be given anincreased emphasis on dynamic-synoptic meteorologyconnections, a?plied meteorology (hydrology inparticular), research applications, interdisciplinaryrelationships, practical training, communications, andcareer perspectives.

4.3 Preliminary Evaluations

Some quantification of these problems hi s been madethrough various AMS Education symposie (Smith andSnow, 1993) and conferences on School and PopularMeteorological and Oceanographic Education (Snowand Smith, 1990; Kern et al., 1993; Newman andSmith, 1994). However, these have focused primarilyon pre-college and outreach efforts of universities andothcr agencies. Department chair meetings (Takle,1987; Takle, 1989; Vincent, 1991) have studied andassessed curriculum design.

However, changes and evolution of the field continue tointensify meteorology's educational dilemma making itimperative that solutions and strategies he developednow. For example, in geography education Downs


(1994) has pointed out that six education questionsmust be answered in order to formulate a properresponse to changes and advancements in thegeographic field. Applying these to meteorology: Whatis the character of expertise in meteorology? What isits origin? What are its components? How is itdeveloped? By what procedures is it identified andassessed? How is it successfully taught/learned?

5. A PLAN OF ACTION

Based on informal conversations, and the reviews ofDutton (1992) and Fritsch (1992), a list of optionsavailable to solve meteorology's educational dilemma(see Table 1) may be summarized as follows. The firstoption would he to expand meteorology to a five yearnon-thesis (Master's Degree in applied meteorology)program. This would allow for the retention of all oldand new material in class. The second option would beto offer meteorology at thc graduate level only. Thiswould place an emphasis on preparation in math andphysics prior to the study of atmospheric science. Athird option is to develop training specialties withinmeteorology to provide enhanced, although limited,career preparation.

A fourth option is to provide only theoreticalmeteorology so that students may be prepared for anycareer path. This would eliminate any practicalmeteorology experience or training and defer these tothe workplace. A fiffit option is to require students tocomplete professional internships to obtain practicalexperience. This option provides both a "qualifyingexam" and career counseling for future employees. Asixth option is to revise thc pedagogy of meteorologywith regard to requirements, certification, and methodsof instruction. This would require an identification ofany problems in instruction (i.e., course curriculum,content, and delivery), the development of strategics tocorrect or remove these, and the implementation ofmethods to achieve the same.

Bach of these options contain a variety of pros and conswhich must be fully examined before a clear plan ofaction can be developed. Therefore, in order toproperly address meteorology's educational dilemma itis first necessary to quantify current opinions of theprofessional and student communities with legard to ameteorologist's preparation to perform his or her job.Therefore, a survey of all meteorologists is in order toprovide both qualitative (opinions) and quantitad ye(somniative) assessments and evaluations of the abilityof the field to meet job needs and the ability ofmeteorologists to complete tasks and solve problems


associated with various career opportunities.

Towards this end, a sample questionnaire has beendeveloped for completion by employers, educators,employees, and undergraduate and graduate students.Each questionnaire respondent will be asked to providepersonal identification in order to weight thesignificance of the responses and to assess opinionsaccording to the background of' the meteorologistresponding (e.g., private consultant, professor,broadcaster, et cetera). Other sections will ask forspecific information and solicit comment on variousaspects of meteorology's educational dilemma and aredesigned with specific meteorologists in mind (i.e.,employer, employee, et cetera). Some respondents maycomplete questions from several sections of the surveyif they are in a position of multiple responsibilities (e.g.,employer and employee).

6. AN OPEN FORUM

Before the proposed survey is distributed, we ask allmembers of the meteorological community to contactus with regard to comments and suggestions towards itsrevision and distribution. We feel that this is anessential step to ensure that all appropriate questions arcasked, all members are asked, and that any biasedquestions, or those which may be misinterpreted, maybe revised. Once completed, the survey will bedistributed to all meteorology departments, NationalWeather Service Forecast Offices, those listed in theAMS Member Directory, and local AMS and NWAchapters to ensure adequate distribution and response.

In this way a wide range of responses will come fromemployers, employees, instructors, and students invarious situations. This approach will provide thenecessary information for the proper assessment ofcurrent meteorological education and preparation, itsappropriateness, and information on which to basestrategies for refining future meteorological education.It will ako provide crucial information for debate of theoptions available for solving meteorology's educationaldilemma.

7. REFERENCES

AMS Curricula Guide, 1992.

Barnett, B., 1992: Teaching and research areinescapably incompatible. The Chronicle or Higher1..ducation, June 3, MO.

Carter, (i. NI., 1994. SOOs and DOIls: The great

t./

facilitators. Critical Path, NWS-TPO-94-01: 11-12.

Downs, R. M., 1994. Being and becoming ageographer: An agenda for geography education.Annals of the Association of American Geographers,84(2): 175-191.

Dutton, J. A., 1992: The atmospheric sciences in the1990s: Accomplishments, challenges, and imperatives.Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 73,1549-1562.

Fritsch, J. M., 1992: Operational meteorologicaleducation and training: Some considerations for thefuture. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 73, 1843-1846.

Greenberg, M., 1993: Accounting for faculty members'time. The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 20,A68.

Hallett, J., J. G. Hudson, and A. Schanot, 1990.Student training in facilities in atmospheric science: Ateaching experiment. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 71, 1637-1641.

Hindman, E. E., 1993: An undergraduate field coursein meteorology and atmospheric chemistry. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 74, 661-667.

Kern, E. L., J. T. Snow, and M. E. Akridge, 1993:Second international conference on school and popularmeteorological and oceanographic education: Impacton precollege atmospheric education. Bulletin of theAmerican Meteorological Society, 74, 655-660.

Layzell, D. T., 1992: Tight budgets demand studies offaculty productivity. The Chronicle of HigherEducation, February 19, B2-B3.

Lewis, J. M., 1994: Cal Tech's program in

meteorology: 1933-1948. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 75, 69-81.

Lewis, J. M., and R. A. Maddox, 1991: The summeremployment program at NOAA's national severestorms laboratory: An experiment in the scientificmentorship of undergraduates. Bulletin or theAmerican Meteorological Society. 72, 1362-1372.

Mooney, C. J.. 1994. The shared concerns of scholars.the Cluonic lc of I lighcr Education, June 22, A34-A38.

Navarra, J. G., J. Levin, and J. G. Navarra, Jr., 1993:

An example of the use of meteorological concepts inthe problem-based general-education experiences ofundergraduates. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 74, 439-446.

Newman, S. B., and D. R. Smith, 1994: Report on thethird international conference on school and popularmeteorological and oceanographic education. Bulletinof the American Meteorological Society, 75, 435-444.

Orville, H. D., and N.C. Knight, 1992: An example of aresearch experience for undergraduates. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 73, 161-167.

Slakcy, F., 1994: Science students can become'Engines for Economic Growth'. The Chronicle ofHigher Education, January 19, A52.

Smith, D. R., and J. T. Snow, 1993. The second AMSsymposium on education. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 74, 1714-1719.

Smith, P., S. Businger, E. Pani, and J. Zabransky, 1994:The bachelor's degree in atmospheric science - aproposal for revision of the 1987 AMS statement.Preprints AMS Third Symposium on Education,Nashville, Tennessee, January 23-28.

Snow, J. T., and D. R. Smith, 1990: Report on thesecond international conference on school and popularmeteorological and oceanographic education. Bulletinof the American Meteorological Society, 71, 190-198.

Takle, E. S., 1987: Fifth meeting of the heads andchairmen of departments of atmospheric science-Asummary. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 68, 1257-1270.

Takle, E. S., 1989: Sixth meeting of the hcads andchairmen of departments of atmospheric science - Asummary. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 70, 1429-1444.

Vincent, D. G., 1991: Seventh meeting of the heads andchairmcn of departments of atmospheric science - Asummary. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 72(M: 983-10(().

Zevin, S. F., and G. M. Carter, 1994: National weatherservice modernization: Qualifications, attributes, andcharacteristics of the new operational workforce.Preprints AMS Symposium on Education, 55-57.


Table I. Six potential options for addressing meteorology's educational dilemma and some of thepros and cons associated with them.

Option Description Pros Cons

A Expand undergraduate degree Improved preparation Cost and logistics

to a 5 year program Currency in field Reduced enrollment

Offer meteorology at the Improved preparation Reduced enrollment

graduate level only

De,elop specialty training Currency in field

within Bachelor's Degree Meet user needs

Insufficient student preparation

Confusion among users

Provide only theoretical Research preparation No practical experience or context

education to undergraduates Currency in field Unpopular in higher education

Require professional

internships of all students

Practical experience Cost and logistics

Career development Standardization of experience

Revise pedagogy of' Currency in field Over-standardizAtion of curricula

meteot ological education Improved preparation Assessment of needs necessary

Practical experience Cost to implement changes

Career development

Meet users needs


1.3 INVOLVEMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE METEOROLOGY STUDENTSIN FACULTY RESEARCH PROJECTS

Gregory P. Byrd* and Robert S. Weinbeck

State University of New York College at BrockportBrockport, New York

Robert J. Ballentine, Alfred J. Stamm and Eugene E. Chermack

State University of New York College at OswegoOswego, New York

1. INTRODUCTION

Faculty in undergraduate meteorologyprograms face a difficult challenge attempting tomaintain active involvement in research in the face ofheavy instructional loads. The National ScienceFoundation's (NSF) Research in UndergraduateInstitutions (RUI) program is designed to supportenhancement of the research environment and theintegration of research into the science andengineering educational offerings at such institutions.An important component of this program is theinvolvement of undergraduates in research projects.In 1989, the State University of New York (SUNY)Colleges at Brockport and Oswego were awarded aRUI grant from the NSF Atmospheric SciencesDivision. This enabled the continuation of fieldresearch and numerical modeling investigations oflake-effect snowstorms. A second RUI grant wasawarded in 1993. This paper describes theinvolvement of undergraduate students in the RUIgrant and several other research pmiects at SUNYBrockport and SUNY Oswego.

2. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Undergraduates have participated in fieldprojects working on mobile sounding crews or asnowcasters. Students were chosen based on

background course work and previous field

experience. Mobile sounding crews received

extensive training in the operation of soundingsystems, and noweasters were required to become

*Corresponding author: Dr. Gregory P. Byrd,UCAR/COAfET, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307,

familiar with nowcasting and observation techniquesas 'elt as the compute.r archival of meteorologicaldata.

Three lake-effect field projects involvingundergraduates have been conducted: a pilot studyduring the winter of 1987/88, the Lake OntarioWinter Storms (LOWS) study in 1990, and a follow-up project during the winter of 1991/92.

Faculty/student mobile sounding teams were

dispatched to targeted locations to sample theenvironments associated with lake-effect snowbandson the southern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario,an area far removed from conventional NationalWeather Service sounding locations. Thesesoundings were used in subsequent case studyanalyses and in the initialization and verification ofmodel simulation studies. Trained students occupiednowcast centers, taking observations and monitoringconditions on a continuous basis during most of theoperational periods. Student nowcasters were infrequent communication with field project teams,imparting crucial information which played animportant role in the development of deploymentstrategy.

Several students have been involved in thecase study analyses of the field project data. Theirprimary work has been in data reduction, soundinganalysis and the complementary synoptic andmesoscale analysis efforts. Undergraduates have alsohad some peripheral involvement in analysis andinterpretation of remotely-sensed satellite andDoppler radar data. Several of the case studics andresults have been included in courses on weatherforecasting and mesoscale meteorology.

Other students have participated in the

numerical simulation efforts. These students were


Table 1: Summary of student outcomes subsequent to participation in RIII-related activities (1988-1994).

Total Undergrad students Grad School NWS49 14 17 7

Military Private4 5

Non-meteorology1

selected on the basis of their academic preparation (e.g.synoptic meteorology course work was required),computing experience, and general interest in lake-effect snowstorms. After preliminary training, studentsassisted with preparation of initial detests for themodel, analysis and interpretation of the model output,and in some cases, studies of the sensitivity of themodel results to initial data, boundary conditions, andgrid resolution. The analysis of model output helped..idents to better understand the relationship betweenmesoscale convergence and prccipitation, and theeffect of large-scale parametcrs on the rate ofdevelopment of snowband circulations. Students wereable to compare model output inside and outsidesnowbands with data collected by field teams. Theyalso gained experience using Fortran programs andgraphics applications. Recently, students have beeninvolved in an effort to expand the model domain toinclude all of the Great Lakes, in order to studymultiple-lake interactions during cold air outbreaks.

Case study analyses and model simulationefforts have resulted in at least ten publications(journal articles, conference proceedings) of whichstudents were co-authors. Draft manuscripts wereprepared by the lead author, who was usually a facultymember. In many cases, copies were distributed to theundergraduate co-authors for comment. Whereappropriate, the student input was then incorporatedinto the revised version prior to final submission forpublication.

Undergraduates have also played active rolesin recent field projects unrelated to the RUI program.These include an FAA-sponsored aircraft deicing fluidstudy, tethersonde and radiosond :. observations and amodeling study of land- and lake-breeze circulations.

3. STUDENT OUTCOMES

As of August, 1994, 49 undergraduates havebeen involved in RUI-related research activities, asindicated in Table 1. Of the 35 who have sincegraduated, 17 have chosen to further their educationthrough graduate study, and 16 are employed inmeteorology or a related field. Of the 16 employed inmeteorology, seven are employed with the NationalWeather Service, four arc employed in theand five are employed by private industry. In addition.

10 AMERICAN METEOROLOGIGAL SOCIETY

nine of these student assistants have co-authoredprofessional papers (nine conference papers and onerefereed journal article) with faculty mentors. Threestudents have participated in the National Center forAtmospheric Research's summer employment program,and one participated in an NSF-sponsored ResearchExperiences in Undergraduate (REU) program at theUniversity of Michigan.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The RUI experience has enabled faculty topursue research on Great Lakes winter storms,particularly lake-effect snowstorms. The extensivecollaboration of investigators from different institutionswho possess a variety of backgrounds has enabled asignificant and beneficial research effort.

We believe that the success enjoyed bystudents who have been involved in RUI activities istestimony to the value of a significant researchinvolvement in the undergraduate meteorologyeducational experience. Students have been a crucialcomponent in the success of our RUI el forts. They, inturn, have gained valuable hands-on experienceworking with state-of-the-art field research equipment.In addition, they have become acquainted withobservational and modeling research methods,opportunities that are often lacking in meteorologyprograms of undergraduate-only institutions. Severalhave co-authored professional papers dealing with thcirresearch. These experiences will continue to servethem well as they pursue graduate study and careers inthe atmospheric sciences.

5. ACKNOW LEDGMENTS

Much of our research activity has been fundedby NSF RU1 grants ATM-8914546 and ATM-9224384.The LOWS project was also funded by NiagaraMohawk Power Corporation and the Great LakesResearch Consortium. Some student support hasbeen obtained through the Ronald E. McNair and theCollegiate Science and Technology Entry programs.We especially want to thank all of the students for theirtireless efforts N1 hich made a significant contribution tothe success or the program.

2 4

1.4

CREATING AND MAINTAINING ENTHUSIASM FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR

Dayton G. Vincent

1. INTRODUCTION

Philip J. Smith

Department of Earth and Atmospheric SciencesCE 1397 Purdue University

West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1397

One of the more rewarding experiences forthe undergraduate meteorology major is to have anopportunity to take part in one or more activities inhis/her chosen field while he/she pursues a degree.Such opportunities can create and maintain thestudent's enthusiasm for the atmospheric sciences bygetting him/her involved early in their careers. Ofcourse, this also requires a mutual interest anddedication on the part of the faculty. The purpose ofthis paper is to suggest a variety of ways in which thestudent's enthusiasm and involvement in meteorologycan be initiated and/or maintained during his/herundergraduate years. We have chosen to group theseopportunities into four general categories: (1)educational; (2) professional; (3) employment and (4)research. We realize, however, that many opportuni-ties may cross over into two or more categories. Wealso realize that there may be additional opportunities/activities which we have mistakenly omittedAdmittedly, most of the examples given in this paperare those we have experienced at our home institution,and we are quick to acknowledge that it may not befeasible for some of the opportunities to be pursued alevery undergraduate institution.

2. EXAMPLES

a. Educational

Not surprisingly, most of the opportunitiesfall into this category. One way to immediatelyinvolve a ncw student is to offer/require a freshmanlevel course to be taken, ideally, in the first semester/quarter. This coursc could be an introductory "Surveyof Meteorology" type of class, without any mathema-tics or science background required; however, it isoften preferable to delay an introductory meteorologycourse (intended for majors) until after thc student has

acquired some minimal scientific knowledge. In theearly 1970's we introduced into our B.S. curriculum afirst semester course titled, "Profession ofMeteorology". The course meets once a week and isteam taught in the sense that each faculty member inatmospheric science and related disciplines discusses atimely topic in his/her specialty area. A discussion ofcareer opportunities and a tour of our departmentalcomputing facilities are also included. Attendance isthe only requirement. The purpose of this course istwofold. It allows the incoming student an opportunityto see what meteorology really is all about, and itexposes the student to each member of the faculty.With regard to the former, the course is required formajors, but is open to any student who might have aninterest in meteorology or be undecided about a major.A typical enrollment is 30 students, a number which isinteresting to compare to the average size of ouratmospheric science senior class which is 10.

Another way to stimulate and maintainenthusiasm among undergraduate students is to havesome kind of computer-based instructional facility.Most students are fascinated by weather displays on acomputer screen, and for them to be able to producesuch displays is generally quite exciting. Theavailability of modern personal computers and work-stations makes it possible to simulate a host ofatmospheric phenomena and processes. For example,it is possible to recreate the growth of a cloud fromcumulus to cumulonimbus and to depict movingweather systems. We realize that the cost of acomputing system can be a deterrent for someprograms, but a widc variety of systems are currentlyavailable.

A third type of activity which generallypromotes enthusiasm among students (and faculty andstaff as well) is a weather forecasting "game". 1 hisactivity not only has instructional value, but also

2 54TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 11

creates a challenge and even some entertainmentamong the players. Por example, the student has anopportunity to make a better forecast than theprofessor. At Purdue, we introduced a forecast gameabout 20 years ago. Typically, about 20-30 playersparticipate. Over the years we have kept statisticsfrom the top ten players each semester, and they aregenerally competitive with NWS predictions. Withregard to 24-h temperature forecasts, for example, ourerrors for the local region have been decreasing atapproximately the same rate as thosc1 from MOS.Presently, the consensus of the best players showsmin/max temperature errors of about 3.5°F.

Still another way to help students maintain aninterest in their undergraduate education is to makethem aware of opportunities for financial gain.Financial support is available in o number of ways,ranging from rewards for academic excellence orresearch potential to hourly paid employment.Employment opportunities will be discussed in section2c and research opportunities in section 2d. For now,we shall focus on opportunities that are available foreducational stipends. There are many types ofr,cholarships that are awarded each year to studentswho have excelled academically. In the field ofatmospheric science and related disciplines, theAmerican Meteorological Society recently has beensuccessful in acquiring support from several leadingenvironmental science and service corporations forscholarships to be awarded to worthy students. TheseAMS/Industry Scholarships now number eleven andprovide support for students in their junior and senioryears. A description of the awards, the names of thecorporations offering the scholarships, and the list ofstudents who were awarded scholarships for 1994-95,are given in the Bulletin i)f the AMS in the July 1994issue.

It was noted in the Introduction that creatingand maintaining student enthusiasm requires a mutualinterest and dedication on the part of the faculty. Oneof the best ways that faculty can motivate students isthrough excellence in teaching. Clearly, some facultyare more blessed than others when it comes to formalclassroom teaching, but anyone who is genuinelyinterested in providing the best possible education forthe undergraduate student can be an effective teacher.Another way that faculty can involve themselves inmaintaining a high level of interest among students isto seek ways of establishing personal contact. Twoexamples which come to mind are inviting studcnts toyour home for a social event and participating in the

12 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIE TY

student counseling process With regard to the latter,our faculty at Purdue has always taken an active rolein counseling undergraduate majors, with each facultymember acting as the academic advisor fPr about 5-10students. Our students seem to appreciate theopportunity to interact one-on-one with the faculty.

b. Professional

One way to create and maintain enthusiasmamong undergraduates, as well as o promote earlyprofessionalism, is to encourage them to becomestudent members of the CMS. This alloys them toreceive, at a reduced rate, the Bulletin of the AMS andother AMS subsctilitjons, and thereby stay in tunewith the activities of their professional society, as wellas promote its growth.

At.otner way to fulfill professionalenthusiasm is to particip;ne in student club activities.In some instances, this may involve a student chapterof the AMS, while in others it may ins'alve a gronp ofinterested and motivated meteorology students. AtPurdue we have the latter. In 1990, a small cadre ofstudents approacimi the faculty with the idea offorming a club. Th..:y were encouraged and, primarilyor their own, pro....oedect to form the Purdue UniversityMeteorology Association (PUMA). Presently, therenre about 15 actiVe members and among theiractivities are helping with freshman orientation,maintaining a tutoring list, hosting speakers, going ontripritours to meteor64,ica1 facilities (e.g., NWS andTV rtations), and holding social events.

Still another way to intain student interest isto mak.e it possible for them to attcnd professionalmeetings. In recent years, the AMS has been veryactive ia this regard by providing financial assistancefor undergraduate (and graduate) students to attcnd theAnnual Meeting. For this privilege, the studentsusually perform some duties at the Meeting. Also, theinstitution from which the student comes is expectedto share in the cost of sending the student to theMeeting. Of coursc, another way of supporting astudent's attendance at a meeting or scientificconference is through research grant fundr Althougha rare opportunity for most undergraduates, it may bequite appropriate for students with research grantassistantships or for those engaged in their ownresearch (see 2d).

26

c. Employment

Employment opportunities are one of thefactors students consider when selecting a particulardiscipline, but career decisions are not within thescope of this paper. Instead, we focus on examples ofemployment opportunities that can provide the studentwith financial support and simultaneously stimulatehis/her interest in meteorology. One way toaccomplish this is to create departmentally-supportedpositions such as work study or professorial assistant-ships. This could also include research-supportedpositions. In either case, the student normally wouldwork under a professor's guidance on some type ofresearch project. Frequently, the student, given thisopportunity, will choose to conduct some individualresearch. In this case there is overlap with theopportunities discussed in section 2d. Another way tostimulate a student's enthusiasm is throughcooperative programs with government or industry.These programs generally consist of alternating schoolterms with employment after the student hascompleted the sophomore year. The advantages forthe student are experience and financial support, whilethe government or industrial organization gains laborfrom an enthusiastic student. Another potentialadvantage for both the student and the cooperativeorganization is that the experienced student mayeventually gain full time employment with the

organization. Of course, students who elect acooperative program will extend their collegiate careerby one or more years. Yet another possibility is thegrowing number of government and industry summerinternships. These are attractive because they providesummer income and professional experience withoutextending the time required to complete the degree.

d. Research

One of the ways to create and maintain anundergraduate's enthusiasm is to involve him/her in aresearch project. Opportunities exist to seek federalfunding for undergraduate research, especially whencombined with an instructional program. Forexample, the National Science Foundation offerscompetitive grants in Research for UndergraduateInstruction (RUI). A successful program that wasfunded through one of these grants was the NorthDakota Thunderstorm Project conducted in thesummer of 1989 under the direction of ProfessorHarold Orville.

A more modest way to involve students inresearch is to encourage them to undertake thcir own

research project and, if possible, provide them with anundergraduate assistantship with a small stipend. AtPurdue, we created an Undergraduate Honors Programin our department in 1977. Since that time, 22meteorology majors 10% of our total number ofgraduates) have completed this program, and 3 arecurrently enrolled. One of the requirements for thisprogram is to write and give an oral presentation of aB.S. thesis. Nearly all of the students who participatedin this program proceeded on to graduate school,where they found that the opportunity to work with aresearch group and to gain scientific writingexperience were invaluable.

3. RECOGNITION

Finally, there is nothing more rewarding to astudent than personal recognition for his/herendeavors/accomplishments. In this context, one wayto promote enthusiasm among deserving students is tonominate them for awards. This can be done at thedepartmental level, the university level and at thenational level. An example of the latter is to nominateworthy students for the AMS annual scholarshipawards. These include the Howard T. Orville, HowardH. Hanks, Paul H. Kutschenreuter, Dr. Pedro Grau,and the AMS 75th Anniversary Scholarships, and theFather James B. Macelwane Award for the best writtenoriginal paper. Since 1978, we have nominatednumerous students for these awards and have beenfortunate to meet with very good success. As anexample, approximately one-half of our B.S. Honorstheses (mentioned above) have been selected forMacelwane Awards.

4. SUMMARY

We have attempted to suggest some ways thatcan be used to create and maintain a high level interestand enthusiasm among undergraduate meteorologymajors. A list of those examples discussed in thispaper is given below. As noted in the Intrcduction,this list is by no means all-inclusive, and is basedprimarily on our experiences at Purdue.

i. incorporate a freshman level coursc into thecurriculum

hme a computer-based instructional facility

promote a weather forecasting game

iv make students awarc of scholarship oppor-tunities (e.g., AMS/Industry Scholarships)


v. have faculty strive for excellence in teaching

vi. have faculty participate in the counselingprocess

vii. encourage students to apply for AMSmembership

viii. suggest involvement in an AMS studentchapter or meteorology club.

ix. provide motivation for students to attendprofessional mcetings

x. create departmentally or research-supportedpositions

xi. develop cooperative programs with govern-ment and industry

xii. encourage summer internships

xiii. involve students in a sponsored researchproject

xiv. institute an Honors Program which requires athesis

XV. submit deserving student's names for awards


1.5 WEATHER EDUCATION AT THE INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE LEVEL

Robert S. Wcinbeck *

SUNY College at BrockportBrockport, NY

Ira W. Geer

American Meteorological SocietyWashington, DC

1. INTRODUCTION

The American Meteorological Society (AMS),in cooperation with the U. S. National WeatherService (NWS)/National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration, is conducting an UndergraduateFaculty Enhancement Project, supported by theNational Science Foundation, for instructors ofintroductory courses with significant weather content.The purposes of the project are to (a) provide renewaland updating experiences that focus on the recentadvances in operational meteorology and atmosphericresearch, (b) make available existing and participant-developed laboratory and other student learningmaterials that emphasize the processcs by which theworkings of the atmosphere are sensed, analyzed andpredicted on a real-time basis, and (c) acquaintparticipants with the instructional and researchpotential (faculty and student) of the meteorologicaldata and information bases available via a variety ofelectronic information services.

2. NEED

While the AMS' Project ATMOSPHERE hasbeen operating for several years to improve weathereducation at the pre-college level, and UniversityCorporation for Atmospheric Research members,associates, and others offer undergraduate major andgraduate programs for professional-level education, areview of geoscience and geography program listingsindicates that approximately 80% of the introductorycollege level courses with significant weather contentfor the general student arc taught by instructorsholding degrees in fields other than meteorology. The

*corresponding author address: Dr. Robert S.

Weinbeck, Department of the Earth Sciences, SUNYCollege at Brockport, Brockport, NY 14420-2936.

National Science Foundation estimates that 60% ofpre-college teachers also receive whatever sciencecourse backgrounds they have in two-year collegeprograms. This implies that under-preparedundergraduate faculty at predominantly two- andfour-year institutions teach the overwhelmingmajority of all students taking introductory-levelweather and weather-related courses offered in theUnited States. The AMS' Undergraduate FacultyEnhancement project was conceived to assist theseundergraduate faculty members to provide the bestpossible courses in this exciting and important area ofthe sciences. It is particularly crucial in that teachers-in-preparation will be faccd with the NationalStandards calling for the teaching of weather topics atall levels from K-12.

3. WORKSHOP

The project conducted the first undergraduatefaculty enhancement workshop at the NationalWeather Service Training Center in Kansas City,MO, from July 25 - August 5, 1994. This workshopwas held in conjunction with the ProjectATMOSPHERE workshop routinely held for pre-college teachers to aid in attracting the highest qualitypresenters of the National Weather Service and otheragencies involved in the atmospheric sciences.Twenty-four faculty from 17 states attended. Table 1shows the demographic breakdown of participants.Table 2 gives the background educational training ofthe participants, none having earned dcgrccs in theatmospheric sciences.

The intensive two-wcck workshop includedlectures, group discussions, hands-on laboratories andlieldtrips. The focus of all the sessions was thecurrent state of atmospheric sensing, analysis andforecasting. The workshop was organized andconducted by Robert Weinbeck, Ira Geer, Joseph

294TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION '15

Moran, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and KatyGinger, AMS Education Office. Also assisting withinstructional sessions were John Snow, Dean, Collegeof Geosciences, University of Oklahoma, LisaBastiaans, Nassau Community College and seniorstaff of the NWS Training Center (especially PeterChaston, Richard McNulty, JenyThomas Magnuson).

Table I. Participant Backgrounds.

Griffin, and

Doctoral degrees 10Master degrees 14

Two-year institutions 13

Four-year institutions 11

Public institutions 21Private institutions 3

Institutional enrollment < 1000 1

1001 - 5000 11

5001 - 10 000 4> 10 000 7

Table 2. Participant Backgrounds

Geology 4Geography 7AnthropologyPhysics 2Science Education 6Earth Science 2Physical Science 1

Biology/Chemistry 1

Featured guest speakers at the workshop (inorder of appearance) and their topics are listed below:

Warren Washington, AMS President, the AmericanMeteorological Society and the current state ofclimate studies.Roderick Scofield, National Environmental SatelliteData and Information Service, satellite imagery andinterpretation.Robert Sheets, Director, National Hurricane Center,hurricanes and their coastal hazards.Eileen Shea, National Academy of Sciences andNOAA Office of Global Programs, U. S. researchprograms in global change.Joseph Schaefer, Director, NWS Training Center,wind profilers.Frederick Ostby, Director, National Severe StormsForecast Center, thunderstorm-related reweather.


Louis Uccellini, Director, Office of Meteorology,NWS, numerical weather prediction.Louis Boezi, Deputy Director for Modernization,NWS, the future of the National Weather Service.

In addition to classroom and laboratory worlk atthe Training Center, fieldtrips were taken to theUniversity of Kansas Meteorology Program, hosted byJoe Eagleman, the NWS Topeka (KS) Forecast Office,the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in KansasCity, and the Air Fotce Global Weather Central atOffutt AFB (NE).

4. RESULTS

A summary evaluation was received from 23 ofthe workshop participants. The general questions arereplies are given in Table 3. All participants felt theworkshop was valuable and should be offered to aidother faculty of two- and four-year colleges who teachweather courses such as they.

Table 3. Workshop Summary Results

What is your overall rating of the Faculty EnhancementWorkshop in terms of its educational value?

Poor 0 Fair 0 Excellent 23

What long-term effect is Workshop participation likely tohave on your:

instruction?None 0 Some 3 Great Deal 20

use of current weather data?None 0 Some 2 Great Deal 21

course development?None 0 Some 7 Great Deal 16

professional interaction with colleagues?None 0 Some 5 Great Deal 18

How has your perception of the value of the followingchanged as a rcsult of your Workshop participation?

NWS/NOAA

increased 21 remained the same 2 decreased 0profession of meteorology

increased 21 remained the same 2 decreased 0

Would you recommend that this Faculty EnhancementWorkshop be offered in the future for other faculty?

Yes 23 No 0

Warren Washington, in his discussion of theAmerican Meteorological Society, asked theparticipants what were five needs they collectivelysaw in their teaching environments. One evening

a 0

session was devoted to educational issues based onthis question. The participants' perceived needs andthe number of times each reply was received are givenin Table 4.

Table 4. Undergraduate Needs

members trained in areas other than their teachingassignments and for general renewal. The next mostcommon needs listed were related. They call for (a)"hands-on" instructional resource materials for

1. Better student preparation (HS background), esp. math and science2. Need to upgrade training of in-service faculty , such as this workshop3. More course materials needed (hands-on activities, fieldwork, AV)4. Access to current meteorological data5. Upgrading of support facilities:

a. More computers available, also softwareb. Modernization of equipment (replacement)

6. Direct and indirect student supporta. Support for student skills development (math and English)b. More science for pre-service teachers

7. Additional faculty preparation and out-reacha. Release time for faculty upgradingb. Release time for course development (activities, materials)c. Development and/or dissemination of new teaching methodologiesd. Promote in-service oppertunities (to work with high schools, esp. equipment)

8. Generala. Enhanced professional communication ("information superhighway")b. More relevant mathematics courses (applied)c. Support (at least partial) for professional activities (workshops, meetings)d. More meteorology/weather courses offerede. Better student motivation

9. Othersa. Better advising of students in major (area of concentration)b. Better staff - administration communicationc. Government-education cooperation in materials development and used. Confront issue.; of pseudo-science (creationism)e. Enhance stature of educatorsf. Encourage better students into education

13

12

9

8

6

6

44

3

33

3

22

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

The perceived educational needs listing inTable 4 falls into two basic categories, generaleducational problems and those directed toward theatmospheric sciences. Items 1, 5, 6, and 7 generallysuggest the common problems noted in the publicmedia and a number of reports on the science andmathematics performance of American students. Themathematics and science backgrounds should bestrengthened, more resources should be found forinfrastructure rebuildinB, i.e. more computers andreplacement equipment. Several items, however,point out areas where the atmospheric sciences have aspecial interest. The most common response in thiscategory was the expressed need for more trainingopportunities, such as this workshop, forundergraduate faculty. Participants felt suchopportunities are especially needed by faculty

laboratory and classroom use, and (b) access tocurrent meteorological data in the classroom.Additional comments included enhancingprofessional communication, offering more weathercourses in two- and four-year schools, and catalyzingthe use of governmental resources, such as NWS', foreducational materials development.

The participants all believed their ownteaching will be enhanced and that such updatingexperiences should be available to others. It washoped that such workshops will be an on-goingprocess to help a major section of the undergraduatecommunity that does not have a ready forum such asUCAR. A second workshop will be conducted withNational Science Foundation support in late July1995.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This Undergraduate Faculty EnhancementProject was supported by the National ScienceFoundation under Grant No. DUE-9353910. We wishto sincerely thank the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, the National WeatherService, and especially Dr. Joseph Schaefer and thestaff of the NWS Training Center, for helping tomake this workshop possible.

18 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 32

1 .6

WEATHER AND LIFE: A COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIPIN PERSONALIZED MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROBLEM SOLVING

Paul J. Croft* and Martin A. Tessmer

University of South AlabamaMobile, Alabama

1. INTRODUCTION

The traditional approach to instruction centers on thcteaching of disciplines of study in which students areexposed to a broad background of material whichpotentially has relevance to their lives. Unfortunately,as has been pointed out by Alexander (1993), studentstypically go through lower division science courses(which often address the discipline rather than thestudy involving the discipline itself) with a "get it outof the way" attitude and thus often fail to see thereI:wance of the topic to their personal or academiclives. This mentality obscures, and even disallows, thefact that all disciplines are related and important.

For these and other reasons, undergraduate educationin the sciences has generally been viewed as inefficientand unsuccessful in increasing or improving the studentpopulation's scientific literacy (e.g., see Schwartz,1993 and Magner 1993, 1994). This is a seriousproblem because those who obtain higher educationdegrees will be unable to utilize scientific informationwhen they leave college.

In many situations these graduates will make personaland professional decisions based on theircomprehension of scientific information (e.g., theinterpretation of an environmental impact statement)and may arrive at incorrect conclusions because oftheir deficiencies in scientific understanding.

Therefore Alexander (1993) has suggested that coursesbe designed to develoP a student's knowledge basethrough student experiences within a discipline (ratherthan by the simple transmission method of instruction)in order to meet the needs of the majority ofundergraduates and improve scientific literacy.Courses which promote the discovery of knowledge,knowledge integration and communication, and itsapplication (Boyer, 1994) would accomplish this.

*Corresponding author address: Paul J. Croft,University of South Alabama, Department of.Geology and Geography, Mobile, AL 366/01-(XX)2.email address: peroftMaguarLusouthal.edu

V.-.)

l)

2. METEOROLOGY FOR NON-MAJORS

Weather has a broad and familiar appeal because of itscommonality of "hands-on" experience in an everpresent natural laboratory. From childhood on peopleare exposed to weather and must respond accordingly.This provides some of the earliest experience inproblem finding and problem solving that people have.This active learning environment may therefore beused as a resource to link the experience of science toproblem solving and provides an opportunity to correctthe people's understanding of weather phenomena thatoften includes many misconceptions.

These misconceptions limit their ability to properlyassess a given situation or to logically idcntify andrender solutions to science-related problems.Therefore, a course entitled "Weather and Life" hasbeen designed to: (1) improve and enhance scientificliteracy of undergraduate students, (2) developknowledge integration skills, (3) develop cooperativeproblem solving skills, and (4) develop mcdiaintegration skills, through the study of meteorology.

The course focuses on the interdisciplinary nature andimportancc of weather in every aspect of life, includingsocial, economic, and industrial consequences. In thisway the course can provide a broader, interdisciplinarycontext of critical thinking and problem solving. Thecourse therefore encourages independent and grouplearning to foster tolerance and understanding ofalternate views and methods. The course also providesimportant interaction with peers and faculty to developcooperative problem solving skills.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

To achieve these goals the Weather and Life courseconsists of topical modules which focus on situationallearning. For example, a topical issue such as globalwarming may be presented as an "answerless problem"which leaves opponents agreeing to disagree.However, the need for a mutual approach in order toprogress exists as the consequences of both action and


inaction will affect their lives and economies. Thccomplexities of such an approach are reflected by thebias inherent in students' prior knowledge, theavailability and reliability of data, and the source ofdata and constructs.

Other approaches to situated learning include teamteaching--or guest lecturers (e.g., engineering;Collison, 1993), collaborative learning (meteorology;Navarra, et al., 1993), and field courses--or researchexperiences (e.g., meteorology; Hindman, 1993). Eachstrives for reality-based learning and is faculty-studentintensive. There are also presently several initiatives,including Project ATMOSPHERE (Smith et al., 1994)and Project LEARN (Gellhorn and McLaren, 1994),which focus on the improvement of scientific literacyand education through teacher enhancement.

There are also many other programs and/or educationalmaterials designed specifically for undergraduatestudents (including research experiences; e.g., see Byrdet al., 1994; Orville and Knight, 1992; Lewis andMaddox, 1991; and Hallett et al., 1990) to foster thedevelopment of thinking skills. Many exist forsecondary (e.g., Kern et al., 1993; Ruscher et al., 1993;and Snow and Smith, 1990), middle school (e.g.,Schmalbeck and Peppler, 1994), and elementarystudents (e.g., Mogil, 1989) as well.

However, each of these are limited in some way. Forexample, the team teaching approach directly illustratesinterdisciplinary concepts and relevance but is oftenlacking in hands-on experiences for students. Also,guest lecturers may offer a narrow view of theapplication of a discipline, may present informationoutside the context of a student's experience or interest,and assume a similar knowledge and experience base.

In the case of collaborative learning individuals whoprogress at thcir own pace may suffer from incompleteknowledge acquisition (because students may not havethese skills). Collaboration also focuses on thcdevelopment of analytic skills rather than scientificknowledge and understanding, and must therefore bedirectionally biased and limited in the number ofviewpoints.

Field courses typically focus on the application oflearned course material and may be very narrow inscope whcn dependent upon a faculty member'sresearch. Although lab experiences do offer anopportunity for critical thinking and problem solving,they often arc constrained (and/or narrow in view),often have known outcomes, lie outside thc student's


realm of understanding, or ultimately require studentsto learn duties rather than construct new ideas.

Therefort;, a combination of these three approaches isnecessary for the improvement of scientific literacy,development of knowledge integration and cooperativeproblem solving skills, and development of a student'scritical thinking and media integration skills. This maybe accomplished according to the instructionalstrategies outlined in the oral presentation.

4. WEATHER AND L1.1-th

The Weather and Life course will consist of a series ofmodular lectures, labs, independent and groupassignments, and discussion sessions. It willemphasize personal and group involvement and the useof multimedia techniques and resources and requireoral and written reports by individuals and groups.Through these, students will learn how to access,interpret, and integrate resources in the problemfinding and problem solving process and how to relatetheir findings to different audiences.

The course is the last of a three-part sequence of ascience cluster curriculum designed for first and secondyear undergraduates. Enrollment will be limited to 30students and it is anticipated that one-half will beeducation majors, the other half predominantly non-science majors (with one meteorology major).

4.1 First Week of Class

At the start of the course, students will be given apretest to assess their basic meteorological knowledge(of concepts), their analysis and critical thinkingability, and their problem solving and communicationabilities. Therefore the pretest will focus onsituational problems in which students must determineif weather impacts are possible, what level ofsignificance they might have, and whether impacts maybe mitigated and/or prevented. The pretests will becollected and discussed with regard to "correct"answers and related to each students' personalexperiences with the weather.

Students will then determine the significance ofweather to thcir lives by identifying five differentweather-related impacts each from newspapers,magazines, and professional journals. The increasinglevel of sophistication will illustrate the significanceand interdisciplinary nature of meteorology andimprove their scientific awareness. Students willcritique the progress and findings of one another in the

following class.

In the following (third) class students will select oneweather-related topic each from science (e.g., airpollution meteorology), business (e.g., forensicmeteorology), and liberal arts (e.g., architeture anddesign); based on their previous assignment, as a self-determination of the course's content). Potential topicsare shown in the oral presentation. Initial discussionwill focus on what is known about each topic andstudents will be asked to prepare a plan of action fordiscussion in the next class.

In the fourth class students will be assigned to groupsin order to access resources relevant to thedetermination of weather impacts, their significance,and their control. Although it is clear that each topicmay fit more than one category, this may not beintuitive to students. Through their cross disciplinarystudy of the topic, they will find the imposed topicalarea boundaries to be less important.

4.2 Weather Study Modules

Each topic selected will then be studied during a twoweek period. The first week (Days 1-4) will involvetopic investigations and the second week (Days 5-8)knowledge and media integration. At the start of eachtopic, a quiz will be given to evaluate each students'basic conceptual knowledge. The quizzes will bedesigned to test their ability to apply knowledge in alimited time environment (similar to business meetingpressure) and to offer quick solutions to new or oldproblems.

The topic will then be discussed in class (Day 1) by theinstructor (or a guest lecturer if appropriate) through amultimedia presentation in which basic information(and conflicting information in some cases) is detailed.Student groups will then be charged with theinvestigation of various aspects of the informationpresented.

On Day 2, student groups will assess what is known, orthought to be known, about a topic, or accepted asconventional wisdom. It will then be theirresponsibility, both individually and to their group, tocontact and/or acquire appropriate resources to verifyor refute lecture materials and to identify significantproblems and associated impacts on Day 3. Uponcompletion of independent and group research,individuals and groups will report their initial findingson Day 4.

Class discussion will then shift to what should be doneabout these problems, how they are to be prioritized,and their assignment to individual groups for furtherresearch. At this point, the students will become"employees" in the course's "company business" andwill act as individuals and "reporting departments" todevelop cooperative problem solving skills. The taskof each employee and department will Iv- to offersolutions for the aspects of the weather rehned problemassigned to them on Day 4.

Through consultation with group leaders and theinstructor on Day 5, students will need to definespecific tasks toward achieving a solution to theirspecific problem and understand its relationship to thewhole. Active use of resources, continual revision oftheir work plan, and consultation with peers will benecessary to complete their jobs during Day 6 and oraland written reports on Day 7 .

Peer review, evaluation, and discussion of oral reportson Day 8 will determine the clarity, usefulness,relevance, and completeness of student and groupresearch. Written reports will be evaluated by theirinstructor and by the students with regard to eachstudent's performance in the "company's business" andallow for an interdisciplinary assessment of eachstudent's writing ability. Follow up tasks may besuggested to each group and individual to obtainfurther information, check information obtained, and/orrework a presentation.

Further discussion will focus on determining the"company's" accepted policy and planned action on theweather related problem. This will require negotiationand compromise by the "employees" of the different"departments". Students will then better appreciate theneed to consider various solutions to problems andunderstand how those solutions were derived and must"stake thcir job" (and thus their grade) on what theyreport. They must be sure that they have acquiredaccurate scientific information and clearly understandthat information and its proper application.

5. DISSEMINATION

A CD-ROM resource disc based on the Weather andLife coursc is planned. The multimedia disc willcontain maps of weather patterns, reports of weatherstudies, tables and charts of climate data, video clips ofweather phenomena, and satellite and radar imagery.The disc interface will be designed to allow guidedbrowsing and searching and will have regionalinstructional materials and various instroctional plans

4TH SYMP, ON EDUCATION 21

so that teachers may select exercises, information, andanswers for their particular geographic region andaccording to their needs.

6. REFERENCES

Alexander, J. C., 1993. The irrational disciplinarity ofundergraduate education. The Chronicle of HigherEducation, December 1, p. 3.

Boyer, E. L., 1994. Creating the new Americancollege. The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 9,p. 48.

Byrd, G. P., R. J. Ballentine, A. J. Stamm, R. S.Weinbeck, and E. E. Chermack, 1994. Someexperiences with the National Science Foundation'sresearch in undergraduate institutions program.Bulletin of the American Meteotological Society, 75(4):627-630.

Collison, M. N-K., 1993. Learning communities for all.The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 10, p.18.

Gellhorn, J. G., and C. McLaren, 1994. ProjectLEARN: A teacher enhancement program at theNational Center for Atmospheric Research. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 75(4): 621-625.

Hallett, J., J. G. Hudson, and A. Schanot, 1990. Studenttraining in facilities in atmospheric science: A teachingexperiment. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 71(11): 1637-1641.

Hindman, E. E., 1993. An undergraduate field coursein meteorology and atmospheric chemistry. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 74(4): 661-667.

Kern, E. L., J. T. Snow, and M. E. Akridge, 1993.Second international conference on school and popularmeteorological and oceanographic education: Impacton precollege atmospheric cducation. Bulletin of theAmerican Meteorological Society, 74(4): 655-660.

Lewis, J. M., and R. A. Maddox, 1991. The summeremployment program at NOAA's national severestorms laboratory: An experiment in the scientificmentorship of undergraduates. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 72(9 ): 1362-1372.

Magner, D. K., 1993. A biting assessment A reportchides colleges for neglecting undergraduate education.The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 8, p.


/6.

--, 1994. Report describes 'revival of generaleducation' and urges colleges to keep up themomentum. The Chronicle of Higher Education,January 19, p. 20.

Mogil, H. M., 1989. Weather study under an umbrella.Published by How the weatherworks.

Navarra, J. G., J. Levin, and J. G. Navarra, Jr., 1993.An example of the use of meteorological concepts inthe problem-based general-education experiences ofundergraduates. Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society, 74(3): 439-446.

Orville, H. D., and N. C. Knight, 1992. An example ofa research experience for undergraduates. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 73(2): 161-167.

Ruscher, P., K. Kloesel, S. Graham, and S. Hutchins,1993. Implementation of NOAA direct readout satellitedata capabilities in Florida's public schools. Bulletin ofthe American Meteorological Society, 74(5): 849-852.

Schwartz, J. H., 1993. Scientific 'truths' and truescience. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Decemher8, pp. 1-2.

Schmalbeck, L. M., and R. A. Peppier, 1994. Firststeps toward the Illinois school children's atmosphericnetwork (ISCAN)-A role for scientists in scienceeducation. Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 75(4): 631-635.

Smith, David R., I. W. Geer, R. S. Weinbeck, J. T.Snow, and W. H. Beasley, 1994. AMS projectATMOSPHERE University of Oklahoma 1993workshop for atmospheric education resourceagents.Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety, 75(1): 95-100.

Snow, J. T., and D. R. Smith, 1990. Report on thesecond international conference on school and popularmeteorological and oceanographic education. Bulletinof the American Meteorological Society, 71(2): 190-198.

36

1.7 NEW METEOROLOGY PROGRAM AT THE U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMYINTEGRATES COMET MULTIMEDIA AND COMPUTER

WEATHER LAB INTO UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM

Thomas L. Koehler*, Kcith G. Blackwell, Delores J. Knipp and Brian E. Heckman

United States Air Force AcademyU.S.A.F. Academy, Colorado

I. INTRODUCTION

The United States Air Force Academy hasdeveloped an undergraduate meteorology programwithin the Department of Economics and Geographyand the Department of Physics. Meteorology cadetswill enter the Meteorology Track within the GeographyMajor, and will complete at least 24 semester hours ofundergraduate atmospheric science courses beforegraduating. The program meets or exceeds both theWorld Meteorological Organization and NationalWeather Service academic standards for undergraduateatmospheric science curricula. The Class of 1995 willbe the first to graduate cadets in the MeteorologyTrack. Many graduates of the program will becomeweather officers, directly supporting the missions of theU.S. Air Force and Army. Other graduates maybecome pilots or navigators, or choose othcr careerfields that would benefit from an intimate knowledgeof the atmosphere in which they perform their mission.The Acadcmy's facilities for the meteorology programinclude a well-equipped, modern, computer-basedMeteorology Laboratory and a Multimedia Classroom(see Knipp and Heckman in this preprint volume).The Meteorology Lab houses 12 Automated WeatherDistribution System (AWDS) workstations, a WSR-88D Doppler radar Principle User Processor (PUP), aPC-based satellite looper with dedicated acccss toGOES. METEOSAT and GMS satellite images, and acomputer-based learning (CBL) delivery system forincorporating multimedia modules into classroom

discussions. Seven additional CBL systems reside inthe Multimedia Classroom, and can be used for groupor individualized learning sessions. Two additionalAWDS workstations arc located near faculty offices fordeveloping classroom materials, and CBL systems arcplaced in othcr locations, including thc Cadet Librar)for access by studcnts during the evening and on

*Corresponding author address: Thomas L. Koehler,HQ USAFA/DFEG, 2354 Fairchild Drive Suite 6K12,USAF Acadcmy CO 80840-6238

weekends. Most of the equipment was donated to theAcademy by the Air Weather Service.

2. THE METEOROLOGY TRACK CURRICULUM

Upon graduation, a cadet in the meteorology trackwill 1,ave completed the eight meteorology courses(Table 1), totaling 24 semester hours. These coursesare in addition to a rigorous core sequence of 31courses in the basic sciences, humanities, socialsciences and engineering, five courses required for thcGeography Major, including a computer-assisted mapanalysis and a rcmote sensing course, two additionalmathematics courses beyond the core, and thrcemilitary arts and sciences courses. A cadet has onlyone open option, which often is a flight trainingcourse. Military and athletic duties also make seriousdemands on a cadet's time.

Course Nik.neGeography 320

Physics 320

Physics 330Physics 430Physics 431

Geography 451Geography 452Geography 460

3. FACILITIES

TABLE 1

Course DcscriptionClimatologyIntroduction to Atmospheric

ScienceAtmospheric PhysicsAtmospheric DynamicsAtmospheric Circulation and

EnergeticsSynoptic MeteorologyMesoscale MeteorologySatellite Meteorology and Image

Interpretation

Providing a solid academic foundation inatmospheric science is the primary purpose of thcmeteorology program. In addition, the facilities featureoperational equipment in current use in base weatherstations, allowing cadets to become familiai with thcwidc range of products and equipment they will useafter graduation.

r 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 23

3.1 The Meteorology Laboratory

Several meteorological data acquisition anddisplay systems reside in the Meteorology Laboratory.Ten of the twelve AWDS workstations in the lab arcsituated in the classroom area. The remaining twoworkstations are placed in a separate area, partitionedfrom the classroom, to allow walk-in users to gainaccess to the AWDS information with a minimum ofdistraction to an ongoing class. The satellite looperfeatures two monitors, one that normally displayscurrent images, While the other can be used to viewpast weather events. The current images are also fedinto thc Academy network on a dedicated videochannel for display in other classrooms, or in the cadetdormitories.

A sophisticated switching and display systcm hasbeen designed to integrate the various video displaysfor AWDS, the satellite looper, the WSR-88D PUP, themultimedia CBL system, a VCR, and a visual presenterinto a switching system that could display up to threevideo signals simultaneously in the classroom. Athree-gur color projector can display one image on aprojection screen at the front of the room, while twolarge screen color monitor pairs placed on the sides ofthe classroom can each display a different video source.The instructor can control the entire video and audiodisplay system via a hand held remote control.Considerable effort will be expended in designing thecurriculum and in altering teaching techniques tocapitalize on this integrated video display capability.


3.2 The Multimedia Classroom

The Air Force Academy has been involved withcomputer-aided learning for many years. In recentyears, the Academy has had a role in the developmentof several of the COMT-r modules, used both as ameans of providing continuing education for fieldforecasters, and recently as a learning tool in theuniversity environment. The Multimedia Classroomhouses seven CBL computer workstations in anarrangement conducive to both individual learning, orin group or instructor-led situations. A complete set ofthe current COMET modules is available at eachworkstation. A portion of our current effort in coursedevelopment is devoted to effectively incorporatingthese CBL resources into an undergraduateatmospheric science curriculum.

4. SUMMARY

The new Meteorology Track in the GeographyMajor at the U.S. Air Force Academy will provide anacademic opportunity to future Air Force officers tobecome familiar to the mcdium in which the Air Forceoperates. An exceptional investment in terms offacilities and human resources has been madeavailable for meteorology instruction at the Academy.Wc hope to make our program an innovator inincorporating multiple computer-based data sourcesand computer-based learning in an undergraduateenvironment.

38

1 .8INTEGRATION OF INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA

INT() THE METEOROLOGY CURRICULUMAT THE

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY

Delores KnippUnited States Air Force Academy, CO

Brian E. Heckman*+Cooperative Prograrn for Operational Meteorology, Education and Ti aining

Boulder, CO 80301

Wited States Air Force Academy, CO

INTRODUCTION

A new meteorology track was recently formed in theDepartment of Economics and Geography which isjointly staffed and operated with the Department ofPhysics (see Koehler. et al.. in this preprint volume). Inaddition to having an array of modem analysis andobserving tools in the meteorology laboratory. cadets andfaculty will have a unique opportunity to use state-of-the-art interactive multimedia (1MM).

Heckman and Graziano (1993) outlined the basicideas of integrating 1MM into the new curriculum. Thispaper expands upon these initial ideas by describing therationale for using IMM, describing the implementationplan, showing how IMM has been used in the initialstages of implementation, and outlining potential

revisions.

2. WHAT ARE THE PEDAGOGICALADVANTAGES IN USING INTERACTIVEMULTIMEDIA'?

According to Chung and Reigeluth (1992).instructional outcomes fall into three categories:effectiveness, efficiency, and the appeal of the instructionto the learners--our goal is to show that the learningmodel used in the meteorology track improves theseoutcomes by integrating IMM. Simply integrating 1MMinto the curriculum is not sufficient as pointed out byReeves (1993). He strongly suggests that IMM, to beeffective, must he desiged around a solid pedagogy. Ourapproach rests on two fundamental underpinnings. First.the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) actively promotesinstruction that is grotuided in solid pedagogy.

*CorrospontImg author address: Brian I leaman, I CARA 1 NI:T.

11. , Rm 10211, 1450 Mfiche111.anc, Bouldor, C( SI )111

Sellit's adjUIK I INIM I a, pail 4 Air Wrathcr Sep, itt Tysoniositintnent

Second, IMM programs used at the CooperativeProgram for Operational Meteorology, Education andTraining's (COMET.) which we are integrating into thenew curriculum, are designed to combine solid pedagogywith sound science (see for example. Wilson, et al.. 1991and Lamos, et al.. 1993).

Are there ways that the traditional "lecture-laboratory-research" learning model used in theatmospheric sciences can he improved by embracing thenotions of cogn;tive science and applying educationaltechnology'? We. think the answer is yes! Reeves (1993)suggests that in order for students to realize the potentialof 1MM, it must he designed around three basic tenets ofcontemporary cognitive theory as outlined by Resnick( 1989). IMM should be designed so that: 1) learning isaccomplished through "knowledge building"; 2) learningis improN ed through the siu,ation that it is presented tothe learner; and 3) learning i:, "knowledge-dependent." Itis not t' ie purpose of this riper ;o dwell on the details ofcogni.ive science. but rat'aer t%) show that improvementsin t!,e learning mode; rest not solely on better science.faralty. or the use of ;MM. hut also on the combination ofthese elements wi:'t modern !earning concepts andapplications.

IMPLEMENTATION PI kN

Our imnlementation phti will extend over severalyears. starting crom a rather .4.mrle approach and will berevised based on assessniert at each phase. Thefollowing sections deseribc our initial phase of

iniplernentation.

3.1 l low arc instructo,-,S and students using

multimedia?

multimi.dia ciiursew are will he integratedinto the eurriculuin using three .,echniques:sell-paced leanintr; cooperative learning between two or


three cadets: and small-group, instructor-led sessions.Each of these strategies has certain advantages anddisadvantages. Table 1 describes the use and advantages

of each strategy.

Table 1. Implementation strategies, uses. and respective advantages of IMM.

ImplementationStrategy Use Advantages

Individual learning -all or portions of lesson (s) completedby student-homework assignments-laboratory exercises-instructor used as mentor

-self-paced, high learner control-time for reflection and review, as needed-highly flexible-fully utilizes the design of some programs

Cooperative learning -all of above hut work is accomplishedin small groups rather than individually

-self-paced, high learner control-maximizes student interactionincreases efficiency of I arning

-creates team building

Small group classes -can take place of lecture-used in combination with lecture

integrates instructor with multimedia-maximizes social contact among students andinstructor

3.2 What hardware/ sofmare configurations will heused?

Students and faculty will have the opportunity toemploy IMM in several ways: small group/classdiscussion, instructor mentoring, and individual study.The generous donation by Air Weather Service of 10COMET delivery systems (COMET, 1994) to themeteorology program has allowed faculty to be directlyinvolved in designing the IMM work areas for optimaluse. IMM inherently allords the opportunity for a highdegree of learner control and offers the possibility ofsimultaneous. multiple uses. We are designing theMultimedia Classroom (MC) with sev.,, of theworkstations to take advantage of this flexibility by:dlowing cadets to work in small groups or individually aspart of a class or homework assignment. Further, aninstructor may wish to hold class in the MC wherestudents can work on an IMM lesson, while the instructorprovides guidance or gives a short lecture. For greaterflexibility and to allow for more individual student use.three systems have been deployed outside the MC. Oneis located in the Physics Department, another is in theAcademy library where cadets may use it duringweekends and non-duty hours, and the third is in theMeteorological LaNcitory kir use in lab sessions orlecture.

1.1 What at e sout (Ts of /VIM courseware?

In the early stages of evaluation. two sources of


multimedia courseware are being used. The first is

COMETs Forecaster's Multimedia Library. COMET isdeveloping an extensive curriculum specifically designedfor operational forecasters. This curriculum is organizedaround four basic tracks: Basic Topics. AviationMeteorology, Convection, Extratropical Cyclones. andSpecial Topics. In the latter track, topics such as marine,tropical, and polar meteorology are treated. In addition.NOAA is funding the production of unique modulescovering a wide range of topics including GOES-I, FireWeather and Agricultural Meteorology, QPF Forecasting,and others.

In addition, other programs will he used. Forexample. the Australian Bureau of Meteorology hasdeveloped a cloud identification program. Theintroductory course also uses computer spreadsheets :uidmath applications software that allows students totranslate data and equations into useful graphics andillustration.s. As other IMM becomes availahle, it will heevaluated and integrated as appropriate.

3.4 flow is multimedia courseware being used and howwill it be assessed?

Initially, we had two gradual& hool cadets workthrough Iwo COMET modules as part of an independentstudy course. Starting in the fall 1994 semester, wefocused on integrating IMM in the ways described aboveand developing an assessment plan. Table 2 summarizesthe ways IMM has been integrated into the curriculum.

40

In the fall 1994 semester, Physics 320: Introductionto Atmospheric and Space Science was revised based onthe results of using IMM the previous semester. Severalmodules from the COMET library and thc AustralianBureau of Meteorology (BMTC) cloud identification

Table 2. Partial list of IMM used in Physics 320, Fall 1994

program were used throughout the course with a varietyof strategies. Table 3 details how these programs wereused.

Lesson/project IMM material used Instructional strategy used

Condensation -BMTC Cloud Identification -homework/self study

Stability and cloud development -several tutorials from COMETmodules: Heavy Precipitation and mentoringFlash Flooding (HPFF) andBoundary Detection andConvection Initiation (CI)

-small group study with instructor

Condensation BMTC Cloud Identification -small group discussion-homework assignment

Stability and cloud development -several segments from HPFF-interactive exercises on clouds andSkew T-log p diagram in CI

-small group discussions

Mid-latitude cyclones -selected tutorials from COMET -small group discussionsExtratropical Cyclones

Special project -complete a grouping of COMETmodules of choice-complete a summary and report toclass the set of key concepts andapplications

-individual study

In the same semester. Geography 451: SynopticMeteorology was taught for the first time. IMM wasintegrated into several sections of the course. The samebasic approach was followed in terms of instructionalstrategies. except that different 1MM programs wereused. For example, COMETs Forecast Process,Numerical Weather Prediction, and ExtratropiculCyclones I were used extensively.

During the semester, a number of assessmentinstruments will be conductrx1 as part of our on-goingevaluation. Results will help develop revision to coursesand plot our future plans.

4. WHAT ARE THE FUT1IRE PLANS'?

Future plans center on two main areas: furtherrevisions to the Multimedia Classroom :mil integration orother IMM programs. In its current configuration, the MCconsists of seven stand-alone workstations placed on

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individual tables. Potential modifications to this initialphase may indude networking the workstations. hiaddition, we may configure some of the workstations intoone or more pod-arrangements similar to the ForeignLanguage Department's Multimedia Laboratory.

The other potential area of development may be theaddition of IMM programs designed specifically foracademic instruction. It can be difficult to integrate IMMprograms that were designed for other purposes, such asthe COMET modules which were designed for

operational forecasters to be used at forecast offices forindividual learning (Heckman. 1994). The USAFA hasthe distinct advantage of having resources available toproduce custom IMM through the Department ofEducation and other resources, hut a much more carefulevaluation will have to be conductrxi before this isconsidered.


5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is funded in part by a Cooperativeagreement from the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration. The views expressed herein are those ofthe author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views ofNOAA or any of its sub-agencies. We would like to thankour colleagues at the United States Air Force Academyfor their many excellent suggestions and support.

6. REFERENCES

Chung, J. and C. M. Reigeluth, 1992: Instructionalprescriptions for learner control. EducationalTechnology, 32, (10) 14-20.

COMET, 1994: Specifications for the COMETcomputer-based learning (CBL) delivery system.Internal COMET document, Boulder.

Heckman, B. E. and T. Graziano, 1993: Integratingcomputer-aided learning into the universityclassroom: a revised teaching model. Preprints, 1stInternational Conference on Computer-aidedLearning in Meteorology, Hydrology, andOceanography (CALMet), 5-9 July, Boulder,Colorado, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA andWMO, Geneva.

Heckman, B. E., 1995: A survey of the usc of COMET'sforecaster's multimedia library in the academiccommunity. Preprints, Fourth Symposium onEducation, 15-20 January, Dallas, TX. Amer.Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA.


Koehler, T., K. Blackwell, D. Knipp, and B. E. Heckman,1994: New meteorology program at the U.S. AirForce Academy integrates COMET multimedia andcomputer weather lab into undergraduatecurriculum. AMS 4th Symp. on Education,Nashville, 1993.

Lamos. J. P., B. E. Heckman, and B. G. Wilson, 1993:Applying the cognitive apprenticeship learningmodel in an interactive multimedia computer-aidedleaning environment. Preprints, 1st InternationalConference on Computer-aided Learning inMeteorology, Hydrology, and Oceanography(CALMet), 5-9 July, Boulder. CO. Amer. Meteor.Soc., Boston, MA and WMO, Geneva.

Reeves, T., 1993: Research support for interactivemultimedia: existing foundations and new directions.Jn C. Lathchem, J. Williamson, and L. Henderson-Lancett (Eds.) Interactive multimedia: practice andpromise. London, Kogan Page.

Resnick, L. B., 1989: Introduction. In L. B. Resnick(Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays inhonor of Robert Glaser. Lawrence Erlbaurn,Hillsdale, NJ, 1-24.

Wilson, B. G., B. Heckman, and S. Wang, 1991:Computer-based cognitive apprenticeships: an

example from weather forecasting. Proc, 33rd Intn.Conf., Assoc. for the Develop. of Computer-basedInstructional Systems, 1991. St. Louis.

1.9 A SURVEY OF THE USE OFCOMET'sic FORECASTER'S MULTIMED:A LIBRARY

IN THEACADEMIC COMMUNITY

Brian E. Heckman*

Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology. Education and TrainingBoulder, CO 80301

I. INTRODUCTION

The use of interactive multimedia (IMM) is

becoming an integral part of the education and trainingprogram for the nation's three federal forecasting services,the National Weather Service, the Air Weather Service,and the Naval Meteorology and OceanographicCommand. Although COMETs primary mission is tosupport these three agencies in their continuing educationneeds. IMM has a place in the academic community aswell.

COMET has collaborated with the universitycommunity in assessing the feasibility of using IMM ininstruction. In 1992, COMET and Weather InformationTechnologies, Inc. (WITI) conducted an evaluation ofCOMET modules at five universities in the USA andCanada. The responses suggest that both instructors andstudents believe that IMM has a place in the spectrum ofinstructional methodologies at the university. Following alively discussion on the role of new educationaltechnologies at the Unidata/NSF sponsored MesoscaleMeteorology Workshop in June 1994. the author thoughtit might be of interest to the community at large to seehow instructors and students are using IMM ininstruction.

A survey was sent to 15 universities that purchasedan IMM workstation and at least some of COMET'sForecaster's Multimedia Library. An analysis of the 13returned surveys follows.

2. RESULTS

Table I describes the universities that.responded tothe survey, the types of IMM being used, and the COMETmodules in use. Table 2 outlines the number of studentsusing IMM and details about the computer systems andhours of use. Table 3 details the use of the COMETmodules in the curriculum, in terms of which module is

being used in specific courses and by what instructionalmethod. It also links this use to the institutions listed inTable I.

'Corresponding author address: Man E. Heckman, It 'AR/COMET,113. km 1028. 3450 Mitchell Lane, Bouldel, CO 80301

For example, one can see from Table 3 that portions ofseveral modules are being used in a mesoscale coursetitled "Mesoscale Analysis and Forecasting" developed bythe institution with the number "6" which corresponds tothe Pennsylvania State University in Table 1.

Tables 4 and 5 describe advantages (Table 4) anddisadvantages (Table 5) in using interactive multimedia inthc curriculum. From the responses, the author identifieda set of categories and tallied the total number ofresponses per category which are listed in Tables 4 and 5in dtx-reasing frequency. For example, the observation thatIMM allows for a "self-paced learning environment"ranked first (10 answers were grouped into this category)among 10 categories. On the other hand, there werecategories that nearly tied for the most importantdisadvantage: "too costly" scored 6 while "difficult tointegrate into the existing curriculum" tallied 5.

Some of the categories appear to be closely relatedwhich might lead one to different conclusions about theuses of IMM. For example, in Table 4. one could

conclude that "good case studies/good examples ofmodern data sets" and "effective display of data andinformation" are the same. However, in analyzing the data,it appeared that the answers given were in two distinctcategories. Into the latter category went answers like,"visual improvements to the blackboard" and "effectivemethod of displaying information," while responses like"good examples of data from modern observing systems,"and "easier to create exercises than by going from scratch"went into the case study category. There is always someambiguity when the respondent does not select from pre-determined categories, but the author hopes that hisinterpretations reflect the respondents' intent.

The fmal question focused on how instructors thoughtthat the COMET modules could be made more elketivein an academic environment. Although the modules aredesigned specifically for use at forecast offices byoperational forecasters, some modifications are possible.These suggested modifications are listed in Table 6.


Table 1. General information about institutions surveyed. COMET module titles in use are as follows: Workshop on DopplerRadar Interpretation=WDR; Boundary Detection and Convection Initiation=C1: Heavy Precipitation & FlashFloodinx=HPFF: Forecast Process=FP: Nwnerical Weather Prediction=NWP: and Extratro ical Cyclones Volume I=ET1.

InFtitutiOnCOMET mojule titles in

Source of IMM use

(1) Lyndon State College COMET WDP., FP, CI, HPFF

(2) McGill University COMET WDR

(3) Mississippi State University COMET WDR

(4) University of Wisconsin COMET, Other, CustomWDR. NWP, FP, CI,

HPFF

(5) University of Missouri COMET

(6) The Pennsylvania State Univ.

(7) I nited States Naval Academy

(8) University of Oklahoma

COMET WDR, Cl. HFPP, FP

COMET WDR, CI

COMET . WDR. CI, FP

(9) State University of New York,Brockport COMET WDR, HPFF, CI

(10) Colorado State University COMET HPFF. FP

(11) Millersville University COMET, Other Cl. FP

(12) US Air Force AcademyWDR, CL HPFF, FP.

COMET, Other NWP, ETI

(13) Iowa State Universit COMET, Custom WDR. CI, FP

Table 2. Information about com uter s stems and use.

Total number of IMMworkstations available

Total number of students per semesterworking on multmedia

Hours of operation for themultimedia workstation (s)

1 1-3 >3 1-5 6-10 11-15 >150800- 07(x)-1700 2200 24h

# Institutions 13 0 1 2 I 5 3 3 4 3


4 4

Table 3. Methods of use of COMET multimedia titles in courses offered. Number following course corresponds to theuniversity listed in Table 1(number to the left of the institution's name). Segment use as follows: A=entire module usedin course; B=specific segments used as lecture or self-study; C=used in laboratory; or D=used as special project (s).

Course Multimedia Title A

Synoptic MeteorologySynop Lab (13)Synop Lab (8)Introduction to Synop

Synop Lab (soph) (8)Synop Course (7)

Synop Course (12)Senior Synop Lab (13)

CIWDR, CI

FPTo be determinedFP, ET I , NWPCI. WDR

X

X

X

X

XX X

Mesoscale MeteorologyMesoscale Modeling (10)Mesoscale Met (8)Mesoscale Dynamics (9)Mesoscale Analysis &Forecasting (6)

NWPWDR, CIHPFF

WDR, CI, HPFF

X

XX

X

Weather Laboratory Series (10) FP, HPFF X X

Satellite & Radar MeteorologySatellite Met Course (11) CI, FP X X

Special ProjectsUndergrad Indep Study (6)Independent Study (7)Independent Study (9)Independent Study (12)

WDR, CI, HPFF, FRNWPTo be determinedWDR, CIWDR, CI, FP

X

XX

Cloud Physics

Other CoursesIntro Atm & Space Sci (12)Intro to Met (nolLd2s) (13)

WDR. CI, HPFF. ET1Limited use

X

X

X

/I 6 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 31

Table 4. Advantages in using interactive multimedia in instruction. When possible, the five most important advantageswere organized into categories. Number of responses are shown to the right of each category or response.

Cate or Number of responses

Self-paced learning environment 10

Learning strategies create effective (interest, enthusiasm) learning 7

Good case studies/good examples of modem data sets 5

Effixtive display of data and other information 4

Students exposed to other experts 3

Students change from passive to active learners 3

Topics address needs for mesoscale meteorology 3

Retention is higher 2

Emphasis on operational meteorology 1

Use in cooperative learning environment 1

Table 5. Disadvantages in using interactive multimedia in instruction. When possible. the five most importantdisadvantages were organized into categories. Number of responses are shown to the right of each category or response.

Category Number of responses

Too costly: need more workstations; requirement for support staff

Difficult to use in classroom 5

Too time consuming: instructor review; modules too long; or instructor 4knowing system

Difficult to convert students or faculty to multimedia concept 2

Difficult to integrate into existing curriculum 2

Too slanted to operational meteorology 1

Software/hardware problems 1

No interaction with instructor if learner has questions 1

Colors washed out/poor resolution of imagery 1

Lack of evaluation

Negative incentive for instructors to improve learning program 1

Lack of application to minority students

32 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY4 6

Table 6. Suggested modifications to the COMET modules.

Recommended chances to COMET courseware Number of reszonses

Expand the scope of modules

-Provide an index for the content of the modules

Provide more advanced material

Do not change

Provide additional case studies

Provide for cross platform use. e.g., Mac, PC, Unix

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is funded in part by a cooperativeagreement from the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration. The views expressedherein are those of the author (s) and do notnecessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of itssub-agencies. We would like to thank our colleaguesat the United States Air Force Academy for their manyexcellent suggestions and support.


1.10 SYMBOLIC MANIPULATORS IN THE CLASSROOM:USING STUDENT RESEARCH TOPICS IN OCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY

TO ENHANCE TEACHING/LEARNING OF ADVANCED MATHEMATICS

Reza Malok-Madani, David R. Smith and Christopher R. GundersonUnited States Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

1. BACKGROUND

The curriculum at the UnitedStates Naval Academy traditionallyhas had a strong science andengineering emphasis. For example,all students regardless of theirmajor take chemistry, physics,differential and integral calculusthrough differential equations, and avariety of engineering courses. Thepurpose of such a rigorous program inscience, mathematics, and engineeringis to provide all graduates with anadequate background to pursue any ofthe advanced technical programs inthe Navy or Marine Corps.

One of the majors available atthe Naval Academy is Oceanography,which focuses on physicaloceanography, meteorology and air-seainteraction - areas clearly importantfor the operational environment thatfuture naval and marine officers willencounter (Smith and Gunderson,1994).

For the past several years theOceanography and the MathematicsDepartments at the U. S. NavalAcademy have collaborated andredesigned the sophomore/junior levelmathematics core courses. Duringthis process a new mathematicscurriculum has been developed thattshows a better balance betweenscience and applied mathematics thatserves the needs of the studentsmajoring in oceanography moreeffectively in their preparation foradvanced courses, and in their futureendeavors as naval officers.

This curriculum differs in threeways from a traditional one based onthe classical treatment of advanced

Corresponding author address: RezaMalek-Madani, Mathematics Department,U.S. Naval Academy, 572 HollowayRoad, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026;E-MAIL: [email protected]


science and engineering mathematics.First, the entire curriculum is basedon the new technology of computeralgebra systems where a symbolicmanipulator such as Mathematics isused in every aspect of theinstruction and problem solving.Second, there is no clear demarcationas to when a mathematical conceptbegins and ends and when anoceanographic concept is beingintroduced (i.e., there is acontinuity to the mathematical andscientific concepts rather thanspending weeks or months studyingdifferential equations and theirproperties in isolation and thenapplying them to fluid flow problems.In the new curriculum themathematical tools and oceanographicconcepts are introduced in theirnatural setting when needed. Third,aach student is given a substantialproject due at a special junctureduring the year where, in closecollaboration with the instructor, abasic mathematical model of anoceanographic concept is pursued wellbeyond the usual offerings of aclassroom setting. One of the sidebenefits of these projects is awriting assignment that goes witheach project, thereby reinforcing thenotion that it is important to beable to communicate one's knowledgeof mathematical and scientificconcepts to others.

2. ROLE OF MATUBMATICA

The symbolic manipulatorrMathematics is available on twocomputer networks at the NavalAcademy. All students enrolled in amathematics course related to thiscurriculum have automatic access tothese networks. At the beginning ofeach semester daily computerassignments on Mathematica reinforcessome of the basic concepts fromelementary calculus, while some

rudimentary tools from the UNIXoperating system and network filemanagement are introduced.

This software, with itsremarkable facility with graphics,symbolic treatment of vector calculusoperations, and its numericalcapability in solving differentialequations and root finding, is a

natural tool for the level ofmathematical modeling attempted inthis curriculum. The goal in using asoftware package on a computernetwork is to give the students atool that, much like a handcalculator, is available to themthroughout their educational careerat the Naval Academy and not justduring a short respite when they takea required course.

3. USE OF PROJECTS TO REINFORCELEARNING

The mathematical concepts thatare covered in the current curriculumparallel what was presented in theold one. The students still receivea heavy dose of instruction inmethods for solving ordinary andpartial differential equations.However, a student also receivesconcurrently a thorough discussion ofthe origin of these systems ofdifferential equations. To achievethat, a complete treatment of vectorcalculus in conjunction with thekinematics of fluid motion arepresented. The terminology ofvorticity, stream and potentialfunctions, and flux are part of theeveryday language and numerousexamples ranging from the flow pastthe cylinder to Stommel's steady-state model for the Gulf stream arediscussed at various parts of thecurriculum. It was at this stage ofthe development of the curriculumthat a strong collaboration occurredbetween the Mathematics andOceanography departments to reachagreement on a set of commonterminology and the fundamentalconcepts of oceanography thatstudents must see prior to takingmore advanced courses.

Three of the long-term projectsdeveloped as student/instructorcollaborative. are presented inposter format at this conference.

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They are:

* Stommel's model for winddriven circulation (St...ong andGunderson, 1995),

* Austin and Fleischer'streatment of the cumulus entrainmentproblem (Prayer and Smith, 1995), and

* Burgers' equation and breakingof waves (Garrett and Malek-Madani,1995).

All of these projects have a strongelement of Mathematic& in them;without its presence it would berather doubtful that such projectscould be attempted at this point inthe educational process of a student.It should be emphasized that anyother software package with the basiccapabilities of Mathematic& (e.g.,Maple or the Math Symbolic TOOLBOX ofM&thlab) could readily replacethispackage. Other projectsdeveloped for this curriculuminclude:

* The Rayleigh-Benard flow andchaotic advection, motivated by thepaper of camassa and Wiggins (1991),

* Fluid flows past a cylinderand in a bay,

* Exact eddy solutions of theNavier-Stokes equations, motivated bythe paper of Welsh (1981),

* A Mathematica experiment onKelvin's theorem and vorticity,

among others.

All of the above projects and acomprehensive set of notes that havebeen developed for this curriculumare available. (For information onhow to access these materials, pleaserequest via email from thecorresponding author at [email protected].)

4. CONCLUSION

It is fair to say that a

project of this magnitude would nothave reached fruition without a closecollaboration between the twoparticipant departments. Early inthis process the Mathematics andOceanography departments communicated

4HSYMP.ONEDUCATION 35

to each other their needs, theircapabilities and their limitations.After a series of trial and errors,this project has reached a stablestage and has achieved success inconvincing the midshipmen thatmathematics is indeed a useful toolin understanding the complex naturearound them. Perhaps the single mostImportant contribution of thisapproach in the curriculum is thecreation of long-term projects. Itis expected that through suchprojects that interdepartmentcollaboration will continue for yearsto come.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors wish to expressappreciation to the Office of NavalResearch which partially supportedthis project through grant ONR-94WR23012.


REFERENCES

Camassa, R. and S. Wiggins, 1991."Chaotic Advection in a Rayleigh-Benard Flow", Physical Review A, 43,No. 2, pp 774-797.

Garrett, C. and R. Malek-Madani,1995. "Using Mathematica to Enhancethe Learning of Ocean Dynamics:Breaking of Waves and Burgers'Equation", Preprints of the 4thSymposium on Education, Amer. Meteor.Soc., Boston, MA.

Preyer, J. and D. Smith, 1995. "UsingMathematics to Enhance the Learningof Atmospheric Processes: Entrainmentinto Cumulus Clouds", Preprints ofthe 4th Symposium on Education, Amer.Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA.

Smith, D. and C. Gunderson, 1994."Physical Oceanography andMeteorology Curriculum at the UnitedStates Naval Academy: PreparingFuture Naval Officers for theOperational Environment in the 21stCentury", Preprints of the 3rdSymposium on Education, Amer. Meteor.Soc., Boston, MA, pp 49-52.

Strong, B. and C. Gunderson, 1995."Using Mathematics to Enhance theLearning of Oceanographic Processes:Wind-driven Circulation", Preprintsof the 4th Symposium on Education,Amer. Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA.

Welsh, O., 1981. "Exact EddySolutions of the Navier-StokesEquations", Lecture Notes inMathematics, 1532.

r)o

CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS OF INTERACTIVEMETEOROLOGICAL VISUALIZATION

Michael I. Biggerstaff* and John W. Nielsen-Gammon

Department of MeteorologyTcxas A&M UniversityCollege Station, Texas

1. LEAP Laboratory for Explorationof Atmospheric Processes

Through support of the NationalScience Foundation's Division ofUndergraduate Education, t h eDepartment of Meteorology at Texas A&MUniversity was able to establish a UNIX-based computer laboratory to aid inundergraduate and graduate education.The main objective was to allow forcomplete investigation of the spatial andtemporal relationships betweenmeteorological variables in atmosphericcirculations. For this, it was felt thatthree-dimensional visualization wouldbe needed. After careful consideration,fifteen Silicon Graphics (SGIs) Indy-PCsand one Indigo2 with XZ graphics waspurchased.

Each of the Indy PCs were equippedwith 48 MB of RAM, a 16-inch (1280 X1024 pixel resolution) color monitor, anda 535 MB internal disk drive. TheIndigo2, which acts as a server to theother machines, was equipped with 96MBof RAM, a 19 inch (1280 X 1024 pixelresolution) color monitor, Galileo videoboard, and a 2.3 GB external disk drive.

Initial experience with the computcrlaboratory indicated that the Indigo2 wasan extremely capable machine. TheIndy PCs, on the other hand, were

* Corresponding author: Michael I.Biggerstaff, Dcpt. of Meteorology, TexasA&M University, College Station, TX77843-3150Telephone: 409-847-9090Email: [email protected]

terribly slow at 3-D visualization. Delaysbetween 4-9 seconds after a user'sinteractive command and the machine'sresponse were typical. While this mayhave been good enough for researchapplications, it severely limited the paceat which a coordinated laboratoryexercise could be conducted.

Fortunately, soon after theequipment was shipped to Texas A&M,SGI announced an upgrade for the IndyPCs. With support from Texas A&M, thedepartment upgraded the Indy-PCs toIndy-SCs and has also added a 9 GBexternal disk drive and an 8mm ExaBytetape drive for I/0 and backups. Thcseupgrades helped the LEAP to a moredesirable teaching environment.

This report will describe how theLEAP is uscd in undergraduate andgraduate meteorological education.While three-dimensional visualization isan important tool, other forms ofmeteorological displays will also bedescribed.

2. Tools for Education

LEAP serves the full range ofundergraduate and graduate students.Freshman meteorology majors areexposed to weather information usingLEAP in a new course, WeatherForecasting, taught by Nielsen-Gammon.Sophomores, both majors and non-majors, use LEAP to examine atmosphericcirculations in a honors section of anintroductory meteorology course.Juniors, scniors, and graduate studentsuse LEAP in a variety of observational

5 1 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 37

meteorology courses taught at thoselevels.

LEAP also served as the basis for aweek-long course in Weather for juniorhigh school students under theSupporters of Excellence in EducationProgram. The mini-course was taughtby Michael Nelson, a graduate student atTexas A&M University.

In all these courses, the goal is thesame: to use computer-based methods toexamine and explore atmosphericstructure and motions to gain a betterunderstanding of the characteristics andphysical properties of meteorologicalphenomena. Several software packagesare available as tools to achieve this goal.

The most commonly used tool isMOSAIC, developed by the NationalCenter for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA) at the University of IllinoisUrbanaChampagne. MOSAIC uses OpenSoftware Foundation's MOTIF as itsinterface and can be run on a widevariety of computer platforms. ThroughMOSAIC, the students have access to theWorld Wide Web which contains text andgraphical products available fromseveral university and governmentlaboratories. Satellite images, currentweather maps, and area-specificforecasts arc examples of the type ofmeteorological products available on theWeb via MOSAIC.

Daily time series of temperature,humidity, pressure, winds, rain, andsolar radiation taken from automatedweather stations deployed in centralTexas are available on the MeteorologyDepartment's own Web server. Thesedata arc used to illustrate simpleconccpts of the diurnal cycle, time lagbetween peak solar radiation and

and thephysical

atmosphericfronts andarc also

maximum temperature,relationships betweenquantities. Structures ofcirculations, such as coldthunderstorm outflows,cxamined using timc series data.

To gain more insight to the physicalrelationships between atmosphericmotions and the weather, it is desirableto display data from several sources inthe same geographic space. Zcb, a


software package developed by theResearch Data Program at the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research(NCAR), can simultaneously displayinformation from surface, upper-air,radar, satellite, and lightning detectionsites. Modifications to this softwareallow near real-time ingestion ofDoppler radar data from the Texas A&MUniversity's Doppler radar, the NationalWeather Service Doppler radar, satellitedata feeds, the National LightningDetection Network, and Texas A&M'sautomated weather stations. Zeb allowsinformation about rain, clouds,lightning, and surface conditions to beoverlaid to quickly illustrate thestructure of weather systems. Loops ofthe images can be constructed to explorethe evolution of the atmosphericmotions. Special Zeb data sets from fieldprograms in the tropics and midlatitudesare also available from NCAR.Laboratory exercises based on these dataarc under development at Texas A&MUniversity.

GEMPAK is another tool used todisplay meteorological data in a commonframework. Oliginally developed at theGoddard Laboratory of the NationalAeronautic and Space Administration(NASA) and now under continueddevelopment at the NationalMeteorological Center (NMC), withadditional functionality contributed byUnidata (a program of the UniversityCorporation for Atmospheric Research),GEMPAK is designed to display andanalyze data from surface sites,rawinsondes, gridded numerical output,satellite imagery, and lightning locators.One of the strengths of this tool is theability to display and perform standardanalysis of meteorological fields,particularly from numerical modeloutput. With GEMPAK it is possible todisplay and loop numerical forecastproducts obtained from NMC. Hence, thedevelopment of a large-scale cycloneand associated fronts can be viewed fromthe initial perturbation to the fullydeveloped mature cyclone. Large-scalethree-dimensional motions can also be

Jr2

easily explored from the initial modeldata assimilation.

GEMPAK and Zeb are complimentaryin the sense that GEMPAK extends theaccess to meteorological informationbeyond that obtained through our ownlocal data network and displayed in Zeb.

For more elaborate three dimensionalvisualization, Vis-5D (under developmentat the Space Science and EngineeringCenter at the University of Wisconsin,Madison) displays three-dimensionalgridded data using isosurfaces, two-dimensional slices, trajectories, andlooping. Four dimensional wind fieldsin convective storms and output fromconvective cloud models have been fullyexplored using Vis-5D. Within Vis-5D itis possible to create isosurfaces ofvertical motions and horizontal winds toillustrate the concept of mass continuityand acceleration. More advanced classesuse the tool to explore the dynamics ofatmospheric circulations. For example,the radar reflectivity and verticalmotions can be displayed with rear-to-front horizontal flow to explore theinteractions between large and smallscale circulations wahin convectiveclouds. Instead of rely:ng on tediousmathematical equations, the students areable to see for themselves the responseof the atmosphere to dynamical forcing.

Together, MOSAIC, Zeb, GEMPAK, andVis-5D provide exceptional capability toaid in the development of computer-based laboratory exercises. Eachsoftware package offers a wide rangingset of commands which control virtuallyevery aspect of the display on thecomputer screen. The manner in whichthese tools are used depends greatly onthe level of the course in question.

3. Teaching Methods

Most of the lowcr-division laboratoryexercises have been prepared well inadvance of the class and care has beentaken to make the software toolsdiscussed above transparent to thestudents. The intention is to spend timcdiscussing the meteorology of thedisplayed information and not how the

images are generated. One of thegreatest challenges for the instructor isto move the students rapidly beyond the"gee-whiz" aspects of color-enhanceddata visualization and into using thecomputer as a tool for examining thephysical concepts being discussed.

In general, laboratory exercises forlower division courses are taught in acoordinated fashion. An instructor givescommands for the students to enter atthe terminals. Making sure that ail 15workstations are at the same point, theinstructor describes the displayed imageand discusses the points that need to beemphasized. The instructor also asksquestions based on the objectives forthat exercise as the lab proceeds.Students are actively encouraged tointeract during the lab.

The freshman-level WeatherForecasting course is taught using aseminar-topic format. Topics fordiscussion are motivated by a desire tounderstand how weather evolves.Hence, the course relies heavily on rapidaccess to real-time meteorological dataand forecasts. Students are given ampleopportunity to explore the currentweather observations and to askquestions concerning atmosphericprocesses. The class session ends withstudents making their own forecast andentering it into the computer system.

After the laboratory period is over,the students are allowed to continueexploring the availaole data at their ownpace. Frequently, however, thecomplexity of the Zeb and GEMPAKsoftware discourages independentlearning. While MOSAIC has an easy touse point-and-click interface, thestudent is limited to the set of images thatwere generated prior to the materialbeing placed into the MOSAIC database.The three-dimensional data arcgenerally unavailable for furtheranalysis.

Vis-5D also has a simple interface andhas the advantage of using the entirethree-dimensional database to generateits images in real-time execution. Aftera relatively short introduction to Vis-5D,wc have found that most students

5 j 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 39

quickly become comfortable trying outthe various options and features of theFlftware. Laboratory exercises that canuoe this software tool lend themselves toindependent exploration more readilythan those exercises based on Zeb orGEMPAK.

Upper-division an d graduatelaboratory courses often start with asimilar reaching method as the lower-division t:ourses. Much of the lab iscoordinated with an instructorinterpreting the displayed information.With time, the students 11 re expected togain familiarity with the availablesoftware tools so the instructor can posequestions and have the students decidehow to analyze the data to answer thequestion. This effort involves shorttraining exercises to illustrate thesoftware capabilities. Abbreviated usermanuals arc also distributed so thestudents can develop some expertise withthe software at their own pace. At alltimes, an instructor is available duringthe scheduled class period to assist thestudents.

Graduate students use LEAP to accessand analyze data sets for independentstudy courses and to complete self-pacedclass projects. For these applications,the instructor provides very littleassistance to the individual student.Indeed, several students have developedtheir own software tools to performspecial data analysis.

4: Availability of Laboratory Exercises

Several exercises have beendeveloped using the MOSAIC interfaceavailable through the World Wide Web.Anyone connecting to the Tcxas A&MDepartment's Web server can access anduse the laboratory exercises that aremaintaincd under the teaching sectionof the home page. With time, severalnew laboratory exercises will bedeveloped and made available.Comments, suggestions, and questionscan be sent to the corresponding author.


5. Acknowledgments

The Laboratory for Exploration ofAtmospheric Processes (LEAP) was madepossible through a grant, DUE 9352601,from the National Science Foundation.Matching support was provided by theOffice of Graduate Studies, the Dean ofGeosciences and Maritime Studies, andthe Department of Meteorology at TexasA&M University. Dr. Louis Wickerprovided significant advice concerningthe computer hardware. Jerry Guynesand Robert White installed and maintainLEAP. Daniel Austin provides UNIXtraining to meteorology students,faculty, and staff.

5 4

P1.1 USING MATHEMATICA TO ENHANCE LEARNING OF ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES:ENTRAINMENT INTO CUMULUS CLOUDS

Julie A. Prayer, David R. Smith and Rosa Malek-MadaniUnited States Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

1. INTRODUCTION

Topics in the atmosphericsciences offer excellent real-worldexamples of physical phenomena thatdemonstrate the application ofadvanced mathematical concepts.Since the differential equationsgoverning the behavior of manyatmospheric phenomena are quitecomplex, utilization of mathematicalsoftware packages, such asMathematica, can be valuable tools toenhance the understanding of suchmathematical concepts. Applicationof the software package provides atechnique to solve the differentialequations and graphically display thesolutions for the mathematicalrepresentaticn of the physicalphenomenon under investigation.

This paper reconsiders aclassical model of entrainment ofcumulus clouds described in the worksof Stommel (1947) and Austin &

Fleischer (1948). The entirederivation of the governing equationsof this model is based on the firstprinciples of thermodynamics. Thesolutions to these equations forvarious physically significantparameter ranges are carried out andresults presented on the symbolicmanipulator Mathematics. Inaddition, pedagogical aspects of themathematical and physical treatmentof the entrainment process arediscussed.

2. PURPOSE

T%e purpose of this project wasto utilize the Mathematics softwarepackage as a tool to modelentrainment of cumulus clouds. Thesoftware program was used to solvethe differential equation developed

Corresponding author address: DavidR, Smith, Oceanography Department,U.S. Naval Academy, 572 HollowayRoad, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026;E-MAIL: [email protected]

by Stommel (1947) and Austin &

Fleischer (1948) to calculate thelapse rates of temperature for threetypes of convection: dry, moist (withno entrainment), and moist withentrainment. By comparing thesethree cases of convection, one cansee the effect that condensation andentrainment of drier environmentalair have on the temperature of avertically lifted air parcel.

3. METHODOLOGY

The development of Stommel(1947) and Austin & Fleischer (1948)provides the differential equationthat models the entrainment process:

- dT = 9 * (1 + (Lw.)/(kr)1dz cp (1 + (eL2w,)/(cAT2)]

A 13

+ 1/m(dm/dz) (T-V)+1,/cp(w.-w) 1(1 + (EL2w,)/(cAT2)]

where

T = cloud temperatureT' = environmental temperaturez = heightg = acceleration of gravityc = specific heat capacity of

dry airL = latent heat of vaporizationw, = saturation mixing ratio

in cloudw = mixing ratio of environment13,1 = gas constant for dry air

mg ratio of molecular massesof dry to moist air

m = cloud mass

Term A is lapse rate of temperaturefor any given process, B constitutesthe dry adiabatic process, B*Cconstitutes the moist adiabaticprocess, and D is the adjustment tothe lapse rate due to the effect ofeatrainment of cooler, drier

4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION()kJ

41

environmental air into the risingmoist air parcel. Depending on theconditions imposed, the lapse ratecalculated in this equation could bedry adiabatic, moist adiabatic, orsome intermediate value (call thisthe entrained rate). For example, ifTerm C and D are deactiviated, theair parcel cools at the dry adiabaticlapse rate, or if C is activated butnot D, the parcel cools moistadiabatically. Finally, when bothTerms C and D are activated, theeffect of entrainment is incorporatedinto the convective process.

In this case, the convectiveprocess is initiated at a height of3000m, corresponding to a pressure of700mb, where the environmentaltemperature is assigned a value of272°K. For simplicity, constantvalues of environmental lapse rate(6.5°K/km) and relative humidity(67%) were assumed throughout thelayer from 3000 to 10000 m. Theenvironmental pressure distributionwas assumed to be hydrostatic.Standard calculations for othervariables dependent on temperature,height, or pressure were incorporatedinto the model.

270

260

250

240

230

220

210

All of the appropLiate constants andequations were then converted intotwo different Mathematics programs.The first program stated all theconstants, defined each equation, andcombined them to create the desiredatmospheric process; the secondprogram simultaneously solved thedifferential equations fortemperature and pressure, thengraphed the results for the valuesgenerated by the first program.Therefore, a.11 the differentialequations were solved and the resultsillustrated solely by Mathematica.

4000 5000 6000

4. FINDINGS

Fig. 1 displays the resultsgenerated by Mathematic& for threecases: Dry (no condensation, noentrainment), Moist (condensation, noentrainment), and Entrainment(Condensation with entrainment).The lapse rate for the dry case(labelled D) displays a nearlyconstant value of 9.8°C/1000mthroughout the layer, describing aparcel of unsaturated air rising dryadiabatically. When the condensationprocess is activated (labelled M),

. . . 1

7000 8000 9000 10000

Fig. 1. Graphs of solutions to equation governing temperature change with heightfor convection with dry (D), moist with no entrainment (M), and moist withentrainment (E) conditions. Vertical sclle is temperature (UK) and horizontalscale is height (m).


56

one sees the effect of latent heatrelease when excess water vapor iscondensed, thereby reducing the rateof cooling. Finally, when theentrainment process is activated(labelled It), one sees the effectthat entraining cooler, drier air hason the temperature lapse rate of therising parcel. The parcel cools at alesser rate than its unsaturatedcounterpart, due to latent heatrelease resulting from condensation,but at a higher rate than itssaturated counterpart withoutentrainment because of the influx ofcooler environmental air, which isalso drier so leas condensate is

produced and less latent heatreleased.

The scientific aspect of thisexercise has been very well known fornearly four decades due to the workof Stommel (1947) and Austin &

Fleischer (1948). However, theintricacies of the entzainmentprocess may be difficult forundergraduats students in their firstcourse in atmospheric thermodynamics.A cursory glance At the definingequation (shown above) is not likelyto shed much light of understandingto the beginning student. However,using a tool such as Mathematic& canprovide the student with thevisualization of the solution, whichcan assist in the learning process.Further, once the program isfinished, one can apply a variety ofexamples into the program to show theeffect of changes in temperature,moisture content, pressure levelswhere convection is occurring,entrainment rate, etc. on the rate ofcooling of the rising air parcel.More importantly, the process allowsthe undergraduate student to make theconnection between the mathematicsand science, and to understand thatthe mathematical processes employedin solving the problem are valuabletools for the scientist.

5. CONCLUSION

Software packages, such asMathematica, can be a valuable toolin the undergraduate classroom. Suchtools can greatly assist theinstructor in demonstrating anddisplaying the solutions tosophisticated mathematicalexpressions that govern the behaviorof physical phenomena. Inundergraduate courses in meteorologyand oceanography, there are oftenexamples of phenomena that can bedescribed in terms of complexdifferential equations. For thebeginning learner, however, thetreatment of the mathematics can beoverwhelming and may create a seriousobstacle in the learning process.

The entrainment processpresented in this paper represents anexample of an atmopheric process thatCAN he modelled mathematically usingMathematica. By providing studentswith the tools to combine both thescience and the mathematics, they areempowered to better understandphysical processes and themathematics needed to solve theequations governing such phenomena.

ACENOWLEDGENENT

The authors wish to acknowledgethe Office of Naval Research whichpartially supported this projectunder grant ONR-94WR23012.

REFERENCES

Austin J.M. and A. Fleischer, 1948."A Thermodynamic Analysis of CumulusConvection", J. Meteor., 5, pp 240-243.

Stommel, H., 1947. "Entrainment ofAir into a Cumulus Cloud", J. Meteor,4, pp 91-94.


P 1 .2

Using Mathematica to enhance learning of OceanographicProcesses: Wind-Driven Circulation

Brent M. Strong, Christopher R. Gunderson and Reza Malek-MadaniU. S. Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

1 IntroductionThe governing equations of wind driven circulationhave a rich history in oceanography as well as inmathematics. As early as the year 1492, Christo-pher Columbus had become aware of a westerly driftwhich was propelling his ship approximately fortymiles per day. He logged this remarkable discov-ery, which was later termed the canary current, butdid not attempt to explain its origin and physicalbasis. As the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean con-tinued, the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current werediscovered. Despite the discovery and exploration ofthese currents, it was not until 1769 that the nat-ural philosopher Benjamin Franklin attributed thecause of this circulation to the force of the prevail-ing trade winds. Franklin's theory correctly linkedoceanic circulation to wind but failed to account forthe intensification which occurs along the westernboundary of our oceans. In 1948, Henry Stommelattributed this intensification to the Coriolis Force,and after introducing a set of hypotheses that re-duced the complexity of the governing equations ofmotion considerably, he proposed a mathematicalmodel whose exact solution he was able to derive.

In this paper' we revisit H. Stornmel's oceanmodel using Mathematica. We obtain the explicitsolution to a boundary value problem for the streamfunction that serves as a vector potential for the ve-locity field. We then use Mathernalica's capabilitiesand draw the contours of this function as well as therelevant component of the vorticity vector. In addi-

1 Corresponding author address: Reza Malek-Madani,Mathematics Department, U. S. Naval Academy, 572Holloway Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026; E-MAIL:rrnmnusna.navyanil


tion, we employ a differential equation solver of thissoftware package and follow the evolution of a stringof particles as time evolves to gain insight into thetype of deformations one encounters in this model.

2 MethodologyWe imagine a rectangular ocean with the origin ofthe coordinate system at the southwest corner of theocean. The y and z axes point northward and east-ward, respectively. The shores of the ocean are lo-cated at z = O,z = A, y = 0, and y = b. The depthof the ocean, when standing still, is D. We assumethere is frictional damping in the ocean of the formRv, where v is the velocity field. Finally, we as-sume that the wind stress generated in the oceancan be described by

ryF cos . (1)

Following several simplifications of the equations ofmotion, which are described carefully in Stommel[1948], we find that the steady-state solutions of thegoverning equations for a rectangular ocean in a ro-tating frame satisfy the forced Poisson equation

(920 a2 tk alp+ 0 = 7 sin (2)ax2 ay2 az b

where 1,b is the stream function for the flow, and

D af FrTrG 7 )

f in the above equation models the Coriolis force.We assume that the dependence of f on y is linear

(3)

5 b

so that a is a constant. The boundary conditionsfor (2) are

y) = 1,4 A, y) = tk(x, 0) = tk(x,b) = 0. (4)

After applying separation of variables and satisfy-ing the boundary conditions we find that the streamfunction t,b(x, y) is

b 2 7Y= -) sin (pe

k1' + qek2x - 1),

where p and q are

1 - ek2A

(5)

q = 1 p, (6)

and k1 and k2 are the roots of the quadratic poly-nomial

k2 + ak - 112 = O. (7)

3 DiscussionWe use the original parameter values of Stommel,1948:

A

b= 108cm,= 27r x 108cm,

D = 2 x 104cm,1.1E4

R = 0.02f(y) = 10-13y.

We nondimensionalize the independent variables xand y by the length and the width of the oceariand reduce the computational domain to that of aunit square ocean. With these modifications, expres-sions (1)-(7) are now ready for several applicationson Mathematics. We begin by inputting the aboveparameters into this software, evaluate (3) symbcally (so that both cases of stationary and rotatingoceans can be analyzed simultaneously), find rootsof (7) symbolically, and define the stream function1/). Once this function is known explicitly, a largeamount of information concerning this flow is at ourfinger tips.

Figure 1 shows several level-curves of and is thestandard graph obtained by Stommel in his classicpaper. This figure, which is obtained by running theinternal command ContourPlot of Mathematica on(5), basically traces the paths of fluid particles. Even

though it is color coded to show the intensity of thelevel curves, this graph does not readily demonstratehow parcels of fluid are being deformed under theaction of the flow. To get that level of informationone must bring time back into the picture. Figure 2shows the paths of several particles after all particleshave evolved the same amount of time. This figureis a consequence of solving the nonlinear differentialequations

dx Otk dyVi = = ti2 = =

dt Oy ' dt Ox

with initial conditions corresponding to the initialpositions of the particles. The above system of differ-ential equations is solved using the YDSolve routineof Mathematica. It is interesting to note that Fig-ure 2 carries more information with it than Figure1 in that not only it gives us the general geometryof the flow, it also provides some insight into how afilament of fluid is being deformed under the actionof the flow. Finally, Figure 3 shows the graph of thethird component of the vorticity vector (the figureis rotated to give a better viewpoint). As expected,this figure shows that the vorticity is nearly con-stant, except in the narrow region near the boundaryx = 0 where it increases rather sharply.

4 ConclusionsThe findings in this paper are not new, althoughtheir determination has become more tractable be-cause of Mathematics's capability to draw contourswell, solve complicated differential equations, andsymbolically compute curl of velocity vectors. Thesefeatures allow one to introduce the 1948 model ofStommel rather early in a student's undergraduateeducation.

It is worth emphasizing that it is not that the in-dividual calculations that lead to Figures 1-3 aredifficult to carry out, although the scope of theseparticular computations is perhaps beyond a facil-ity such a symbolic calculator. It is the fact thatsoftware packages such as Mathematics have a widerange of mathematical applications assembled in onespace and make it feasible to attempt to attack apartial differenti .1 equation such as (2). It is hopedthat after having gone through such an exercise that

5 9 4TH Symp. ON EDUCATION 45

.

.

.

. .4 s 6: s

Figure 1: Particle paths in a rotating ocean.

it is not hard to convince a student that such a toolcould be useful in one's entire education.

The equations of wind-driven circulation providejust one example of many oceanographic systemsthat lend themselves to the above style of analysis. Itis hoped that projects such as these allow studentsto discover the natural role that advanced mathe-matics plays in describing fundamental processes innature.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe authors wish to acknowledge the Office of NavalResearch which partially supported this project un-der the grant ONR-94WR23012.

6 referencesStommel, H., 1948. "The Westward Intensifica-tion of Wind-Driven Ocean Currents" , Transaction,American Geophysical Union, 29, pp. 202 206.


Figure 2: Location of three particles at a later time.Note that these particles, which are aligned verti-cally at time zero, are no longer aligned at the latertime.

Figure 3: The graph of V x v k, the nonzero com-ponent of the yorticity.

60

P1.3 A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR TEACHING ABOUT INSO:APPLYING THE FIVE THEUES OF GEOGRAPHY

TO TOPICS IN METEOROLOGY AND OCZANOGRAPHY

Peggy L. Killam SmithMaryland Geography Allianceand St. Mary's High School

Annapolis, MD

1. INTRODUCTION

Current educational reformefforts in science and social studiesemphasize student assessments whichutilize hierarchial critical thinkingskills as well as individual andcooperative student performance.Teachers are now accountable for boththe content and performanceachievement of their students. Asuggested method for meeting stateand local mandates to work togetheris thtough geography. As a

discipline geography provides avariety of topics for study whichemphasize the physical science aswell as the human element. Byworking together science and socialstudies teachers can provide studentswith a more complete understanding ofa topic. Furthermore, studentsbecome aware that neither scientificnor geographical issues exist in avacuum. Global climate change is anissue which is relevant to bothscience and social studies. The ElNino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) isan example of a global climaticphenomenon that is rich in bothscientific and social issues that canbe best understood by utilizinginterdisciplinary teaching. Theintent of this paper is to providethe precollege teacher with a tool todevelop the full impact of thisphenomenon from both a scientificperspective and a broader socialcontext.

2. SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION

The El Nino-SouthernOscillation is an intriouino process

Corresponding author address: PeggyL.K. Smith, St.Mary's High School,113 Duke of Gloucester St.,Annapolis, MD 21401.

61

David R. SmithOceanography Department

United States Naval AcademyAnnapolis, MD

coupling both oceanic and atmosphericprocesses. To understand ENSO oneneeds to start with the conditionsthat precede its occurrence. Undernormal circumstances the prevailingsurface wind currents in the tropicalPacific are the Tradewinds. Theseeasterly winds are generated by apressure distribution in which highpressure is observed over the easternPacific (off the South Americancoast) and lower pressure furtherwest. The winds, in turn, drivesurface waters westward. Thesewaters, supplied by the cool Peruviancurrent, are warmed as they traversethe Pacific. There is normally awell defined sea-surface temperaturepattern across the tropical Pacific,easily observable in satelliteimagery. In addition, due to thesurface circulatory pattern acrossthe Pacific, there may be as much asa 40 cm differential in sea level,sloping downward to the east.

This persistent air-sea patternis sometimes disrupted, usually inDecember. The normal supply of cool,nutrient-rich water off the coast ofPeru is displaced southward by a

warmer equatorial countercurrent. Inmost years, this disruption is weakand short-lived, and normalconditions are easily resumed.However, in some years, the episodicwarming is more pronounced and long-lasting. This anomalous behavior iscalled El Nino. The warmer watersinvading the coast of Peru is

coincident with a reduction insurface pressure over this region ofthe Pacific which alters the typicalsurface pressure gradient. Thenormal westward Tradewinds arereplaced with a westerly wind flow,which, in turn, reverses the surfaceocean circulation. During an El Ninoevent the warmer water from thewestern Pacific is driven eastward

411-1 SYMP. ON EDUCATION 47

toward the South American coast.This cuts off the upwelling of thecooler, nutrient-rich waters whichaffects fishing in this region. Inaddition, the thermocline is pusheddownward and the normal sea levelpattern is altered, which allows theeastward propagation of Kelvin wavesacross the tropical Pacific Ocean.Weather patterns are also affected asthe warmer waters fuel increasedatmospheric convection andaccompanying rainfall over theeastern Pacific.

Near the end of the warmingperiod, which can last many monthsunder extreme situations, theatmospheric pressure pattern beginsto reverse and resume its normaldistribution. This changingpressure pattern is accompanied by aresumption of the easterly Tradewindsand a restoration of the normaloceanic conditions. This periodicfluctuation in the surface pressureand wind patterns across the tropicalPacific is known as the SouthernOscillation.

The ENSO occurs at irregularintervals of three to seven years.One of the most extreme cases wasduring 1982-83, in which easternPacific sea-surface temperaturesexperienced up to 6°C warming, whichhad major Iliological and economicrepercussions. Significant worldwideweather anomalies have been ascribedto this El Nino event.

While the intricacies ofatmospheric and oceanic dynamics, aswell as the interactions that affectclimate, are beyond the comprehensionof most students and perhaps manyteachers at the precollege level,there are resources that one canemploy to introduce the scientificaspects of ENSO at an appropriatelevel. For example, several popularpublications such as NationalGeographic, Weatherwise, or ScienticAmerican have presentedscientifically accurate descriptionsof ENSO written at a reasonable levelof understanding for precollegeteachers. In addition, agencies suchas NOAA and NASA provide educationalresource materials on ENSO as part oftheir outreach efforts. Further,video material from populartelevision broadcasts (e.g., the


Public Broadcasting System, TheWeather Channel, or the DiscoveryChannel, as well as educationalresource corporations provideexcellent visual display to helpexplain scientific aspects related toENSO in an interesting andinformative manner at an appropriatelevel for a general audience.

3. APPLICATIONS OF THE FIVEFUNDAMENTAL THEMES

The five themes of geographicinstruction is a framework which canbe easily utilized by both scienceand social studies teachers. Whenteachers adapt the same framework fordeveloping lessons, continuity forthe student is built in and thereforeincreases the student's potential forsuccess in comprehending therelationship of the scientific forcesand the human impact of climaticchange. The five themes of geographyare location, place, movement, humanand environment interaction, andregion. Utilizing the topic of ENSOas a case atudy, teachers can developa unit which addresses the science aswell as the human element of thisphenomenon. What follows is a briefexplanation of each theme as itpertains to ENSO.

Location. A mapping exercise canreveal to the student the patterns ofthe sea surface temperatures prior toand during the El Nino. Activitieswhich emphasize location demonstratethe exact and relative location ofthe event.

Place. Since every place on theearth has physical and humancharacteristics which make it unique,this theme provides the teacher withthe most opportunities to presentstudents with interdisciplinaryactivities. In the case study of theEl Nino, students should learn aboutthe weather, clim2te, vegetation,animals, and land forms as well asthe human features of culture andideas. By doing so, students gain agreater appreciation for the impactof the El Nino on the lives of thepeople as well as the environment.In this case study it is vitallyimportant for students to understandthe drastic change that the ENSObrings to a particular region.

6 2

Revenant. The focus of this theme isthe spatial interaction of people,goods, ideas, and phenomena whichgoes on continuously since we live ina dynamic world. Activities whichbest illustrate this theme includemapping of the weather patterns,ocean currents, as well as chartingthe activity of the people affectedby the El Nino.

Runen-envirennent interaction. Thecyclical relationship of this themehas the greatest potential foractivities which have relevance tothe lives of students. Lessons canstress how people prepare for the ElNino's effects on their homes andbusinesses. Students should explorethe impact of the ENSO on nationalgovernments as well as the local andglobal economy. In short, studentscan learn how humans interact withthe environment, and how theenvironment affects human life.

Region. The study of El Nino caneasily be integrated into a unitwhich focuses on western SouthAmerica and Australia. A region isan area defined by commoncharacteristics and therefore, ENSOfits in nicely with studying thesoutheastern Pacific Ocean. Ifteachers decide to use the 1982-83 ElNino as a case study, a suggestedactivity is to examine the impact ofthe long term change in weatherpatterns on various regions of theworld by comparing and contrastingthe effects.

As a case study, El Ninoprovides both physical science andsocial studies teachers with theopportunity to work together tofurther the student's understandingof the impact of the physical forceson the daily life of people on boththe regional and global levels.

4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The five fundamental themes ofgeography are a suggested frameworkfor teaching geography at theprecollege level. The themes provideteachers with a tool that enablesstudents to understand their worldwithin a geographical context, byaddressing the analytical questions:Where?, Why? and So What? Thesethemes are also applicable in thescience classroom, especially in the

teaching of atmospheric and oceanictopics. Since atmospheric andoceanic phenomena are a significantpart of our physical world, astudent's understanding can beenriched by examining such topicsfrom an interdisciplinaryperspective. The five themes providea mechanism to relate theinterconnectedness of environmentalphenomena with the lives of people.

Two recommendations made by theNational Council on Science andTechnology Education in Project 2061,a plan to address science literacyfor all Americans, include:

* Being familiar with thenatural world and recognizing bothits diversity and unity, and

* Using scientific knowledgeand ways of thinking for individualand social purposes.

The National Council is suggestingthat the teaching of science beapproached from a broader context,which is consistent with other trendsin educational reform. Teaching ENSOis an example of an oceanographic/meteorological topic which lendsitself to an interdisciplinary teamapproach to enhance students'educational achievement.


P1 .4

Using Mathematica to enhance learning of OceanographicProcesses: Breaking of Waves and Burgers' Equation

Camille A. Garrett and Reza Malek-MadaniU. S. Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

1 IntroductionTraditionally, the undergraduate curriculum in Ad-vanced Engineering Mathematics is heavily gearedtowards the applications of linear mathematics tothe standard engineering and science models. Thisis especially the case in the treatment of the solu-tions of linear partial differential equations, where byusing normal modes and Fourier series one takes ad-vantage of the student's familiarities with eigenval-ues and eigenvectors and the principle of superposi-tion to build the solutions of such equations. Nonlin-ear partial differential equations are often shunnedbecause the above analogies generally break downand one needs to start with different building blocks.A notable exception is the method of characteristicsfor hyperbolic differential equations whose effective-ness is documented for both linear and nonlinearequations. Because hyperbolic equations are the pri-mary examples of equations that support wave prop-agation, these equations enjoy a special status inoceanography, especially in the context of underwa-ter acoustics and wave formation in shallow coastalwaters.

In this paper' we consider the Burgers' equationas a prototypical hyperbolic partial differential equa-tion and describe some aspects of its solutions andtheir behavior using Mathematica. We will out-line some simple programs in the language of thissoftware that demonstrate how waves break in thismodel and how one is able to predict the time of"blow-up" of a solution by measuring some of the ge-

1Corresponding author address: Reza Malek-Madani,Mathematks Department, U. S. Naval Academy, 572Holloway Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026; E-MAIL:rmmttusna.navy.mil


ometric parameters in the initial perturbation thatforms the wave.

2 Burgers' equationThe simplest nonlinear equation that resembles thetype of equations that comprise the equations offluid motion is Burgers' equation:

Ut + UU = 0.

We consider (1) together with an initial profile

u(x, 0) =

(1)

(2)

The fact that the coefficient of ux in (1) dependson the as yet unknown solution u causes the distur-bance at different points in the initial datum u0(x)to propagate at different speeds. This in turn causesthe solution to become multi-valued at certain ap-propriate points from which curves of discontinuitycalled shock waves emanate. Much of the mathe-matical research in the field of conservation laws(of which (1) is an example) since early 1950's hassurrounded the understanding of solutions with dis-continuities, or weak solutions, and the ramifica-tions of weakening the concept of a solution.

A characteristic curve to equation (1) is a curve inthe x-t plane that satisfies the differential equation

dxu(z,t), E R.

We note that the above equation is a nonlinear or-dinary differential equation in x. Moreover, sincethe function u is unknown at this stage, it is notclear how helpful (3) is in describing the solutions of

(3)

6 4

(1)-(2). These points are in direct contrast with thecase of linear partial differential equations where theequations that define the characteristics curves arelinear with apriori known coefficients so that thesecurves are determined without any knowledge of thesolutions and their qualitative properties are inde-pendent of the initial data.

In spite of the difficulties involving (3), this equa-tion can be solved with the aid of (1). First letz(t, xo) denote the solution to (3). Let f(t) denotethe function u once it is evaluated along the char-acteristic x(t, xo) (we suppress 20 in f for the timebeing), i.e.,

f(i) = u(x(t, x t). (4)

Differentiate (4) once to get

dxf'(t) = ur-- + tit.di

From (3) we have that If = u so that (5) can bewritten as

(5)

.0) = ut utix, (6)

which is zero by (1). Thus f(t) must be constantin L. Going back to the initial profile of (2), we candetermine this constant as the initial function uo(x)evaluated at xo, i.e.,

u(x(t, 20), t) = u(x(t, 20),t)it.0 = uo(wo). (7)

Equation (7), in turn, simplifies (3) considerably.Since u is constant along a characteristic then

dx-d-i = uo(zo), z(0) = 20 (8)

so thatx(t, xo) = uo(xo)t + wo. (9)

Equation (9) shows that the characteristic curves of(1) are straight lines, but unlike the case of linearpartial differential equations, they are not parallellines. The slopes of these lines depend on no as wellas xo.

3 Two Mathematica ProgramsWe have found a parametrization of the solution to(1)- (2) in terms of its initial profile: The solutioncurve (x,t,u(x,t)) is given by

(x,t,u(x,t))= (uo(xo)t + zo, t, uo(zo)). (10)

This parametrization lends itself naturally to thesyntax of Mathematica. The following programshows how one uses (10) and get Figure 1 wherethe initial profile of the wave is

{ 1 cos x when 0 < x < 2wuo(x) = 0 otherwise. (11)

The special feature of this tio is that it is decreasingin part of its domain, and thus, much like the wavesin shallow waters approaching a beach, will causethe particles behind the crest to have faster speed ofpropagation and compress the ones in front of them.

uOtx_] = If [0 <= x <= 2 Pi, 1 - Cos Ex] , 0] ;

[t_] := ParanotricPlot HuO[x0] t + x0,

ONO}, {x0, -1, 2Pi + 1}, DisplayFunction

-> Identity]

snapshots = Table Et Et] , {t 0, 3, 0 . 5}] ;

output = Show[snapshots, DisplayFunction

-4DisplayFunction]

Figure 1 shows that the smooth initial profile uoin (10) is compressed from behind so that after thas reached a value near unity, the slope ur has be-come infinite, and the differential equation (1) haslost its classical meaning. Another indication thatsomething out of the ordinary is occurring with theinitial profile (10) can be seen from Figure 2 wherethe characteristic curves corresponding to this ini-tial profile are shown: The compression we alludedto above is clearly forming around t = 1 wherecharacteristics with different slopes are intersecting.Since we showed above that the solution u remainsconstant along each characteristic and assumes thevalue of the initial profile on that curve, it is clearthat when characteristics intersect the solution be-comes multi-valued. This, in fact, is the classicaldefinition of a shock wave. Figure 2 was obtainedby running the following commands on Mathemat-ica:

u0[x_] = If [0 <= x <= 2 Pi , 1 - Cos tx] , 03 ;

output =

6 3 4TH SYMP. ON EDUU,TION 51

.

Figure 1: Breaking of Waves for a nonincreasing ini-tial profile.

52 AMERIcAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIFY

I t

Figure 2: The characteristics corresponding to theinitial profile in the previous figure.

66

ParametricPlot [Evaluate [TableRu0 Ex0) t+x0 ,

t), (x0, -1, 2 Pi + 1, 0.2)]], (t, 0, 3),

Axes Label ->("x", "t")3 ;

4 DiscussionThe Mathematica programs listed above are just twoexamples of how one can use this software to gaininsight into Burgers' equation. For example, eventhough the Parametric Plot command of Mathe-matica is capable of plotting the snapshots of thesolution to any initial-value problem (1)-(2), it doesnot give information about u(x, t) for a specific x.To compute u at a specific value of x we must in-vert the function x(t, xo) = uo(xo)t xo and find xoin terms of x and t. This in turn will give us thevalue for u because u(x,t) = uo(x0). Here is howone accomplishes this on Mathematica for the initialprofile in (10):

uO[x_] = If [0 <= x <= 2 Pi, 1 - Cos Ex] 0] ;

invf := FindRoot [u0Ex0]*t + x0 - x ,

fx0 -SI] [[1,2]]

u[x_ , t_] := u0 [invf [x , t]]

In a different direction, one is often interested infinding the very first time characteristics in a fig-ure such as Figure 2 intersect. The intersection ofcharacteristics is intimately related to ux becominginfinite, and it is possible to show that the latteroccurs when

t 1u(x)Note that the value of t in the above relation is pos-itive if 110 is decreasing, pointing again to the factthat compression occurs in such profiles. The mini-mum value of (12) occurs when

(12)

ug(x*) = 0 unx*) > 0. (13)

A package like Mathematica is quite helpful in find-ing roots of complicated functions such as 4(x) = 0and testing the requirements of (I3b).

5 ConclusionsWe have given an indication of how Mathematicacould be used as an aid to penetrate some of thecomplex structures of a nonlinear equation such asBurgers' equation. It is important to generalize theprograms we have outlined above to two importantsystems in mathematical physics: the second orderequation of nonlinear elasticity and the system ofequations that govern motions in shallow waters. Itwas precisely the latter applications that promptedus to take up this investigation into the solutions ofBurgers' equation as a first order model.

A capability of Mathematica that we were not ableto touch upon in this paper is its ability to ani-mate snapshots of functions such as u(x, t). We havefound that this capability helps enormously with elu-cidating features such as the deformations one seesin waves climbing beaches or strings vibrating withrather complicated initial profiles. This softwarepackage has also come in very handy in projects suchas the description of surface gravity waves or intervalwaves generated between immiscible fluids, where ananimated graph of a surface of a wave gets a pointacross where a string of rather complicated formulasdoes not seem to have done the job.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe authors wish to acknowledge the Office of NavalResearch which partially supported this project un-der the grant ONR-94WR23012.

WY 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 53

P1.5

INTRODUCTION

WEATHER RELATIVE TO A RELATIVE

Lawrence E. Greenleaf

Belfast Area High SchoolBelfast, Maine

Project ATMOSPHERE

In recent yea...-s, considerableeffort and curriculum revision havefocused on interdisciplinary teachingstyles and activities. Teaching orlearning in isolation , be it topic,discipline, or field of study, doesnot complete either process. Notuntil it is related to the effectsand impacts within the greater realmsof earth, nature, or society, doesone complete the teaching or learningprocesses. The breakdown ofisolationism of the past is occurringin political, economic, and societalarenas. The term global has creptinto almost all facets of life. Evenc.ducation is recognizing the globalnature of its future. It isimperative that we as teachers, atall levels, reach beyond theclassroom. Technology is forcingcontact with people across thecountry and around the world. Wemust learn about and try toappreciate the ways, needs, andculture of people, be it a NewEngland lobsterman, Great Plainsrancher, or Northwest logger. Infact, these boundaries havedissipated as they expand around theworld to include all people,lifeforms, and processes.

Corresponding author address:Lawrence E. Greenleaf, Earth Science,Belfast Area High School, Waldo Ave.,Belfast, ME 04915.

54 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIET/

In addition to expanded needsof understanding is the growingavailability of new materials andtechnology that can be used in theteaching/learning procesw. With theexplosion of computers as processorsand related devices for communicationand data storage, new opportunitiesare emerging almost daily. Thisresults in new challenges as we seekways to successfully integrate thesetools. Finally, I am now seeingcracks in the isolating we/theyrelationship of educators and thecommunity. Education exists not onlyin schools, but also at home andthroughout society. Schools onlyformalize it in place and time. Thecollaboration of school and home caneahance both portions to a greatergain. Both have something to offerand both need to be willing tolisten. A third segment, that ofbusiness and industry, is graduallybeing brought into the equation.Organizations, such as the AMS, andscientists are now having a verypositive impact on education with up-to-date information and materials.These groups can keep education awareof workplace needs, indicate evolvingneeds, and provide real-timeapplications of concepts beingtaught. Education must formpartnerships, not succumb toparanoia. But, before any change ordevelopment can happen, one majorevent must transpire. It is simply achange in attitude. This is the

68

primary goal of my workshops andcourses for educators. If this canbe achieved, there is no limit to thecreativity of the individuals. Theactivity demonstrated is a result ofa belief that says "even if we aredoing the best possible job today,the parameters are changing daily,resulting in a need for constantdevelopment." Education is a processwith the only constant being change.The display will show a studentactivity bringing together many ofthese components.

3. CONCLUSIONThis activity, and others I am

developing, integrate science withother disciplines like geography,economics, math, communicationskills, and other subjects, as wellas the use of technology. I havefound that this activity supports theconcept that greater learning isachieved when the goal is the sum ofthe parts, the individual topics anddisciplines involved. Examples ofproducts will be displayed anddiscussed.

2. ACTIVITYThe "Relative to a Relative"

activity involving a relative orfriend, brings together variousschool subject ereas, researchskills, family members, andpresentation skills and creativity.The objectives are for the student tolearn about the weather, geology, andgeneral environment of some place inthe U.S. through a relative orfriend. The directions are simpleand provide freedom for thedevelopment of various products. Theprocess is: (1) discuss concept withfamily and identify a relative tocontact, (2) determine address andcontact relative, (3) explainactivity and ask for a couple ofpictures (snapshots) of the areawhere he/she lives, (4) create streetan area maps of the location usingcomputer/CD-ROM program Street AtlasUSA (DeLorme, 1993), (5) researchfrom texts and tables the geology andclinate/weather conditions such as

monthly temperature andprecipitation. From this informationand material, the student develops apresentation using any of a varietyof forms. The activity takes timefor the student to reach the finalproduct. The products will vary withthe imagination and skills of theindividt,a1 students. The process isas important as the product,reflecting that learning is itself aprocess.

4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION

955

P1.6

1. INTRODUCTION

AIR - SEA INTERFACE EDUCATION

Lawrence E. Greenleaf

Belfast Area High SchoolBelfast, Maine

AMS Maury Project

The Maury Proiect is the neweducation initiative of the AmericanMeteorological Society, focusing onphysical oceanography. With primaryfunding by the National ScienceFoundation, it combines theoutstanding human and scientificresources of the AMS, U.S.NavalAcademy, National Oceanic andAtmonpheric Administration, and theState University of New York atBrockport. The three year programwill involve a total of 72 precollegeteachers in the two week summertraining sessions at the U.S.NavalAcademy in Annapolis, MD. Under theleadership of Prof.David Smith(USNA), instructional sessions andactivities are conducted by USNA andNOAA personnel. Participants willlead local, regional, and nationalworkshops for educators throughoutthe country. In addition to thetraining and resource materialsprovided, two teacher-trainingmodules will be developed yearly forthe field site workshops. A nationalnetwork of these peer-trainerparticipants will expand each yearand, through interaction with presentAMS - Atmospheric Education ResourceAgents, enhance the flow ofscientific oceanic and atmosphericinformation to educators across thenation.

Corresponding author rddress:Lawrence E. Greenleaf, Earth Science,Belfast Area High School, Waldo Ave.,Belfast, ME 04915.


Over a century ago, the U.S. Navy'sMatthew Fontaine Maury collected,organized, and published informationon the world's oceans. Now, with AMSleadership and the cooperation ofother agencies, efforts are under wayto make available the latest physicaloceanographic information of theworld's oceans to educators andstudents.

2. TRAINING PROGRAM

For two weeks in July, twenty-five Maury Project participants fromall regions of the country, includingHawaii, gathered at the U.S.NavalAcademy to participate in a vastarray of seminars, activities, andfield trips pertaining to a varietyof topics in physical oceanography.Equally diverse were the educationalbackgrounds of the participants,ranging from elementary to highschool and community educators aswell as degrees from BA to PhD. Thisdiversity of location and teachinglevel aided in the discussions ofmaterial and how it could be appliedin different teaching situations.Effective peer-training must addressthe varied needs of the educators.

Mulciple means, methods, andmedia were used by the instructors.Of particular importance was thegreat knowledge base of the USNAinstructors, both in content andexperiences. It was unique to learnfrom these instructors throughinteraction and not dominance. Each

participant presented a conceptdemonstration, developed with theassistance of an academy instructor.Each day, an ocean or area of waterwas described as to conditions andsignificant features by an instructorwith duty station experience in thelocation. Experience, knowledge ofresearch, and a willingness todiscuss ideas with participants madefor great learning experiences. Avariety of field trips reinforcedconcepts discussed and broughtparticipants in contact with state-of-the-art facilities. Site visitsincluded tours of NOAA headquarterswith a presentation by ChiefScientist and former astronaut KathySullivan, the NOAA Science Center,and the Naval Ice Center.Participants conducted sea watertesting activities aboard an academyYP vessel, and sea/land impacts studyat a shore site. Additionalactivities took place in academy wetlab and computer facilities. Thesemany learning experiences raised theknowledge level of the participants,identified varied contacts andresources, and increased the desireto learn more about topics in thesessions.

3. TEACHER-TRAINING MODULESTwo ocean related modules were

developed this year involving wind-driven surface currents and density-driven currents. Each of these wastested by the participants, followedby a critique and evaluation. Theeffect of the atmosphere on the oceanwater brought out the importance ofthe interaction of the atmosphere andhydrosphere. The surface currentsactivity focuses on major oceanbasins, discussing current names,locations, impact forces, speed anddirection of movement, and climaticinfluences. The density activityexamines the temperature and salinityof various water rasses of the

Atlantic Ocean. It looks at theirorigin, movement, and dissipation.Each module also contains sections of

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

scientific concepts andunderstandings concerning the topicas well as reference publications.These modules will be used in thepeer-training workshops.

4. CONCLUSIONThe Maury Project of the AMS

set sail as a well prepared programthat conducted an outstanding twoweek training session to a group ofenthusiastic educators. The targetof the project, physicaloceanography, is an area of oceanstudy where recent and on-goingresearch information is generally notavailable to the K-12 educationcommunity. It is imperative thatvalid information about the world'soceans is available if we are tounderstand the environment of planetEarth. It is also necessary torecognize the interaction of thevarious forces and processes. TheMaury Project of the AMS, with anoutstanding beginning, is a greateffort to address a very large andimportant need in today's education.

IOASYWONEDUCATION 57

P1.7

SCHOOLS OF THE PACIFIC RAINFALL CLIMATE EXPERIMENT:BRINGING GLOBAL ISSUES TO TIM LOCAL CLASSROOM

Susan Postawko', Mark Morrissey, and Barbara Gibson

University of OklahomaNorman, Oklahoma

1. INTRODUCTION

In its second year, the Schools of thePacific Rainfall Climate Experiment(SPaRCE) is bringing together students fromaround the Pacific (including Hawai'i), aswell as students in Oklahoma, to participatein the gathering of valuable scientific datawhile studying local and global climates andthe potential effects of global climatechange.

2. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

The goals of the SPaRCE programinclude both educational and scienceobjectives. Participants in this program arecurrently measuring rainfall, temperature,dew point, and relative humidity, usingresearch-quality instruments, on a dailybasis. Not only is all data shared with allparticipants, but the data are alsoincorporated into a larger data base beingwidely distributed to scientists interested inclimate studies.

In addition to being involved in areal research program, participants alsoreceive video-taped lectures, workbooks,and newsletters, which help them understandbasic atmospheric principals, phenomenasuch as El Nino, and a better understandingof climate change on Earth. The focus of

much of the material is on tropicalmeteorology. Typical textbooks in use inthe United States and throughout many ofthe Pacific island nations only discussMainland U.S. type of weather systems andtend to ignore topics. Because the tropicalatmosphere is so important, it is beneficialto students in Mainland U.S. schools andwell as from around the Pacific to have abetter understanding of this region of theglobe. Monthly question/answer sessionsare held over the PEACESAT (Pan-PacificEducation and Communications by Satellite)radio communications network, whichallows for direct interactions betweenstudents and scientists.

There are currently over 50 schoolsand technical centers involved in theSPaRCE program. Participants range fromelementary school to technicians at some ofthe Pacific meteorological services aroundthe Pacific. Both public and private schoolsparticipate in the program.

As the program expands it isanticipated that more instrumentation beadded. Presently, two of the participatingschools are using an experimental hand-heldradiometer which measures total columnozone and total column water vapor. If thisinstrument proves to be reliable, a networkof schools across the Pacific making thesetypes of measurements would be invaluableto scientists.

1

Corresponding author address: Susan Postawko, School ofMeteorology, Univ. of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd, Norman, OK 73019

58 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL socIEre

7 2

P1.8 THE ARM EDUCATIoNAL OUTREACH MANUAL FOR OKLAHOMA TEACHERS

Stephen J. Stadler*Ted Mills

Oklahoma State UniversityStillwater, Oklahoma

Renee McPhersonKenneth Crawford

Oklahoma Climatological SurveyNorman, Oklahoma

1. INTRODUCTION

The Department of Energy isin the midst of the AtmosphericRadiation Measurement (ARM)

Program, a decade-long effortto improve atmospheric modelsthrough development and testingof parameterizations of cloudand radiative processes (Stokesand Schwartz 1994). The ARMProgram entails a majorinstrumentation effort atseveral worldwide sites.

The ARM Program's SouthernGreat Plains Cloud andRadiation Test Bed (CART)

covers large portions ofOklahoma and Kansas. The focusof the ARM CART is the heavilyinstrumented Central Facilitylocated near Lamont, Oklahoma.The Central Facility includessuch diverse devices asvertical profilers, balloonlaunch facilities, Bowen ratiodevices, and pyranometer arraysscattered around a 66 ha site.Several full-time personnel areemployed on site.

* Corresponding author address:Stephen J. Stadler, OklahomaState University, Department ofGeography, Stillwater, OK74078.

Additionally, several extendedfacilities are located aroundthe ARM CART region.

The University of Oklahomaand Oklahoma State Universityare cooperating on theEducational Outreach for theSouthern Great Plains ARM CART.This ongoing effort involvesfaculty, graduate students, andsupport personnel at the twouniversities and includes a

variety of thrusts. TheEducational Outreach's purposeis to provicle ARM-relatededucation to students rangingfrom grade school throughgraduate school. One of thekey portions of 1994's work wasthe production of a FieldManual for teachers of middleschool through high schoolstudents.

2. BACKGROUND

Naturally-occurringelectromagnetic energy occupiesan insignificant portion of thepublic school science curriculain Oklahoma; this is

unfortunate given theimportance of electromagneticenergy in the context of thecurrent concerns regardingclimate change. Most Oklahoma

4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 59,

0 %..1

science teachers lack extensiveknowledge of such conceptsbecause it has not beenstressed in their professionaltraining.

The idea for an ARM FieldManual came from theexperiences we have had at theCentral Facility. TheEducational Outreach has theresponsibility of hosting toursof the Central Facility. Suchtours generally last a coupleof hours. From the educator'sperspective, it is desirable toconduct tours which maximizeinformational content and to dothis it is highly desirable tospeak to groups which havebasic familiarity withelectromagnetic concepts. Thisis especially true consideringthe fact that many of theCentral Facility's instrumentsare unfamiliar to most peopleand are measuring invisiblecomponents of electromagneticenergy or weather parametersfar above the surface. Inothei words, much of thepotential impact on theOklahoma schoolslessened becauseProgram's work iscommon experience.

In this context, weconceived of the Field Manualas pre-field-trip curriculumhaving the potential to makethe field experience at theCentral Facility moremeaningful. In addition, theManual can present the basiccomponents of the ARM Programto teachers who cannot bringtheir classes to the CentralFacility.

might bethe ARM

outside of

3. FIELD MANUAL COMPONENTS

The Field Manual is aloose-leaf notebook withseveral sections. The intentof the Educational Outreach is


to work with a growing set ofteachers over several years andthe loose-lerf structure of theManual allows updates,additions, and deletions ofmaterial without re-publicationof the entire work.

The Manual is composed ofseveral sectio:4s which areintended to act together togive the teacher anintroduction to the ARMProgram, an introduction toelectromagnetic energy, a setof pre-field-tripelectromagnetic experiments, anexplanation of the CentralFacility, and specificinstructions as to how toarrange and take a tour. Weare enthused about thematerials because they providethe teacher with materials toteach basic science and then away for students to directlyobserve the application of thescience.

A short synopsis of theManual's major sectionsfollows:

3.1 Forward and Preface

The Manual starts with anintroduction to the "bigpicture" of climate change anda rationale of its importance.

3.2 The ARM Program

This section explains theintent of the ARM Program, itsworldwide study sites, and itspresence on the Southern GreatPlains.

3.3 The Nature ofElectromagnetic Energy

One of our observationshas been that, as a group,Oklahoma teachers do not have astrong background inelectromagnetic theory. This

7 4

section is a non-mathematicaldescription of the nature of

electromagnetic energy.Several pages of illustrationsare included and the loose-leafed Manual allows theseillustrations to be readilyconverted to overheadtransparencies.

3.4 The Central Facility

The site near Lamont ispresented as one of the best-

instrumented outdoorlaboratories on Earth.. In thatthe Central Facility existshere because of the regionalagricultural background of

wheat and grazing lands, a

short regional geography is

included. A map of the site'sinstrument clusters is

presented and each type ofinstrument is explained. Thesection contains two pages ofcaptioned photographs showingthe instruments. Finally,there are 20 site slidesinserted in a plastic sleeve.

3.5 Preparations for a FieldTrip to the Lamont Site

The Central Facility is aworking scientific site

governed by Department of

Energy rules. Teachers aregiven specific instructions ofhow to contact the EducationalOutreach and a listing of the

major rules which must beobserved before and during site

visits. The section ends withmapped and written travelinstructions to the site. Anappendix contains forms whichmust be filled out prior to the

field trip.

3.6 Preparations for a Trip tothe Tallgrass Prairie Site

By design, the CentralFacility is many kilometersfrom the nearest large city.It is several kilometers fromthe nearest paved road. As aresult, a field trip representsconsiderable travel time for

many school groups. TheTallgrass Prairie Preserve(TPP), a bison rangelandadministered by the NatureConservancy, is only 70 kmnorthwest of Tulsa and moreproximal to the population ofeastern Oklahoma than is the

Central Facility. Moreover,the TPP gives us an alternativeto the Central Facility whenworking with grade school

groups. The ARM Program andthe Oklahoma Mesonet bothmaintain instrumentation at theTPP. With the help of NatureConservancy personnel we havedevised an ARM field trip tothe TPP and have included anexplanation parallel to that ofthe Central Facility.

3.7 Experiments

Besides the teacher'sbackground to electromagneticradiation, we have alsoincluded a set of "experiments"which can be performed bystudents before taking an ARMfield trip. These experimentsare in the form of four lessonplans with a short teacher'sbackground, explanation sheetsfor the students, and lab worksheets for the students. The

experiments highlightelectromagnetic energy tl_oughuse of diverse things such assunglasses, sunblock, and

thermometers we haveattempted to relate objects and

devices familiar to the


students to the concepts ofelectromagnetic energy.

3.8 Bibliography

A short bibliographyprovides names of articles,brochures, and books whichwould be of use to the teacherwishing to learn more or astudent working on a termpaper.

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledgethe kind assistance of Mike,Splitt and Jeanne Schneidar ofthe Southern Great PlainsARM/CART Site Scientist Teamfor reading and commenting upondrafts of the Field Manual.Ray Teske, the Site Manager andthe rest of the personnel atthe Central Facility have 1.-eengracious in their assistance ofthe Educational Outreach.

5. REFERENCE

Stokes, G.M., and S.E. Schwartz1994: The Atmospher cRadiation Measuremer.(ARM) ProgramProgrammatic Backgroundand Design of the Cloudand Radiation Test Bed.Bull.Amer.Meteor.Soc.,75,1201-1221.


P1 .9INTRODUCING THE MODERNIZED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

TO PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Michael A. Mach *

NOAA, National Weather Service Forecast OfficeFort Worth, Texas

Jeni Johnson

Project Atmosphere, American Meteorological SocietyAtmospheric Educational Resource Agent

Irving, Texas

1. INTRODUCTION

The future modernized National Weather Servicewill offer unprecedented advances in weather servicesto the Nation by the end of this decade. Highlytrained meteorologists and hydrologists utilizingsophisticated processing and communications systemswill fashion a new approach for observing, analyzing,and predicting the state of the atmosphere. Thisarticle will illustrate for both primary and secondaryschool educators how the modernized NationalWeather Service (NWS) will utilize recent advances inDoppler radar technology, satellites, superspeedcomputers, and automated weather observing systemsto be the foundation for tomorrow's forecasts andwarnings.

2. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The National Weather Service has a long history ofstriving to balance new technology to observe andunderstand the atmosphere in order to achieve moreuniform weather services across the Nation. In 1870,the agency initially operated under the Signal Serviceand became the Weather Bureau in 1891. At this

time, it was transferred to the Department ofAgriculture. Increased responsibility of the WeatherBureau to provide weather services to civilian aviationlater prompted the transfer of the Weather Bureau tothe Department of Commerce. In July 1970, thename of the Weather Bureau was officially changed to

the National Weather Service. It was placed underthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

* Conesponding author address.. Michael A. Mach,National Weather Service Forecast Office, Fort

Worth, TX 76137.

(NOAA) within the Department of Commerce whereit remains today (Grice, 1992a).

Technological advancement and research in thescience of meteorology and hydrology has increaseddramatically over the last two decades. Improvedwarning and forecast services can only become areality if obsolete and unreliable existing systems arereplaced. Therefore, the Department of Commercehas set an ambitious goal to modernize the National-Weather Service. The current modernization andassociated restructuring process will improve forecasts,provide more timely and precise severe weather andflood warnings, and permit a more cost effectiveoperating structure for the Nation by the turn of thecentury.

3. WEATHER RADAR TECHNOLOGY

During the late 1940's and 1950's, the maincontribution to Weather Bureau operations was in thearea of radar meteorology. Military surplus radarswere the first to be renovated to detect precipitationechoes.

This is accomplished by transmitting a short pulseof electromagnetic energy and measuring a smallfraction of energy scattered back to the radar by astorm. This is similar to being in a dark room andshining a flashlight beam toward a wall mirror somedistance away. The amount of reflected light receivedis analogous to the strength of the returned signalmeasured by the radar. This reflectivity data gives anindication of the rainfall intensity and potentialpresence of hail. The time difference between whenthe energy pulse is transmitted and returned, tells theradar observer the distance to the precipitation echo.The process of transmitting and receiving hundreds ofenergy pulses each second provides a detailed map of

the storms intensity.


Information gained from these World War IIvintage radars eventually led to the formation oftoday's network of surveillance radars. However,these radars which are based upon nearly a half-century old technology have become obsolete anddifficult to service.

4. DOPPLER RADAR

During the 1970's, Doppler radars were employedin storm research programs to study severethunderstorms. This latest tool in storm detection islike conventional radar in that it scans the sky fromnear the Earth's surface to the top of the atmospherefor precipitation targets. However, the Dopplerradars narrower beamwidth enables detection ofprecipitation targets at much greater sensitivity levelsand distance than is possible with conventional radarsand their much wider beamwidth. This is comparableto shining a flashlight versus a laser beam if eachcould detect precipitation droplets.

In addition, the Doppler radar has the addedcapability of detecting the speed of targets movingeither toward or away from the radar. This velocitydata is useful to forecasters in detecting wind speedand movement within a thunderstorm.

It does this by measuring the frequency change inthe transmitted pulse caused by the target's motion.This change in frequency is similar to the soundscreated by a train whistle or police car siren as itapproaches and moves past a given location. Thesefrequency changes are called Doppler shifts, fromwhere the Doppler radar gets its name (Ray, et al.,1979).

The greatest value of Doppler radar will be toidentify mesocyclone development and strength duringthe early life cycle of a tornadic thunderstorm. Amesocyclone refers to a vertical column of risingcounterclockwise rotating air. It is often observed inthe middle portion of severe thunderstorms and maydescend to the lower portion of the cloud base withtornado formations. Nearly all significant tornadoesare preceded by a strong mesocyclone in the middlelevels where the largest hail and strongest rotation ofwind occurs. Recognition of this rotating column ofair will permit warnings to be issued a number ofminutes prior to tornado touchdown.

The Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler(WSR-88D) system will have the ability to displayboth reflectivity and velocity data on high-detailed citymap backgrounds. This will allow forecasters to issuevery specific warnings and statements than ever hadbeen possible before. It will also be helpful inevaluating observer's reports of rotating funnel clouds.


The WSR-88D system will also provide precipitationamount estimates that are vital to hydrologicforecasting of potential flooding. Hydrologists will usethis data to specify affected areas drained by a river atits tributaries and to better define to the meteorologistthe location of flash flood threat areas.

Another valuable forecasting tool of the WSR-88Dsystem is its ability to operate in clear air. TheDoppler radar has sufficient sensitivity to detectfrontal systems and old thunderstorm boundariesbetween observation sites. This information will beused by forecasters to outline areas wherethunderstorm development may occur in the future.The added ability to plot wind velocities at differentelevations above ground level will be valuable indetermining the strength and turning of the wind withheight to support thunderstorm development.

The National Weather Service plans to operate 121Doppler radar systems with an additional 40 radarslocated at Federal Aviation Administration andDepartment of Defense sites. This network ofDoppler radars will provide significant improvementsin uniform coverage over the present day radarnetwork.

5. SATELLITES

The Weather Bureau entered the skdellite age inthe 1960's where the importance of satellites toobserve the world's weather soon became apparent.In the 1970's, geostationary weather satellites thatwere launched provided meteorologists withconlinuous observations over much of the westernhemisphere.

A new generation of Geostationary OperationalEnvironmental Satellite (GOES) will aid forecastersin detecting dangerous storms not easily recognizedwith current satellite imagery. The new satellites willprovide a more detailed and refined image of clouds.The GOES system will be able to zoom in onsignificant weather events as frequently as every sixminutes while continuing to provide overall coverageof visible and temperature sensitive infrared imagery.Additional sensors will also be scanning and relayingimportant weather information of cloud patterns,cloud-top measurements, and profiles of moisture inthe atmosphere back to Earth. Dual-satellite coveragewill be assured throughout the remainder of thiscentury with improved GOES satellites.

6. COM1 LITER TECHNOLOGY

During the Signal Service years littlemeteorological science was used to make weather

78

forecasts. Instead, weather which occurred at onelocation was assumed to move into the next areadownstream. Weather forecasts were simple in natureand usually only contained basic weather parameterslike clouds and precipitation. One of the moreimportant advances for the Weather Bureau was theadvent of the teletype system. Use of the teletypespread rapidly and increased the Weather Bureau'sability to transmit warnings or critical observations.

The development of computer technology in the1950's paved the way for the formation of complexmathematical weather models to aid meteorologists inforecasting. The first operational use of thesecomputer models resulted in a significant increase in

forecast accuracy.Warnings and forecasts prepared by National

Weather Service offices in the next decade will relyheavily on the basic analysis and guidance productsprovided by the National Meteorological Center.These products result from numerical models of theatmosphere run on high-speed computers. Thisincreased demand will require the utilization of supercomputers capable of processing meteorological dataan order of a magnitude greater than the currentcomputer capabilities.

Today National Weather Service officescommunicate and process on site information with theAutom.Ation of Field Operations and Services (AFOS)system. However, AFOS does not have the capabilityto process satellite information or the extensiveobservational network that will arrive with the newertechnology.

The nerve center of communications for everyWeather and River Forecast Office will become theAdvanced Weather Interactive Processing System(AWIPS). The AWTSS system will be a state-of-the-art interactive workstation that will assemble, process,and display observational data and guidance fromNational Centers with satellite imagery and local radarcoverage.

AWIPS will aid forecasters in making rapiddecisions, prepare warnings and forecasts, anddisseminate these products to the users in a timelymanner. AWIPS will also assist hydrologists at RiverForecast Centers in data collection and processing,execution of hydrological models, and productformatting and dissemination.

7. RADIOSONDE DATA

During the early 1900's, the Weather Bureauutilized kites to measure temperature, relativehumidity, and winds in the atmosphere. By the early

1930's, kites were becoming a hazard to airplanes inflight and were replaced by airplane observations.

Prior to World War II, the meteorologistsunderstanding of the weather was greatly enhanced bythe development of the radiosonde. Theseinexpensive meteorological instruments and radiotransmitters were carried aloft by balloons and greatlyincreased the science of weather forecasting. Eventoday, the most basic data source for any weatherforecasting system remains the radiosonde. Upper airballoon launches of these radiosondes occurs twicedaily, during the morning and evening.

NOAA has defmed a program to investigate newtechnologies for the development of a radiosondesystem for the next century. The new radiosondeballoon system will use advanced navigational trackingtechniques and provide real-time digital upper airsounding data of wind measurements.

Another step in supplementing the nationalradiosonde network is the utilization of wind profilers.A vertical wind profile consists of a set of wind speedsand directions at various heights. Relatively, lowpower Doppler radars will measure the atmosphericwind above a profile site and provide a plot of thewind speed and direction at hourly intervals. Thisdata can be used to augment upper air observations,identify jets or strong winds in the atmosphere, anddetermine the location of fronts, low pressure troughsand high pressure ridges.

8. AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVMSYSTEM

During the early and mid 1800's, weatherobservation networks began to grow and expandacross the United States. With the advent of theteletype, weather observations from distant pointscould be rapidly collected, plotted, and analyzed atone location.

Today, routine surface observations are collectedat nearly 250 locations. A joint effort of NOAA andthe Federal Aviation Administration will greatlyexpand the observational network with the utilizationof nearly 1000 Automated Surface Observing Systems(ASOS). These units will provide surface

observational data of atmospheric pressure,temperature, wind direction and speed, type, intensityand accumulation of precipitation, nmway visibility,and cloud height ceilings on a continuous basis 24hours a day.

This information will flow directly to NWS officesas well as to the local airport control towers to alertforecasters and pilots of significant weather changes.


The national capability to observe and transmit criticalchanging weather condidons almost as they occurrepresents an important enhancement of improvingwarning and forecast services.

9. MODERNIZED STRUCTURE

The first general weather forecasts originated atWashington, D.C. and were issued twice daily andcovered a 36 hour duration. During the early 1900's,five district offices were formed to receive telegraphedobservations from across the country. Around 1900,the Weather Bureau continued to steadily increase thenumber of district offices and began issuing generalweekly forecasts to help farmers plan agriculturalactivities. In 1940, these forecasts were replaced by amore detailed 5-day forecast. Today's 3-to-5- dayforecasts are as good as the 1-to-2 day forecasts of adecade ago.

The present organization of a national network ofWeather Service Forecast Offices and smallerWeather Services Offices is about a quarter of acentury old. The future structure of the NWS willinclude a network of 115 modernized WeatherForecast Offices (WFO) strategically located acrossthe United States. These 24 hours-per-day offices willprovide a range of weather warnings, products, andservices in an assigned area of responsibility.

A Meteorologist-In-Charge (MIC) will have theresponsibility for each Weather Forecast Office. EachWO will have both a Scientific Operations Officer(S00) and a Warning Coordination Meteorologist(WCM). The SOO will play a vital role in assistingforecasters with the new technology and will be astrong link between the research community andoperational forecasting. The WCM will assume theleadership role in storm spotter training, coordinatethe stations warning program with local, state, andfederal agencies, and will assist in the administrationof the forecast office. The core staff of professionalmeteorologists will be assigned the task of evaluatingvast amounts of integrated data, analyzing theprocesses and events that will affect an area ofresponsibility, and apply scientific and technicalexpertise in a broad spectrum of immediate decisions.The public hydrologic warning, forecast, andinformation program will be managed by a ServiceHydrologist strategically located at selected WFO's.Meteorologist technicians will also require differentskills determined by peak service demands andmaximum weather activity.

The Nation's need for improved management ofwater resources and more accurate flood forecasting

66 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIEW

will continue to increase during the 1990's. ThirteenRiver Forecast Centers (RFC) will be collocated witha WFO in order to enhance the collaboration betweenmeteorologists and hydrologists. A Hydroloest-In-Charge (HIC) will have the responsibility for eachRFC including the Hydrometeorological Analysis andSupport Group (HAS). This group ofhydrometeorologists will facilitate the integration ofmeteorological information into hydrologic productsand services. Additional research and technicalsupport will be provided by a Development andOperations Hydrologist (DOH).

flistoricaliy, RFC's have operated on a oneforecast cycle per day. This was based upon manualobservations taken in the morning. RFC's will beginto operate an average of 16 hours-per-day and evandto 24 hours during periods of flood threat andseasonal peak work loads. Hydrologic forec.zsts willbe issued as frequently as every six hours to keep pacewith changing weather and soil moisture conditions.

10. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The modernization and associated resiructuring ofthe National Weather Service will feature improvedservices through the effective use of new technology.Productivity and service improvements will beachieved by automating observation andcommunications duties, and freeing trainedprofessionals to concentrate on analyimg andforecasting local atmospheric and hydrologic events.As we enter the next century, the combination ef ahighly skilled professional workforce, new science, andadvanced technology will result in more timely andprecise severe weather and flood forecasts andwarnings for the Nation.

11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their gratitude to Gary KGrice for his research in developing a comprehensivehistory of the National Weather Service.

12. REFERENCES

Burgess, Donald W., Kenneth E. Wilk, Joel D.Bonewitz, Kenneth M. Glover, David W. Holmes,and Jack Hinkelman, 1979: The joint doppleroperational project. Weathenvise, 32, 72-75.

Grice, Gary K., 1992a: National Weather Servicesnapshots-portraits of a rich heritage. GovernmentPrinting Office, 93 pp.

0

, 1992b: The beginning of the National WeatherService: The signal service years (1870-1891) asviewed by early weather pioneers. GovernmentPrinting Office, 52 pp.

National Weather Service Modernization Committee,1989: Strategic plan for the modernization andassociated restructuring of the National WeatherService. Government Printing Office, 24 pp.

Ray, Peter S., Rodger A. Brown, and Conrad L.Ziegler, 1979: New tool for storm detection.Weathenvise, 32, 68-71.

Ruthi, Larry, 1991: WSR-88D shines duringNorman, OK assessment Critical Path,NWS-TPO-91-2, Silver Spring, M.D., 1-7.

7: 1 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATIONL.) k 67

P1.1 0

THE EXC11EMENT OF METEOROLOGY! AN INTERACTIVE STUDY IN THEGEOSCIENCES

Paul J. Croft* and Aaron Williams, Jr.

University of South AlabamaMobile, Alabama

1. INTRODUCTION

During the period from 1966 to 1988 the percentageof first-year college students intending to major inscience or math fell by one-half (Green, 1989) andcontinues to decline. Today, only 2.4 percent ofstudents plan to major in the physical sciences, andonly 0.1 percent in the atmospheric sciences (TheChronicle of Higher Education, January 13, 1993).Although the weather has a tremendous and oftenobvious impact on the nation's economy, the subjectis either not taught or is given only a light treatmentas part of an earth science course and is partlyresponsible for the decline.

Project Atmosphere (see Smith et al., 1994) has beenan important step towards amelioration of thisproblem. By focusing on improved education of K-12 science tedchers, and by offering programs andservices through state representatives, it providesstudents with a more informed instructor. ProjectLEARN (Gellhorn and McLaren, 1994) provides asimilar program for middle and junior high schoolteachers. However, these and other programs do notaddress the broader population of students who maybe interested in studying meteorology.

2. EXClIEMENT OF METEOROLOGY

A summer course entitled "The Excitement ofMeteorology for Young Scholars" has been proposedto offer those students a chance to studymeteorology. Through instructional sessions,laboratories, field trips, and peer contact students willbe exposed to the concepts of atmospheric motion,the development of storms, and the practicalapplication of meteorology during a one monthperiod.

Corresponding author address: Paul J. Croft,University of South Alabama, Department ofGeology and Geography, Mobile, AL 36688-(()02.

email address: [email protected]


2.1 Goals and objectives

The summer course is intended to help students maketheir own career decisions and to foster their interestin the sciences and meteorology. The goals andobjectives of the course are to develop basic scienceskills, make students aware of the interdisciplinarynature of meteorology, provide students with theopportunity to see and hear the meteorologist as aresearcher, teacher, and communicator, provide thenecessary information and incentive for students tochoose a career in meteorology or the sciences, makestudents aware of the various employmentopportunities in the field, and show the moral andethical responsibilities and importance of atmosphericscience to society.

2.2 Course Design

The course is designed to teach atmospheric conceptsand weather analysis and research methodology.Morning sessions will focus on building a foundationof the basic meteorological principles that the studentwill apply in laboratory sessions. These will becomplemented by a series of field trips designed toincrease students' knowledge of the field, itsinterdisciplinary nature, applications of researchmethodology in the work place, and guidance andincentive for career development.

The structure of the course has been designed to focuson basic meteorological principles the first week, thepractical application of meteorology during the secondweek (including the educational training required),special topics and student projects the third week, andstudent project presentations and evaluations the lastweek.

The unifying mathematical, physical, and chemicalprinciples of weather will be discussed in lecture andapplied in laboratory assignments. The lab sessionswill focus on the techniques utilized bymeteorologists for data assimilation andinterpretation, such as isopleth analysis. Field trips

will allow meteorologi ;Is and other scientists todescribe their research arA.1 practical applications ofoperational and forecast meteorology.

Students will complete a group research projectwhich involves much of the methodology learned inlecture and applied in the laboratory. A career inmeteorology will be strongly emphasized as well asan appreciation of the importance of science, and theprofessionalism it must engender, and the role ofscientists in the public domain.

Students will also prepare a "weather perceptions"questionnaire during their final week of the summercourse. The questionnaire, designed by studentgroups at the end of their summer session, willaddress issues of public weather knowledge andperceptions. During the ensuing fall and spring, thestudents will administer the questionnaire toclassmates, teachers, and the general public. Thesurvey will allow each student to determine the levelof "weather awareness" of the populace.

3. EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION

The success of the course will be evaluated based onthe caliber of student projects and severalquestionnaires to clearly identify strengths andweaknesses. An initial questionnaire (#1) willprovide information on each student's level ofpreparation for the course and identify individualcharacteristics and abilities which will be importantin group dynamics. A questionnaire given on thelast day (#2) will be used to evaluate what studentshave learned and whether student interest in

meteorology, or in their overall perception ofscience, has changed. Basic meteorological andscience skills will be tested, ^xamined according tothe before and after questionnaire responses (#1 and#2), and evaluated subjectively from student reportsand prestntations.

Questions on basic skills will focus on basicknowledge, problem identification and solving, andanalytical skills. Student understanding of theinterdisciplinary nature of meteorology will beevaluated from their reports, prcsentations, laboratorywork, and through their response to a separatequestionnaire (#3) on their field trip experiences.This questionnaire will determine each student'sunderstanding of the significance of the trips withregard to career exploration, ethical and moralconsiderations, and the role of scientists ascommunicators and decision makers.

A fourth questionnaire (#4), also given on the last dayof the course, is intended to reveal students' desire topursue meteorology or science as a career andemployment opportunity; and will ask them toevaluate any changes in their level of intercst inscience and college. Questions will focus on any pre-or mis-conceptions of science and the student's ownevaluation of self-preparedness to study meteorology.Students will be asked to rate their chances ofpursuing meteorology and to rate their specificinterests in meteorology and science.

Science teachers and guidance counselors involved inthe students' course activities will be asked to preparea qualitative evaluation of the significance of theprogram with regard to individual student's careerplanning and the relevance and impact of materialsbrought into the classroom by the student before,during, and after the student's summer participation.

Dissemination of project results will be made throughlocal, regional, and national presentations and viaelectronic mail and educational bulletin boards (e.g.,the GEOG-ED listserver) as appropriate. The intentof these activities is to provide important informationand considerations on the nature of science instructionto K-12 teachers, undergraduate instructors,administrators, and academic and educationalresearchers. It is intended that the course will serve asa national model which may be implemented at theregional or local level by colleges and universities.

4. REFERENCES

Gellhorn, J. G., and C. McLaren, 1994. ProjectLEARN: A teacher enhancement program at theNational Center for Atmospheric Research. Bulletinof the American Meteorological Society, 75(4): 621-625.

Green, Kenneth C., 1989. A profile of undergraduatesin the sciences. American Scientist, Volume 77:September-October

Smith, David R., I. W. Geer, R. S. Weinbeck, J. T.Snow, and W. H. Beasley, 1994. AMS projectATMOSPHERE - University of Oklahoma 1993workshop for atmospheric education resourceagents.Bulletin of the American MeteorologicalSociety,75(1): 95-100.

4TH SYMP ON EDUCATION 69

P1.11 ON-LINE CLIMATE RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSROOM

E. Hope Poteat

Southeast Regional Climate CenterColumbia, South Carolina

1. INTRODUCTION

The study of meteorology incorporates variousaspects of diverse scientific disciplines. It thereforeprovides a useful tool to educate students in manyfields including computer science, mathematics, andgeography while simultaneously familiarizing themwith the weather. The Southeast Regional ClimateCenter (SERCC) has developed an outreach programwhich emphasizes this multi-disciplinary approach toscience education. The basis of this program is theuse of SERCC's Climate Information Rapid RetrievalUser System (CIRRUS) within the classroom.

2. CIRRUS CHARACTERISTICS

CIRRUS is a computer-based information systemwhich allows rapid access to a variety of climaterelated products. This menu driven climateinformation system is accessible by subscribersthrough modem and Internet. An example of themain menu is given in Figure 1.

CIRRUS Main MenuSession No. 304

Southeast Regional Climate Center

Choices:

0) Background Information

1) Daily Climate Observations ( Temp, Precip )2) Statistically Derived Variables3) Climatic Summaries4) Short and Long Range Forecasts < = =New Travel Forecast5) Palmer Drought Index6) Regional Data ( Maps and Tables )7) Hourly Obc,:-vations ( Sky Cond, Temp, Precip, RH, etc.8) Current Radar Summary

f) File transporting ( E-Mail, FTP )u) Utilitiesh) Helpz) Logout

Enter Choice > 1

FiE,..re 1. CIRRUS Main Menu

L70 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

CIRRUS offers regional coverage for Alabama,Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina,Tennessee, Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. VirginIslands. Data and information originate from theNational Weather Service Weather Wire, the ClimateAnalysis Center, the National Climatic Data Center,and state weather networks. Data from over onethousand stations are obtained on a daily basis andarchived in an historical data base. CIRRUS alsoprovides reliable real-time hourly data from statewideagricultural and forestry networks (Alabama, Florida,Georgia, and North Carolina) as well as from federalagencies including the United States GeologicalSurvey, the National Weather Service, U.S. Fish andWildlife Service, National Park Service, and the U.S.Forest Service.

3. CLIMATE RESOURCES FOR THECLASSROOM

3.1 Educational Projects

CIRRUS is an educational medium that provideseconomically and environmentally important climaticinformation in a timely and easily accessible manner.The system gives students the epportunity to observeand analyze the weather on a daily basis whichenhances their understanding and awareness of theirenvironment. So often education lacks the interactionbetween teacher and student, but with CIRRUSstudents get to experience the excitement of retrievingand displaying the weather data themselves. Once thedata is obtained dirt teacher can also concentrate onusing the data for specific lesson applications such asmapping, graphing, mathematics, statistics, even basiccomputer communication skills. Students can learnabout their local and regional weather patterns whileutilizing diverse educational tools.

Most of the data available on CIRRUS are in atabular form (Figure 2) that can be downloaded in astandard ASCII spreadsheet format. This gives theteacher the freedom to use the data for a variety ofeducational purposes including graphing, mapping, andmathematical computing. Students or teachers candownload any of the data at their convenience for anygiven time interval from hourly to annually. Students

.4

may then represent the data graphically and therebyimprove their reasoning sldlls. Students may graphseveral parameters for several stations showingspecific trends for their region. Students can spatiallyrepresent the data by plotting the values on a mapwhich can teach them to differentiate geographicalweather patterns.

Station: (088758) TALJ .111-1ASSEE_WSO_APYear=1994 Month=4.

year nun dd tobs prcp(in)

tmax(F)

mint(F)

mean snow(F) (in)

depth(in)

1994 04 01 24 0.00 70 3t, 53 0.0 01994 04 02 24 0.00 77 33 55 0.0 01994 04 03 24 0.65 80 37 59 0.0 01994 04 04 24 0.08 77 55 66 0.0 01994 04 05 24 0.00 79 51 65 0.0 01994 04 06 24 0.63 79 56 68 0.0 01994 04 07 24 0.00 73 45 59 0.0 01994 04 08 24 0.00 80 45 63 0.0 01994 04 09 24 0.00 82 61 72 0.0 01994 04 10 24 0.00 84 60 72 0.0 01994 04 11 24 0.00 85 58 72 0.0 01994 04 12 24 0.70 75 67 71 0.0 01994 04 13 24 0.42 75 67 71 0.0 01994 04 14 24 0.01 87 62 75 0.0 0199 t 04 15 24 0.00 85 71 78 0.0 01994 04 16 14 0.22 81 66 74 0.0 01994 04 17 24 0.00 81 51 66 0.0 01994 04 18 24 0.00 86 47 67 0.0 01994 04 19 24 0.00 85 55 70 0.0 01994 04 20 24 0.00 89 59 74 0.0 01994 04 21 24 0.72 83 63 73 0.0 01994 04 22 24 C.00 83 61 72 0.0 01994 04 23 24 0.00 70 63 67 0.0 01994 04 24 24 0.00 84 60 72 0.0 01994 04 25 24 0.00 86 66 76 0.0 01994 04 26 24 0.00 89 64 77 0.0 01994 04 27 24 0.00 90 63 77 0.0 01994 04 28 24 0.00 88 60 74 0.0 01994 04 29 24 0.00 86 61 74 0.0 01994 04 30 24 0.00 87 65 76 0.0 0

Avg/Sum 3.43 81.9 56.9 69.4 0.0 0Data values are for 24 hours ending at time of observation.

Figure 2. Sample Monthly Product

3.2 CIRRUS Users

CIRRUS users include academic institutions, avariety of businesses, and researchers in both thepublic and private sector. The educational usersrange from elementary schools to the universityenvironment. Figure 3 displays the number of loginsduring the past twelve months for each primary usergroup. Currently, the realm of use by the universitycommunity is greater than any other level of theeducational system. It is widely used in research by

university students and faculty around the region.CIRRUS is offered on-line in one university librarywith over 273 logins in eight months, so future plansare to expand this type use in other states. At NorthCarolina State University the Department of SoilScience, the School of Agricultural and Life Science,and the Geography Department all use CIRRUS.Other universities across the region are usingCIRRUS in various departments such as biology,engineering, and geological science.

2400

2100

1800

1500

1200

900

800

300

0

CIRRUS USERSSeptember 1993 - August 1994

Governreen Business Media University Grade K-12USER CLASS

Figure 3. CIRRUS Logins: September 1993August 1994

4. CONCLUSION

There is valuable educational benefits from usinga climate data access system such as CIRRUS in theclassroom. It is expected that the range and numberof educational applications for this on-line resourcewill greatly expand as people learn of its existence andavailability.

Because of the wide range of use forclimatological and meteorological data SERCC haskept the data somewhat standard. In the futureSERCC hopes to encourage and expand use forprimary and secondary education by improving thevisual appearance of the data.

rt) 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 71

P1.12

Sharing WaatherwRh CMidron:

A Guide for Meteorologist, Engineers, and OtherScientists.

by Steve Carlson, AERA-Project Atmosphere

The Job:

In the rapidly changing world of science and technology, the meteorologiccommunity faces the challenge of aiding in the education of our nation'schildren. Many of you have already joined forces with the education worldin attempting to meet that challenge. We must support weather education byproviding resources, tools, materials, time, and building communitysupport for teachers.

Your help is needed! One of the best ways to impact education is to becomeinvolved at the local level with the classroom. Teachers will welcomesomeone who has an in depth knowledge and understanding of meteorology.By sharing your expertise at the local level, you can help the students:

*Understand the positive and vital role weather plays in today's world,gain an understanding of the work meteorologist do,*see meteorologis*, as real people,*create interest in careers in meteorology, and'help them tc enjoy the natural world around them.

A few hours of your time can pay huge benefits. The purpose of this guide isto provide a few suggestions to make your visits more productive.Hopefully, by following these suggestions, you and the children will have apositive experience.


8u1v0wmil VITA

Before you go into the classroom:Decide on the strategy you will use.Relate your presentation to the curriculum. Personalize the presentation withexamples of what you do.

Chose activities relevant to the chiidren's needs and abilities.Check with the teacher to see what students already know.

Prepare for various kinds of reactions.-Not all children will love you. Nor will all teachers have conservative disciplinestandards. Discuss what the plan of action w be if there is problem. If you arepresenting something on safety, or something of a sensitive nature, check with theteacher first. You don't want to be talking about how foolish a group of people werein a flood or hurricane, if someone in the class just had a relative die in such anoccurrence.Organize your notes and materials in advance.Make sure you have enough copies A any handouts or materials for everyone. Do atest run on any activity, game or experiment. Demonstrations should be done whensafety is a concern, but hands on activities with the kids are much more effective.

Don't talk over their heads.Check over your lesson and substitute any words which can be simplified. Shouldyou have difficulty finding an appropriate synonym, supply the teacher with thewords in advance so the students have a chance to learn them.

Arrive early.Meet the teacher, aides and children in a more relaxed setting. Welcome them to theroom whenever possible. It may also take you more time than you planned to set up,and to find the room. A major thought to keep in mind is to be prepared for theunexpected.

Look for additional resources.-Find out where students and teachers can follow-up your visit in the local area.Are there places they can visit, procure resources, organizations to join! What issvailable?

Share yourself.Let the children know that you are a real person. Personalize the lesson by startingwith how you became interested in meteorology. What you find fascinating aboutyour work. If you have children, talk about what you do with them at home. Youmight share what an average day is like in your business.


'Students must do.Let the students take part in .the lesson. Instruments you might consider commonwill be fascinating to children. Let them handle, question, and see how theinstrument works whenever possible. Let them take measurements, analyze data,and draw conclusions. Being an oracle of wisdom in a classroom may leave you withan actual audience of only one.

*Let them do science.The process of science is enjoyable. Let them experience it. Teachers with limitedknowledge usually stick close to the book, so anyone guiding the student through theprocess is a hero.

*Ask questions instead of giving answers.Just giving information instead of causing the student to think lead to the poorretention of information. The most students will remember in the long term isabout twenty per cent of what was presented. If students have to do it, say it, andfigure it out themselves, the retention gains can be incredible. Think about thethings you really know! How did you learn them?'Make your topic relevant to the student's lives.Bring in examples of how meteorology effects us all. Show how it effects how wedress, live, and work. Believe me, if you are in snow country the students will wantto know what signs to look for to have school closed. This is also a good time todiscuss issues of safety.

*Don't surprise them.If something unusual is part of your activity, tell them what to look for. If they aresurprised or frightened, they won't observe or learn a thing. They may think it'sgreat, but the only thing they will remember is the event, not the lesson.

'More than a memory.Let the students take something home. Give them an assignment that will stimulatetheir own research and record keeping. If you build simple instruments, give themyour address, phone, etc. so they can report back.

'Critique your lesson.Bring closure to the activity before time runs out. See what they liked and learned.Ask the teacher for feedback. This feedback will be very valuable when you makeanother presentation. There is no better feeling of satisfaction than that of touchinga kids life for the better.

'More than one.A series of visits over a short time frame allows follow up and provides betteractivities. Don't try to cover too many concepts in one session. The lower the gradelevel, the simpler it should be. At the primary grade levels, just messing aroundand enjoying clouds, water, and the like may be the best.

74 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOC'M

88

lf

vEn,©gloma VOPS

Eye contact is Important!It makes the lesson personal. Consciously work from one side of the room to theother. The tendency of most is to work with the right side of the room or payattention to the most extroverted.

Smile!The students need to know you are friendly. An appropriate joke can spark theirattention. If you have questions about the level of humor, let the teacher giv,z) yousome examples.

Never a dull moment.Be prepared. The quickest way to destroy a lesson is to have the student wait. Deadtime is dangerous time! Use the teacher and volunteer students to distributehandouts. Know how you are going to do it in advance.

Hands please.Many times everyone wants to talk at once. Don't let one student dominate. Bring outthe best in everyone. Provide opportunities for everyone to demonstrate knowledgeand you will have them in the palm of your hand. Don't call on someone and then askthe question. The only one thinking about what you are asking will probably be theone you called.

Be safe !

The students need to see good role models. Almost any experiment needs safetyglasses. Be sure the safety glasses you wear are the same kind the kids wear! You'dnever forgive yourself if a student lost an eye, or appendage under your care,regardless of any litigation.

Clear directions.Make sure everyone understands the directions "before the task". After you start itis almost useless to try and get them to stop and listen. It takes a little bit of time,but it is time well spent.

Attention signal.If you are doing hands on activities, prearrange a signal-a clap, toot, or light blink-when you want their attention. It may be critical to the lesson!

Pause.Don't be an accordion style teacher where the last student off the bus or the onefurthest away has no chance to learn ! If their attention or communication distanceto you is not close enough to receive the information, you have diminished theirchance of learning. Starting to teach before everyone is attentive may waste most ofyour effort. This is especially true when you are outside. How may times have yoube on a tour, or with a group, where the trailing participants never caught up beforethe lesson was started?


Handouts.If you hand something out, provide time for them to look at it first before youproceed. They will automatically be distracted by the commotion and will not beready to learn.

Walt time.As adults, we tend to dislike dead time in a lesson. It is necessary to give the student'stime to think or you'll end up answering the question yourself. If you call on thefirst person raising their hand, learning will be hindered.

Be positive.This is especially true when there is an incorrect response. Guide the student to abetter guess by questioning! A flat no will cause the :lore timid student to abstainfrom even the slightest guess. If you make even one child feel foolish, it willpermeate the lesson.Discipline.Know the class discipline procedures in advance and let the teacher handle problemswhenever possible.

Enjoy yourself.Above all have a good time. Life is too short to volunteer you time and be miserable.It doesn't mean you have to leave laughing. It just means you need to feel you've madea difference in the student's lives.

9.rppl@t11 VIGtalh 'GT 'Lf@pli@t aTE.o8G. Lvi9h.t

Kindergarten First/ Second

(examples)

Third/Fourth Fifth/Sixth

Home stuff school stuff simple experiments data collectionDays kinds of seasons climate global processClothes cycles cause/effect changesimple processes seasons airtemperature precipitationwater states of matter heating/cooling forecasting

hot cold simple instruments instrumentation record keepingplay Day/night agriculture effects civilization

sky Changes matter/energy evaporationobservation water cycle

physical propertiescondensationpollutionequilibrium

model/theory


VhOnkting and Lawnting ChmtraMeltClat alCh0Ocluan

Early ElementaryK-2

thinking-- -*manipulates objects*believes everythingevent oriented*sees parts, not whole

Learning----Is adventurous*curious*energetic*likes to please

*impulsive"me" centered*loves praise*attention span-10-15 min.

Intermediate3-5

'concepts & objects*can classifycan induce

*begins to generalize*problem solves*fact orientedsorts/multiplies

understands rulesgroups well*social

*fairness important'avoids opposite sex*self motivated'independent learner*perfectionist20-30 min.

middle school6-8

*hypothesizescan conceptualizecan relate causes

*relates principles*systematic

*relates probability*evaluates

*is emotional*easily bored*challenges authority*interested inopposite sex*likes small group

vulnerable ego*self conscious

*30-40 min.

The idea for this publication came from an NSF project developed by theNorth Carolina Museum of Life and Science. I gratefully acknowledge theirearlier work. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the AMS's ProjectAtmosphere for their support and encouragement in fostering weathereducation. I would also like to thank Ms. Faye McCollum for her editorialassistance.

41H SYMP. ON EDUCATION 77

P1.13WEATHER

An Interdisciplinary Approach

Rene' T. Carson*

Little Rock School DistrictLittle Rock, Arkansas

1. INTRODUCTION

Reading, 'riting, 'rithemetic - these were oncethought to be the only subject matter necessary for asuccessful elementary classroom. The focus in today'sclassroom is no longer just the three R's, but three R'sand a S. Is this heresy? What is the "S"? Science isthe obvious choice for an important addition to theelementary classroom. Even though the traditionaltextbook and a small amount of hands-on science hasbeen in the schools for a long period of time, the focuson an integrated approach to teaching science alongwith reading, math, and language arts is becoming animportant part of curriculum revision on the elementarylevel.

A grant through the National ScienceFoundation to the Arkangas Systemic Initiative hasallowed the Department of Higher Education to addressthe needs of the science teachers in our state. Thegrant addresses the issues of curriculum reform, lackof suitable equipment, and the insecurities aboutcontent in the areas of reading, math, and science.

The Arkansas K-4 Crusade is the title of theinitiative that began last spring in the classrooms ofseveral universities around our state. Readingstrategies,the use of manipulatives in mathematics, andthe use of hands-on science activities were stressed inthe thirty modules developed for the Crusade. Modulesincluded topics as follows:

* Conceptual overview of literacy development* Reading, writing, mathemuics comprehension* Thematic planning/curriculum integration* Assessment strategies/portfolios* Number sense* Measurement and Shapes* Fwperties of objects/classifying, sorting* Ecology, Environmental Science, Space* Electricity* Light and sound* Solar system* Simple machines* G eology* Weather

Corresponding author address: Rene' Carson, 600 S.Ringo, IRC, Little Rock, AR 72201


2. THE WEATHER MODULE

2.1 The Calendar

Since weather is an ongoing process thatshould be observed every day, a weather calendar canand should become a focus of data collection for thestudents each day in class. This type of calendar canbe made on rolled white butcher paper and placed in avery strategic position for the students to recordobservation and data as they enter the classroom. Agroup or pair of students may be given the assignmentof recording the information about the events on thecalendar. This could be a project carried onthroughout the year. The calendar might contain thefollowing data:

* Date* Morning and afternoon temperature, inside

and outside* Morning and afternoon wind speed and

direction* Cloud shapes and types* Precipitation in centimeters and iuches* Total precipitation for the year* Moon phases* Some extra scientific observation* Some classroom or school activity for the

dayAssignments for acquiring this data may be done invarious ways. A group of students may be responsiblefor collecting this data each day and delivering the datato other class members for recording in their journals,and then this responsibility be rotated among studentgroups throughout the year. Students can also sign inon the calendar each day by answering a question,recognizing a weather symbol, or making anobservation about a particular weather phenomena.This type of calendar does not have to be reserved justfor a weather unit but can be used throughout the yearfor several different types of data collection activities.Learning to read charts in the newspaper can becomea very important skill to complete the information forthe daily classroom weather calendar.

Any weather event which takes place during

9 2

the year should be recorded on the calendar.Newspaper articles could be the springboard for anyother writing activities done about weather.Comparison of weather events around the countrycould be noted on the calendar since most newspapershave weather data from around the country.(The weather calendar can be rolled up and stored eachmonth, and other activities can be done with the dataduring the year.)

2.2 Weather instruments

One of the first and most importantinstruments for a students to learn about is thethermometer. A simple thermometer with theFahrenheit scale on one side and the Celsius on theother can be made with index weight paper and a redstrip to simulate the liquid. The strip can be moved upand down the scale and readings practiced andrecorded. Taking data from an instrument andorganizing it in a way that the students can study theinformation can become a very important skill.Younger children can learn how to dress "WeatherBear* with the appropriate clothing as the temperaturebegins to drop.

Another simple instrument which can be builtto make classroom observations is a wind vane.Compass directions become a very important fact whendetermining wind direction. Students are not oftenaware of cardinal directions in their environment. Achange in wind direction during the day often meansthat a front has passed through the area, and that theweather may be changing. Predictions can be made bythe students, and comparisons from previous weatherobservations can be made.

A simple anemometer can be built, and thewind speed can be determined by the students. This isa little more difficult to do and may only be done bythe older students. This also applies to making abarometer, and observing the changes which takesplace on the gauge built for this type of data collection.Students need to understand how high and low pressurereadings are effected by frontal passage and affect thedevelopment of storms. Data from an anemometer andbarometer may be difficult for the younger students tocalculate and correlate to other weather changes.

2.3 The Water Cycle

Onderlying most all weather concepts,especially precipitation and clouds, is the water cycle.This is usually one of the most difficult, yet mostfrequently taught, science concepts. Students often fail

to realize what part the water cycle plays in thedevelopment of clouds. Even though they know thatcloud types and precipitation are related there seems tobe a link missing when these same students try toexplain the water cycle. A non-traditional way to havea student to demonstrate his understanding of the watercycle would be to have the student write a story fromthe point of view of a drop of water, creating a"waterdrop adventure."

Students can also make a cloud in a bottle.This activity can be done in various ways, but the"Cloud in a Bottle* in the Project Atmosphere Cloudmodule is an easy way to produce a cloud.

Other writing exercises such ss pyramidstories, circle stories, poetry, and lniku can be used asalternate assessment strategies for a weather unit.Younger children can construct a cloud book and writesentences to explain cloud types and location.

2.4 Seasons

The study of seasons during a weather unitprovides an opportunity to correlate seasonal changewith weather changes. Students still havemisconceptions regarding the position of the sun andearth during the summer and winter solstices and thespring and fall equinox.

3. LITERATURE

Literature for all grade levels with referencesto weather is easy to locate. References to seasonalchange, storms, hurricanes, different weatherphenomena, and precipitation can be found in most anybook. Informational type books can also be found onvarious reading levels. Big books as well as pre-primers can be found and used in classrooms rangingfrom kindergarten to sixth grade. Weather can be abasis for many different types of writing activities.Everyone can enjoy the mysteries and wonders ofweather.

4. MATHEMATICS

Weather is the perfect subject for datacollection. Students can organize temperature data intovarious types of graphs and charts. Comparing andanalyzing data are very important skills for math andscience. Using these types of skills in real life

situations can show students how beneficialunderstanding can be for them in the future.

9 i 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 79

P1.14

ILLINOIS CLIMATE NETWORK EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Beth C. Reinke' and Randy A. Peppler

Office of Applied Climate and Office of the ChiefIllinois State Water Survey

Champaign, Illinois

I. INTRODUCTION

Automation of the Illinois Climate Network (ICN) wasinitiated in 1988, with the last of nineteen stations added tothe network in September of 1991. Hourly and dailysummary data elements measured at the IC11 stationsinclude air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation,wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, rainfall andsoil temperatures at 10 and 20 centimeter depths. ICN staffare contimally looking for new ways to use and distributeICN data. Data are distributed on a regular basis to theagricultural community throughout the state of Illinois,particularly during the growing season (April-October).The University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Serviceand School of Agriculture use ICN data for their variousnewsletters, field days and research studies. Farmers andagribusinesses utilize ICN data to help schedule irrigation,field work and pesticide applications. Field agents from theIllinois Department of Agriculture have also madeextensive use of ICN wind data to help document pesticidedrift complaints. ICN data have also been used by our stafffor presentations at Agronomy field days andteleconference weather briefings. Another potentiallysignificant use for ICN data is in education and we havebegun efforts during the past several years to encourage thisuse. This paper describes the educational outreachactivities we have been involved in and are planning for thefuture.

2. EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

2.1 Site tours and workshops

One form of educational outreach we have employed isconducting ICN site tours and workshops. Several localschool groups have visited the Illinois State Water SurveyResearch Center and toured the Champaign ICN site. The

Corresponding author address: Beth C. Reinke.Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Griffith Drive.Champaign, IL 61820-7495.


10 meter weather tower, instruments, data logger thatrecords the hourly and daily measurements, and computerthat downloads and processes ICN data are readilyaccessible for a close-up, hands-on look at how the ICNworks. Workshops have provided an overview of the ICNand involved attendees in hands-on use of the datacollected. We presented a workshop during the IllinoisGeographical Society (IGS) Annual Meeting at tIn IllinoisState Water Survey in April 1994. The IGS includes a mixof teaching and non-teaching geographers at all levels ineducation, government and the private sector. We havealso staffed booths at the University of Illinois College ofAgriculture Open House and National Chemistry WeekOpen House that are held each year to promote agricultureand science to students.

2.2 Classroom exercises

Several instructors from university, high school andgrade school classrooms have requested ICN data forspecial classroom exercises. One teacher used severalyears of daily maximum and minimum temperature data tointroduce his students to basic statistical principles(computation of means, medians, standard deviations, etc.).Another use of temperature data is in degree day analyses.Degree days are used to determine the accumulated effevof temperature on some quantity, such as fuel consumptic,i(heating and cooling degree days) or plant growth (growingdegree days). Degree days are calculated by determiningthe departure of the average daily temperature (maximumplus minimum divided by .2) from a given standard(typically 65°F for heating and cooling degree days and50°F for growing degree days). We have prepared severaldegree day exercises for use at workshops and in theclassroom.

In the spring of 1993 the ICN was used as a backdropfor what became known as the Illinois School Children's

94

Atmospheric Network (ISCAN) (Schmalbeck and Peppier,1994; Schmalbeck et al., 1994). A curriculum supplementfocusing on water in the environment was tested in twomiddle school classrooms in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.It was taught by University of Illinois student teachers whoreceived assistance from University professors and ICNstaff. The ICN was used as a model for how a datacollection system can be designed, including all of thepitfalls one can encounter during such an endeavor. Thecurriculum included hands-on demonstrations, computersimulations, simple lab techniques and data collectionthrough a small network of middle school volunteers. Oneof the main byproducts of this work was the establishmentof a well-defmed role for scientists in science education.

2.3 Computerized data access

For ICN data to be useful for educational outreach, theyneed to be easily and affordably accessible. With theproliferation of personal computers, computerized accessto data is becoming the preferred access method. Apersonal computer, modem and communications softwareare generally all that are needed to access most computerdatabases. Since 1990, ICN data have been available onthe Midwestern Climate Center's subscription-based dial-up computer system, MICIS (Kunkel et al., 1990).Beginning sometime during the fall of 1994 we will alsoupload processed data to the University of Illinois'Department of Atmospheric Sciences "Ul WeatherMachine" computer. This weather database can beaccessed over the Internet using the "Gopher"' softwarecommunications protocol. ICN analyses are then availablefor access by anyone in Illinois or the world who has director phone/modem access to the Internet and Gophersoftware. A third type of computer access to ICN data thatwe have explored is Prairienet, a community-orientedcomputing system implemented by a group of volunteers ineast central Illinois. It is part of a national organization ofcommunity networks known as "Free-nets". The primarypurpose of Prairienet is to provide computing andcommunications facilities to those segments of thepopulation who currently lack them but may have much togain from their use, including K-12 students and teachers.

3. FUTURE PLANS

We are working on a preproposal to the NationalScience Foundation's Program for Instructional MaterialDevelopment and Dissemination that would include

1 Gopher is a public domain information delivery systemdeveloped at the University of Minnesota.

funding for the development of a computerized atlas ofICN data and curriculum development to accompany it.Further automation of ICN data retrieval and processingwill speed up data turnaround and improve the timelinessof data delivery. As funding becomes available, we wouldalso like to develop our own dial-up system which willmake hourly ICN data available in real-time. Further, wewould like to actively initiate contact with local andregional schools and let them know that we are willing tohelp conduct workshops and tours and to assist in materialsdevelopment to enhance their classroom explorations ofweather topics.

4. SUMMARY

The potential educational benefits from ICN data andinformational products are many. The ICN databaseextends back to the late 1980's, is readily accessible andshould be used. We will continue to look for new andinnovative ways to improve and enhance the quality of ourinformation products and educational outreach.

5. REFERENCES

Kunkel, K.E., S.A. Changnon, C.G. Lonnquist and J.R.Angel, 199th A real-time climate informationsystem for the midwestern United States. Bull.Amer. Meteor. Soc., 71, 1601-1609.

Schmalbeck, L.M. and R.A. Peppier, 1994: First stepstoward the Illinois School Children's AtmosphericNetwork (ISCAN) - A role for scientists in scienceeducation. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 75,631-635.

Schmalbeck, L.M., R.A. Peppier and B.C. Reinke, 1994:Educational outreach acti-ities at the Illinois StateWater Survey - The Illinois School Children'sNetwork (ISCAN). Prep, s, Third Symposiumon Education, January 23-28, 1994, Nashville, TN.American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA,89-92.


P1.15 THE FLORIDA STATEWIDE WEATHER NETWORK

Paul Ruscher and Kevin Kloesel

Dept. of MeteorologyFlorida State Universit!Tallahassee FL

andBill Jordan

Office of Science Education ImprovementFlorida Department of EducationTallahassee, FL

1. Introduction

The National Weather Service (NWS)Office at Melbourne, Florida (MLB) has for sometime collected "cooperative observer" reports forthe state of Florida and reported a summary ofthese observations on a daily basis. The FloridaStatewide Weather Network (FSWN) is nowsupplementing this observation network withvolunteers from schools throughout the state. Datareporting is via a toll-free touch-tone phone systemand daily reports are sent to teachers via theFlorida Information Resource Network (FIRN).Teachers and students have daily access to thecooperative observer data and FSWN data in theform that it appears for use by the general publicand news media, and aiso receive the data in a rprmthat is usable in spreadsheets for graphical andstatistical applications (forthcoming in Fall 1994).

By fall of 1994, over 75 schools will be equippedwith inexpensive maximum/minimumthermometers and wedge-type rain gauges. Theseobservations are typically taken by sixth gradersat schools across the state. Among the many typesof uses for these data a -e in daily weather briefingsconducted by the schaols over their public addresssystems, and for cli.ta analysis work in theirmathematics and scicrice classes. Teachers andstudents have received detailed instructions forsiting of weather instruments, use of topographiccharts to understand and report their geographiclocation to the network, analysis of time series andspatial data, and comparitive studies using otherforms of meteorological information available ontelevision weathercasts, the newspaper, andweather information servers, where hourly reportsfrom official observing stations and satellite andradar images are available. They also begin togain an appreciation for the relationship betweentheir own observations (sky conditions, weather


Steve Graham

Dept. of Curriculum & InstructionFlorida State University

Tallahassee FL

Len Mazarowski

National Weather ServiceMelbourne, FL

conditions, etc.) and temperature andprecipitation, for example, the relationshipbetween diurnal temperature range andprecipitation. Seasonal and annual patternsare established in those schools whichparticipate year-roand.

Students compare their observations withthe nearest cooperative observer locations andtry to explain the differences in terms of humanerror, instrument error, and/or from a

meteorological basis. Many teachers report thecreation of bulletin boards centering on weatherinformation which are updated every day, inspite of the fact that weather may be a unitcovered in only a six or eight week session. Wedo not advocate here the teaching ofmeteorology to the exclusion of other earthsciences in a traditional middle or high schoolearth science course. However, meteorologicaldata such as is available from the FSWNprovides information to schools to use in anytype of data analysis course during the course ofthe entire acaaemic year. Nationaleducational objecti% es are increasingly stressingan individual students' ability to understandsimple to complex interrelationships betweenvarious data as an important life skill. Thisnetwork of data, z.vailable free to over 3,000teachers in Florida by electronic messaging andgroup conferencing on FIRN, and to other userson the NOAA/NWS Family of Services (FOS),will ultimately provide a useful framework forthe use of meteorologi,al data, widelyavailable free of charge to educator,o meetsuch objectives.

2. FSWN Data Access Path

Students collect their data in the inorningand log them onto record sheets according to

9 6

instructions given to them by their teacher. By 10AM each day, NWS MLB has completed its job ofcollating the observations from the Floridacooperative observers, and the toll-free telephonedata logger becomes available for use by FSWNparticipants. The data are called in by thestudents using a simple instruction sheet providedby the project staff. The window of opportunity fordial-in is from 10 AM to 1:30 PM each day. Sitescan easily correct their mistakes. At 1:30 each day,the MLB col ,ter shuts down new data entry, andprocesses the data for formatting of the publicmessage.

The typical NWS collective report forcooperative observer stations is shown in Table 1and an example of FSWN data is shown in Table 2,in the formats received by the teachers in theirelectronic mail boxes. On FOS, the header isSRUE10 KMLB, the same as is -sed for thecooperative observer data collective which comesout earlier in the day. At FSU Meteorology, as themessage comes into our data ingestor, the entirereport is automatically forwarded to all theteachers and their classroom FIRN accounts; receiptis usually by 2:30 PM each day. This timetable isnot necessarily optimum for same-day use, butworks well for classroom or special project use.

Using cooperative data from Alabama andGeorgia, we also objectively analyze data eachweek to track shifts in wet/dry patterns and we areworking to establish ways in 1.,.,}11ch this productcan be placed on the PSU Meteorology gopher andWorld-Wide Web home page for use by teachers.Products originate weekly in FOS messages fromthe National Weather Service office at Auburn,Alabama. Using GEMPAK (Bruehl 1994), thesedata are converted 'to parameters including weekly,30 day, 60 day, and year-to-date precipiationtotals and departures from normal. An example of aplot from this type of product is shown in Figure 1.

3. Curricula

The test for the project was conducted in 1992/93using 25 sites. The typical response rate was 20-30% due to a variety of factors. In order to improvethe response rate for this year, not only have weincreased the amount of our training materials(through distribution lists on electronic mail andmail-outs to the teachers), we have also developeda set of curriculum materials and "modules" wb.icncan be used to develep FSWN data usage in theclassroom. These cunicula will be published by theFlorida Department of Education during 1994/95and include the following topics:

Florida GeographyNWS Reporting StationsFSWN Reporting Stations

Universal Coordinated Time

Instrument SheltersColor; Soil types; Instruments

Temperature ScalesFahrenheit; Celsius; Kelvin

GraphsTemperatureRainfall

Isotherm AnalysisIsoplething techniques

Rain GaugesMounting and reading a rain gauge;Correlation of rainfall to satellitepicture; Causes of precipitation

Meteorograms and Time SeriesConstruction and interpretation

4. Goals

During 1994/95, !Participants will gainmore familiarity with their instruments andmany will build weather instrument shelters toimproved the representativeness of their data.We will provide an alternative to the productlisting shown in Table 2 to facilitate theinclusion of cooperative observer and FSWNdata into spreadsheets so that teachers cancreate statistical and graphical summaries oftheir data.

FSU has recently begun mirroring theUniversity of Michigan Weather Undergroundand their Blue Skies package (Samson et al.1994). We will incorpoiate a similarinteractive weather map in the future tofacilitate the data entry and data displaycapabilities of FSWN.

Through the Florida EXPLORES!program (Ruscher et al. 1993; Ruscher et al.1995; Kloesel et al. 1995), we have begun toestablish a wide variety of educationalresources and materials to teachers inelementary, middle, and high schools. Anannotated bibliography has also been prepared(Ruscher and Moose] 1994) which has beendistributed to all FSWN schools.

9 ';"4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 83

Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possiblewithout the support of Dan Smith, ScientificServices Director of the National Weather ServiceSouthern Region, and Bart Hagemeyer,Meteorologist-in-Charge at MLB. Niko leWinstead, Faith Lans, Anil Rao, and Jeff Orrockhave all assisted in various aspects of thedeveloping phase of this project. The teachers andstudents who have participated are ultimatelyresponsible for the success of this project and theyare the ones who deserve the most thanks!

References

Bruehl, M., 1994: Unidata Support of GEMPAK asan Education and Research Tool. Preprints, TenthIntl. Conf. on Inter. Infor. and Proc. Sys. forMeteorol., Hydrol., and Ocean., Boston, AmericanMeteorological Society, 297-302.

Kloesel, K., P. Ruscher, S. Graham, F. Lans, and S.Hutchins, 1995: Exploring the use of weathersatellites in the K-12 classroom. Preprints,Fourth Education Symposium, Boston, AmericanMeteorological Society, in press.

Ruscher, P. H. and K. A. Kloesel, 1994: Anannotated bibliography for the teaching ofmeteorology in primary and secondary schools.Submitted to ERIC for publication. Availableby email at [email protected].

Ruscher, P., K. Klocsel, S. Graham, F. Lans, andS. Hutchins, 1995: Exploring earth and spacescience information on the internet withFlorida EXPLORES! Preprints, 71 th UPSConference, Boston, American MeteorologicalSociety, in press.

Ruscher, P. K. Kloesel, S. Graham, and S.Hutchins, 1993: Florida EXPLORES!. Bull.Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 74, 849-852.

Samson, P. J., A. Steremberg, J. Ferguson, M.Kamprath, J. Masters, M. Monan, and T.Mullen, 1994: Blue Skies: A new interactiveteaching tool for K-12 education. Preprints,Third Symposium on Education, Boston,American Meteorological Society, J9114.

Figure 1. Analysis of precipitation (year-to-date, in inches) through 20 April 1994, using cooperat;veNWS station data from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Plotted are year-to-date rainfall (upper left)and departure from normal (upper right) for each station. Some data are not plotted to avoid ove!Analysis produced using GEMPAK.


98

Table 1. Sample Cooperative Observer Report from NWS M LB

SRUE10 KMLB 011432RRKMLBFLORIDA SUPPLEMENTAL PRECIPITATION SUMMARYNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL1032 AM EDT THU SEP 1 1994

24 HOUR PRECIPITATION ENDING AT 8 AM EDTTEMPERATURES ARE DAYTIME HIGHS AND NIGHTTIME LO13

STATION ID PCPN HI LO STATION ID PCPN

NORTH FLORIDA...

BAXTER BAXFI 0.00 HASTINGS HTGEI 0.10 95 69

BENTON-TAYLOR BNTF1 0.22 HAVANA HVNE2

BLOXHAM BLXFI 0.42 JACKSONVILLE JAX

CHIPLEY CHPF1 0.00 93 69 JAY (MILTON) MILVI

CRESTVIEW CEW 0.00 92 68 LAKE CITY LCTE:

DE FUNIAK SPR DEFFI 0.00 92 70 LIVE OAK LIVEI

DOWLING PARK DOWFI 0.00 MARIANNA MARFI f-4

ELLAVILLE ELLFI 0.22 MONTICELLO MTCF1 69

ELLAVILLE-NOBLE ELAF1 0.00 PENSACOLA PNS 0.CC 8,3

GAINESVILLE GNV 0.00 89 70 QUINCY QCYF1

GAINESVILLE AG GNSF' 0.00 95 66 TALLAHASSEE TLH

GLEN ST. MARY GSM! 0.00 92 15 WOODRUFF WDRF:

CENTRAL FLORIDA...dna SOUTH FLORIDA omicced For [Ale sage :;! tfcy

Table 2. Sample FSWN Observer Report from NWS M LB

SRUE10 KMLB 041835FLORIDA SUPPLEMENTAL PRECIPITATION SUMMARYFLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY METEOROLOGY DEPARTMENT TALLAHASSEF.,23C PM EST THU MAR 4 1993

FLORIDA SCHOOLS PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE SUMMARY24 HOUR RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE DATA ENDING AT 10AM THIS N'C'RN:%:-

TEMPERATURES ARE DAYTIME HIGHS AND NIGHTTIME LOWS

SCHOOL ID PRECIP HIGH LOW

HAVANA 5N HAVAN 2.08 65 46

BRKSVL POWELL MIDDL BROOK 0.90 87 38

KILLEARN LAKES K:LLK 2.08 ti M

LARGO SOUTHERN OAK 1.RGSP 1.50 19 59

HOLLY NAVARRE SCL NAVAR 0.30 63 50

NEW PT RICHY BAYONT RICHY 0.59 80 58

PALATKA JENKINS MDL PrKA 0.80 82 59

SATELLITE BEACH SCL SATE1 0.22 '6 59

TALAHASEE GILCHRIST TIMSF 0.50 82 44

VERO BCH MIDDL SEVN VEROB 0.10 19 43

WAKULLA MIDDLE SC:. WAKC1 1.30 /8 48

END TEST DATA/MLB

9 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

P1.16

TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP:THE NEXT STEP IN METEOROLOGICAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS

FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

William R. Krayer

Gaithersburg High SchoolGaithersburg, Maryland

1. INTRODUCTION

Pre-college science education is in the midstof unprecedented change in the United States. Awide variety of evaluative reports have beenpublished that are critical of the traditional ap-proaches to delivering science content, and thatoffer alternatives that emphasize the processes ofscience rather than rote memorization andcookbook experiments. A new approach beingimplemented at all levels is "authentic learning." Inauthentic learning, students learn science contentmost effectively in the context of solving realproblems that pique their interest or may have animpact on their lives. The delivery of content isdriven by a "need to know," as students unravelthe many aspects of a real task.

High school teachers have long recognizedthat many students, even the best ones, lose theirinitiative during their senior year. At a time whenyoung men and women could be synthesizingtheir knowledge in various subject areas toaddress real concerns, very little is offered them inthe average curriculum. In an effort to bringauthentic learning to the last year of a student'spre-college life, the Office for Instruction andProgram Development of Montgomery CountyPublic Schools, under the leadership of Dr.Joseph Villani (1994), is working with five highschools during the 1994-1995 school year to pilotthe Technology and Research Partnership (TARP)program. Each school has autonomy to configureits TARP program independently, within broadguidelines, to meet its local community needs andiap the expertise of its faculty. Gaithersburg HighSchool has elected to emphasize meteorologicalproblern-solving.

Corresponding Author Address: William R. Krayer,Gaithersburg High School, 314 South FrederickAvenue, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20877-2392.Internet: [email protected]


2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TARPPROGRAM

TARP is a designed to give high schoolseniors and exceptional juniors an opportunity towork on a team using current organizational andtechnology skills to solve an authentic problem inpartnership with a community-based business,corporation, or agency. It is scheduled as a double-period class each day, with each participantearning one credit in advancec; technology andone honors credit in science. The goal of thisauthentic problem-solving approach is to gives:udents a vision of the applicability of academiclearning, as well as giving them a chance to learn towork as a team and to solve both technical andinterpersonal problems likely to be found in anauthentic work situation.

At the core of the program are thedevelopment of the following specificcompetencies:

a. use of statistics in experimental analysis;b. reading and writing technical articles;c. using on-line data-bases and electronic

libraries to do research; andd. team planning, problem analysis, and quality

performance.

Two new technological developments atGaithersburg High School enhance the learning ofthese competencies. Access to the Internet isnow a reality, bringing availability of electronic mailand menu-driven database searching of hostcorr.puters all over the world. And GaithersburgHigh School has been chosen as a recipient ofGlobal Access technology, which will greatlyincrease the number of computers in the buildingto do Internet searches. These computers are tobe networked throughout the building, providingaccess to CD-ROM databases in the media centerat any time.

1 u1)

The expected outcomes of the TARP Programinclude the following:

the first time fo the writing of research proposalsand final reports. Specifically, small groups ofstudents

a. demonstrated competency in using acomputer to search for information, a.

analyze data, make predictions, and solveproblems;

b. demonstrated competency in interpersonalskills necessary for effective membership b.on a working team; and

c. production of a formal cooperative researchpaper, to be presented to the communitypartner on at another suitable site.

3. THE TARP PROGRAM AS CONFIGURED ATGAITHERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL

The concept of cooperative research onauthentic problems is not entirely new toGaithersburg High School (GHS). Since 1989 anin-house internship program has been in placewith an emphasis on meteorology and theprocessing and analysis of weather satellite images(Krayer, 1993). Since its inception, the in-houseinternship program has involved more than 25students, some of whom have gone on tocontinue their education in science andengineering.

The TARP Program is the next step in theongoing internship program at GHS. A partnershiphas been established with the National WeatherService Forecast Office (NWSFO) in Sterling,Virginia, to conduct research which is of value tothe meteorologists on duty there. This year theprimary topic of investigation is the detailedstructure of the urban heat ic mid created by theWashington, DC, metropolitan area. The TARPstudent team is planning to use data from severalnetworks of school-based weather stationsassociated with local television stations, as well asobservations f rom cooperative observers, tosearch for patterns in overnight low temperaturesand their relationship to synoptic conditions overthe area, topography, and local land use. Inaddition to National Weather Service involvement,several local corporations are lending support tohelp the students in areas such as statisticalanalysis, quality assurance, time management, andteam building skills.

During the first nine weeks the students areintroduced to the use of technology to carry oncooperative research. They are also exposed for

c.

d.

e.

f.

select a general area of research interest (e.g.a weather pattern or event, satellite imageprocessing, instrument design andtesting);

respond to a "mini-RFP" with a proposalstating the problem they intend to solve,their research methods, software and/ordata services they plan to use, how theyplan to incorporate statistics, and the formof their final presentation;

conduct a background literature search usingelectronic databases;

proceed with the research, learning how touse equipment and software as the needarises;

write a report of their investigations, usingproper technical writing skills; and

present their research to their peers andinterested faculty.

Throughout the process a faculty advisory teamconsisting of the TARP coordinator, technologyeducation coordinator, and media specialist areavailable to students who need specificinstruction. Additionally, several professionalsfrom community businesses answer technicalquestions either during visits to the school or byelectronic mail.

After the small-group presentations arecompleted, the Sterling forecast office and TARPadvisory team collaborate to issue the principalRFP announcement. The following outline detailsthe expectations set before the students(Montgomery County Public Schools, 1994):

a. Preliminary Proposal1) a short abstract that briefly describes the

problem to be solved;2) the plan for solving the problem; and3) a time line with anticipated checkpoints.

b. Full Proposal1) project narrative, including a specific

problem description, goals andobjectives, and project characteristics;

2) list of resource needs, includinginformation, equipment, and supplies;

3) anticipated products resulting from theresearch;


4) project calendar, an expanded time fineshowing logical sequencing of eventsand major milestones;

5) project staff descriptions and C.

responsibilities;6) description of past research in the field,

and how past results are reflected inthe project design; and d.

7) an evaluation plan assessing theeffectiveness of the research.

b.

The preparation, review, and revision of thepreliminary and full proposal documents isscheduled to be completed at the end of thesecond grading period, in mid-January.

The data collection and analysis moves forwardat the beginning of the second semester.Additional background research accompanies theexperimental phase. The team completes thework sometime during the month of April, at whichtime the students prepare their final presentationto an audience including meteorologists atNWSFO Sterling. The presenters are encouragedto use presentation graphics or a multimediaapproach.

At the end of the school year all researchpapers are compiled into an Operations Report, atechnical journal of the accomplishments of theTARP student researchers (Krayer, et al, 1994).Copies of the report are given to each student andfiled in the school's media center for futurereference.

4. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CONCERNS

A new initiative with the scope of the TARPprogram presents challenges to the coordinator.Since many students work simultaneously on avariety of subtasks, the coordinator's availability isoften divided among severai problems in need ofsolution. In addition, attention must be given tosuch concerns as organizing materials and data,raising money and purchasing equipment, andpublic relations. In keeping with the generalobjectives of the program, students are asked toassume the following responsibilities:

a. business manager - assists in keeping financialrecords, and helps to manage proposalsfor grant funding;


laboratory administrator - keeps the wort< areaorganized, and develops a logical systemto archive hard copy and floppy disks;

student media specialist - works with the staffmedia specialist on the advisory team, andkeeps a video and photographic record ofTARP st,;ue.it work;

public relations coordinator - keeps studentand community newspapers informed,and looks for ways to promote theprogram.

The coordinator is also assisted by two otherfaculty members, the technology educationresource teacher and a media specialist, to formthe advisory team. They provide invaluable insightinto the progress of students in the program, andare able to assist in specialized areas such asengineering of experimental hardware oraccessing on-line databases.

5. STUDENT AND PROGRAM EVALUATION

Three methods have been established forstudent assessment in the TARP program. Everyother week all students fill out an evaluation form,on which they list the number of hours theyworked. Students also evaluate their ownperformance in areas such as punctuality,efficiency, learning growth, and human relationsskills, and are encouraged to provide feedback tothe advisory team concerning problems in need ofattention. Second, all participants must keer adaily journal of their activities. Finally, studentsestablish files, or portfolios, which they fill withevidence of their learning. Portfolios may containprintouts from on-line databases, computerprograms, processed satellite images or any otherdocument that demonstrates personalachievement. At the end of each grading periodeach student is scheduled for a formal conferc icewith the TARP coordinator, where all performanceassessment criteria are reviewed. Weight is alsogiven to the performance of research groups.

The advisory team plans frequent meetings toaddress student concerns and evaluate theprogress of the TARP program. The team alsoconsiders input from professionals who partnerwith the students.

102

6. ASSURING PROGRAM CONTINUITY

The TARP program differs from an authenticresearch establishment in one important way: itloses most of its employees every year. Therecruitment of qualified, motivated young men andwomen for the following school year is critical to thecontinued success of the program. Thecoordinator plans to begin recruiting students inJanuary, about a month before registration. Laterin the spring, transition meetings are scheduled sothat present participants can introduce theirsuccessors to the overali TARP plan. Eventhough the main research topics may be verydifferent in the 1995-1996 school year, the basicprinciples of TARP remain constant.

7. CONCLUSION

The Technology and Research PartnershipProgram is an ambitious attempt to bring authenticlearning to older high school students who aremaking important career decisions. This pilotproject is not yet through its first year, but thepreliminary evaluation seems promising. Throughcollaboration with the local National WeatherService Forecast Office, a complex researchr-nblem is being addressed. The results of thisproject hopefully will be of value to themeteorologists who may use them. Howevervaluable these results may prove to be, the

processes of research, experimentation, technicalreading and writing, and group cooperation will beof immense value to the students as they move onto higher education.

REFERENCES

Krayer, W. R., 1994: A Remote Sensing In-HouseInternship Program for High School Seniorsand Juniors. Preprint volume, ThirdInternational Conference on School andPopular Meteorological and OceanographicEducation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, pp. 99-102 .

, S. Fisher, J. A. Griffeth, K. Hague, C. L.Marth, G. Santilla, J. Scigliano, Jr., and D.Shukla, 1994: Operations Report of TheGaithersburg High School Internship Team,1993-1994. Unpublished document, 60 pp.

Montgomery County Public Schools, 1994:Technology and Research PartnershipProposal Guidelines. Draft document, Office.for Instruction and Program Development,Montgomery County Public Schools, 3 pp.

Villani, Joseph, 1994: Technology and ResearchPartnership A Plan for A Field Test, 1994-95.Draft document, Office tor Instruction andProgram Development, Montgomery CountyPublic Schools, 3 pp.


P1.17

ESTABLISHING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN BUSINESSES AND SCHOOLS

Hector Ibarra

West Branch Middle SchoolWest Branch, Iowa

Education is at the crossroads in many regards. In the coming years parents, the community, andbusinesses may be major components of the cornerstones in education. I have found that promisingideas and enthusiasm open the door for businesses to get involved in supporting school projects whichmeet their philosophies and guidelines. Small ideas can blossom into larger ideas that can besignificant in bringing together parents, students, businesses, and teachers.

My presentation is about partnerships that I have found to be successful and are available to you.The easiest place to begin is by establishing a partnership with a local television studio. A phone

call to the meteorologist is all it takes. Studios are willing to give tours or better yet, follow up a tourwith the opportunity to sit in on a live news telecast. What a thrill this was for the parents, thestudents, and myself. We were able to talk to the newscasters when videotaped segments were used.When the telecast was over, the students were allowed to see how the projection of the weather mapswas done. They were allowed to role play being meteorologists using the "green screen" and monitors.If possible, I recommend you learn the color of the screen in advance of the tour. Have studentswearclothing that matches that color. They will be amazed to find they are nearly invisibleon thescreen. None of this would have been possible if I didn't have the nerve to ask if sitting in on a livetelecast was possible. The studio won't offer to have 20 people sit in on a live telecast, unless you ask.And we were invited back. This service is a great public relations for the meteorologist, the studio,and perhaps most importantly the ratings. The meteorologist comes to our school to do presentationsand provides my class with data sheets stating last year's highs and lows, normal highs and lows,year of record highs and lows, precipitation, sunrise and sunset times, and many other weatherrelated data. Invite your meteorologist to your school and establish a partnership with the TVsta ,.; 3n.

Partnerships with funding sources may also be available in your state. In Iowa, the Iowa EnergyCenter and the Iowa Science Foundation provide funds for projects involving energy and scienceeducation. High Efficiency Lighting Systems for Schools is a project with a component quantifyingthe amount of toxic pollutants prevented from being released into the atmosphere. These pollutantsinclude carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides. This material provides an excellent lead into the study of global warming, acid rain, and smog.

Partnerships with businesses require more energy but the results are very rewarding. Partnershipswith olectric utility companies can easily be established. Creative ideas and enthusiasm meetingthe businesses' philosophies and guidelinesare important elements for a successful partnership. Maintaining open lines of communication willenhance the success of your project. I can't stress enough the importance of getting the partnersinvolved and working together as a team to develop your project.

In Iowa 97% of the dollars needed for energy production goes out of our state. To help det rease thisamount, in 1990 the Iowa legislature passed a state law which required utility companies to promoteenergy efficient programs. Iowa utility companies are required to provide certain benefits to theircustomers. Many Iowa utilities provide their customers with efficient shower heads, sink aerators,fluorescent lamps, water heater blankets, pipe insulation, and several other devices. In addition, ourutilities pay a technician to install the devices. Why not get the utilities to give your class all thedevices and have your class do a research project on the savings of water and energy between the


1_04

devices presently in their homes and the efficient devices that will be provided? Your students candevc 'op their own testing methods between the plumbing fixtures in their homes and the energyefficient devices. Let your students immerse themselves in the scientific method of discovery by doingfield based research that is inquiry driven.

But first who do you contact? In my case it was the marketing analyst for Iowa-Illinois Gas andElectric, the senior marketing engineer for Iowa Eiectric Southern, and the member seivices sum-visorfor Linn County REC. These people were very willing to help. They provided our school with "checkmeters" to measure the energy used by large appliances and "low wattage meters" to measure theenergy used by light bulbs, fluorescent lamps, and engine block heaters. A demand site servicecompany provided many of the water and energy efficient devices at cost. This enabled the middleschool students to be involved in our project entitled "Student Research: An Investment in Our Future".Again, I can't overemphasize the importance of having an idea that meets the guidelines andphilosophies of utilities and businesses. In this case their goals were to save the customer money, tosave the utility company money by decreasing peak loads, to keep the utility company rates clown bynot having to make additions to the power plant and to install gas lines, to save our fossil fuels, and,perhaps most important, to help our environment by decreasing pollution emissions.

I have found these business partnerships to be very rewarding. Students learned 1) about energyand water conservation; 2) pollutants that can be decreased; and3) content terminology by doing fieldbased research that was process oriented. Parents were directly involved by assisting th&r childrenin measurements and in verifying the data that was collected. The students learned and came toappreciate the wonders of computers for developing spreadsheets and a database. The communitywas involved by having students make presentations about our project to the City Counch, the SchoolBoard, and the EPA in Washington, D.C. The school was involved through the first middle schoolwide interdisciplinary unit that cut across the curricula. Publicity about our project was provided byarea newspapers and local TV stations. This involvement resulted in the utilities, the demand siteservice company, and West Branch Middle School science classes receiving numerous awards includingthe President's Environmental Youth Award and Busch Garden Sea World A Pledge and A Promise

Environmental Award.Many Iowa utility companies also provide an assortment of Energy Education Resource Programs. A

catalog detailing the services is available. Tours are given and guest apeakers visit the schools. Thekits include activities and literature. Computer software, tapes, films, and filmstrips are on loan. I

strongly recommend establishing a partnership with your local utility.The last partnership I will discuss involved the federal government. Putting together a successful

partnership involved many people throughout the United States. In the end, the partnership wasvery rewarding because of the great experiences that were provided to the teachers. Again, a smallidea grew to become reality. The keys to ensuring success are: asking people for help, informing themabout your Liea, and getting information of where to go for additional help. We all need assurancesthat our ideas will be successful. In my case, Dr. Ira Geer and Ms. Ellie Snyder provided theassistance I needed. Because of their involvement, an 8 hour short course was presented at the NSTANational Science Convention in Kansas City. Twenty-four teachers were able to use the NationalSevere Storms Forecasting Center and the National Weather Service training Center to learn moreabout how weather forecasting is done. Dr. Joe Schaefer, Mr. Rich McNulty, Mr. Pete Chaston, Mr.Joel Wertman, Mr. Jerry Griffith, and Mr. John Jerboe went beyond what was asked. The participantswere involved in a hands-on radar simulation and downloaded and printed current weather mapsfrom their states using AFOS. There was no charge for using the facilities. The teaching of the radarand AFOS was done by the staff at the National Weather Service Training Center. Two ProjectAtmosphere presentations were done by Atmospheric Education Resource Agents, Ms. Pat Warthanand Ms. Kathy Murphy. Dr. Schaefer, director of National Weather Service Training Center(NWSTC) commented, "This type of cooperative venture between the local schools and the federalgovernment (NWSTC) is a classic example of a win-win situation." The ultiinate compliment wasmade when Dr. Schaefer asked me to set-up this workshop again. Dr. Schaefer, the NationalWeather Service Training Center staff, and the Project Atmosphere AERA agents all workedtogether to form a successful partnership.


Unfortunately, facilities such as the National Weather Service Training Center are limited toteachers in that area. Facilities such as training center exist throughout the United States. Thedirectors are willing to have teachers use their resources. Search and find out what is nearby, thendevelop a creative idea which meets their philosophies and guidelines.

Weather Service Forecast Offices are also located in many states. Many of these centers arereplacing their old weather stations with computerized systems. Weather stations complete withpsychrometers, barometers, hygrometers, and a rain gauge can be obtained on loan from them. Yourstudents will be more involved in doing real life weather observations. As volunteer weatherobservers they will become a part of the Cooperative Observers Program.

These are some examples of how small ideas can become a reality. Area businesses want to be moreinvolved with the community and the school. Look around and explore the possibility ofestablishing partnerships with your school.


1 06

P1.18 Project Atmosphere Gives Teachers a New Look at the Water Cycle

Jerri Johnson*Atmospheric. Educational Resource Agent

Barton Elementary SchoolIrving, Texas

In most grade levels the topic of weatherstarts with -in introduction of the water cycle.In this introduction the teacher proceeds toillustrate or point out chart models of thewater cycle. A problem arises with thispresentation in that the student soonattaches little value to the concept becauseit is only something that exists on a flatpiece of paper warranting little to noimportance to the daily life of anyone. Atthis stage Project Atmosphere is helping toimprove the presentation of this topicthrough its module entitled Water Vaporand the Water Cycle.

In the module teachers are provided basicunderstandings of the substance of water,the water cycle, water vapor, water vaporobservation, saturation and precipitation.Water vapor observation is a new tool forthe classroom teacher with the availability ofcurrent satellite imagery. Because of thenewness of this tool, Project Atmosphere isexplaining to teachers what they areobserving and why, so they would be betterable to teach their students. You see thesestudents see the current satellite imagerywhether on TV or in newspapers with little tono explanation to what they are seeing andwhy.

*Corresponding author addreLI Jern Johnson,AMS, AREA Irving, Texas, 75060

It is exciting to see the "light come on"when you tell teachers, as they look at thesatellite images, that they are looking at thewater cycle in motion. The break from thetraditional flat paper model to the real fifeimage is rewarding. The presentation of thismodule includes a video tape entitled,Water Vapor The Unseen Weather. In thistape, an explanation is given in the use andmeaning of satellite water vapor imagery.The video compares this weather observingproduct to more familiar infrared imagesseen daily on TV.

Examples of water vapor imagery ofhistorical importance are highlighted in thevideo which brings a high human interestlevel in focus. These significant weatherevents include the following: The Blizzardof '93 which brought widespread winterconditions to the East Coast resulting in 250deaths; the flash flooding in Texas duringSeptember 13-16, 1991, which was theresult of flood producing thunderstorm;flash flooding in Kentucky during July 24-26,1992, as presented in both full-disc andNorth American sectrx loops of water vaporcirculation, flooding and tornadoes in thesouthern plains during May 8-9, 1993 whichincludes the disastrous floods nearOklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the deadlytornado damage near Dallas, Texas whichresulted from serve thunderstorms.Hurricane Hugo during September 21-22,1989, and Hurricane Andrew during August23-27, 1992, are also shown.

The weather cycle is usually presented in avery calm cycle of events, yet in theexamples above one can quickly concludethat usually it can be just the opposite.Students' attention and interest level is

4713 SYMP. ON EDUCATION 930

P1.19 PROJECT WEATHERWATCH: A COOPERATIVE METEOROLOGICAL EFFORTBETWEEN PROJECT ATMOSPHERE AND THE GREATER NEWARK CONSERVANCY

Richard L Lees *

NJ A REA

Lyndhurst High SchoolLyndhurst, New Jersey

1. INTRODUCTION

Project Weatherwatdi is a developmentalprogram between teachers of one of New Jersey'slargest cities and Lyndhurst, a nearby suburban/urbanschool district. At the inception of Project Weatherwatch,five Newark schools were sokaled bythe Greater NewarkConservancy a non-profit, private group whose solepurpose is to bring enrichment activities associated withweather and environmental issues to Newark teachers.Prior to the weather program, the Conservancypioneered a garden project throughout the city RichardLees, a Project Atmosphere A ERA located near Newark,NJ, was contacted to provide insight, resources andtraining for the original Newark participants, theseteachers wer from both public and private schools.

2. BACKGROUND

The Newark, New Jersey School District, withapproxknately 48,000 students in 1993-94, is the largestin the state. Its average per pupil expenditure is nowgreater than $10,700 per pupil. This is well above thestate average. "--The Sunday Star Ledger, July 31,1994.

The Newark School System is also the largest ofthe state identified 'special needs" districts, which is thedescriptive term for a district that has an overwhelmingnumber of students from low-income families.Additionally, these students represent racial and ethnicminorities with nine percent white and one percentAsian. The Sunday Star Ledger July 31, 1994.

Corresponding mirror address: Richard L Lees,Lynchurst School District Science/MathttechnologySupervisor, Lyndhurst High School, Wean Avenue,Lyndhurst, New Jersey 07071


3. THE PROBLEM

"Report on Newark system reveals disturbingfacts."The Sunday Star Ledgec July 31, 1994, "NewarkSchools ay out for improvement," *The Sunday StarLedger, August 21, 1994, °Target: Newark: Sate set fortakeover of failing school district, " -Tuohy, 1994,'Newark schools facing their final warning notice,"*Braun, 1994, are a few of the recent headlines thatreveal that the Newark School District is not meeting theneeds of its students.

A State Department Education report identifiesnumerous deficiencies throughout the educational effortof the city. Although many serious problems are statedas administrative, critical issues found in the classroomwere most stunning. *-----, The Sunday Star LedgerAugust 213, 1994. The majority of pupils who remain inNewark's schools are in danger of leaving high schoolwkhout a diploma because of the inability of thosestudents to pass the state-mandated graduation testknown as the HSPT11.

One aspect revealed in the visits of stateofficials was that Instruction was and is unchakengkig.Children were not being encouraged to generate theirown ideas, to collaborate in problem solving activities, towrite in class, to read widely, or to use skills and facts incontext. Where science teaching does occur, studentsare rarely given tands-on" experience. * , TheSunday Star Ledger July 31, 1994.

4. THE GREATER NEWARK CONSERVANCYAND PROJECT ATMOSPHERE

The Greater Newark Conservancy works toimprove the quality of life in the greater NOWA* area. It

has established a Youth Education Program to promoteenvironmental awareness and action. The GNC appliedfor and gained funding for "Project Weatherwatch", a

1 0

program for both public and pnvate school staff to gainpersonal hands-on experience with meteorologicphenomena Hopefully teachers will gain strategies forimproving their students' critical thinking , problem-

solving and decision-making skies.A letter form the Greater Newark Conservancy

was received by Lees, a NJ AERA. The communicationstated 1 would lice to enlist your help in the GNC effoit tomake things better in the Newark schools... ." *Hadie1993. Thus, Project Atmosphere became an integralpart of Me movement Through mutual cooperationbetween the GNC and Project Atmosphere , the Newarkteachers were provided with much-needed sdencx)(weather' equipment and were exposed to teachertraining that introduced effecrive teaching and learningmethods.

Project Atmosphere modules such as CloudsHazardous Weather, and Water Vapor: The UnseenWeatheralong with Look Uol wrap-arounds were used toprovide the basis tor training workshops. Thesewortshops were held in one of New Jersey's premierenvironmental centers located in the HackensackMeadowlands. Here ono also finds the world's firstgarbage museum!

'By day's end, teachers were discussing frontsand dew points, highs and lows, and even making cloudsappear in soda bottles.* ' , City Bloom, Spring, 1994.

5. PLANS

Workshops, visits and training will take placeduring the 1994-95 school term. Expansion to fiveadditional Newark Schools is planned. Furthermore, thenearby suburban/urban school district of Lyndhurst isadopting a similar program with sister schools betweencommunities as a result.

Project Atmosphere materials will again serve as

catalysts foraction.

REFERENCES

Braun, Robert J., June 26, 1994: Newark schools facingtheir final warning notice. The Sunday StarLedger, pp. 1,8.

, Spring, 1994... First full-day workshop forWeatherwatch. City Bloom: Newsletter of theGreaterNeww*Conservancy, p.2.

Hadley, Deborah: letter dated October 21, 1993., July 31. 1994: Report on Newark system reveals

disturbing facts. The Sunday Star Ledger,

pp.43-44., August 21, 1994: Newark schools cry out for

improvement. The Sunday Star Ledger,pp. 51-52

---, August al, 1994: Newark: atextbook case ofscholastic inadeqtacy The Sunday StarLedger, pp. 47-4a

Tuohy, Cyril, July 23, 1994: Target: Newark - State setfor takeover of failing school district. The NorthJersey Herald &News, pp. Al, A4.

'd4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 95

P1 .20

LIGHTNING HAZARD EDUCATION

Ronald L. Holle, RaUl E. Lopez, Kenneth W. HowardNational Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA

Norman, Oklahoma 73069

R. James VavrekA.L. Spohn School, Hammond, IN 46320

Jim AllsoppNational Weather Service, NOAA, Romeoville, IL 60441

1. INTRODUCTION

This paper assesses misconceptiow, thatstudents, science teachers, and the general publichave of the lightning hazard. While most ofthe available information in school texts andpamphlets is correct, it is not clearly prsentedand the hazard remains confusing to most people.A person's perception of the lightning hazardappears to be derived from what was learnedduring school years.

2. PROACTIVE PLANNINGNot enough emphasis has been placed on the

proactive ability to recognize a lightninghazard. Instead, most literature and trainingmaterials treat the reactive mode. Thisapproach emphasizes the posture to take when aperson is caught by surprise in the open (i.e., it istoo late for precautions) by a thunderstorm whenthe lightning threat is at its greatest.

Questions from the public or media oftenstart with issues similar to the following ideas:

"Is it better to wear rubber-soled shoes thanmetal cleats on the golf course?""Should I move away from my metal bicyclebecause it's more likely to be hit?"

We delay answering these types of questionsat the start of a question and answer period.Rather, we concentrate on the primary issue:

Corresponding author address: Ronald Hone,National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, 1313Halley Circle, Norman, OK 73069.


"Why be on a golf course or riding a bike during asignificant lightning threat in the first place?"

When the discussion starts this way, there isan opportunity to explain a proactive approachto lightning safety that emphasizes advanceplanning. A complete explanation involves asequence of decisions on a time scale from days toseconds. For an all-day hike, consider thefollowing actions according to time sequence:

4, Days before activity1. Be aware of the possibility of storms thatmay form M the area and at the time of anactivity. Listen to weather broadcasts bythe media and NOAA Weather Radio forgeneral outlooks.2. Decide on rules to stop the activity, andwhere to take shelter.

Day of activity1. Have a plan at all times during the hikefor where to take shelter if lightning movestoward your location.2. For a group activity, use a designatedspotter who watches for lightning. Followthe rules that were decided in advance.

When thunderstorms develop1. Estimate distance to lightning using theflash-to-bang method (section 3, next page).2. Know how long it will take to reachshelter from where you are.3. Determine whether the storm is approach-ing your position.4. Take action in ample time to avoid thelightning.

1 ';

Lightning nearby1. Go inside a vehicle with a solid metal top.Safe vehicles include a car, bus, van, or thecab of a truck. Don't contact any metal.2. Gu inside a building normally occupied bythe public or used as a residence by people. Ingeneral, all-metal buildings are safe if aperson stays low in the middle and keepsboth feet together; a metal-topped buildingwith stone or other non-conducting walls isnot safe. Don't touch anything connected tothe power, phone, television cable, orplumbing entering a building from theoutside.3. Don't stand under or near a tree; stay awayfrom poles, antennas, and towers.

Last minuteIf precautions have been ignored, crouch onthe balls of your feet with the head down.Don't touch the ground with your hands.

Other concepts are also explained in responseto the two questions above. The followinganswers avoid the reactive mode:

Lightning currents coming up from the groundare so strong that shoe type does not matter.A lightning flash originating in a cloud 6 km(20,000 ft) overhead is more likely to hit thetallest object.Since the average distance that a flashsearches to strike ground is on the order of 50yards (meters), where you are located rel-ative to other tall objects is very important.

This flow of discussion sometimes results indissatisfaction from the questioner because it washoped that a quick, easy approach to lightningsafety would be given.

When these concepts are explained, less timeis spent on the don'ts of lightning safety. Forexample, when hiking in the Colorado mountainson a July afternoon in a forest far from vehicles orbuildings, there may be no better action than toseek a thick grove of small trees surrounded bytall trees, away from individual trees. At thatpoint a listener realizes that safety here is morestatistical than absolute.

Despite the need for proactive planning,some literature on lightning safety shows peoplein outdoor sports who are crouching in an openarea. That message is reactive and not thecomplete plan; the message should also includeplanning ahead and avoiding the situation.

3. FLASH TO BANGThe distance to lightning from a location can

be found using the fact that light travelsenormously faster than sound. The distance tolightning using the "flash-to-bang" method of 5seconds per mile has been taught for a long time.Yet it appears to be known correctly by roughlyhalf of trained science teachers, much less thanhalf of science students, and an equally smallportion of the general public. In the metricsystem, the distance is 3 seconds per kilometer.

The "flash-to-bang" method is described inVavrek et al. (1993a,b; 1994a,b) as:

When you see the LulaCount the seconds to the bang of its thunder.Divide the number of seconds by five for thedistance in miles from you to the lightning.

The result of such timing is that a flash fivemiles away takes 25 seconds for its thunder toreach the obser.ver. In demonstrating thisinterval during a talk, the audience quicklyrealizes the length of this tiwe period.

The other aspect of the flash-to-bangmethod is to determine a safe distance. AFlorida study by Krider (1988) found the averagedistance between successive ground strikes in thesame storm was two to three miles. This distancecorresponds to 10 to 15 seconds from flash to bang.Other types of storms in other locations andother seasons have not been examined for thisdistance.

For safety purposes, then, we alwaysrecommend a longer flash-to-bang time than 10 to15 seconds when shelter should have beenreached.

In contrast, there is a false alarm problem.Thunder can often be heard up to 10 miles (16km), corresponding to 50 seconds flash-to-bang;sometimes it is audible as far as 20 miles away(32 km). Should all precautions be taken immed-iately on the first sound of thunder? Ourexperience has shown that most people who arefrequently involved in outdoor activities will notfollow an overly restrictive policy such as this.Instead, thunder is identified as the wakeup callto the threat of lightning. The distance,direction, extent, motion, and growth stage of thestorm producing the lightning should be assessedimmediately. Actually, the situation should bemonitored earlier to be aware of the first flash

;4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 97

from a storm. If a thunderstorm is far to thenorth and moving northeast, the threat is lessthan when lightning is three miles away andseems to be coming closer. When people know theflash-to-bang method and follow the stormsituation, common sense starts to be used. Theyare more aware of the situation and are takingpersonal responsibility for their exposure tolightningthis is the main goal.

Some relevant results from a study by Ho Ileet al. (1993) in central Florida were:

The end of the storm is very important. Asmany lightning casualties occurred after asbefore the peak lightning activity. So theflash-to-bang method must be applied untilthunder has receded completely.Low flash-rate storms had more casualtiesthan high-rate storms.The conclusion is that relatively few peopleare casualties of lightning during heavy rainand high flash rates in the middle of astorm. Instead, low flash rates before andafter the strongest portion of the storm arevery important. Low flash rates also occur onthe edges of thunderstorms as they pass alocation.

4. POSTURE RELATIVE TO GROUNDThe posture of laying flat on the ground

continues to be mentioned in some materials.More recent research shows that ground contact isan important source of casualties from nearbylightning strikes to ground (Andrews et al. 1992).

While it is good to be as low as possible, itappears that lightning more often enters thevictim through the ground compared to a directstrike from overhead. The person, then, shouldcrouch on the balls of the feet, with the headdown. Don't touch the ground with the hands.

5. EDUCATION VERSUS WARNINGSSome of the public expects that automatic

measurement equipment being monitored bysomeone else will take care of their respons-ibility for tracking the lightning threat. In largeinstallations such as the Kennedy Space Centerand some outdoor recreation and utilityoperations, such systems are in place and havebeen tested for usable thresholds.


For most people in daily situations, however,there is not likely to be a product from theNational Weather Service or other agency thatwill pinpoint the exact place and time of aperson's vulnerability to lightning. Instead,each person must take responsibility for theirown situation. This is the main reason whyeducation is being emphasized for lightningsafety.

In the case of team sports, a designatedspotter on site should watch the sky for the stormsituation. Experience shows that many coachesand officials are so involved in the games thatthey are unwilling or unable to monitor thedevelopment of the storm situation at the sametime.

6. EDUCATION ACTIVITIESThe authors have undertaken a number of

projects for lightning awareness and action. Itshould be mentioned that an excellent paperbackbook on many aspects of lightning is Urnan (1986).Activities include:

Flash to Bang articleThe same article with slight variations hasbeen published in several science teachermagazines at the state and national levels(Vavrek et al. 1993a,b; 1994a,b). It was in-tended as an instructional and resource toolfor science teachers and their students,coaches, officiators, bus drivers, and schooladministrators who are responsible for thesafety of students and others outdoors.

PosterA 16 x 20-inch poster was developed byHoward and Ho lle (1994) on avoiding treesduring thunderstorms. A flash fills theposter as it strikes and illuminates a tree;the same photo is in Uman (1991). Thevicinity of trees is the single most commonlocation across the country and around theworld where people are victims of lightning.The initial audience is for school children byhaving the poster placed as a reminder nearschool doors and entryways. A first printingof 3000 copies was made and sent to scienceteachers in many organizations across thecountry, as well as to interested members ofthe public and media.

Underreporting of lightning casualtiesA more complete measure of the lightningthreat ranks lightning nearly as h*.gh asmost other types of severe weather in theaverage year. In some states lightning is thegreatest threat from thunderstorms duringmost years. Lopez et al. (1993) and Mogil etal. (1977) used regional datasets to showthat lightning casualties. are underreported,especially in the case of injuries.

Scenarios of lightning casualtiesIn-depth analyses of activities and locationsof past lightning victims were made forColorado (Lopez et al. 1994) and centralFlorida (Ho Ile et al. 1993). Verbalnarratives in Storm Data were used to extractmore detail than in the past for these states.Discussions with the public, media, teachers,and personnel in the National WeatherService have benefitted from betteridentification of scenarios that have lead tolightning casualties in their areas.

7. SUMMARYIt is suggested that lightning education needs

the following:

A major reemphasis toward proactiveplanning.More emphasis on proper lightning-avoidance activities must be transmitted tostudents through the education system,especially in schools, as part of sciencecourses.Better knowledge about proper behavior toavoid lightning must be transmitted to theadult public through a broad range of better-prepared literature and other media.

A useful approach is to reach segments of thepopulation that spends a substantial amount oftime outdoors through magazines andpublications targeted for such activities asfishing, climbing, and bicycling.

In summary, the suggested approach forlightning safety is to follow these steps:

1. Plan ahead2. Avoid dangerous lightning situations3 Don't be, or be connected to, the highest

objects.

8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSRecognition is due to CMSgt. P. Kummerfeldt andSSgt. J. Myers of the U.S. Air Force Academy inColorado Springs, who have taken these ideas asguidelines. Discussions with D. Rust of NSSL inNorman, E. P. Krider of the University ofArizona, K. Cummins of Geo Met Data Services inTucson, and K. Langford in Golden, Colorado areappreciated.

9. REFERENCESAndrews, C.J., M.A. Cooper, M. Darveniza, and D.

Mackerras, 1992: Lightning injuries: Electrical,Medical, and Legal Aspects. CRC Press, BocaRaton, FL, 195 pp.

Ho Ile, R.L., R.E. Lopez, R. Ortiz, C.H. Paxton, D.M.Decker, and D.L. Smith, 1993: The localmeteorological environment of lightningcasualties in central Florida. Preprints, 17th Conf.on Severe Local Storms and Conf. onAtmospheric Electricity, Oct. 4-8, St. Louis, Amer.Meteor. Soc., 779-784

Howard, K.W., and R.L. Ho lle, 1994: Lightning danger.Poster, National Severe Storms Laboratory,NOAA, Norman, OK, 1 pp.

Krider, E.P., 1988: Spatial distribution of lightningstrikes to ground during small thunderstorms inFlorida. Proc., Intl. Conf. Lightning and StaticElectricity, April 19-22, Oklahoma City, 318-322.

Lopez, R.E., and R.L. Ho Ile, and T.A. Heitkamp, 1994:Lightning casualties and property damage inColorado from 1950 to 1991 based on Storm Data.Wea. Forecasting, 9 [in press].R.L. Holle, T. Heitkamp, M. Boyson, M.Cherington, and K. Langford, 1993: Theunderreporting of lightning injuries and deaths inColorado. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 74, 2171-2178.

Mogil, H.M., M. Rush, and M. Kutka, 1977: Lightning---An update. Preprints, 10th Conf. on SevereLocal Storms, Oct. 18-21, Omaha, Amer. Meteor.Soc., 226-230.

Uman, M.A., 1986: All About Lightning. DoverPublications, Inc., Mineola, New York, 167 pp.

, 1991: The best lightning photo I've ever seen.Weatherwise, 44, 8-9.

Vavrek, J., R.L. Holle, and J. Allsopp, 1993a: Flash tobang. The Earth Scientist, National Earth ScienceTeachers Assoc., 10, 3-8.

, and , 1993b: Flash to bang. Spectrum, IllinoisScience Teachers Assoc., 19, 21-26., and , 1994a: Flash to bang. Reading 10 inProject Earth Science: Meteorology, P.S. Smithand B.A. Ford, Eds., National Earth ScienceTeachers Assoc., Arlington, VA, 210-219., and , 1994b: Flash to bang=5 seconds permile. The Hoosier Science Teacher, HoosierAssoc. of Science Teachers, 19, 101-110.

1 t t.) 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 99

P1.22

HOW Li THE WEATifiEK UP TilLML... DOWN THERE ?... OVER THERE ?

Kathleen A. Murphy

St. Anthony's School3005 High Ridge Blvd.High Ridge, Missouri

63049

INTRODUCTION

In July of 1993, theThird International Conferenceon School and PopulalMeteorological andOceanographic Education tookplace in Toronto, Canada.People from all around theworld gathered to discuss whatis happening and what canhappen in the realmEducation. As an educator, I.

was inspired by the dedicati,:luof these people to spread t.henews that the weather was iu

excellent medium whic ccolldcall young people througbo.11:the world to study Mathematic:;and cience. I was atsc. ve,rmuch awaie of the (41(A,It

concern foi educ6.tion. flei

very :mal.]

communtry, I began L.) f- '

that my t-itudenta, wer(,

a whole world out.:;idecommunity.colleaqucs would sh..1,

1.hterc'l n tithe, c'imo,1!

aiuund world. Oul.'

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t IC t O[ We be..,11 I :

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100 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL soCIErr

IN THE UNITED STATES

Fall of 1993 bcg.an with aseries of meteorologicaldisasters. Hurricane )z.milv wasthreatening the East Coast.My students wondered whatbeing in a hurricane was like.So wrote letters to two ofour Atmospheric Fedu....atiou

Resource Agents (AFRA'fi:).aking what the weather waslike In addition to learningwhat: the East Coastexperi.encing, my ::tudepte, w,!-able to sympathize wLth

For many ni7 myhad cKprt:rienced the Flood of

.7/3. Then, in Orrol.. (-rric.

letter frorc, if.A n r.;ouv-pu

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,

114 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

separating us from the rivernever left my house

because I was afraid(that) I would not have a

house when I came back...Weare praying for you. We willkeep you in our thoughts.

Anthony "

As you can see, weatherevents have brought studentstogether in a much deeper waythan I ever thought waspossible.

IN CANADA

The Conference was heldin Toronto, where I metanother enthusiasticcolleague, Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, from the AtmosphericEnvironment Service. She wasworking with students from theArctic Circle as well as fromEdmonton, Alberta, her owncommunity. With Yvonne's helpI was able to contact KarenEastlake and Linda Manson,teachers from the Gold BarElementary School. Studentsfrom my classes adopted theirJtudents and friendshipsflourished. My students wereamazed that the Canadianchildren could play in thesnow at recess! The Canadianchildten wondered why we wouldget a day off from school'just because it snowed a

eouple of inches! We talkedabout how the differentcountries measured thu'temperature. One Canadiana.c.udent asked, " Why don't youuse metrics? Do you know whatacy are?". Both schoolsexchanged videos of what a,ypical day is like at their

We found it veryinteresting that the climateof eaeh community affected howz.hey lived.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 115

IN JAPAN

The InternationalConference provided me withmany contacts throughout theworld. I was most fortunatewhen I met Dr.TsuneyaTakahashi from the HokkaidoUniversity of Education.Through our facsimilemachines, we corresponded withan English class at the localjunior high school.Unfortunately, the mail isquite slow and we have foundthat the faxes are much moreeffective. We exchanged"slang" saying and discussedearthquakes. We discussedour different cultures. Mystudents were amazed that theJapanese students did notcelebrate Christmas! We didlearn that they celebrate NewYears. So, we mailed "carepackages" at the end of year(December). Three monthslater, the Japanese studentshad their first ChristmasParty. The students enjoyedChristmas cards, stories, a

miniature tree and tear-jerkergum. My students enjoyed NewYear Cards and Omoochi. Weare still not too sure of howLa eat ic, though.

iN NEW ZEALAND

We were very anxious tohave a pen pal from theSouthern Hemisphere. It Washard for my students to

comprehend a place where aLluf the seasons were tbc

u-pposite of what they h_el.

experienced. Thanks Lu thihternational Cunierenc,again, I. met Ms. Jenny Fogyour the Correspondence Schou',

in Wellington, Now Zealand,ehe put me lu contaet with Mr.Jock McPherson at the Sacredheart '..;chuol. We learned Liget


away that: things wer2different "down undei". Wereceived their first lettersin May of 1994. WHY? Becausethe students in New Zealandwere only beginning theirschool year. Unfortunately,we start our summer vacationwhen they start their nchoolyear. 'f.,rhaps the seasons u.,-et;.la opnnsite of each othefWe arc looking forward todiscussing environmentalissus. The students areespccially concerned with(.)Z011c. depletion. Who better.tu as than our new friends?

IN AUSTRALIA

Our Austral.:Hn AEA,Russell Legg, has r.ritru-.7.cdus to a collegue ofBLisbanc, Mr. Grahamnc E-ent a copy of thc . v.veriThez

page f rem hi.s local newsparThis inspired oHrp,:sje-t For months,school will nave Ihe weath,-/pages from their local.

5 day period mort)-(I'Lom the tOth to he trW,'Then eercl school will stu.,d a

'-. )p i :he map to th

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CONCLUSION

The Third Enternati,)nalConference has opened up a

whole ncw world to mystudents. I can only assHmethat our pen pals have madejusr an many excitdiscoveries. With the help r)cmy colleagues, mY m-rugertshave learned a treisufe chetfull of new knowledge aboutother peonle who ar.- nor-.

different from themselves. Webegan by talking about. ti1.7,

weather and have beccirefriends. Wa have le:nedthrough books 3..:111

Luovel edge,friendship weunderst.anding

iR

P1 .23 A POLAR EXPRESS - NEW YORK TO TEXAS

Rose Marie Camarda

Syracuse City SchoolsSyracuse, New York

It all began with a simple phone call from anAERA from Texas. There was a teacher in McKinney,Texas who wanted to pair up with a teacher fromanother part of the country and exchange Biome boxes.

It sounded like a great idea, especially since wewere studying the Earth's biomes and what better wayto help students truly understand the differences than tohave the real things there to touch and hold.

We agreed to work on the boxes with our studentsfor the next month or so and then mail them to eachother at the same time. However, as most of us know,when you work with children, nothing is predictableand many plans are changed from minute to minute.The boxes we never simultaneously sent.

When the idea was presented to my students,everyone was excited. Our problem was -- how to getall 125 students involved at the same time. We decidedthat the best way would be to do this project in ourAcademic Excellence Period at the end of the day.

Each teacher on the team chose a topic, such as,plants and animals, industry, geography, etc. Eachclass brain stormed what they thought would beappropriate to enclose in a Biome box of our area. Thestudents had several ideas but were forced to be limitedby the constraints of box size and ability to be mailed.They soon realized that live specimens were not a goodidea.

An even bigger challenge came when the studentsrealized it was February - where would they getflowers, leaves or even soil samples to include. Wewere under snow and everyone knows nothing grows inSyracuse at this time of year, or do they?

They were not happy about their options. Theydecided they could video tape and photograph what itlooked like here this time of year and draw pictures ofwhat they wanted to share about the rest of the year.So research began and students began to developcollages and other collections of what they wanted toshare. One group even developed a board game to goalong with some of the information they were sending.

Another class decided they would chart the winterweather we were having and give the students in the

117

land of sunshine some idea of what it was like here inthe winter. They began to chart daily temperatures,barometric pressure and humidity. Daily observations ofthe sky were made and recorded. One group measuredthe snow each day and began to make a snowfall strip.They would measure the snowfall each day, cut a stripof paper equal to this amount and tape them together.Each piece was dated and the amount of snow listed onit. They now had a visual representation of the. monthssnowfall. Since this was a very snowy winter, they alsodecided to make a snow strip to depict our snowfallfrom November to February. The total before the boxwas mailed was 170+ inches.

The students were still a little frustrated. Theywanted to send something real to their new friends inTexas. Thus came the idea of sending a box of snow tothem. Everyone was very excited. Now they had a realchallenge. Could they really send snow and have it getthere before it melted.

The rust problem was how to pack it? Somestudents called a local meat packer and found that thingscould be shipped if packed in dry ice. The packerexplained a way to pack it in a styrofoam cooler withdry ice at the bottom and layers of plastic for insulation.It seemed simple in theory. Finding a styrofoam coolerin Syracuse in February was no easy task. Rounding upthe rest of the packaging was a relatively easy task, wehad plenty of snow and plastic bags to wrap it in.

Just when they thought they were all set, someoneremembered DRY ICE. After some searching a studentlearned that there was a company in Syracuse that makesdry ice and we could buy some from them.

It was now the end of February and the students feltwe better get the snow out before we ended up gettingan early thaw and there wouldn't be any "good" snow tosend. After a little more discussion, they decided thatwe would have to send it next day air to be sure itdidn't melt.

A student checked with UPS to see if we could sendthe snow and how much it would cost. The results ofthe call were overwhelming to them. It seems that DryIce is considered hazardous substance and had to be


dealt with in a specific way. They were reallydisappointed. To thun it seemed an impossible tasksince UPS had tried to discourage them from mailingthe snow.

After making a few calls that evening, I hadeverything we needed including the fees to send thepackage. I did not say anything to the students all day.I tried to let them come up with solutions on their own.During AEP that afternoon, we solved all of theproblems, packaged the snow and at 2:05 it was on itsway to UPS for quick trip to Texas.

Waiting to find out if it made its journey safelywas almost as hard for them as getting the packagemaiied in the first place. The suspense wasunbelievable. Finally the call carne through. Thepackage had arrived and it was still snow. The studentsthere were making a video of its arrival and therereactions and it would be sent to us soon. Sending theremainder of our Biome box seemed almostanticlimactic to the students after sending the snow.

This was a great experience for my students. Itprovided them with a real life situation that had to beproblem solved and the satisfaction of knowing THEYhad really done it.


P 1.24OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS VIEW THE 10 MAY 1994 ECLIPSE

Renee A. McPherson

Oklahoma Climatological SurveyUniversity of Oklahoma

Norman, Oklahoma

1. INTRODUCTION

Over 60 Oklahoma K-12 classrooms participated ina unique learning opportunity during the 10 May 1994annular eclipse. Teachers aad their students observedclouds at predetermined times from 9:30 AM to 1:30PM and recorded their observations. The observationswere returned to the Oklahoma Climatological Surveyto be used as validation of cloudiness near many of the111 automated weather stations of the OklahomaMesonet. The Mesonet, which typically recordsmeasurements at five-minute intervals, was modified tomeasure air temperature, wind speed and direction,pressure, and solar radiation at one-minute intervals.

The student observations were found to be useful toverify convective activity during the eclipse.Observations and Mesonet-measured solar radiationindicated that while convection initiated in many areasby 9:30 to 10:30 AM, there was a significant decreasein convective activity during and just following thetime of maximum annular eclipse.

In return for Helping with ground observations, theteachers were sent an :tformation packet that containedthe following items: a general description of theOklahoma Mesonet; a map of Mesonet site locations;graphs of temperature, wind, and solar radiation data forboth the closest site to their school :nd the Mesonetsite which best denoted parameter changes during theeclipse; and suggested questions that could be used withthe data, including comparisons with their ownobservations.

The response of the teachers and their students wasvery positive. Several teachers wrote notes stating thatthey would enjoy participating in future activities. Thisarticle will describe the experiment and some of itsresults.

Corresponding author address: Renee A. McPherson,Oklahoma Climatological Survey, WO E. Boyd St.,Suite 1210, Norman, OK 73019-0628

2. ANNULAR ECLIPSE OF 10 MAY 1994

The annular eclipse of 10 May 1994 was visiblewithin a large swat through the United States, fromsouthern Arizona to southern Maine. The center of thispath was aligned from north of Sayre, OK, on theTexas/Oklahoma border, through Ponca City, in north-central Oklahoma. Locations within about 120 kmnorthwest and southeast of the line, includingOklahoma City and Tulsa, also fell within the path ofannularity (Fig. 1).

The peak of annvlarity began at 11:27 AM CDT inwestern Oklahoma and at 11:41 AM in the far northeastcorner of the state. The duration of the Moon's anti-umbral shadow lasted from a couple minutes atlocations on the edge of the shadow to six minutes forthose along the center path. For more informationregarding this eclipse, see NASA Reference Publication1301 (Espenak and Anderson, 1993).

3. DATA SOURCES

The Oklahoma Mesonetwork (abbreviated"Mesonet") is a network of 111 automated observingstations that continuously monitor a number ofimportant air and soil parameters (Crawford, et al.,1992). Parameters measured at each Mesonct stationinclude temperature, relative humidity, wind speed anddirection, solar radiation, pressure, rainfall, and severalsoil temperatures.

Every 15 minutes, data observed at 5-minutcintervals are relayed from each of the remote stations toa central processing site at the University of Oklahoma.The network is specially designed with two-waycommunications that allow project staff to conductuncommon experiments, if necessary. The firstoperational test of this capability occurred on the day ofthe eclipse, when the data transfer routines weremodified to transmii air ten perature, solar radiation,wind speed and directit.9, and pressure at one-minuteintervals.

Verification of general kloud Nwerage wasconducted by Over 60 K-12 school.; statewide.


TulOKC

limit 9 0 %annular eclipse

Figure 1. Moon's umbral path during the 10 May 1994 annulareclipse. Derived from Espenak and Anderson (1993).

Figure 2. Location of the 111 Oklahoma Mesonet sites.

Figure 3. Approximate location of the 62 school observing sites,representing 50 towns.


Observations were taken at 9:30 AM,10:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 11:00 AM,11:15 AM, 11:30 AM, 11:45 AM,12:00 PM, 12:30 PM, 1:00 PM, and1:30 PM CDT. Figures 2 and 3show the locations of the Mesonetsites and the school observers,respectively.

4. THE EXPERIMENT

The experiment was conducted asan extension of the OklahomaClimatological Survey's ProjectEARTHSTORM. EARTHSTORMis a National Science Foundation-funded educational outreach pi ojectthat educates teachers to use data(preferably in near-real time) from theOklahoma Mesonet. Discussions ofthe EARTI1STORM Project and itssoftware can be found in Crawford, etal., 1993 and McPherson andMcPherson, 1994.

There were five main steps toconduct this experiment: (1) mailoutof inquiries for interested teachers, (2)receipt of names and addresses fromthe teachers, (3) mailout ofdata/lesson package, (4) receipt ofschool observations, and (5) dataanalysis.

The mailout of inquiriescontained four parts: (a) theregistration form for teachers tocomplete and return, (b) theinstructions on how to take theobservations, (c) the data form to

record each time's observations, and(d) a guide for safely observing theeclipse. The dominant problemthat was encountered was how toget this mailout into the hands ofinterested teachers (i.e., step 1 fromabove). This proved to be the mostunsatisfactory part of theexperience. Because no list of statescience teachers was available, wesent our information directly toelementary and middle schooloffices, with a large note marked"Science Teachers!". Out of about900 invitations sent, we receivedover 120 replies, a reasonablesuccess (i.e., step 2 from above).However, only 62 of these schoolsreturned their cloud observationforms (i.e., step 4 from above).

The data/lesson packageincluded: (a) a small, colorMesonet brochure describing theOklahoma Mesonet, (b) a map ofthe Mesonet locations across

100

800

oEA 60

.00 8

400*

g0 20

C.)

Cumulus Cloud Observations10 May 1994

9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00Time (CDT)

13:00 14 01

Figure 4. Cumulus cloud observations in Oklahoma during the 10 May 1994annular eclipse. The line represents the percentage of locations that reported

cumulus clouds.

Oklahoma, (c) a number of graphs of data, includingsolar radiation, air temperature (at 1.5 meters above the

ground), and wind speed anddirection (at 10 meters above theground), graphed at 5 minuteintervals, and (d) a set of questionsand answers that could be modifiedfor the particular classroom. Datafrom two Mesonet sites wereenclosed in each packet; one sitewas the nearest site to the school'slocation and one site was thatwhich best showed the eclipseeffects (i.e., near the center of thepath under mostly clear skies).

Because elementary throughhigh schools participated in theexperiment, the questions weredirected at an intermediate level,allowing the teacher to adapt themto his or her grade level. Allcomments we received about thequestions were positive.

The 12 questions relied on boththe student observations and theMesonet graphs. Students wereasked to describe their experiencesand relate them to the graphs of

measured parameters (e.g., temperature and solarradiation). A number of questions were included to

Time (CDT)Number of

observations

0930 41

1000 59

1030 59

1100 57

1115 55

1130 60,

1145 56

1200 54

1215 49

1230 55

1300 53

1330 48..

Table 1. Total number of cloudobservations reported at the givenobservation time.

stimulate deductive reasoning,especially for cause-and-effectevents. A vocabulary se-:.tion wasadded at the end of the activity toprovide scientific definitions for theteachers to use.

One of the most essentialassets of the eclipse lesson was theinclusion of suggested answers.Our experience has shown thatteachers are more likely to usepreviously unfamiliar materials ordata if answers are provided.

5. RESULTS

This experiment was conductedprimarily to encourage students toobserve and analyze environmentalconditions, to provide teachers witha unique data source for an event ofhigh interest, and to determine ifthese school observations may beuseful to scientists in the future.Results of these goals, while notdramatic, were encouraging.

1 .1 i 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION,L

107

On the morning of10 May 1994, abouttwo-thirds of Oklahomawas covered with anvilcirrus from largethunderstorm complexesin the Texas Panhandleand western Texas.Many towns not coveredin cirrus were envelopedin early morning fogthat gave way to hazymid-morning skies.Hence, conditions werenot favorable forviewing the eclipse overmost of the state.Althow?:h we anudpatedthat these corulitionswould encourav moreschools to take cloudobservations (as analternative to theirpreviously scheduledactivities), iL seemed tokeep more classesindoors, except forduring the peak of theeclipse.

School observations confirmed the thickness ofboth the upper and lower level cloud cover in most areasof the state. However, the most notable cloudobservation was the significant decline in cumulusdevelopment during the time of peak eclipse. Figure 4illustrates the percentage of school sites that recordedcumulus development during the observation times.Note the decrease in cumulus observations beginningaround 11:00 AM and continuing until about 12:30PM. Table 1 lists the number of observers for eachobservation time.

An example of how Mesonet measurements andschool observations coincide is shown in Figure 5 andTable 2. Figure 5 depicts the solar radiation and airtemperature fields at the Hugo Mesonet site in farsoutheastern Oklahoma. The decrease in solar radiationduring the eclipse is evident between 10:30 AM and12:30 PM, with the peak occurring at 11:35 AM.

Although cloud cover is not directly measured atany Mesonet site, a number of inferences can be madeusing solar radiation data. First, solar radiation valueslower than the anticipated value at a given time of dayand day of the year typically can bc attributed to cloudcover. Second, significant changes in solar radiation

Time°C Start:

End:25.0- Interval:

24.5

24.0

23.5

23.0

22.5

22.0

21.

21.0

20.5

5/10/94 09:00 AM5/10/94 03:00 PM0:05

PlotsSRAD, HUGO (W/m^2)

TAIR, HUGO (°C)

W/m^2

1000.0

900.0

800.0

700.0

300.0

500.0

400.0

300.0

-200.0

-100.0... -I-1

9:00 9:40 10:20 11:00 11:40 12:20 1:00 1:40 2.?0AM AM AM AM AM PM PM PM PM

Figure 5. Mesonet observations of solar radiation (SRAD, thick line) in Watts persquare meter and air temperature at 1.5 m (TAIR, thin line) in degrees Celsius on10 May 1994 at Hugo, OK. Note the jagged curves before 11:00 AM and afer12:30 PM. The graph indicates possible convective activity at these Claes.

108 AMERICAN MHTEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

values which occur irregaisly during mid-morninghours may indicate cumulus development. This lattercorrelation between solar radiation and cloud coversuggests cumulus activity between 9:00 and 10:30 AMand after 12:30 PM at Hugo, OK on 10 May 1994 (seeFig. 5).

Human observations at Hugo (Table 2) confirm thecumulus activity. In particular, although cumulusclouds were present on the morning of 10 May, theydissipated during the hour before and after peakannularity, after which cumulus clouds redeveloped.

6. SUMMARY

The described educational activity was the first ofits kind attempted by staff at the OklahomaClimatological Survey. Although it is notmonumental in either scope or substance, the activityoffered schools information and support not providedtypically by a state university. The experiment alsoeducated K-12 teachers about the I isic operation andmeasurements of the Oklahoma Mesonet, whichuniquely operating in their state.

The school observations were valuable to

scientists, even with the ambiguous nature of selecting

participants by general mailout. However, the use ofobservations by scientists should not be the overriding

factor that determines whether this type of activity isworthwhile. More importantly, were the students able

to learn something about their environment that theywould not have learned or been able to understand as

well without the activity? Unfortunately, properevaluation of the impact of this experiment wasexcluded because of lack of time and finances.Nonetheless, we were encouraged by the interest of the

schools and hope to arrange further activities for

teachers.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding for EARTHSTORM is provided by theNational Science Foundation through grant TPE-

9155306.I congratulate the staff of the Oklahoma Mesonet

Project for their superior performance transmitting andarchiving one-minute data at all 111 sites. I appreciatethe work by Ray Hardy III, Karen Bivins, and Paul Gray

to disseminate and analyze the volumes of information

we sent and received. Sue Weygandt and MikeWolfinbarger assisted with the figures. The NASASpace Grant Consortium is thanked for their help andtheir financial assistance. Finally, I offer special thanks

to the teachers and students who participated in this

experiment.

Observation Site: Hugo Middle School, Hugo, OK

Teacher: Hoyt Thompson

Time (CDT) Observation

0930Cumulus low and to the south and south-southeast approximately 2

miles away. Cirrus directly above and in all directions.

1000Low cumulus to north and east 2-3 miles away. Cirrus directly

above to south, west, and north.

1030Several small cumulus directly above, slightly to north, west, south;

a large one to east, 1-3 miles away. High cirrus northwest to northeast

1 1 00Low cumulus to north about 2 miles and to southwest about 1

mile. High cirrus above.

1115 High cirrus only covering most of sky.

1130 High cirrus only covering most of sky.

1145 Cirrostratus covering sky.



1230Low cumulus stretching across south 'from cast to west about 5

miles away.

1300 Cumulus clouds covering sky.

1330 Cumulus clouds covering sky._

Table 2. School observations of cloud activity on 10 May 1994 at Hugo Middle

School in lugo, OK. Note how the observations of cumulus development

coincide with the solar radiation curve in Figure 5.

1 2 3 4111 SYMP. ON EDUCATION 109

8. REFERENCES

Crawford, K., F. Brock, R. Elliott, G. Cuperus, S.Stadler, H. Johnson, and C. Doswell HI, 1992:The Oklahoma Mesonet: A 21st century project.Eighth International Conference on InteractiveInformation and Processing Systems forMeteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology,January 5-10, 1992, Atlanta, GA; Amer. Meteor.Soc.

Crawford, K., R. McPherson, A. Cavallo, S.V. Duca,G. Sacket, and B. McMillan, 1993: TheEARTHSTORM project: Using real-time datafrom the Oklahoma Mesonetwork. ThirdInternational Conference on School and PopularMeteorological and Oceanographic Education, July14-18, 1993, Toronto, Ont., Canada; Amer.Meteor. Soc.

Espenak, F. and J. Anderson, 1993: Annular SolarEclipse of 10 May 1994. NASA ReferencePublication 1301, National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration.

McPherson, R., and W. McPherson, Jr., 1994:Dissemination and display of real-time mesonetdata in K-12 classrooms. Preprints of the ThirdSymposium on Education and the TenthInternational Conference on Interactive Informationand Processing Systems for Meteorology,Oceanography and Hydrology, Nashville, TN,January 23-28, 1994.

110 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIErt 124

P1 .25A GUIDE TO TORNADO PREPAREDNESS PLANNING IN SCHOOLS

Michael A. Mach *

NOAA, National Weather Service Forecast OfficeFort Worth, Texas

1. INTRODUCTION

If a tornado were to threaten your schoolcampus this year, would you be prepared? Theimportance of developing a school preparednessplan and routinely practicing tornado drills has beenwell demonstrated. Hundreds of lives have beensaved in the United States during recent years astornado safety plans were activated by schoolofficials prior to the onslaught of a devastatingtornado.

One of the most effective means to reduce thepotential for tornado deaths and injuries in schoolsis to promote school tornado safety drills. Planningbefore the storm is vital to insure prompt andproper action during the storm. Administrators ofschools should be familiar as to which portions oftheir buildings offer the best shelter if a tornadostrikes.

Information in this article will guide you throughsteps in developing a preparedness plan for yourschool and in conducting tornado drills to copewith nature's most violent storm. It will familiarizeyou with the proper actions necessary to safeguardstudents during an actual tornado threat. Hopefully,the time spent reviewing these guidelines willprovide the necessary preparation to implement adisaster plan in the future. Seconds can truly savelives!

2. TORNADO PREPAREDNESS PLANNING

Several studies have indicated conclusively thattornado preparedness planning before the stormand prompt action upon recognizing storm signsreduce the potential for loss of life and injuries.Preparedness plans and routine drills insure thatboth students and faculty react effectively whensevere weather occurs. It has been documentedthat on numerous occasions many lives have beensaved when a school official sounded the alarm that

* Corresponding author address: Michael A. Mach,National Weather Service Forecast Office, FortWorth, TX 76137.

moved students from temporary classrooms into thehall of the main building moments before a tornadohit the school.

Not only is the tornado nature's most violentstorm, it is perhaps the most unpredictable. Thecurrent state-of-the-art technology only providespotential warning times on the order of seconds andminutes. Important advances in the science ofmeteorology and new technological capabilities forobserving and analy-itng the atmosphere, will likelyprovide unprecedented weather serviceimprovements in the next decade. However,warning lead time will still usually be on the orderof minutes. In fact, severe thunderstorms can andoften do produce tornadoes with little or noadvance warning.

The average number of tornadoes per year forthe entire United States in the period 1961-1993 wasjust over 800 with an annual average of 82 fatalitiesand nearly 1700 injuries. The spring semestermonths of April through June hold the highestoccurrence of tornadoes on a seasonal basis,although tornadoes have been documented in everymonth of the year.

Many tornadoes strike during the middle to lateafternoon. Unfortunately, there is a coincidencebetween school dismissal times and the occurrenceof potentially dangerous thunderstorms. All schoolsare encouraged to keep informed of developingthunderstorms in their area, since advancedplanning before the storm is vital to schoolsdismissing for the day.

3. DEVELOPING A TORNADO PLAN

There are several elements to developing a goodtornado plan. School officials and faculty membersshould be alert to the warning signs of severeweather and tornadoes. All school systems shouldhave access to National Weather Service statementsand have a method for internal dissemination of thissevere weather information. An understanding ofsevere weather terminology, especially knowing thedifference between a Watch and a Warning, is ofvital importance.

Each individual school should be inspected toselect and mark the safest areas for protection from


a tornado or severe thunderstorm. Periodic tornadodrills should be held at all facilities to insure thatboth faculty and students will respond in apredetermined manner when an actual tornado orsevere thunderstorm approaches the school.

4. SOURCES OF WEATHER INFORMATION

Perhaps the quickest way a school can receive asevere weather watch or warning is by listening tothe National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) Weather Radio. Receptionis generally confined to within a forty mile radius ofeach transmitter site. This service providescontinuous broadcast of weather information onVHF-FM frequencies between 162. 400 and 162. 550MHz.

Although normal programming can be useful toa school system in its daily operations, it is duringsevere weather that the NOAA Weather Radioproves to be invaluable. All watches and warningswhich affect the area within radio range arebroadcast immediately on the NOAA WeatherRadio. An advantage of the system is that it is notnecessary for the receiver to be continuouslymonitored to receive a warning. A special tone istransmitted just prior to the watch or warning whichactivates special 'Tone-Activated" receivers andturns them on. If possible, each school within radiorange should have such a receiver. They may bepurchased at most electronic outlet stores.

School systems outside of the range of NOAAWeather Radio must rely upon other sources ofinformation such as local radio, television, CivilDefense, or Emergency Management agencies torelay National Weather Service bulletins.Arrangements should be made with one or more ofthose information sources to pass reports of severeweather to the school system. If a tornado developssuddenly, this may be the only warning received.

5. INTERNAL DISSEMINATION

It is imperative that each school system developa plan for rapid internal dissemination of severeweather information especially Tornado Watchesand Warnings. Each school should have a completelist of emergency phone numbers such as fire,police, Civil Defense, and Emergency Management.Since every school in the system needs to benotified, one possible method of distribution isthrough the use of a pyramid notification systen .

This can be accomplished either by radio ortelephone.

112 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL. SOCIETY

A special alarm system should be designated atthe school to indicate a tornado has been sightedand is approaching. A backup alarm system shouldbe planned for use if electrical power fails. Perhapla battery-operated bullhorn, an inexpensive hand--cranked siren, or even an old-fashioned hand-swungbell would be beneficial.

The resources and capabilities of each schoolsystem vary weatly, and each plan must bedeveloped with this fact in mind. Children are ourgreatest resource, and everything possible must bedone to assure their safety.

6. SEVERE WEATHER WARNING SIGNS

There are a number of severe weather warningsigns that each school principal, administrator, andfaculty member needs to become familiar with. Infact, any one of these persons might be the first oneto observe a potentially dangerous storm or makethe critical decision to act. In many cases, theremay be no official warning of impending danger.Each school official should not hesitate to call adrill when the weather is threatening.

Tornadoes, by definition, are violent, rotatingcolumns of air in contact with the ground. Themain distinction between a tornado and a funnelcloud is that a funnel cloud remains aloft and doesnot produce damage. Special attention should begiven to very dark, turbulent clouds that exhibitswirling motions. When a tornado touches theground, there usually is a swirl of dust and debriseven when the visible cloud portion is missing orfails to reach ground level. You can generallyassume when viewing a funnel cloud at a distanceand it extends halfway from the cloud base to thesurface, that it is probably a tornado.

Hail of any size generally indicates the potentialfor more severe types of weather. Often, largedamaging hail will fall nearby or to the immediatenorth and northeast of where tornadoes occurwithin a severe thunderstorm. If giant hail falls atyour location, you are in or very near the mostdangerous portion of the storm. In addition, strongwinds, dangerous lightning, and frequent thundercould be early warning signs of a severethunderstorm. These are nature's warning signsthat the thunderstorm is in its most violent stage.

A thunderstorm does not have to produce atornado to pose a danger to schools and students.Damaging straight-line winds, referred to asdownbursts, can produce strong localized winds thatcan be as great as those of strong tornadoes.Lightning may pose a threat well before strongwinds or rain affect the area. Generally, if you're

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close enough to hear thunder, then you are closeenough to be struck by lightning. A continuousrumble or roaring sound has been known toaccompany tornadic thundeistorms althoughengineering studies indicate that debris flying withthe wind could produce these sounds.

While watching for tornadoes, special attentionshould be given to the skies in the west andsouthwest since most tornadoes form adjacent toand usually on the southwest side of the heavyprecipitation.

7. SEVERE WEATHER TERMINOLOGY

An understanding of severe weather terminologyis vital. All school personnel should understand thedistinction between severe weather Watches andWarnings. When the National Severe StormsForecast Center in Kansas City, Missouri, issues aSevere Thunderstorm or Tornado Watch, it meansthat severe thunderstorms or tornadoes are likely todevelop. This is a time to keep a watchful eye onthe sky for threatening weather, and stay tuned tolocal radio, television or NOAA Weather Radio forthe latest weather information.

All warnings are issued by local National WeatherService offices. A Severe Thunderstorm Warningmeans that severe thunderstorms capable ofproducing damaging winds and/or hail equal to orgreater than 3/ 4 inch in diameter are in theimmediate area. A Tornado Warning means atornado has been sighted or indicated by weatherradar. persons in the path of the storm should seekshelter immediately, preferably on the lowest floorof a substantial building.

Remember, in some cases there may not be timefor a tornado warning to be issued before, a twisterstrikes. Tornadoes do form suddenly! Teachers andstudents should know the difference between aWatch and Warning and must be able to takeappropriate action whether or not a warning isissued during a threatening weather situation.

8. ACTIONS DURING A WATCH

There are a number of occasions in which asevere weather Watch will be issued when skies areclear and appear to pose no immediate threat.However, severe weather can develop rapidly andthe Watch may be the only precursor of a threatbefore the storm develops.

During a Watch, school administrators mustmonitor local radio, television, or NOAA WeatherRadio for the latest available weather information.

Since a tornado or funnel cloud could be obscuredby precipitation or darkness, faculty membersshould keep an eye on the sky for dark, swirlingclouds, dangerous lightning, large hail, driving rain,and any sudden increase in wind speed.

School distrie administrators should insure thatthe Watch information is received by each schoolthrough a predetermined dissemination system. Allschool bus drivers should be alerted to the threatand should know beforehand what actions to take.In the event of a disaster, administrators should beprepared to utilize school resources to aid in therelief process.

Individual school principals need to notify allfaculty members of the Watch and caution them tobe alert for a possible drill. When threateningweather approaches, post teachers, administrativeand maintenance personnel about the schoolgrounds to watch for potential severe storms.Finally, make sure that telephone lines remain openand available to receive any additional information.

9. ACTIONS DURING A WARNING

Once a Tornado Warning has been issued, it isimperative that the communication of the warningoccurs as fast as possible and a tornado drill isinitiated immediately thereafter. Each schooldistrict must relay the warning to individual schoolswithout delay, monitor all available communicationsfor additional reports and information, and suspendoperations of school buses if possible.

Individual school administrators need to initiatea tornado drill at the school campus immediately. Aspecial alarm signal should be sounded to indicatea tornado drill and a backup alarm should beavailable for use if electrical failure occurs. It ishighly recommended that a battery operatedbullhorn, a hand-cranked siren, or even a handswung bell be available.

Students in classrooms should be moved todesignated shelters. Those students who are locatedin temporary buildings or schoolrooms of weakconstruction should move to shelter areas in apermanent structure. If school buses are still at theschool, students should be unloaded quickly orprevented from boarding and be moved todesignated shelters. Specific teachers should beassigned to round up children on playgrounds,athletic fields, or other outdoor facilities.Otherwise, they might be overlooked. Sinceweather conditions can change rapidly, schoolofficials should continue to monitor radio ortelevision to determine when the threat has ended.

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10. SAFEST PLACES IN SCHOOLS

Quite obviously there are numerous variations inbuilding construction. However, most buildingsoffer a significant amount of protection for normaloccupancy of the facility. It is essential that allschools be inspected and that the safest areas forprotection from a tornado be selected and marked.

There is no single disaster plan that can meetthe needs of every school system. Normally, an on-site inspection of a school by a trained windengineer, architect, or Civil Defense official candetermine those portions of a building which willoffer the greatest protection if a tornado strikes.

There are a number of places in most schoolsthat offer safe refuge during a threatening weatherevent. In schools without basements, the interiorhallway on the lowest or ground floor offers thebest protection. Since it has been documented thatmost tornadoes approach from the west orsouthwest, you should choose a hallway that will notbe parallel to the tornado's path. If possible moveto a hallway that is at right angles to theapproaching tornado's path. It is also preferable toutilize an interior corridor that opens to the eastand north where the wind force will usually be least.These hallways offer the best protection from strongwinds and dangerous missiles.

There are a number of objects that can serve aspotential projectiles and need to be avoided.Students must be able to move swiftly to interiorcorridors that do not have glass windows or glassdoors.

If a tornado is approaching, should students orfaculty members open the windows of classrooms?Latest engineering studies indicate opening windowsis not desirable. In fact, opening windows mightallow wind blown debris to enter the buildingresulting in structural damage to walls, windows, orthe roof of the school. It is desirable, though, toclose the classroom doors leading to a designatedhallway shelter area to reduce the potential forharm.

In addition to hallways and interior corridors,rooms with short roof spans are desirable. A goodrule of thumb is to choose a small room with noload-hearing walls. In fact, spaces where the roofsystem is supported by columns, rather than walls,will usually be safer.

If your school has a basement or undergroundspace, use these as designated shelters. In general,when selecting locations for designated shelter areasin your school building, choose areas that can bereached from all portions of the buileing in lessthan two minutes.


11. POTENTIAL AREAS TO AVOID

Every school building contains vulnerable areasthat cannot be relied upon to withstand tornadicwinds effectively. Large roof span areas such asauditoriums, gymnasiums, cafeterias, or librariesshould be avoided. These rooms almost alwayshave high ceilings and walls and excessive glasswindows and doors. Often these large spacesreceive maximum damage and if large groups ofpeople are present, major loss of life and numerousinjuries could result.

Avoid upper floors, especially the top floor.Load-bearing walls are the sole support for floorsand the roof above. If winds cause the supportingwalls to fail, part or all of the roof or floors willcollapse. Rooms that have exterior windward wallsmany times receive the full strength of the winds.Windows on the windward side will likely beshattered and blown into the rooms.

Students in school rooms of weak construction,such as portable or temporary classrooms, should beevacuated. Escort these students to sturdierbuildings or to predetermined ditches, culverts, orravines, and instruct them to lie face down, handsover heads.

12. PROTECTIVE POSTURE DURING ADRILL

Periodic tornado drills should be held at allfacilities to ensure that staff and students will allrespond properly when an actual tornado or severethunderstorm approaches a school. Each schooladministrator should call a drill anytime weatherconditions appear threatening. Severe weatherusually lasts for only a short time and little time willbe lost from classroom activities.

When students are assembled in schoolbasements or interior hallways during a tornadodrill or Warning, they should be instructed torespond to a specific command to assume protectivepostures. If danger is imminent, have students lieface down toward an interior wall within the innerportion of the school. Have students draw theirknees up under them, and cover the back of theirheads with their hands. Protecting your head isimportant since most fatalities in tornadoes resultfrom head injuries due to flying debris.

One example of a command that school officialsmight use is: "Everybody down! Crouch on elbowsand knees! Hands over the back of your head!" Itis essential that this command be instantlyunderstood and obeyed. Illustrations showing the

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protective posture should be posted on bulletinboards for emphasis.

13. SCHOOL BUS CONCERNS

Policies governing the use or non-use of schoolbuses during tornado Watches and Warnings needto be established before the threat. Whenever aTornado Watch is issued, alert school bus drivers ofthe threat and insure they know what actions totake. Buses should normally continue operationsduring a Watch. If a warning is issued or a tornadois observed, school administrators should delayoperations of school buses if possible. If studentshave already boarded a school bus, but are still atthe school, then they should be moved inside.

If a school bus is trapped in the open county,students should be removed from the bus andescorted to any available reinforced structure orseek shelter in a nearby ditch, ravine, or low lyingarea. Students should be instructed to lie face downwith hands over head. Extreme care should beexercised that students seek refuge a safe distancefrom the bus. School buses are easily rolled bytornadie winds!

In the event a tornado strikes suddenly withouttime for evacuation, bus drivers should be instructedto evade the tornadic path by driving at right anglesto the storm. School bus drivers should be regularlydrilled in tornado procedures.

14. DE. rhRMINING THE BEST AVAILABLETORNADO SHELTER

Every school is vulnerable to the potentialravages of tornadoes. School officials planning tobuild new school buildings or additions should keeptornadoes in mind when setting constructionstandards. For optimum planning purposes, bothschool board members and engineers shouldparticipate in the design of new buildings anddevelop an emergency plan for protection duringthreatening weather situations.

Numerous inspections of schools damaged ordestroyed by tornadoes indicate that ihe worst effectof a tornado on a school building is an intense blastof wind from the combination of the tornado'srotational velocity with its forward speed.Approximately 90 percent of all major U. S.tornadoes come from a direction somewherebetween southwest and west-southwest. With this inmind, school administrators can determine, inadvance, those portions of their buildings that arelikely to be safest or most dangerous if a largetornado directly impacts their building.

Figure 1 is an illustration that shows a floor planfor a one-stoxy elementary school with anenrollment of 508 students plus 32 staff, with 3,240square feet of 'best-available shelter locations"shaded in black. Researchers indicate that if alarge tornado hit this school, some personsoccupying some of the locations would be injured,but most likely there would be few if any lives lost.

15. REFERENCES

Abernethy, James J. , 1975: The safest places inschools. Government Printing Office, 14 pp.

Figure 1. Best available tornado shelter. From The.Safest Places In Schools, James J. Abernethy, 1975.

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P1 .26

1. INTRODUCTION

ATMOSPHERIC CLASSROOMS: THE FUTURE IS NOW

Faye McCollum

Atmospheric Education Resource AgentAMS--Project Atmosphere

Columbus, Georgia

Only a few years ago computers,interactive television, bulletin boards, and hamradios were looked upon as future dreams andpossibilities. Those dreams are now reality. Thefuture is here.

America's precollege classrooms areundergoing an exciting technologicaltransformation. Most teachers and students nolonger "read the text and answer the questionsat the end of the chapter." Computers,television, and media have become the focus ofinstruction. Atmospheric Education ResourceAgents (AERA's), in adapting to this change,have embarked on several programs to initiatechange and inform personnel of the latestinnovations involving meteorological dataacquisition.

Project Atmosphere's Resource Agentsserve as links between the AmericanMeteorological Society, and the precollegeeducational community at all grade levels acrossthe United States. "AERA Actions" haveincluded workshops and share-a-thons withnumerous professional organizations. Some ofthe organizations involved in these interactiveprograms are: Fire and Forest Meteorologists,The Weather Channel, National and StateScience Teachers, Federal EmergencyPreparedness Directors, BroadcastMeteorologists, Civic Clubs, and The AmericanRed Cross. Resource personnel play animportant role in the exciting changes occurringin meteorology and atmospheric subject matter.Partnerships between professional personneland educators are the key to the successfultransition from textbook methodology to active,motivational studies in all areas of science.

Highlighting a successful year inmeteorological technology were the "Kids asGlobal Scientist Project," the "DataStremeFeasibility Study" and the "Weather KidsProject." Students, teachers and professionalatmospheric experts worked closely with AERA'sin implementing programs that brought a newmeaning to education arid knowledgeacquisition.

116 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCiETY

2. DATASTREME

Obtaining real weather data while stillcurrent is beyond the technical and financialresources of most schools. Project Atmosphere'sDataStreme Project is an inexpensive system thatsupplies the data teachers and students want.The first year of the feasibility study was notablysuccessful. Figure 1 shows the location ofAgents participating during the 1993-94 schoolyear.

The DataStreme Project is a cooperativeeffort with cable television's The WeatherChannel, the National Science Foundation andthe American Meteorological Society participat-ing. The WSI Corporation is assisting by deliver-ing weather data to The Weather Channel for thestudy.

Serving as a Science Consultant and AERAin Columbus, GA, I was able to work with teachersand students at Dimon Elementary School and atthe nearby Fort Benning Department of DefenseWilson School. The media specialist and leadteacher at Dimon Elementary set up thecomputer, television, and receiver in the libraryenabling students and teachers in other gradesto access data needed for specific projects. Fifthand sixth graders utilized DataStreme to studyclimate by comparing weather data from aroundthe country. Higher grade students mentoredprimary students and provided assistance as theyused current data in math and language arts.

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"Wilson fifth-graders become weather-wise" was the headline on the front page of TheBayonet, a newspaper published on the militarybase at nearby Fort Benning, Georgia. Completewith colored photographs, the article featuredthe students, school and teacher involved inDataStreme. Highlights of Jerrie MacIntire'sreport during a school board review of the projectprovided the following observations concerningthe success of the program:

"Fifth-grade students at Wilson Schoolhave become efficient amateur meteorologistsand are producing regular weather forecastswhile honing other academic skills through a pilotstudy program. Students obtain dailyatmospheric data from a computer link. Byfactoring such components as temperature, windspeed and direction, humidity, precipitation, andcloud cover, the students forecast the weatherfor one or for several days.

Atmospheric studies are turned into cross-curricular lessons. Students learn geographywhen predicting the weather for grandparewho may live anywhere in the world.

Various weather charts presentchallenging but interesting math and scier celessons, while observation of weather patterns inother geographic regions contribute to socialstudies lessons."

An added bonus: the program she.pensoral expression and communication skills aschildren learn to present their forecasts in aprofessional manner. Students not only makepredictions but are becoming proficient inmaking presentations in the style of broadcastsmeteorologists. Plans for the second yearinclude a weekly news show with weatherforecast and the establishment of atelecommunications link with other schools thathave the program. An electronic pen palconnection can enhance opportunities forlearning at both ends. It can, for instance,provide additional lessons in social studies andgeography while sharpening language arts skillsthrough on-line communications.

As a result of the DataStreme/ProjectAtmosphere program students enthusiasticallyparticipate in daily lessons. The weather hasbecome a passion with Wilson student SarahMcClelland. Sarah eagerly awaits the eveningnews so that she can compare her own weatherprediction to that of the local forecasters.

3. KIDS AS GLOBAL SCIENTISTS

Bringing the outside world into theclassroom was a major goal of the University of

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Colorado professor, Dr. Nancy Songer. Workingthrough AERA's and various other educationalorganizations, Dr. Songer organized groups ofMiddle School students and teachers inexchanging atmospheric data and informationusing computers, modems, and bulletin boardcommunication. The program also involvedextensive interaction with appointed atmonericspecialists who volunteered to work with studentsand teachers. Dr. Paul Ruscher at Florida StateUniversity in Tallahassee, Florida, served as the"resident expert and advisor" for a large numberof schools in the southeast.

Eighth grade students at Richards MiddleSchool, along with their teacher, Mrs. MargieCurtis, and the Principal, Mr. Bill Arrington,communicated with students at 10 internationalsites and 40 sites in the United States.

The project involved over 1200 studentsand was conducted through Internet linkages.Each school identified an area of local expertiseand interest to share along with current andhistorical meteorological data. Examples of somegroup titles were "Mountain Meteorologists,Environmental Patrols, Climatology Experts, andWeather Phenomena Detectives." Thecorrespondence often blended humorouscomments along with exchanges of scientific dataand expressions of creative insight.

4.1 Weather Kids

Local Broadcast Meteorologists KurtSchmidtz--ABC-TV, John Elliott--CBS-TV, andDan Brennan- -WGSY/Sunny 100 Radio haveincluded students and teachers in their dailyroutine of informing the public about localatmospheric conditions in Columbus, Georgia andsurrounding areas. Mr. Schmidtz initiated theWeather School in the elementary schools, andMr. Brennan works with elementary and middlelevel students in providing on-air weather reportsduring his three-hour morning broadcast. Eachmorning students call him on the phone from theirrespective schools. Dan assists them incomposing the information for the report, tapesthe information, and rebroadcasts the weatherreport every 20 minutes. Several studentsrequested an opportunity to do a live forecast,and Josh, one of the elementary second-graders.became a local celebrity during his visits to theSunny 100 studios.

John Elliott, the CBS-TV broadcast meteor-ologist, spent many hours visiting students inclassrooms talking about weather. He also invitedgroups of teachers to the studio to learn what hedoes in preparation for an evening report.


Teachers and students looked forward tointeracting with John and to seeing themselveson the evening news.

4.2 Summary

Technology has a new role in classroomsacross America. Students and teachers acquirecurrent atmospheric data, interpret, analyze, andsynthesize the information for use in manycreative and unique ways. Resource personnelfacilitate the acquisition of data and interactfrequently with K-12 pre-college personnel.They help to bridge the gap between thecommunity, the classroom, and the world.Interactive global communications throughtechnological advances have become a part ofthe daily activities in the lives of young people.Project Atmosphere/AMS partnerships proVidedthe essential stimulus for this successful,pioneering venture.


P1.27 PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCESBY LEARNING ABOUT THE PAST

Natalija Jam*

1. INTRODUCTION

For better understanding of a specific natural scienceit is necessary to have an basic knowledge about its his-torical development, to have an insight into the degreeof the achievements of that science in specific historicalperiods, or even encompass its continuity over a fewcenturies.

Most school curricula contain a subject called His-tory, but in most cases priority is absolutely given tothe political history, whereas the history of sciences isin some cases only relatively and in other even abso-lutely ignored. As a good example can serve Columbus'passage across the Atlantic. Most people know the dateAmerica was discovered, names of the ships that tookpart in the venture, as well as names of many per-sonalities involved, but the fact that the discovery wasmade possible by Columbus' knowledge of the prevail-ing wind directions and ocean streams, and that exactlythose details enabled the success, is not widely known.Undoubtedly, the Vikings had a similar "marine meteo-rology" knowledge centuries before Columbus.

2. PURPOSE

Meteorology is a relatively young science and it isalmost not present at all in the high-school curricula.Many high-school and even college students think thatmeteorology originated in the nineteenth century, andthat some fields as weather forecasting and anti-hailprotection are as recent as the middle of our cen-tury. Because of that it would be important to givethe students an introductory lecture aiming at givingan short historical overview of the meteorological sci-ence. It would be advisable to start from the sixteenthcenturythe period when started a continuous and un-interrupted development of atmospheric sciences untilpresent. An excellent opportunity would be a visit to ascience museum exhibition where the development ofmeteorological instruments and the science as a wholeis systematically presented.

3. FIRST STEPS

It should be underlined that the development ofphysics and mechanics sixteenth and the seventeenthcentury led to a radical transformation of meteorology.The introduction of individual methods in the descrip-tion and research of natural phenomena, as well as

'Corresponding author address: Natalija Janc, M.Sc.,613 Waterwheel Lane, Apt. 34, Millersville, MD 21108-2335,

the invention of thermometer, barometer, and other me-teorological instruments, opened the gateway to thescientific research of the atmosphere instead of the mereastrological predictions of weather that were widely ac-cepted during the Middle Ages. Aristotle's Meteorologicafrom the fourth century B.C., which was a standard text-book on the medieval universities, renounced its placeto such treatises as Descartes' Meteorology from 1637 thatgreatly encouraged the establishing of meteorology as abranch of physics. This fact readily illustrates the factthat in meteorology for almost twenty centuries therewere no major or influential discoveries.

As with many other sciences, the advancement ofmeteorology was to a great extent determined by theinvention of appropriate instruments for measuring andregistering the atmospheric phenomena. The most im-portant among them are undoubtedly thermometer andbarometer.

Invention of the first thermometer is associated withthe famous Italian scientist Galileo Ga lilei, who used itin his lectures at the beginning of the seventeenth cen-tury. At that time, the scientist experimented with vari-ous kinds of thermometric fluids as air, alcohol, and, ofcourse, mercury. A big disadvantage of these thermome-ters were their different scales, so that the temperaturesmeasured could not be compared. With respect to this,an important step forward was done by Fahrenheit atthe beginning of the eighteenth century who introducedhis type ot thermometer and his scale, still in preva-lent use in English-speaking countries. Later, about themid-century, Celsius and Reaumur gave their also verysuccessful constructions of thermometers.

Barometer is an instrument for measuring the atmo-spheric pressure. Its first construction was given in thefirst half of the seventeenth century by Galileo's disci-ple Torricelli. It consisted of an glass tube about six feetlong sealed on the one end and then immersed into anopen vessel with mercury. Torricelli supposed that thecolumn of mercury in the tube balanced the pressureof the atmosphere on the free surface of mercury inthe vessel. Later modifications of his original idea wereaimed at constructing a more compact and portable de-vice, and also more precisebeing corrected for someeffects that Torricelli did not take into account.

The first constructions of hygroscope, instrument formeasuring the humidity of the air, were done at thebeginning of the fifteenth century in Europe. As a basisfor most constructions, the property of some bodiesto change their shape with the increasing humiditywas used. Some other constructions were based on thechanges of weight of the bodies absorbing the moisture.

The English scientist Hooke in the seventeenth cen-tury intensively worked on the construction of meteo-rological instruments. Among them was also the wind


Figure 1. a) Galilei's air-thermoscope; b) Florentine thermometer with three hundred divisions; c) Torricelli'sbarometer; d) Hygroscope filled with ice. e) Hooke's wind-gauge; 0 Hooke's rain-gauge.

gauge, used for measuring the direction and intensityof the wind. Its principles are very similar to those of itsmodern counterparts. A small plate was freely swingingaround a bar that was moving over a graduated scale.With stronger wind the plate would be farther blownaway, showing the intensity of the wind.

Records of precipitation also have a long history fromIndia about 400 B.C. and Korea from the 15th century.But the major developments again occurred in seven-teenth century in Europe. The fundamentals of raingauge construction were correctly posed from the verybeginning, so that even the early attempts show a bigsimilarity to the modern instruments.

4. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ANDTHEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

A series of continuous meteorological observationscame from the seventeenth century. At that time theimportance of simultaneous and independent observa-tions was recognized. Among elements measured wasalso the atmospheric pressure with intention to estimatethe possibility of a weather forecast based on variationsof the pressure. A specially designed form for registra-tion of meteorological data was published and preparedas a model for meteorological reports.

The construction of meteorological instruments en-abled the beginning of regular meteorological measure-ments. Simultaneous discoveries in physics of the lawsin the dynamics of fluids, as well as other laws aboutgases and liquids, was the cornerstone for further de-velopment of meteorology. Boyle's formulation of thelaw relating the pressure, volume and temperature ofa gas, gave rise series of attempts to find the heightof the atmosphere and to establish the relation betweenaltitude and atmospheric pressure.

At that time, meteorology was not being developedas an independent science. Some theoretical articleswere written by philosophers, physicists, mathemati-


cians and astronomers. Among them was Descartes,French philosopher and mathematician, who gave atheoretical explanation of the rainbow. His theory aboutthe rainbow is probably the first example of utilizing aphysical law to explain a phenomenon done in a correctway and final. The English astronomer Halley gave abarometric formula for the altitude; the French mathe-matician and philosopher D'Alembert gave a theory ofwind origins; the American printer, publisher, inventor,scientist, and diplomat Benjamin Franklin contributedto science with his experiments with electricity showingthat cumulonimbus clouds possess electricity and thatthe lightning is in fac: an electric spark.

5. CONCLUSION

Generally speaking, the history of natural sciencesand technology is an important part of basic educationcontents contributing to a better understanding of thedevelopment of human civilization. In this article weintended to give only some remarks about facts thatwould be beneficial to include into curriculum. Thequantity and depth of information depends of the age ofstudents, time available, as well as other circumstances.

Because the weather and climate are such an im-portant part od our everyday life, some elemen; ryknowledge about meteorological instruments and theiruse should be incorporated in everybody's education.

6. REFERENCES

1. A. Wolf, A History of Science, Technology and Philoso-phy in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Volume I, secondedition, Harper Torchbooks, Harper, New York, 1959.

2. H. H. Frisinger, The History of Meteorology: to 1800,Second Printing, American Meteorological Society,Boston, 1983.

3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 12, 15th edition,Chicago, 1982.

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P1 .28 A New Look to the Sky

Jonet AndersonEarthWatch Communications

Minnetonka, Minnesota

Jerri Johnson*Irving Independent School District

Irving, Texas

EarthWatch Communications and other 3-Dtechnical products have stormed into manyhomes, in the Dallas Ft. Worth area, takingmany viewers on a hydrological field tripequal only to the high tech special effectson the current movie screens. Travelingthrough the atmosphere at speeds equal orsurpassing the speed of the space shuttleviewers at interact firsthand with currentweather systems from their neighborhood totheir neighboring states. Usually theviewers of the local weather broadcasts arcadults: however, many children are tunedinto the broadcast to experience a rideunequal to the last as the rotate in andaround severe thunderstorms anddeveloping storm systems.

No weather text in school today offers the 3-D phenomenon which opens the door to anunderstanding of cloud development,temperature location variation and weathersystem movement. People remember andunderstand when given the opportunity toexperience a concept firsthand. Past andpresent educational background traditionallypresents weather educeon as a "flat andstationary model." Something is lost in thedivorce of nature's fluid characteristics.

Corresponding author address Jern Johnson,

AMS, AERA, Irving, Texas, 75060

Children are excited to see the likeness ofthe clouds they experience on the groundand rotate to the top and all sides of them.Their world is multi dimensional. The 3-Dproducts are going beyond their originalexpectations in just presenting the weather.Children watch the clock for theiropportunity to interact with the products.They are looking up outside to see if theycan "make a match" with their observationand the product's observation. Mostimportantly these children are bringing inthe adults in their life to the screen and theyare talking to each other. This commonbond of our atmosphere is truly goingbeyond just a showy product.

The educational community has been givenan awareness, by students of a wide agerange, to a new look to the sky. Whenstudents come to school, they have apersonal data base of stored information tobring higher order thinking skills to science.They are helping to bring an awareness tothe adult population that did not have thebenefit of the technological advancementsthat are being experienced today. Teachersare addressing questions from a 3-Dperspective. Students want to make amodel rather than just draw a picture.

It is exciting to experience an unpredictedavenue that new technology has traveledwithout having made an intentional turn.Educators invite and appreciate freeresources and the opportunity to bridgeschool, home, and community together.Besides, we are all on the one planet weshare together.

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accelerated in presenting the water cycle inits sometimes overwhelming ability to be outof balance of its traditional presentation.Observing the world around us, in thisconstant cycle, will give a meaningfulunderstanding to teachers and studentsalike.

122 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY3 b

P1.29 From the Ground to the Sky

Matthew GilmoreTexas A & M University

Department of MeteorologyBryan, Texas

Jerri Johnson*Atmospheric Educational Resource Agent

Project AtmosphereIrving Independent School District

Irving, Texas

The theme of this year's conference,"Opening the Door to the Future: Educationin the Classroom and Beyond," is very fittingto our efforts to enhance atmosphericeducation. In fact to open the door, thatdoor must be established. Reflecting on ourown educational experiences as children,little to no time was ever spent on ouratmosphere other than the study of theseasons. Our own personal interest andcuriosity of the atmosphere has been ourchallenge for further information andunderstanding of the atmosphere. Childrenhave a natural curiosity about the worldaround them, especially the world abovetheir head. Prior knowledge is a

springboard to continued investigationswhich our atmosphere provides on a

constant basis.

There is a defined need for theenhancement of atmospheric education asthe American Meteorological Society hasrecognized. The study of science of anykind does not start in the seventh grade butthat first day of kindergarten at the averageage of five. As classroom teachers andscientists we have come to a mutualagreement in recognizing the limitedchanges in the content of the sciencecirriculum and its delivery. In the averageclassroom in the United States, one will finddesks, chalkboard, bulletin boards and atraditional cirriculum which in most casesreflect the classroom of the 1800's. We

'Corresponding author address: Jerri ..1,thnson,AMS, AERA, Irving, Texas 75060

1

have set out together to make a change. Itis even more fitting to promote this changewith the advancement of technologyavailable for classroom use and themodernization of the National WeatherService.

Combining our own special interests of theatmosphere, we are organizing materialwhich include the topics of floods,thunderstorms, and tornadoes. Both of usbeing native to Tornado Alley, we can relateto the youngest of children in a naturalcuriosity of these atmospheric events.Although there are large differences inlearning capabilities between elementarygrade levels, the material will be presentedin the following divisions: that suitable forkindergalen and first graders, and thatsuitable for second and third grades. Thetext will appeal to the listening level ofkindergartners and the reading levels firstthrough thini grades. Also included will beeasy to organize and manipulate hands onactivities to enhance the concept of thesesignificant weather events. Hazardousweather was chosen because it is one of themost important subdivisions in weatherstudies. Also, It is important for students tolearn safety rules associated with tornadoes,lightning, and flash flooding, especially aschildren do not always have an adult aroundfor help. Safety rules will undoubtedly gettaken home so that adults in the family canalso be informed. Even with the mostreluctant of classroom teachers whohesitates to address science past a tokenrepresentation, this material will help him or


her develop an understanding of theseevents through a language arts approach.This effort will allow the early introduction ofscientifically based weather phenomena inan age appropriate fashion. Teacher will beable to use this material which on a veiyprimary level will clear up commonmisconceptions about weather events andpossible stumbling blocks in the subject sothe teaching can be accurate and currenttechnology addressed. Lessons in theclassroom can be aided in the use of thematerials. The science process skills will beseen overlapped in the several academicareas.

The content of the materials will bereviewed through a panel of atmosphericscientists in the field as well as on theuniversity level. This partnership of thescientific community and the classroom willprovide students the knowledge of theresearch and findings of the current state ofthe art technology, it availability, and its ongoing observation and investigation ofsignificant atmospheric events.


138

P 1.30 USING SCIENTIFIC THEORY AS METAPHOR TO ENHANCE EQUITYIN URBAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

John P. Byrne, The Rainbow Connection

Jamaica Plain Community Centersat the Agassiz School

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

1. INTRODUCTION

The evolution of human consciousness hence theorganization and assimilation of informationregarding our surrounding environment hitherto hasbeen dominated by an anthropocentric i.e. "selfcentered" field of reference. This phenomenon in partis the biproduct of stereoscopic vision which isdirected radially outward from a central vantage pointresulting in a three dimensional perception of space.This linear perception of space in turn has permeatedthe entire field of human thought thus affecting everyfacet of consciousness from social structure anddynamics to a constellation of scientific paradigms,which in turn influences morals, values, and the wayin which the human species perceives its place withinthe cosmos in general. For instance, the system ofNewtonian mechanics developed during the 17thcentury (which still prevails as a significant edifice inmodern physics) is a classic example of the lineargeography which had dominated the human mindespecially during that particular period in history.However the development of the quantum andrelativity theories, which represent a cornerstone ofscientific thought during the 20th century marks acritical threshold of transition in consciousnesswhereby the previous constellation of scientificparadigms, which were primarily three dimensionaland "clockwork" oriented underwent substantialmodification and rearrangement thus emerging as amore four dimensional, hence "field oriented" systemof thought. Thus the perception of space, time andmatter had evolved from a spacial and fragmentedview toward a perception in which these respectiveentities became integrated to form a continuum, orfield-like organization in which the element of timeassumes a more interconnected role within thedynamics space and matter (which defmes the "fourthdimension" of this respective system). For instance,Einstein's classic work "The Electrodynamics OfMoving Bodies" (which was the title of the originalthesis written by Einstein that first introduced thespecial theory of relativity) represents but anintegration of John Clerk Maxwell's paradigm forelectromagnetism and the aforementioned paradigmsfor Newtonian mechanics. Additionally, Einstein'stheory of general relativity is but a paradigmrearrangement and modification of Newton's universal

law of gravitation in which space and time becameintegrated within the universal gravitational field toform a geometric four-dimensional space-timemanifold. The quantum theory transformed the ageold Democritin paradigm for the atom from amechanical model which emulated the solar system toa paradigm that decomposes the atom into a complexand dynamic field in which waves and particlesinteract thus yielding packets of energy, or "quanta".In fact, the "field paradigm" can be extended to thearea of psychology in which Carl Jung developed aparadigm for a "collective consciousness", or field ofhuman behavior which in turn can be broken downinto "archetypes". (Although Mr. Jung proclaimedhimself anti-mathematical, this concept neverthelesshas a distinct mathematical signature and can easilybe compared to the chaos theory pioneered by EdwardLorenz in which spontaneous organization, or"attractors" are analogous to the concept of archetypeswhich arise within the field of human consciousnessas described by Jung.) Biology in fact is not exemptfrom interpretations of the field paradigm. RupertSheldrake's theory of "Morphogenetic Fields andFormative Causation" which describes theorganizational forcing of matter through a system oftemplates, or "morphic fields", as well as J.Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis which defined theterrestrial biosphere as a single self-regulatinghomeostatic living system, both represent innovativemanifestations of the field paradigm. Perhaps themost profound example of the field paradigm is theGrand Unification Theory in physics which attemptsto integrate the four component forces in the universeinto one unified force, or "superforce" during the firstexplosive picoseconds at the beginning of time.Thus there has been a distinct drift within the"collective human consciousness" (as described byJung) toward a unified perception of nature which hascommenced especially during the 20th century. Infact the recent shift in the global political state andthe depolarization of the "superpower" structure maybe the very first permeation of this unified, or fieldperception within the realm of socio-politicalorganization. Although the subsequent political stateis at present volatile, this could represent but atemporary transitional phase toward a more unifiedpolitical and social state (analogous to the catastrophetheory in mathematics in which an entire system

i 34TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 125

becomes radically transformed from one state toanother, with the latter state assuming a markedlydifferent organization as compared to the originalstate). In addition, modern technolou and the "feed-back loop" hence proliferation of satellite imagery ofthe Earth as a whole planet (without t h esuperimposition of geopolitial boundaries etc.) hasserved to reinforce, albeit on a subconscious level, theidea of socio-political unification, or in morecootemporary terms the "New World Order."

2. THE "RAINBOW CONNECTION":BASIC CONCEPT

The Rainbow Connection is an educationalconcept designed to reconcile this recent evolution inhuman consciousness in which a field oriented, orunified view of nature forms the central thesis aroundwhich the cuxiculum is not only structured but infact is the product of unification in itself. Forinstance, the aforementioned examples of unificationin science have obvious conceptual meaning which inturn can be interconnected between their respectivedisciplines. In addition, the learning modulesthemselves become unified through a multi-integratedcurriculum design i.e. cross-linking ttetween lefthemispheric (logical) and right hemispheric (intuitive)regions of the brain whereby curriculum areas thathave been traditionally fragmented become integratedsuch as math and art, science and drama etc. Thusscience evolves from a textbook and routine twodimensional "lesson plan" and becomes full, sensoryand stimulating learning experience which integratesthe mind, body and spirit into one active and dynamicmedium.

3. BASIC LEARNING MODULES:SAMPLES

3.1 The World Horizon Principle

A metaphor borrowed from the theory of specialrelativity, the "world horizon' form the boundaries atwhich a student's world concept terminates, especiallywithin urban environments where the student'sphysical world view is literally constrained by manytall man-made structures and buildings etc. Thissense of constraint can in turn become superimposedhence enmeshed within the student's general psychethus limiting the potential psychological growth andthe way in which they relate to the environment.However, through expanding the student's worldhorizon to include not only the Earth as a planet butthe universe as a single dynamic interactive object,not only does the student's basic concept of space,time and matter increase expotentially i.e. of "what's


out there in the world" etc., but the student's sense ofunity with the Earth and the universe becomesenhanced. Also, this sense of unity will tend todiminish social, racial and cultural barriers which cansometimes arise in areas of high population densityand diversity such as in urban environments.

3.2 The Duality Principle

The yin and yang symbol derived from theEastern ideology of Taoism can be a graphicmetaphor in representing an important organizationaltemplate in nature. In the now classic book "The TaoOf Physics", Fritjorf Capra relates the dualities ofspace and time, waves and particles etc. to theprinciple of the yin and yang. The RainbowConnection is also based on this principle of dualityin that the left-right hemispheric learning (of thebrain) becomes, as a function of the yin and yang, adynamic, interactive circle where one componentenhances the other. Also, this principle can be apowerful metaphorical tool which in addition toteaching concepts in science, can also be implementedon the social level to represent unified dualitiesbetween various races and cultures etc.

3.3 ratmlifath

A metaphor borrowed from the popular newcomputer technology "Virtual Reality." In theRainbow Connection "Virtual Math" is an attempt torestore the linguistic element to math. In factlanguage itself is in essence a symbolic representationof ideas which are manifested in the arrangement ofcharacters specific to the cultural and ethnicorientation of the respective language. Thus whencharacters within the given language becomeassembled to form a word, the word then becomes an"enfolded reality" which upon materialization of theword then "unfolds" within both the mind of the userof the word and its recipient(s). (This concept isbased on the theory of "Implicate Order" popularizedby the renowned physicist David Bohm.) Thisunfolded reality can either represent the totalexperience of the user as reiated to the word, and/orthe collective experience of both the user and itsrecipient(s). For instance the word "Mountain"represents the user/recipients total experienceregarding mountains.

In "Virtual Math" this concept translates to theidea that equations can also represent enfoldedrealitieswhich can range from simple arithmetic to the morecomplex equations of the calculus: Consider thefollowing examples:

a + b cCthim 201

Rs C2g rd2

I) 2) 3)

1 4 0

Equation I could represent the classic arithmeticalproblem typically presented to early primary schoolchildren e.g. "If John had five apples and Jane hadfour apples, how many apples would they bothhave?" Thus the enfolded reality that surrounds thestudent's concept of apples, the characters in theproblem i.e. John and Jane, unfolds in the student'smind which can then assume a variety of forms thatcan also include the environment which surrounds theproblem e.g. space, time, ambient conditions: Werethe apples large or small? Were John and Jane in asupermarket or in an apple orchard? Was the weathersunny or rainy? etc. Equation 2, Newton's law ofuniversal gravitation can obviously compose a vastenfolded reality in that gravity is a common everydayexperience. Thus "M" which represents the mass ofthe Earth can be multiplied by "m", which in turn canenfold just about any object or event imaginable froma rocket to the baseball hit by Roger Maris thatmarked his 61st home run. The product of M x m isthen multiplied by the universal gravitationalconstant and then divided by the square of the radialdistance between the object and the center of theEarth. Equation 3 also involves gravity and mass butenfolded in a very peculiar way. This equation, (aftera few months of mathematical rigor) was developedby physicist Karl Schwartzchild to describe thegravitational collapse of a given mass (usually adecaying star) to a "black hole" (where G is again theuniversal gravitational constant, M represents themass of the object undergoing the collapse, divided by"C", the speed of light squared). In other words, theequation describes the limit the radius of a given massmust compress beyond before undergoing a runawaymutual collapse toward its center of masscommensurate with an expotential increase in itsgravitational field. The black hole concept can beimmensely stimulating to young students because ofthe many bizarre phenomena, or enfolded realities thatcan take place especially beneath the "event horizon"i.e. the gravitational boundary beneath which lightcannot escape, space and time become distorted, andthe laws of nature decompose. Therefore the studentsimagination, temporarily freed from th t. constraintsimposed by the logical, can run rampant through averitable wonderland of possibilities from time travel,reverse cause and effect e.g. a baseball that ascendsfrom the bleachers and descends onto Roger Maris'bat before he runs around the bases backward! (In factreverse entropy, or cause and effect insideblack holesis an idea seriously propounded by the celebratedphysicist Stephen Hawking.)

Thus, although the basic concept of Virtual Mathmay not directly address the issue of the actualmechanics of solving a mathematical equation i.e. thecomputational component, it transforms math fromflat two-dimensional array of characters to three andeven four dimensional (including the dimension of

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time) world of the imagination thereby forging across-linking between the left hemisphere (logical)and the right hemisphere (imagination). This conceptcan be effective in dissipating the spectrum ofdysfunctions which have traditionally plagued mathlearning from "math block" to the general apathystudents feel toward math because they will "neverhave use for it in the real world" etc. Also itsomewhat ameliorates the feeling of constraint andfrustration many students feel as a result of having toconform to the rules and rigor of math concepts aswell as giving the student a direct psychologicalinterface with the phenomena described by equationsin which they can have some creative input i nsolving math problems.

4. SAMPLE OF ACTIVITIES

4.1 Imumv Playhouse

One of the more popular activities at theRainbow Connection, this learning medium providesa dynamic and creative environment in which topicsin science quite literally become a "movingexperience!" Thus concepts ranging from the spin ofquantum particles (the quark with its whimsicalhierarchy of' component symmetries e.g. "top,bottom, up, down, charmed and strange" are ready-made for the student's active imagination) to themotions of weather systems across a weather map, tothe orbits of the planets are explored through dramaand creative movement.

4.2 Mind Games

Math and science concepts are both introducedand/or reinforced through this active learning medium.Some of the games developed at the RainbowConnection are "Hyper-ball-a" (which integrates thespelling bee with baseball), "Einstein Hangman"(similar to the traditional game of "Hangman" onlythe focus is on the use of science and math words, andadditional features are added to the "hang-man" whichgive him the signature look of that most famousscientist of the modern era!), and "Supersquares", afast paced and challenging game based on quickresponses to questions derived from learned math andscience concepts, and the score is added expotentially.

4.3 Wizards' Wodalxv

A learning medium in which children explorescience and math concepts through arts and crafts.Some of the projects have included designs usingcalculus symbols (e.g. the integral, the partial-d, aswell the array of Greek letters typically used incalculus such as sigma and tau etc., createdextraterrestrial environments, robots and space craft.


5. SUMMARY

The primary purpose of the Rainbow Connectionis to transform the learning experience in science andmath into veritable culture which interconnects thestudent with the outer universe of clouds, whales, thesnowflake and the stars, to the inner universe ofinquiry, imagination and creativity through metaphorand a full spectrum of multisensory experiences.Thus math and sciences becomes metamorphosedfrom a fie. o dimensional field of information to acolorful, enriching life-affirming environment whererather than becoming "cognitively stored data", mathand science become deeply enmeshed within thepsyches thereby influencing the formulation ofvalues, morals, hence word view. The spirit of theRainbow Connection is best embodied by one ofAlbert Einstein's most famous quotes: "To imnineis everything."

REFERENCES

Bohm, D., Peat, F.D., Science, Order, and Creativity.New York, New York: Bantum Books 1987

Capra, F., The Tao of Physics. New York, NewYork: Bantum Books 1975

Leshan, L., Margenau H., Einstein's Space and VanGogh's Sky. New York, New York: ColierBooks 1982.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Stephanie Richardson, University of Wisconsin -Art consultant and assistant to the author. Gratitudeis also extended to Jack Borden of For SpaciousSkies, who is an inspirational pioneer in the conceptof multi-integrated curriculum and how it relates tothe environment.


PI .34

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING INITIATIVE RA RESEARCH AVIATION

A. R. Rodi' and J.D. MarwitzDepartment of Atmospheric Science

University of WyomingLaramie, WY 82071-3038

1 INTRODUCTION

The University of Wyoming (UW) has instrumentedand operated several aircraft for atmospheric researchcontinuously since the 1960's. One advantage of such anundertaking at a university is the educational advantagethis presents to the students. Many advanced degrees havebeen earned by students worlemg with these state-of-the-artfacilities over the years.

Beginning in 1987, UW and NSF began acooperative agreement to operate the UNV researchaircraft, a Beechcraft Super King Air 200. Again, thestrong educational advantage that having facilities such astbese at universities was a large part of the justification fcc

this funding. It occurred to us, however, that relatively fewundergraduate stardents (or graduate students) nationwidein fact gained experience with research aircraft. Inresponse to this, we proposed to NSF an 'EducationalInitiative' to make the aircraft available to colleges andunivexsities for projects with primarily educationalobjectives. In this way, faculty and students who were notnecessarily specialists could become exposed to a facilitywhich normally would be too expensive and essentiallyunavailable for purely edmational projects.

Atlas et al. (1989) discussed the education problemrelated to radar meteorology in particular and with

observational science in general in attracting students tocontinue as scientists and practitioners in theseobservational fields. It is indeed these issues that weaddress with this project to make our airplane available tostudents who might otherwise never have this opportunity.

In this paper, we discuss the UW educationalinitiative with the King Air, and describe our experiencesin fielding this effort.

2. PROPOSAL

Our ideas was for the aircraft to go to theparticipating institutions rather than the students gatheringat a central location such as UW. We therefore had to

target a limited area geographically so that a minimumnumber of flight hours were used for ferry purposes. Wearbitrarily chose the northeast US, and wrote letters toiixiivichials at the UCAR universities in that area inquiringabout interest and soliciting ideas for student projects. We

received responses from six institutions (sevendepartments) which, along with our own department atUW, became the basis for our proposal to NSF to fund theEI flights. Table 1 contains a list of the institutions andprincipal contacts for the project.

A total of 10 hours were budgeted for each location(15 hours for Pennsylvania State University since therewere two departments involved there which had differentobjectives). Each site was allocated one week toaccomplish the flights. This week included the movementand setup of the airplane and equipment to the site.

3. PROJECT SUPPORT

3.1 Student Propojals

The students at each site were to organize aroundlocal faculty advisors to develop research projects.Students could propose to work individually or in groups,but this was arranged by the faculty advisors. Staff at UW

was contacted to provide technical input into the project

plans.

3.2 Short Courses

In advance of the arrival of the aircraft, a UWfaculty member visited each site and presented a 'shortcourse' on the principals of measurement from an aircraft,the instnunents, flight characteristics and flightplanning.The exact content of the short courses was different ateachsite and this depended upon the nature of the projects asthey developed, student interests, and faculty expertise.

1. Corresponding author address: Alfred R. Rodi, Department of Atmospheric

Science, Univ. Wyoming, P.O. Box 3038, Laramie, WY 82071-3038


143

Table 1: Partici ants in UW Educational Initiative in 1993

Institution Location Principal ContactsLyndon State College Lyndonville, VT Bruce Berryman

McGill University Montreal, Quebec John GyakumRod Rogers

Millersville State University Millersville, PA Richard Clark

Pennsylvania State UniversityAtmospheric Science

State College, PA Dennis LambDennis Thomson

,

Pennsylvania State UniversityAeronautical Engineering

State College, PA Skip Smith

State University of New York at Albany Albany, NY David Fitzjarrald

University of Maryland College Park, MD Bruce DoddridgeRussell Dickerson

University of Wyoming Laramie, WY John MarwitzAlfred Rodi

3.3 Field Rhase

The aircraft arrived at each site accompanied by acrew of three (pilot, technician, and data engineer). Avehicle containing necessary equipment, spares, anda workstation for data processing was also provided.

Students and faculty advisors would handle thetasks of setting priorities far flights on a daily basis basedlargely upon the weather. Students who were inclined flewon the aircraft as principal investigators and observers.

Data was processed in flight for quick-lookpurposes and after the flight on the workstation forarchiving and analysis.

4. DISCUSSION

We think that the aircraft going to the participatinginstitutions was very important to the apparent success ofthis project. Had it been the other way around (studentscoming to UW), we feel that the level of participation andfollow through would not have been as high.

On the other band, our schedule (seven locations inseven weeks) was overly ambitious. Flying ten researchhours and then ferrying to the next site and setting up withina week was too much for our crew. If we have theopportunity to do anotha project like this, we feel that 1.5-2 weeks per site would be a more realistic goal.

One distraction which was perhaps unavoidable


was scheduling the visits while classes at the participatingschools was in session. This had two effects: i) there wasa high level of participation by students and faculty, and ii)the conflict with classes made for a hectic schedule. In sum,this is probably better than having the visits in thesummer,for example, when students and faculty would be lessavailable.

One outcome that was not anticipated was thatthere were at some sites open-houses scheduled, so ofwhich involved K-12 students. Also, the visit of the KingAir was integrated in some cases into courses being taughtat the time.

In the end, we were surprised at the number ofstudents we worked with on this project. The level ofparticipation and excitement was very high. While originalscience was not necessary m these projects, we think that itwas inevitable that some projects would produce originaland publishable results, and feel that this was the case.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The UW King Air is funded as a National Facility underNSF cooperative agreement ATM-9319141. The El wassupported in the field by Ernest Gasaway, Glenn Gordon,and Don Lukens.

REFERENCE

Atlas, D., R.J. Serafin, and C.W. Ulbrich, 1989:"Educational and Institutional Issues in RadarMeteorology, Battan Memorial and 40thAnniversarr Adar Meteorology Conference",Bulletin of Inier. Meteor. Soc., 70, 768-775.

144

P1.35AN AVIATION WEATHER MINOR AT EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

Richard C. Bagby *

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityDaytona Beach, Florida

1. INTRODUCTION

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University(ERAU) is an independent, non-sectarian,not-for-profit, coeducational university with a historydating back to the early days of aviation. TheUniversity serves culturally diverse students motivatedtoward careers in aviation and aerospace. Its mostpopular undergraduate degree is the Bachelor ofScience in Aeronautical Science. This 4-year course ofstudy provides the student with a liberal artsbackground along with flight instruction from Privatethrough Commercial Instrument Instructor Pilot.

2. CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS

Traditionally, ERAU has offered two coursesin Meteorology at the undergraduate level: AS 201,Meteorology I, and AS 352, Meteorology H.

Meteorology I is an introductory meteorology coursesimilar to that taught at other universities. MeteorologyII expands upon that foundation and applies it to

aviation. Some members of the faculty felt that moreaviation-related weather topics would enhance theflying safety of young pilots and, indeed, quench thethirst that most aviation enthusiasts have about the"wind beneath their wings."

Additionally, it was felt by some that anexperience vacuum was developing as Federal agenciesbecame increasing dependent upon automated systemsof weather observing and briefing delivery. Becausepilots no longer have the luxury of being briefed by anexperienced weather forecaster, Aeronautical Sciencefaculty sensed a need for more classroom instruction in

* Corresponding author address: Richard C. Bagby,Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona BeachFL 32114-3900

what we call "Aviation Weather." Topics concerningsevere local storms, climatology, and weather observingand forecasting products, and weather on otner pian,*swere explored for inclusion into a Minor in Aviatio.Weather.

3. NEW COURSE DEVELOPMENT

Three new courses were developed and firsttaught in the Fall of 1992. AS 363, The Thunderstorm(and Its Environment), explores everything a pilotneeds to know about severe local storms. AS 261,Aviation Climatology of the World, introduces thestudent not only to general climatic classifications, butalso to the differing flying weather conditions caused bygeography and by season. AS 364, WeatherInformation Available to Aircrews, expands thestudent's focus from national to internationalperspective; from Fahrenheit and millibars to Celsiusand hectopascals.

"The Thunderstorm Course" (as the studentscall it) focuses on the proper atmospheric setting fordevelopment of both the airmass thunderstorm and thesquall line thunderstorm. Students learn to assess theatmosphere's stability and potential for convectivedevelopment. A course-ending project has teams ofstudents developing rules of thumb for short rangeforecasting of thunderstorms.

"Aviation Climatology" takes the student

around the world to investigate the causes andramifications of climate over the seven continents. Aproject helps to focus each student on the weatherpatterns at a specific location.

"Weather Information For Aircrews" exploresthe various weather observation and forecast productsfrom around thc globe. It introduces the student to the


-"I_

131

changes taking place within those Federal agenciesresponsible for providing weather data to the aviationindustry. Products from commercial venders are alsoaddressed. Additionally, a week of study is devoted tothe use of airborne weather radar.

4. A DYNAMIC CURRICULUM

The 15-hour Minor in Aviation Weather hasproved to be popular with students. Feedback from


graduates indicate that they believe their employmentopportunities were enhanced by the amount of aviationweather knowledge gained. Besides the five coursesmentioned above, a graduate course in AdvanceMeteorology (MAS 517) is also available for credittoward the Minor. Future plans call for thedevelopment of a course on "The Weather of OtherPlanets': a course that will satisfy requirements not onlyfor the Minor in Aviation Weather, but also for theMinor in Space Studies.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a longtime leader in Aviation Education is posed to becomethe international leader in Aerospace Education, too.

146

P1.36 STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATIC CHANGE

Kent M. McGregor.

University of North TexasDenton, Texas

Mark D. Schwartz.

University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMilwaukee, Wisconsin

1. INTRODUCTION

During the past twenty years, the subject ofclimatic change has grown from an obscurecorner of the academic world to a subject ofconsiderable scientific, educational and mediaattention (Ausubel, 1991). This interest hasresulted in many articles in both news magazines(TIME, U.S. News and World Report) and thepopular scientific press (Environment,Smithsonian, Scientific American). With all thismedia attention, both teachers and studentshave had considerable exposure to climaticchange as both a scientific and public policyissue. What do students really know andunderstand about climatic change? How arethese perceptions related to views of their ownlocal weather? The goal of this research was tosurvey college students in introductorygeography/meteorology classes on these topics.Eighteen colleges and universities cooperated inthe study. The survey solicited information onfive topics: demographics, media exposure,experience with unusual weather, opinions aboutlocal climate, and familiarity with processesrelated to climatic change. The results indicateda high level of student awareness concerningclimatic changes and a generally held belief thatsuch changes will affect both global climate andlocal weather.

Corresponding authors address: Kent M.McGregor, Department of Geography, Universityof North Texas, Denton, TX. 76203 - 5277;Mark D. Schwartz, Department of Geography,University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee,WI. 53201

2. BACKGROUND

The possible consequences of climaticchange have sparked a debate concerning publicpolicy which has increased media attention evenmore. For example, the April 22, 1991 issue ofTIME magazine carried a report on the debatewithin the White House on climatic change. Onegroup says it is time to act while the oppositecamp says there is still plenty of time, so "waitand see" is the best policy. Meanwhile weatherevents continue to command media attention.Time magazine, March 14, 1994, published anarticle called "Burned by Warming". This piecefocused on the financial losses incurred byinsurance companies due to hurricanes and otherlarge storm systems and speculated that climaticchange could bankrupt the insurance industry.

Many human activities can potentiallycontribute to a changed global climate (Firor,1990; Jaeger, 1988). The principal concerns areglobal warming, ozone depletion andenvironmental degradation. Carbon dioxideenrichment of the atmosphere is the culprit inscenarios of global warming. Carbon dioxide isa relatively small constituent of the atmosphere(about 0.03%), yet it is one of the mostimportant heat absorbing gasses in theatmosphere. If the atmosphere traps heat moreeffectively, the global temperature could riseeven though the amount of insolation remainsthe same. This is the greenhouse effect.Predictions are that during the period from 1850to 2050, carbon dioxide levels will havedoubled. The source of this additional CO2 isthe burning of fossil fuels (predominately coaland oil). As more of these fuels are burnt, CO2


concentrations increase in the atmosphere, andthe lower atmosphere traps more hut radiatingupward from the earth's surface. Thus the loweratmosphere warms and climate presumablyseeks a new equilibrium with unknown changesin seasonal weather patterns and extreme events(Easterling, Parry and Crosson, 1989; Mearns,Katz and Schneider, 1984). There is muchdebate as to the form of this new equilibrium orwhat policy measures, if any, should be enactedto deal with the COrclimate change connection(Ausubel, 1991; Katz, Ausubel and Berberian,1985; White, 1990; White, 1988.)

The second source of concern is thepotential depletion of stratospheric ozone.Ozone absorbs nearly all of the sun's ultraviolet(UV) energy cascading into the upperatmosphere thus providing a kind of protectiveshield for life on this planet (Stolarski, 1988).The culprit is a class of chemicals calledchlorofluorocarbons (CFC's). Upon release fromindustrial processes and refrigerants, these can,little by little, rise to the stratosphere andthrough a series of chemical reactions breakdown the protective ozone molecules. Since thisis a catalytic reaction, the CFC's are notdestroyed in the process. Thus theirconcentrations increase in the stratosphere anddestroy even more ozone.

Measurements in both the Antarctic and theArctic have shown serious depletion ofstratospheric ozone (Lemmonick, 1992). Asmore ultraviolet energy arrives at the earth'ssurface, it impacts life forms and ecosystems ina number of harmful ways. It causes eyecataracts or even blindness, and also contributesto skin cancer. Potentially excess UV candisrupt aquatic ecosystems (Smith, 1992).

The third source of concern deals with globalenvironmental degradation. The clearing oftropical rain forests, erosion of top soil aneirelated processes of desertification modify theearth's surface and thus affect prevailing climate(Firor, 1990; Henson, 1991; Price, 1988; Hareand Sewell, 1986). Much of the focus has beenon the rapid destruction of tropical rain forestsaround the world. Burning of the rain forestsadds a significant amount of carbon dioxide tothe atmosphere. Since the forest is destroyed, itno longer absorbs the carbon dioxide that it oncedid in the process of photosynthesis. Thedestruction of tropical rain forests thusrepresents a two-pronged attack against theclimate system. The Amazon rain forest in


particular has become a symbol of all the globalhuman and natural forces that ultimately affectthe climate system (Serril, 1989).

With all this scientific and media attention,both teachers and students have hadconsiderable exposure to climatic change asboth a environmental and public policy issue.What do they really know and understand aboutclimatic change? How are these perceptionsrelated to local weather?

3. SURVEY DESIGN

This survey was undertaken to investigatethe students' degree of knowledge about climatechange and the perceived relation to weather intheir locale. The specific goals of the surveydictated the organization of the surveyinstrument. Like any survey the first sectionsolicited demographic information. The secondsection focused on educational background andmedia exposure. The third part assessed theirprior experience with extreme weather. Thesurvey instrument contained a list of weatherevents; e.g., thunderstorm, tornado, drought.The students simply indicated events which theyhad experienced. The fourth part asked them todescribe their local climate in terms of hot, cold,wet, dry, seasonal, etc. The final sectionfocused on their knowledge concerning themechanisms of climatic change. They wereasked how familiar they were with a number ofkey words in the climatic change vocabulary;e.g., greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, GCM.If they noted strong familiarity with a term, itindicated some understanding of process. Theywere also asked to agree or disagree withstatements about processes that might affectclimate; e.g., atmospheric pollution, clearing offorests.

An important goal was to determine if thestudents believed that climate has changed orwill change and to investigate the perceivedrelation between global climate change and localweather. Questions were included on summerand winter temperatures and precipitationcompared to the past. They were also asked toagree or disagree with propositions that globalclimate would change and that the climate oftheir own state would change.

The data set of 500 respondents wasanalyzed with descriptive statistics. ANOVA andMANOVA statistical analysis were also used toidentify significant relationships between

1 4 8

variables. Maps were compiled showing thereported experience with severe weather.

3.1 Survey Limitations

The survey had the usual limitations of suchresearch: (1) Even though eighteen collegesparticipated, parts of the U.S. were notadequately represented. (2) Most participantswere students in introductory level geography ormeteorology classes. As such, they might haveprior interest or knowledge that other studentsdo not have. (3) Any survey has a definite focusand leads the respondent to some degree. It isclear from the content what orientation or goalis behind the survey. (4) People do not alwaysrespond honestly to the questions. Perhapsmany affirmative responses should not be asstrongly affirmative as they were. Sometimespeople are too agreeable. (5) Since thequestionnaire was relatively short, only threepages, some of the information was solicited ina very cursory fashion.

4. RESULTS

4.1 Demoaraohic

The typical respondent was 20-25 years ofage with one to two years of education afterhigh school. They had had seven to twelvehours of science in college. Slightly more malesthan females responded. The average length of

residence In their respective state was ten years.They tended to be from urban/suburbanenvironments rather than small town or ruralenvironments.

Their reported exposure to the media wasquestionable for such a population. Theyreported spending 3-5 hours a week readingnewspapers and popular magazines and 11-20hours a week watching television or listening tothe radio. The number of television hoursreported was lower than anticipated.

4.2 Experience with Severe Weather

Figure 1 summarizes their experience withextreme weather events. For instance, almost allhad experienced a severe thunderstorm, but onlytwo percent claimed to have experienced a tidalwave. A tidai wave is not strictly a weatherevent but it was included for control. Therelatively high percentage who claimed to haveexperienced a hurricane (43%) or a tornado(42%) was something of a surprise.

The maps of hurricane, blizzard and tornadoexperience showed strong geographic patterns(Figures 2, 3, and 4). On these maps each dotrepresents a respondent who reportedexperience with the particular type of weatherevent. Given the locations of the respondingcollege as well as the locations for the particularphenomenon in question, the results were notunexpected. For example, respondents who hadexperienced hurricanes were from sites near the

Tidal Wave 3Ice Storm

Agticutturei Loss

Water ShortageHeat Wave

Forert Fire

Chinook Winds

Hurricane

Drought

Large Hall

Tornado %.

Percent of Respondents

± _1 1_3

T

II 1lightning St,sce

1 -I

Severe T-Storro .

BlizzardI

Flood

(5 10 20 30 70 GO 1

FIGURE 1. EXPERiENCE WITH EXTREME WEATHER


TORNADO

FIGURE 2. INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD EXPERIENCED A TORNADO

BLIZZARD

FIGURE 3. INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD EXPERIENCED A BLIZZARD

HURRICANE

FIGURE 4. INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD EXPERIENCED A HURRICANE


coast. In contrast, experience with blizzards wasa more interior phenomenon as was tornadoexperience. The maps indicated a "TornadoAlley" from Texas to Nebraska and on toIndiana. The locations of reported extreme heatand extreme cold were more difficult to explain(maps not included). One might expect extremeheat in Texas more than extreme cold, butcertainly both can occur there. Part of theexplanation undoubtedly has to do with therespondent's previous experience andexpectations.

4.3 Knowledge of Climatic Change

One of the more revealing parts of the studydealt with the respondents' familiarity with keyterms in the climatic change vocabulary. Table1 summarizes the results; a 5 represents a termwith which the respondent was very familiarwhereas a 1 indicates no knowledge.

TABLE 1

G een House Effect 3.8Ozone Depletion 3.6UV 3.2CFC's 1.81 RF's 1 .3GCM's 1.2RFP's 1.2

The results showed good overall familiaritywith the topics that have received the mostmedia attention - greenhouse effect, UV andozone depletion. CFC's was not a well knownterm to them. TRF was inserted as a kind ofcontrol acronym. However several students usedthe abbreviation in the context of tropical rainforest. GCM (General Circulation Model) and RFF(Request for Proposals), terms that are wellknown to professionals, were not meaningful tothe studants.

Where and how do the stuaents get theirinformation on climatic change? Television isnot an important source of information onclimate change. Newspapers and magazinesseem to have more influence, particularly for theidea that forest removal can change climate.However, the most important source ofinformation was the number of science classes(Table 4). Women seem to be less familiar with

some of the terms. This can be explainedbecause women reported a lower number ofscience hours and loss time spent readingnewspapers.

4.4 Local Climate and Climatic Charm

Table 2 below shows the students'descriprions of the climate of their respectivestate.

TABLE 2

Hot 56%Cold 33%Wet 39%Dry 40%Seasonal 50%Unpredictable 38%

They also responded to statements dealingwith environmental processes that might affectclimate or contribute to climatic change. For

instance they were nearly neutral on the notionthat large scale irrigation could affect climate,but they agreed strongly with the idea thatpollution could affect climate. In Table 3 below,1 indicates strong agreement, 3 is neutral, and

5 represents strong disagreement.

TABLE 3

Weather has important effect onrecreational activities

Weather has important effect on mylivelihood

Volcanic eruptions affect climatePollution in the atmosphere

affects climateClearing forests affects climateLarge scale irrigation affects climateThe climate of my state will change

next 50 yearsThe global climate will change

1.8

2.42.0

1.41.62.2

1.81.6

Overall they felt that weather had animportant effect on their recreational activitiesbut were neutral concerning the effect on theirwurk or livelihood. Perhaps the importance ofrecreational activities to these students explains

why they believed that weather forecasts wereaccurate only half the time. Climate change wasviewed as more likely by those who ratedweather forecast accuracy higher, whichsuggests some relationship between belief inclimate change and 'respect for weatherscience In general (Table 4). Most respondentsbelieved that the factors mentioned in Table 3can change climate, and that in fact, globalclimate will change and will probably affect theirlocal area.

TABLE 4

MANOVA F-statistics

Test Variable Significant variables (.01 level)

Green HouseEffect

Ozone Depletion

CFC's

TRF's

Climate ChangeState

Climate ChangeGlobal

Science Hrs.Newspaper Hrs.Gender

Science Hrs.Newspaper Hrs.

Science Hrs.Gender

Science Hrs.Gender

Region of U.S.F'cast Accuracy

Region of U.S.F'cast Accuracy

8.805.205.25

6.514.30

21.5813.08

4.795.22

3.144.50

3.573.00

5. SUMMARY

This survey of weather and climate

perceptions revealed that these universitystudents do in fact understand the potential forglobal climatic change. While they were in thefirst week of an introductory geography ormeteorology class, they still had been exposedto some issues concerning climatic change. Thisexposure might have occurred earlier in theirclassroom education or through the media. Theprinted media seem to have had more impact onthis particular population than the electronicmedia. The most important single source ofinformation was science classes they had taken


in college.This survey alao solicited information on the

students' experience with weather (especiallysevere weather) as well as climate. Not only didthis experience with severe weather show stronggeographic patterns, but also seemed to colortheir perceptions of how climate might changeweather in their locale. Thus climatic change isnot only a shot" topic in the scientificcommunity, it is also a topic with which thesestudents are familiar. Furthermore the familiarityextends to some of the vocabulary andmechanisms of climatic change. It wasrefreshing to know that many students do in factview the world as a global system complete withfeedback mechanisms and that concern with theecological consequences of climatic changecontributed to this knowledge.

6. REFERENCES

Adams, R. M., 1988:changes takingenvironment mayresponsible future.

Our new awareness ofplace in the globallead us to a more

Smithsonian, 19(10):10

Allman, W. F., 1988: Rediscovering planetearth. U.S. News and World Report,105(17) Oct. 31, 56-61

Ausubel, J. H., 1991: A second look at theimpacts of climate change. AmericanScientist, 79, 210-21

Beardsley, T., Nov. 1989: Not so hot. ScientificAmerican, 201, 17- 18

Brand, D., 1988: Is the world warming up?Time, 131(26) July 4, 18

Easterling, W. E. Ill., M. L. Parry and PierreCrosson, 1989: Adapting future agricultureto changes in climate. Chapter inGreenhouse Warming: Abatement andAdaptation, N. J. Rosenberg and W. E.Easterling III, Eds. Washington D. C.:Resources for the Future. 91-104

Firor, J., 1990: The Changing Atmosphere: AGlobal Challenge. New Haven: YaleUniversity Press

Hare, F. K. and W.R. Derrick Sewell, 1986:Awareness of Climate. Chapter in


Geography, Resources, and Environment, R.W. Kates and I. Burton Eds. Chicago: TheUniversity of Chicago Press, 207-39

Hansen, R., 1991: Goodbye, NebraskaDiscover, 12:22

Jaeger, J., 1988: Anticipating climatic change.Environment, 30(7):12-15, 30-33

Katz, R. W., J. Ausubel, and M. Berberian, eds.,1985: Climatic Impact Assessment: Studiesof the Interaction of Climate and Society,New York: John Wiley and Sons

Lacayo, Richard, 1991: Global Warming: A NewWarning. TIME, 137(16) Apr. 22, 32

Lemonick, M. D., 1992: The ozone vanishes.TIME, 139(7) Feb. 17, 60-63

Linden, E., 1994: Burned by warming. TIME,143(11), Mar. 14, 79

Mearns, L. 0., R. W. Katz, and S. H. Schneider,1984: Extreme high-temperature events:Change in their probabilities with changes inmean temperature. Journal of Climate andApplied Meteorology, 23, 1601-13

Price, M. F., 1989: Global change: defining theill defined. Environment, 31(10):18-20

Serrill, M. S., 1989: A dubious plan for theAmazon. TIME, 133(16), Apr. 17, 67

Smith, R. C. et. al., 1992: Ozone depletion:ultraviolet radiation and phytoplanktonbiology in Antarctic waters. Science, 255,952-59

Stolarski, R. S., 1988: The Antarctic ozonehole. Scientific American, 258, 80-36

Trefil, James, 1990: Modeling earth's climaterequires both science and guesswork.Smithsonian, 21(9):28-38

White, R. M., 1990: The great climate debate.Scientific American, 263(7):36-43

Whits, G. F., 1988: Global warming:uncertainty and action. Environment,30(4):inside cover

152

PI .37 YOU HAVE THE DATA. NOW WHAT?

Elliot AbramsJames Levin

Accu-Weather Inc.State College, Pennsylvania

1 . INTRODUCTION

With the rapid deployment of computers and tel-ecommunications capability in the classroom, stud-ents and teachers have several ways of obtainingthe latest meteorological and oceanographic data.However, just as the presence of lasers doesn'tassure an illuminating physics activity, the availabil-ity of weather data does not automatically pre-cipitate good teaching in meteorology.

The National Science Education Standards sug-gested by the National Research Council(NCSESA, 1994) offer guidelines for what all stud-ents must understand and 5e able to do as a resultof their education in scie;lce. It is important toappreciate where the study of meteorology fits inunder these Standards. There are eight categoriesof science content:

Science as InquiryPhysical ScienceLife ScienceEarth and Space ScienceScience and TechnologyScience and Societal ChallengesHistory and Nature of ScienceUnifying Concepts and Processes.

Traditionally, meteorology has not been grantedan exclusive franchise in the K-12 curriculum.Instead, it has often been an elective or a unitwithin the broader study of Earth Science. Theemerging Standards present both a challenge andar opportunity. The challenge is that meteorologymight be viewed as just one part of one of thelarger themes (Earth Science). The opportunity isthat since weather and climate affect everyone andhave profound influences on life, meteorology andrelated subjects are important niche players inevery category of science education.

The study of meteorology should find its primaryhome in either the Earth Science or Science andSocietal Challenges section. In fact, the latter cate-gory offers exciting possibilities for expandingmeteorological education. Content standards havebeen proposed for each theme. Among the seven

content standards established for grades 9-12under Science and Societal Challenges are:

Environmental degradationNatural and human-induced hazardsGlobal changesScience, technology and public policy

The content standards under Unifying Conceptsand Processes look equally interesting because allstudents should understand and be able to usethe following concepts and processes:

SystemsOrganizationForm and functionInteractionsChangeMeasurementmodelsScaleDiversity, adaptation and evolutionExplanation

The broad spectrum of meteorological inquiry byscientists should translate into many niches formeteorological education in the K-12 curriculum.Since the major research and study tools in termsof graphics and data are available in the classroomin real time, this prospect is enticing.

2. METEOROLOGICAL ACTIVITIES THATMEET THE GOALS OF THE NATIONALSCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS

The availability of real-time weather data andgraphics through services such as Accu-DataTHhas effectively solved the problem that formerlyhindered hands-on lab work in meteorology. Therewas no way to bring the huge atmospheric labora-tory inside. A vdriety of ingenious and innovativeexperiments were developed over the years to getaround this problem, bu: until very recently itwasn't possible to do a classroom investigation of areal weather situation.

However, the flood of information now availablemust be harnessed in ways that facilitate studentunderstanding of atmospheric processes and how


this relates to the student's life experiences.The present poster exhibit demonstrateshow this is being done in today's classroom.

2.1 Elementary Activities

Using Online with Accu-Weatherm, at theelementary school level, students and teach-ers start by exploring weather with their sens-es. Students are guided to discover thatwhile much about our surroundings can beexplained using one's senses, we need todo more if we are going to measure what'shappening in the atmosphere, establish rela-tionships and communicate our findings toothers. Through activities that progressivelyexpand the student's horizons, the class:

uses cooperative learning tech-niques to describe the weatherusing the five senses.

discusses and determines how totake standardized measurements.

goes online with Accu-Data torelate local conditions to those atnearby and distant locations.

learns how to use the languageof the science of meteorology toreport their findings.

In another activity, students examine alarge storm and weigh the impacts on every-day activity. They determine the weight ofsnow to be cleared from driveways and walks.Through practical examples using appro-priate mathematics for their level, studentsdetermine the costs and benefits of makingthe streets safe through salting and plowing.They discuss the negative impacts of theseactivities and weigh the consequences.Thus in one set of activities the student goesfrom learning to identify and appreciate howstorms behave to working on real world prob-lems that face today's public works officialsand the taxpayers on a regular basis. An inte-gral part of this is using online realtimeweather information and integrating it withother components of the existing curriculumto bring relevance home to the student.

2.2 Secondary Level Activities

Students exploring meteorology in highs,:hool are challenged to use their learning inother scientific and mathematical areas to


problems involving the atmosphere. For exam-ple, usi% Online with Accu-Weather (secon-dary edition), students search online for loca-tions where various types of precipitation areoccurring at sites where upper air information isobserved. Students prepare and analyze tem-perature-height diagrams to determine at whatlevels precipitation is changing phase

In another activity, students determine theweight of ice on power lines and estimate atwhat point wires might snap. One explorationposes the issue of preparing for mountain hik-ing. How will the temperature and other condi-tions change with elevation? How can we findout about these conditions in real time? Can weforecast what's going to happen next?

3. Conclusions

For each class activity in the two editions ofOnline with Accu-Weather, we establish a setof objectives and propose techniques forreaching the objectives. The students useguided discovery techniques and employ realtime weather data and graphics (through Accu-Data) to solve problems that interest themdirectly. Assessment activities are being devel-oped to measure the extent to which the infor-mation has been learned and what steps needto be taken to enhance understanding.

A key component of this work is involving theteacher and student in the total process.Teacher training and instructions are providedso the teacher feels comfortable with the mate-rial and its presentation. A teacher's manualaccompanies all materials, explaining variousways of exploring each topic and offering tipsfor solving various problems. The result is anexperience for students in which they aredoing real science the way scientists do it.

References

Abrams, E., and Levin, J, 1993 Using Real timeWeather Data to Teach Meteorological Princi-ples in the Existing Curriculum, Poster Sessionat 3rd International Conference on School andPopular Meteorological Education,Toronto

National Committee on Science EducationStandards and Assessment (NCSESA),National Science Education Standards (draft)May 1994, National Research Council

154

P1 . 38

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT BASED STUDIES EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OFMETEOROLOGY IN UNDERSTANDING THE GLETSCHERVORFELD ENVIRONMENT:

LOCATION - BODALSBREEN, JOSTEDALEN, NORWAY

Jennifer Lykens, Melissa A. MacDonald, Paul R. McCormick,State College Area School District

State College, PA

Sabrina B. Bremner, Rachel G. MeldrumJames Gillespie's High SchoolEdinburgh United Kingdom

IntroductionDuring the months ofJune and July, 1994a joint

expedition with students from the Lothian RegionSchools (Scotland) and State College Area High School,(State College, PA) conducted field studies at theBodalsbreen glacial valley in Norway. The LothianSchools had made several earlier studies at this site.However, the 1994 expedition was the first to beginformal meteorological studies of the valley. A

comprehensive set of instruments was installed so thatlocal conditions as well as the consequences of large Taleweather patterns could be investigated. Preparations forthis study began in the fall of 1992; fcrrnal analysis of thedata is now still in progress. Although the filed work didnot go smoothly, the difficulties encountered in

themselves provided the students with invaluable Troblemsolving experiences.

Equipment and PreparationEssentially right up until departure date new

ideas were being debated and equipment being added tothe inventory. All of the equipment usedwas donated byState College Area High School, the Department ofMeteorology at The Penn State University, e

Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Divi.sion

Laboratory of NOAA, the U.S. based Davis Corporation,the MJP Cornwall Company of Scotland, and the RoyalMeteorological Society III Great Britain. Among theinstruments and computers were: CR2IX Campbell data-Loggers, a MACINTOSH power book, two IBMnotebooks, two sets of pyranometers, Li-Cor radiometers,and a Davis Weather Station.

Before leaving the United States, the Americanteam spent time with faculty, manuals, and books learning

what about the environmental parameters to be studied.The learning experience was intensive , especially forthose who hadn't previously studied meteorology.

Learning how to program and use the Campbelldata loggers occupied much of the preparation time.

Programming and learning how to do it in conjunctionwith the various computers introduced the team to theengineering aspects of science. Programming wasdifficult, but was mastered with the assistance of PennState's Meteorology Department. Other challengesincluded constructing thermocouples for measuring soiland air temperatures. In addition general things, such asorganizing wiring so that data would eventually appear inthe correct spreadsheet locations provided the studentswith excellent "systems" experience.

To make sure everything would run properly, amock weather station was constructed and operated at therural home of one of the Penn State faculty. The DavisStation operated for a week; the Campbell units for a fewdays. One of last pre-evaluative tasks was testing thetechniques required for recording the trajectories ofneutrally buoyant balloons.

NorwayOn arrival in Norway, the meteorology team split

into two groups. One group went to the north and one tothe south of the Jostedalsbreen icefeld. These two glacialvalleys were selected on the advice of Prof. Matthews ofCardiff University. These valleys were selectedrespectively for their north and south aspects. When thestudents arrived, the southern valley was still covered withmore than three feet of snow with some places havingonly the ridges of prominent moraines appearing abovethe last winter's snows. Conditions made it impossible todo any field work. Thus, we decided to join forces withthe group at the northern valley.

By the time the southern group arrived at the site,the north group had set up their Campbell logger and itsassociated equipment, and the Davis Instrumentmeteorological sty' ion north of the glacier on the easternside of the river. Mounted on wooden masts and tripods,all the temperature sensors and pyranometers were up andrunning.

The south group redefined their research focus toinvestigate a snow covered surface adjacent to the glacier


investigate a snow covered surface adjacent to the glacierso that the energy budget could be inferred for almostanytime of year (using percent snow cover).

ProblemsDifficulties encountered by the students to get the

instruments up and running were numerous. When thenorth group first set up its station on the lake, theCampbell unit got saturated. This required transportingsome of the equipment back off the mountain. That night,using a camp hand dryer and instruction mantal, the teamlearned how to repair in the field such a piece of complexelectrical equipment. After being successfully dried carewas taken so that it would never get wet again.

When the south group set their station up near theglacier, they were not aware of how fast the snow wasmelting. By the second day all the guide wires wereuseless and the pyranometer was no longer level. A fewdays later the team decided that a station here wasimpossible. Thus, it was dismantled and the equipmentused at the northern site.

On the third day of the study, one computercrashed and we were not able to revive it. Bringing thesouthern group to the Bochlsbreen site provided thus alsoprovided a critically needed computer.

After we thought that all of the start up problemhad been solved, two of the channels in the CR21 (thenorth Campbell box) were not working and the soilmoisture blocks not to be functioning. Since theCampbell Box up at the glacier had more channels (andless things being measured), we decided to switch them.Thus, both were reprogrammed. During this time a coldpelting rain refused to stop and fingers became quitenumb. In order to make the exchange, and ensure for acontinuous collection of dita we imposed a limited timerestriction. It took most of that time to walk to the stationat the glacier. With everyone's help and hard work, thecombined team accomplished their goal. Not all realizedthat they were on the way to dealing with yet morecomplications.

The Davis Instrument, which was supposed tooperate from a simple 12 volt motorcycle battery haddrained it by the third day, resulting in a loss of 16 hoursof data. We replaced the battery and tried again, but againit had shut off by the next "service call". To solve theproblem we eventually hooked it up to a new 12 volt carbattery that the team had to carry up more than 3 km tothe mountain site. This battery was also used to operatcthe Campbell station and the portable computers.

After all the equipment changes were made, wetried to download data for the first time. This turned outto be the highest set of obstacles to climb. Something waswrong somewhere and we could not get the computer totransfer the files from the CR2 1 X. After two days of


forgetting the manual, losing power on the computers,trying new things that still didn't make things work, andforgetting the link (which we never told our teacherabout), we took everything back to base camp to figure itout. Several calls to IBM and PSU about the computerand the Campbell Box proved to be of little help. Finallythe team retired to a dry, warm room at the campgroundand after three hours of research figured it out. We hadneglected to include four lines in the program that enabledus to retrieve information. It was the best feeling in theworld to walk out of the room, dump the equipmentin oneof the vans and say "We got it, it's solved." From here onout, skies were blue and things went well. From about tendays of work, we would get five days of good data.Perhaps, a .500 batting average isn't bad!

Significance of MeteorologyThe Lothian Region Schools in Scotland provides

selected students with this field experience every twoyears. Their work includes lichenometric dating moraineanalysis, till fabric analysis, plant succession, and otherrelated work. Although their studies have been succesfulin mapping and dating the otherwise obscure valley, itsholistic study had not included a meteorological effort.Yet, scientists had reported the changing conditionsproduced by the weather would interfere with totallyaccurate research unless the environment is properlydocumented and studied. The meteorological study thisyear filled this need. Although the impact of ineather wasmost easily seen in the biological study, in a climatesenseit was also apparent in the geographical areas.

Student geographers spent an enormous amountof time drawing, mapping, and measuring moraines toprovide accurate maps of the valley floor. Too themeteorologists, their extremely detailed and accuratemaps might help to chart wind paterns over the morainesand determine how the katabatic winds affected theproximal and dismal slopes, or whether the morainesmight create a boundary layer of air that was not affectedby the katabatic winds. The till fabric analysis groupstook the orientation and dip of stoncs in the moraine toprovide an accurate picture of how the moraine wasmoved by the glacier. Using sieves to break down fourkilogram samples of the moraines, the moraine analysisgroups assessed stone size and roundness. These last twogroups did most of their work below ground, but theimpact of water is important to all the areas of geography.The rate at which the glacier is melting and hcreasing thedischarge of the river, and the amountof rainfall can bothcause rounding of stones atrl erosion of the steep sides ofthe moraines.

Regular point sampling along 300 metre transectson both sides of the meltwater stream which bisects theforefront produced massive amounts of data on plant types

156

and local environmental conditions. This data is to beused to help explain plant succession ontothe clean arealeft behind as the glacier retreats. Norwegian glaciershave been in more or less constant retreat since the LittleIce Age .of the eighteenth century.

This work reveals community rather thanindividual plants in succession. Closest to the ice and for500 metres downslope primitive mosses and lichen hasbecome established, followed progressively with distancefrom the ice by grass/herb plants, low shrub/small treesand eventually the mature birch forest. Work on datingindividual surfaces using lichenometry will also produceice front isochrons from which calculations can be madeas to the rate of plant invasion for this paticular elevationand this latitude. The significance of the meteorologicalinvestigations is perhaps most directly relevant to assistingwork with plant communities. Of all the variable factorsto be considered, the weather in the valley as a whole andeven within localized areas is perhaps most important inexplaining atypical occurrences. Of these occurrences,the effect of the cold dry katabatic wind on the differentfaces of the saw tooth moraines provided a startlingexample for all to see. The pools of night time cold air sitin the troughs between the moraines might be reflected ina detailed analysis of the vegetation. The drying effect ofboth the wind and reflected raiiation from the ice surfacecontribute to many of the plants displaying xerophyticadaptations. All the trees in the valley are stunted andgrow at an angle away from the glacier, though localsheltering produces larger straighter specimens. The newmeteorological data now available is currently beingstudied with the hope that it will help explain some ofthese phenomena.

References

Dixon, M.H.,1992: Environmental Factors AffectingVegetation Succession on Historically andLichenometrically Dated Moraines in the BodalsbreenValley, Central Norway, 1992 Fieldwork ExpeditionBodalan Jostedalsbreen. Norway, Lothian Region

Education Department, Edinburgh U.K.

Matthews J. A, 1992: The Ecology of Recently De-Glaciated Terrain, A Geogiaphical Approach to GlacierForelands and Primary Succession, Cambridge UnhersityPress, Cambridge UK

MAP OF THE

BODALSBREEN FOREFRON7

Yoweed Mame* end.Mappee &age Lae.

Esuseeue iatete04W r(MIVO.1 tdOrY01


I '0143

P1 . 39

MICROMETEOROLOGICAL STUDIES IN THE BODALEN GLACIAL VALLEY, NORWAYINTERPRETATION OF THE ENERGY BUDGET OBSERVATIONS

Eric Y. Lee, Melissa A. MacDonald, Erik S. ThomsonState College Area High School

State College, PA

Dylan J. Higgins, Charlotte A. WilliamsJames Gillespie's High School

Edinburgh, UK

I. INTRODUCTION

During the past few years, concerns regardingthe problems resulting from planetary global warminghave been increasing. For example, significant increasesin sea level could result from widespread glacialmelting in the Antarctic, Greenland and other alpineareas. Significant changes in the sizes of glaciers aredependent not only upon the physical properties of theirice, but also upon seasonal and longer term weather-forced changes in the local climate. Study of the energyor heat budget is one method that allows us to estimatethe total amount of energy which is exchanged betweena glacier and the overlying atmosphere (Paterson, 1981).Downwelling solar and atmospheric infrared radiationwill evaporate or melt glacial ice. Emission of infraredradiation from the glacier's ice surface will tend toretard the loss of ice. On an ice sheet, interpretation ofa radiation or energy budget is much easier than in alocation where the glacier is partially or completelysurrounded by complex terrain. In this situation,different parts of the glacier are shaded at differenttimes during the day, almost none of the ice surfacemay be horizontal and the glacial ice may includesignificant contamination by rock and soil fragmentswhich will alter its radiative properties.

Prior research by students in the Bodalsbrcenvalley, Norway, included studies of the local vegetationlocated in this region (Gillespie's Expedition, 1992).Dixon's paper in thc above referenced report indicatedthat interpretation of surface plant data could be greatlyenhanced if information was available regarding localmicrometeorological conditions including temperaturesand winds. It appeared that Units on plant growthmight be the result of temptrature extremes, largevariations in evapotranspiration rates, and mechanicalstress produced by strong katabatic winds. All of theabove plant growth-controlling phenomena also havethe potential to control the rate at which the glacier'sice melts. We were, consequently, motivated to install


a set of meteorological instruments that could providemeasurements of the local radiation, temperature, andwind environment.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SITE

For the June 1994 expedition, themeteorological station was situated in the central part ofthe valley 0.75 km below the snout of the Bodalsbreen,one of many glaciers fed by the Jostedalsbreen ice field.From a meteorological perspective, this near-glacier sitewas located in extremely complex terrain. TheBodalsbreen is a saw-tooth glacier resting in a curved,U-shaped valley whose bearing is approximately north-south. The ridge of mountains to the east of the glacieris lower and less steep than the ridge to the west. Theterrain at the station was irregular and quite rocky.Surrounding vegetation consisted primarily of lichensand moss.

3. FIELD INSTRUMENTATION

The recording instrument used for this studywas a Campbell CR21X Micrologger provided by PennState University. Signals from nine different sensorswere sampled at 10 Ilz, averaged to one minute andrecorded. Various team members were responsible forprogramming the datalogger, calibrating and installingthe sensors, and processing the recorded data. Differentgroups of the expedition team were then assigned theresponsibility of interpreting the recorded field data.Post-experiment interpretation was greatly facilitatedbecause all of the field-logged data was transferred viaan optically isolated interface to PCs so that commercialsoftware could be used for plotting and statisticalanalysis.

"l'he first three input channels of the dataloggerw ere hooked to copper-constantan thermocouples. The

156

latter, constructed by several members of the expeditionteam, were made by twisting copper and constantanwires together, soldering them, and then sealing themwith heat-shrink tubing to prevent water infiltration. Thethermocouples in channels one and three were installedone meter apart, 5 cm beneath the surface to measuresoil temperature. The thermocouple hooked to channeltwo was shielded from wind and solar radiation andinstalled at 2 m for measuring air temperature.

Several radiometers were provided by theNOAA's Atmospheric Turbulence and DiffusionDivision (ATDD). Two Quantum (Li-Cor, Inc.)radiometers, one up and one down-looking, weremounted on a horizontal plate and their signalsconnected to channels five and six. These sensorsmeasure the photosynthetically active radiation from400 to 700 nm. Although the plate supporting theradiometers was itself supported by a small tripod, wedid our best to minimize obstructions to the field ofview of the down-looking sensor. Two Eppley PSR(Precision Spectral Radiometer) radiometers, also lentby ATDD, provided an independent set of solarradiation flux measurements. The up-looking Eppleysensed the incoming global solar radiation, and thedown-looking Eppley, the reflected or upwelling. ThePSR sensors were also mounted on a flat plate andsupported about a meter off the ground by a smalltripod.

About a month after returning to the U.S., boththe Eppley and Quantum radiometers were installed atPenn State's micrometeorological field site near RockSprings, Penn. so that they could be calibrated againstthe sensors used there for continuously monitoring avariety of radiation variables.

4. DATA ANALYSIS

Interpretation of the complete energy budget ata given site requires knowledge of the following terms:incoming and outgoing solar and infrared radiation, theatmospheric and soil sensible heat fluxes, the latent heatflux, precipitation, and, if the surface is vegetated, thephotosynthetic flux. The relevant equation for glaciers,as written in Paterson (1981), is

AG + M R + 11 - + LfP

The following table in the right-hand column definesthe symbols in this equation.

With the available instrumentation it waspossible in our experiment to record only parts of thetotal budget. Neither eddv correlation-enpable nor

AG Rate of gain of heat for sensible orlatent atmospheric heating

Heat used to mett snow and ice

Net absorbed radiation

Sensible heat

Specific latent heat of vaporization(2.5 * 10A6 J/kg)

Rate of evaporation from surface

Lf Specific latent heat of fusion of ice(3.35 * 10A5 J/kg)

Precipitation rate of rain

sufficiently sensitive humidity sensors were available tomeasure the sensible and latent heat fluxes. Even ifadequate sensors had been available, interpretation ofdata from them would have been problematic for alocation having such complex terrain. The problem isbasically one of whether or not the required Monin-Obukov similarity law assumptions can be satisfied(Arya, 1988). Precipitation was irrelevant to our sudiesas none occurred on the days of interest. Although theexpedition went to Norway with the intent of makingthe measurements on the ice, conditions on the glacierprevented us from safely doing so. Consequently, wedecided to focus our interpretation of the availableradiation and temperature data on examination of theeffects of the surrounding, complex terrain on theenergy input to the glacier's valley.

In the following figures, 1 through 7, we showexamples of the recorded micrometeorological data.These figures include the temperature readings acquiredfrom the thermocouples, values from both types ofradiation sensors, and the albedo (calculated using thevalues from the Quantum radiometers). All of thegraphs' x-values represent minutes from an initial time.Temperatures are in °C and radiation values are inW/m2.

From figure 1, it is apparent that thetopography of the surrounding arca is affecting theenergy input to the valley. A normal curve for the soiltempera'.1re over time would rise smoothly andlogarithmically, and would fall in an inverselyexponential manner (according to Newton's Law of


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Cooling). However, the data acquired by ourinstruments rises irregularly, indicating that the sun'sradiation was at least partially blocked several timesduring the heating process. The temperature falls moresmoothly, and thus closely resembles an ideal modelbecause the surrounding terrain will have a lesser effecton the soil's emission of longwave radiation (resultingin heat loss). The air temperature (figure 2) is affectedby both sensible heating by the soil and the glacial,principally katabatic, winds. Although the temperaturcchanges are much more complex, they do follow a basicdiurnal heating pattern.

Both the incoming and outgoing solarradiation, as measured by the Quantum radiometers,verifies the soil's partial exposure to the sun. At around6:15 a.m. (daylight saving time) thc graphs (figures 3and 4) rise sharply, showing that the sun had just risenover the edge of the mountain ridge on the eastern sideof the valley. The jagged irregularity during thedaylight hours shows that clouds intermittently blocked


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the sun's radiation from the instruments. At around 4:15p.m., the radiation dropped sharply, showing that thesun had reached the edge of the mountain ridge to thewest. However, there is another peak later in the day,around 6:00 p.m. This peak is very sharp and theduration of this increase in radiation is very short. Asthis peak to occurred at the same time every day. it isapparent that it was caused by local topography. Thispeak of radiation probably was the result of the sun'shaving broken through a break in the mountain ridge.Calculations of the sun's precise path with respect tothe topography of the surrounding area are in progress.

The graphs of the data from the PSRradiometers (figures 5 and 6) resemble those obtainedwith the Quantum radiometers. However, the down-looking PSR appears to measure a maximum value thatoccurs 3 times daily, slightly exceeded before noon.Unfortunately, these measurements may have beennoticeably affected by our method of mounting theinstruments. Thc graph reaches its upper limit quickly

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and remains there until falling as the sun's radiationdecreases much later in the day. This could have beenthe result of the metal mounting plate shading theground beneath the sensor from radiation. The threesmall peaks in each daytime curve of the graph mostprobably represent the times that the sun was shiningbetween two of the three tripod legs supporting thesensor's mounting plate. The down-looking Quantumradiometer seemed to experience this effect to a muchsmaller degree.

The last graph (figure 7) shows the albedo ofthe moss covered surface over time. with the night-hourvalues deleted. The graph varies somewhat throughoutthe day. Thc variations in the curve illustrate that thealbedo is somewhat sun-angle dependent. The averagealbedo, calculated from the values shown in the graph,is about 0.19.

Figure 7: Albedo

5. CONCLUSION

If one attempts to take into account thecomplex terrain and naturally varying albcdos of aglacial valley, analysis of the energy budget is difficult.The presence of local katabatic winds also can causeconsiderable temperature changes in the soil.

This field study provided us with the datanecessary to begin to examine the effects of a complextopography on the amount of energy available to aglacier. The dataset may also be of value to futuremicrometeorological, biological, and geographicalzxperiments.

REFERENCES

Fritschen, Leo J. and Lloyd W. Gay. EnvironmentalInstrumentation. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1979.

164TH SYMP. ON ECUCATION 147

P1 . 40

Studies of Winds in the Bodalsbreen Valley in Norway

Jennifer Lykens, Eric Y. Lee, Paul R. McCormick, Erik S. ThomsonState College Area High School

State College, PA

Dylan J. Higgins, Charlotte A. WilliamsJames Gillespie's High SchoolEdinburgh United Kingdom

IntroductionPrior research by students in the Bodalsbreen

valley, Norway, included studies of the local vegetationlocated within this region (Gillespie's Expedition, 1992).Dixon's paper in the above referenced report indicated thatinterpretation of surface plant data could be greatlyenhanced if information was available regarding localmicrometeorogical conditions includingtemperatures andwinds. It appeared that limirs on plant growth might bethe result of temperature extremes, large variations inevapotranspiration rates, and mechanical stress producedby strong katabatic winds. All of the above phenomenastrongly depend upon the diurnal cycle of heating andcooling in the valley.

Experimental ObjectiveOne purpose of the studies undertaken by

students from State College High School was to determineproperties of the local katabatic flows. The times at whichthey began and ended and their speeds were of particularinterest.

Pre-Expedition PreparationsBefore leaving for Norway, the experimental

methods which were expected to be used were tested in anopen field near State College in which drainage winds, aform of weak katabatic flow, were regularly observed.The purpose of these experiments was to verifythat videorecordings of the motion of neutral density balloons andinterpretation of their trajectories could be used tomeasure the speed and direction of a local katabatic flow.In addition, an anemometer and wind vane provided bythe Davis Instrument Company was tested to confirm thatit's threshold velocity was sufficiently low to be usable ina situation of this type. At the same time modificationswere made to the instrument's wind vane to insure thatthere were no frictional impediments to it's movement.

Field MeasurementsAt the Bodalsbreen site the Davis instrument,

which also included temperature, humidity and pressure


sensors, was installed in the central part of the valley 0.75lon from the snout of the glacier. A small glacial lake wasabout 200 meters west of the station. At the samelocation, a second set of meteorological instruments wasinstalled and connected to a Campbell CR-21Xdatalogger. This set of instruments included air and soiltemperature sensors and radiometers for incoming andoutgoing solar radiation. Temperature sensors wereinstalled 10 cm beneath the surface, essentially on thesurface, and one and two meters above the ground.

Data from each of the Davis Instrument sensorswas sampled at sec. intervals and averaged to five minuteperiods. The signals recorded with the Campbelldatalogger were sampled at 10 Hz and recorded everysecond. Observations were recorded without interuptionfrom June 30 through July 5.

On-site Wind ExperimentsOn-site conditions in Norway proved to be very

different than expected. Irregularities in the surface andthe speeds of the wind were both much greater than hadbeen anticipated. Thus the team decided to release mylarballoons at three different locations. For the firstexperiment on an overcast day the release locations werealigned across the valiey floor about 250 meters in frontof the glacier. About 20 balloons were released. Theirmotion was recorded by video cameras which had beenset up to look down and across the valley.

The second balloon experiment was situatedabout 1 km from the glacier on the distall side of apredominant moraine. This was an optimal day for akatabatic flow experiment, as the skies were clear. Sincekatabatics are winds driven by differences in pressure, itis necessary that solar radiation is available to heat theland, and, in turn, the air. The warmer air on the valleyfloor is replaced by the colder, denserair flowing from theglacier.

The third and final release was accompanied bya smoke bomb. Started on the proximal side of anotherpredominant moraine, approximently 1.5 km from theglacier, the smoke bomb was included in this experiment

1_ 6 ')4.,

to help define the air flow patterns over the moraines.The trajectories of the balloons could be recorded

on film for only a few minutes because the wind speedswere so high, 25 kph and higher. Due tothe limited timeon site only three experiments were performed.

Observations and InterpretationAs indicated above the actual experimental

conditions were very different from what was expected.Average winds were about 25 kph with gusts of up to 64kphr.

During the first balloon release, a down valleywind starting approximately four meters above the valleyfloor was observed. Any of the balloons carried by thiswind that ended up near the mountainside were thencaught in another wind, carried up the side of the valley,and then back up the valley in a return circulation. Anyballoons that were within four meters of the surfaceremained stationary.

The second balloon release, started on the distallside of a moraine, produced similar results with onedifference. After skipping over several of the moraines,some of the balloons were entrained into the katabaticwind and transported down the valley. As before, thoseballoons carried to the sides of the valley were caught inan upward flow, apparently a valley wind. In thisexperiment several of the balloons ended up being trappedin eddies between moraines.

During the third experiment, the balloons floaedover the first moraine and down into the adjoining distallplain. Upon reaching the following moraine, they wereentrained into the katabatic flow. The smoke, however,dissipated too quickly to be of any use. During this lastexperiment, two of the balloons again were captured bythe valley wind and proceeded up the mountainside.

As it turned out, the wind data recorded using theDavis instrument was critical to our understanding ofdevelopement and evolution of the katabatic flow. Wehad expected that the katabatic winds would be primarilynocturnal. The anemometer data showed that the windsstarted each day, early in the morning, around 9:00 am.Wind speeds then steadily increased until about 7:00 pm.Thereafter they slowly decreased until midnight. It wasbetween midnight and 9:00 am when the minimum windspeeds were recorded, between zero and about five kph.When the wind speeds were high, the direction wasgenerally south southwest, the appropriate direction for akatabatic flow at this location.

ConclusionThe observed katabatic and valley winds were far

more complicated in character tlia'n originally expected.Our ongoing studies of the available field measurementsare now being directed toward interpretation of a wind

field in a location having complex terrain and stablystratified layers. Thus we are now also using the availabletemperature gradient and humidity measurements to tryand infer the source locations for the winds observed atvarious heights above the surface and along the valleywalls.

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163 4TH SYMP. ON EDUCATION 149

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P1.41 LOOKING AT EARTH FROM SPACE

Coken J. Steele*

WT Chen & CompanyArlington, Virginia

1. THE MAPS-NET PROJECT

The National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA)-sponsored Maryland PilotEarth Science and Technology EducationNetwork (MAPS-NET) project 'was launched in1991 to strengthen pre-college teachers'understanding of Earth system science and toenhance their existing curriculum. Direct readoutfrom environmental satellites (the ability of userson the ground to obtain data directly from thesatellites) was selected as the cornerstone of thiseffort to provide teachers with an accessible,inexpensive, and exciting tool to engagestudents' interest. Emphasizing meteorologyenables participants to understand direct readoutimagery, and serves as a foundation for studyingthe Earth system. The project now includeselementary through high school level math andscience teachers, who are using their MAPS-NETtraining and direct readout technology to enrichlearning for students at all achievement levels.

2. MISSION TO PLANET EARTH

Space exploration has changed the way oneviews Earth. Only from space can changesaffecting the entire globe be seen. Images fromspace vividly illustrate Earth as a single entitycomposed of atmosphere, land, and water.

NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) is anintegrated, sustained, and comprehensiveprogram to observe, understand, model, andpredict global change. These activities will providethe scientific basis for informed policy decisionsrelated to our influence on the globalenvironment. Although many issues of globalconcern have been studied for decades, theirimpact has only recently been considered interms of affecting the complex, single system thatis Earth.

* Corresponding address for author: Colleen Steele,WT Chen & Company, 1745 Jefferson Davis Highway,Suite 306, Arlington, Virginia 22202. (703) 415-8670.


Part of the challenge of MTPE will be to prepareknowledgeable and responsible scientists,citizens, and decision makers. Engaging studentsin MTPE is critical. Fortunately, evolving scienceeducation goals and standards emphasize theimportance of science curriculum that is relevant tostudent's lives; involves students in exploration,data gathering, and experimentation; andengages students in higher-level thinking skills.Many schools are reinstating Earth system scienceclasses.

3. SATELLITES IN THE CLASSROOM

Environmental satellite imagery is an excellentvehicle for studying Earth system science. Usinga classroom ground station to obtain imageryinvolves students in a complete and continuingscience experience. In addition to utilizing currenttechnology, acquiring their own data, working witha global perspective, and having significant controlover research parameters, direct readout enablesmany students to be captivated by science.

To make direct readout succPssful in theclassroom, technology must be installed, used,and the data integrated into the curriculum. Thebest way to make those three things happen is toensure that teachers feel confident using thetechnology and the imagery. To meet thosegoals, a MAPS-NET graduate-level course wasdeveloped for Maryland pre-college science andmath teachers. The course materials are beingpublished by NASA, as a series, entitled Lookingat Earth From Space.

The course content and publications are acollaborative effort of the WT Chen & Company-lead MAPS-NET team and the MAPS-NETacademic host--the Department 01 Meteorology,University of Maryland at College Park. Additionalmaterials and review were contributed by theMAPS-NET teachers (who teach grades 4-12),scientists, technologists, and other educators.

164

The training materials are appropriate for teachersor high school students, the classroom materialshave been created to respond to a variety ofclassroom needs, the lesson plans are equallyuseful for ground station users or people who gettheir imagery from the Internet. The introductoryand technical publications are appropriate forparents, faculty, students, and administrators.

4. THE PUBLICATIONS

A variety of lessons have been learnedthroughout the MAPS-NET project, including theimportance of accessible, understandableinformation about a variety of relevant topics. Sixdocuments were developed in response toMAPS-NET teachers' needs. Those documentsare being published and distributed by NASA toserve educators nationey and internationally.The series entitled Lookog at Earth From Spaceincludes the following documents.

1. Introduction to Direct Readout bookletintroduces the topic and provides an overview ofthe educational application of direct readout.2. Guide to Direct Readout Equipment andVendors provides information about set-up inaddition to listing components and equipmentsources.3. Glossary of Terms describes terms andacronyms for meteorology, direct readout, MissionTo Planet Earth, NASA, the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA), globalchange, etc. Diagrams accompany many of theterms.4. Teacher's Guide to Global Change introducessome of the critical issues for our planet andincludes classrcom activities.5. Direct Readout Training Manual is a synthesisof the meteorology and technology coveredduring the MAPS-NET graduate course. Theinclusion of sections on satellites, orbitalelements, resources, etc. provides acomprehensive approach to understandingremote sensing, environmental satellites, andusing direct readout.6. Teacher's Guide to Direct Readout is acompilation of lesson plans developed by MAPS-NET teachers, accompanied by satellite imagery,explanation of the imagery, and backgroundinformation.

Looking at Earth From Space publications may beobtained, without charge, from your nearestNASA Teacher Resource Lab (TRL). Thepublications are printed in black and white toencourage copying and distribution to thebroadest possible audience.

5. LOCAL SUPPORT

The MAPS-NET approach incorporatedcontributions from many sources to ensure thatparticipating teachers, who have impressive butoften diverse backgrounds, received the support,resources, and/or information critical to theirclassroom success. Experts from NASA, NOAA,the University of Maryland, and Marylandclassrooms contributed and reviewed thematerials. Representatives from the MarylandDepartment of Education and our participatingteachers helped structure the course content andproject goals so they align with both state andclassroom requirements. Members of Marylandindustry contributed advisory skills, served asmentors and speakers, and contributed funds topurchase Earth stations for schools. The MarylandSpace Business Roundtable served as bursar fora fund-raising effort to equip schools state-wide.The Dallas Remote Imaging Group (DRIG)provided technical support, f rom setting upantennas on school roofs to replacing softwareand repairing equipment. The media, both printand television, made people aware of thisinnovative approach to learning.

iG O

6. DISCOVER EARTH

Experience and knowledge gained through theMAPS-NET project are being applied to thedevelopment of a new MTPE education prgjectentitled Discover Earth. Successful features ofthe MAPS-NET project will be incorporated in thisbroader-based approach to teaching Earth systemscience. Contact the author for additionalinformation.


P 1.21A

FORECASTING THE FUTURE: TEACHING ABOUT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

A CLASSROOM CURRICULUM, WORKSHOP, AND CLASSROOM CONSULTATIVESERVICES FOR TEACHERS

Hung Nguyen, Sharon Franks, and Stephen Birch

Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San Diego

The prospect of global climate change is a sobering one. it challenges today's citizens anddecislon-makers, and is likely to demand continued consideration well into the future. How willtoday's science students come to understand the nature and the limitations of science'spower to predict and prevent impending climate change? Researchers from the NSF Science &Technology Center for Clouds. Chemistry, and Climate at UCSD have joined educators from theStephen Birch Aquarium-Museum at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography to develop a newcurriculum that explores how scientists study changes In our planet's health. The curriculumintegrates evidence from the fields of paleontology, chemistry, physics, biology, meteorology andothers to describe In non-technical terms the processes of global climate change research.Student activities parallel scientists' activities, bringing classroom studies into the worldof science with via up-close and hands-on investigations.

Scripps institution of Oceanography sponsors workshops for teachers try hands-on activitieswhereby students use scientists' investigative instruments and methods. Participating teachers alsoreceive a 'Travel Lab' of equipment and materials, Including pictorial slides, classroom computersofiware, and videotapes, useful In implementing the curriculum. In addition, staff from theaquarium-museum offer teachers in-class consultation and follow-up. Overall, Forecasting theFuture strives to provide all resources needed by teachers of fifth-tweiffh grades to:

acquire and transmit to students an accurate informational overview, organizing concepts, andvivid examples with respect to this topic;

learn and implement classroom activities that parallel methods used by scientists In the field andin the laboratory;

engage in systematic electronic communication with scientists, science educators, and eachother to chronicle progress on curriculum implementation; and

assist In identifying factors that create effective, site-independent classroom environments for thestudy of global climate change.


P 1.32A

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTION FOR SCIENCE, MATH, ENGLISH, SOCIALSTUDIES AND HEALTH IMPLEMENTED BY THE USE OF THE INQUIRY METHOD

Judy A. LeeWilliam R. Blocker Middle School

Texas City, Texas

Amber MaierPearland Jr High School

Peariand, Texas

Tropospheric ozone is caused by the formation of photochemical smog production which causesdamage to plants cnd animals by effecting the atmosphere's oxidation capacity. TroposphericOzone can cause damage as seen in the respiratory systems of animals, promoting scar iissueformation and cell damage by oxIdation(Rasumovskli and Zalkov, 1984). Approximately 90% ofall ozone Is found In the stratosphere and 10% in the troposhphere(Finlayson-Piffs and Pitts, 1986),

Whereas ozone found In the stratosphere is considered 'good ozone' and Is safe for theenvironment, ozone found in the troposphere, our immediate atmosphere, is considered 'bad'ozone and can be very dangerous to living organisms.

Ozone, molecule made of three oxygen atoms, was discovered In 1839 by Professor ChristianFrederick Schoenbeln at the University of Basel, Switzerland(Fishmann, 1990). The ability of Ozone

to readily glve up an oxygen molecule makes it a powerful oxidizer. Schoenbein utilized the

reactivity of ozone to measure Its presence and prove that ozone can be detected by using amixture of potassium iodide and corn starch on filter paper.

The Social Impact, policy and legislation concerning the Clean Air Act, along with the history of

ozone measurements In the United States encourages the teacher to make the interdisciplinary

connection. The inquiry method of science, english and other disciplines allows thestudent and teacher to discover what can be accomplished by using 100 year old method of

detection. Math, english, health and social studies work together to discover how troposphericozone has impacted our lives. Combining the unique Idea of Schoenbein's ozone detection withInterdisciplinary connections helps to bridge an understanding from teacher to student toencourage learning, communication and a responsibility for our environment.

elIVYMP. ON EDUCATION 153

FOURTH SYMPOSIUMON EDUCATION

PAPERS IN JOINT SESSIONS(edged in grey)

PAGE #

31: K-12 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS (J1) 1-25(Joint with 24th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology)

36: NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM (36) 1-58(Joint with 1 1 th Conference on Interactive Information andProcessing Systems [IIPS] for Meteorology, Oceanography,and Hydrology)

166

J1.1MAP READING AND INTERPRETATION SKILLS DISPLAYED BY

HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN

Paul J. Mroz

AMS AERA, Spencerport Central Schools and WOKR-TY Rochester, NY

1. INTRODUCTION

Reading maps is a fundamental skill requiredof most students in the precollege educationalcurriculum. Map reading is really a diverseset of several skills. These skills must becombined and applied to extract meaning froma map (a complex information document).Maps are frequently found in science and non-science courses as they allow for the transferof large amounts of information in a conciseformat. This is particularly the case whenstudents are required to examine weathermaps in the science classroom. However, notmuch Piagetian research (research involvingstudent reasoning and content understanding)has been done in this very important area oflearning.The purpose of this paper is to (a) reviewcurrent Piagetian literature on this topic, and(b) report preliminary results associatedwith specific map reading skills found in ninthgrade earth science students. The informationpresented in this paper is designed to aidteachers in constructing age appropriatedclassroom activities involving mapsand mapping concepts.

2. BACKGROUND

During the first half of this century, researcnwas conducted by Jean Piaget (1964, 1970)into how children learn about the world aroundthem. Piaget first recognized that normalchildhood development is marked by a growthin understanding and reasoning abilities. Heidentified and described sequential stages ofdevelopment that are successive, ordinal in

Corresponding author address: Paul J. Mroz,5875 West Sweden Rd. Bergen, NY 14416

nature, and consistently found in every societystudied to date. Piaget's theories and researchare important to the entire scientific andeducational community because they provideinsights into the growth and development oflogical thinking.

Piagetian research is clinical in nature. Itseeks to understand how children develop anunderstanding of the world around them, andhow an individual's content understanding islinked to reasoning processes. Reasoningprocesses are observed and measured whenspecific Piagetian tasks are administeredduring clinical interviews. The focus of theseinterviews is to determine how a subjectreasons to solve Piagetian tasks and howcontent understanding is utilized.

Piagetian research is different from typicalcontent understanding research. It provides adevelopmental framework that in.....;udesreasoning ability to identify and understandthe widespread problems of scientificcompetence both in our schools and in oursociety. it also provides a foundation fordeveloping appropriate curriculum andsuitable classroom activities.

3. EXISTING RESEARCH

Piagetian-type studies of how children developan understanding of map reading are limited,

and revealing. Cheek and Muir (1983),studied elementary mapping experiences ofchildren in the Concrete Operational stage ofdevelopment. They developed and tested amodel based upon seven mapping skills(symbols, perspective, direction, distance,location, scale, and relief). Each of thesemapping skills was defined by an appropriatequestion, each had a companion mathematicsskill, and a related Piagetian assessment task.

JOINT SESSION J1 (J1) 1

They found that "even under optimal researchconditions, some [mapping] skills appearimpossible to teach to students below gradeseven." They further elaborate, 'Skillswhich are not appropriate to the elementarygrades include work with map projzctions,understanding of time zones, use of longitudeand latitude, comparison of different mapscales, and interpretation involving two ormore maps."

The concept of territoriality (recognizingand understanding map regions i.e. state.nation) are "rarely acquired before ages 11or 12" (Renner, 1.951). The concept of city,however, is more readily acquired if studentshave actual experience with that area.

Richards (1983) argues that teachers needto tailor instruction to the child's. experience.He suggests that mapping activities bestructure within the curriculum in such a

away as to complement the child's stage ofdevelopment. He further advocates that theintroduction of learning activities about mapsand mapping concepts be intellectuallychallenging requiring students at eachdevelopmental stage to be pushed to the limit oftheir exp,trience base. Some of his suggestionsare identified in the classroom activitiessection found in figure 1.

4. CURRENT RESEARCH

For the purpose of our study we definedformalized mapping skills as (a) constructinga profile map, (b) computing gradient, (c)drawing isolines, and (d) recognizing fieldchanges. This author suggests that thesemapping skills are essential and appropriateskills to derive meaning from any type of mapthat a student may need to read. This researcheffort focuses on two essential questions;Which formalized mapping skills can a studentwith concrete operational thinking abilitiesreasonably be expected to master? and Whichof the formalized mapping skills can bemastered by Formal Operational thinkersonly?

One hundred and seventy six high schoolfreshmen were tested for stage development

(J1) 2 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

1 *I

via the Raven's Test Of Logical Operations(Raven, 1973). Results were used to classifystudents as either Concrete Operational orFormal Operational. All students were alsoadministered a mapping examination thattested their ability to perform each of theformalized mtpping skills previouslyspecified. Data from nine..een subjectsclassified as Concrete Operational and 19subjects classified as Formal Operational werethen randomly selected for analyses. Analysesconsisted of testing for significance theobserved correlations between specific logicskills (which serve as the defining criterionmeasures for Piagetian Stage) and thespecified formalized mapping skills found onthe mapping skills examination. For N = 38and ;IC..01 the test statistic was distributedt30: .005 .2.750.

5. RESULTS

The criterion measure (correlational logicoperation) is only associated with FormalOperational thinkers and was found to besignificantly related to two mapping skills(isolinc construction and recognizing a changein field pattern). The other two mappingskills (gradient computation and map profileconstruction) were not significantly related toFormal Operational thinkers and were thusattainable by both Concrete and FormalOperational thinkers alike.

6. DISCUSSiON

The preliminary results of this investigationwould tend to add strength to the argument thatall but two of the specified mapping skillsshould be attainable by middle school studentsin the Concrete Operational stage ofdevelopment. Therefore, it would seemappropriate that most students well into(experienced Concrete thinkers) the ConcreteOperational stage should with sufficientteaching be able to use most mapping skillspresented to them. tt appears that only theisolineconstruction task and the recognition ofchanges in field patterns would be unattainable

DEVELOPMENTAL GUIDEUNES FOR INTRODUCING MAPPING SKILLSby

Dr. Paul J. Mroz

IPiagetianStage OfDevelopment

ApproximateAge Range

DevelopmentalGoal

ClassroomActivities

Pre-Operational

2 - 7 years1. Understand ObjectPermanence2. Develop atwo-dimensionalperspective3. Encourage thedevelopment of an alternateview or perspective.

1. Viewing & drawingobjects from differentperspectives*2. Provide experienceswith 3 dimensional models*3. Encourage play withbuilding blocks to construct3 dimensional objects.*4. Recognize & locatefamiliar objects on aerialphotographs*

ConcreteOperational

7-11 years1. Developing two &three dimensionalperspectives(area & volume),2. Transform twodimensionalrepresentations intothree dimensionalrepresentations.

1. Make diagrams & pictures offamiliar places.*2. Construct area models of

,

familiar locations & settings*3. Use aerial photographs to designarea models from an altitudeperspective.4. Introduce cardinal (NEWS)directions, simple scale, gradient,profile and distance measures.5. Construct simple coordinate gridsystems.

FormalOperational

12-13 + years1. Develop the use ofmap symbols,proportions, andmathematicalrepresentations of mapfeatures.2. Use logically abstractrepresentations to depictfield quantities.

1. Provide students withexperiences that involve the useof map symbols, ordinaldirectia is, (0, 45, etc.) mapscale & proportions, distancescale & measure, gradient,profile, latitude & lor ,tude,relief, isoline construction, andexamples of change in field.

Figure 1, Developmentally Appropriate Guidelines for Introducing Mapping Skills. *After L. Richards, 1983.


by Concrete Operational thinkers. This, is nottotally unexpected as most teachers who havetried to teach these two mapping skills tostudents find considerable difficulty in gettingthe 'message' across. The findings of thisstudy would indicate that it is best to waituntil students have attained FormalOperational thought patterns before attemptingto teach them how to construct isolines andrecognize changes in field patterns. Thisfinding does partially explain why manystudents have such a difficult timeunderstanding the isolines (typically isobarsand isotherms) patterns found on all types ofweather maps. It also suggests that studentsdon't understand changes in isoline mappatterns. This would indicate that simplyshowing students weather maps with isolineson them is not sufficient to convey meaning.Map changes must be accompanied by weathersymbols which convey sufficient informationto make the map reading exercise a meaningfulactivity.

Developmentally appropriate guidelines forteaching mapping to students is prclided inFigure 1 of this paper. It is a compilation ofall the traceable Piagetian-type research onthis topic to date. Teachers are encouraged tofind or create methods of presenting each ofthe mapping skills in such a way as to enhancethe transfer of meaning and understandings toall students. Here, the key element is toprovide mapping instruction that buildsconcretely upon the foundation of experiencesthe child brings to the learning situation.


References

Cheek, H. N., and S. P. Muir, 1983: ADevelopmental Mapping ProgramIntegrating Geography andMathematics. ERIC Doc. Ser. ED238796. 16 pp.

Raven, R. J., 1973: The development ofa test of Piaget's logical operations.

Educ 57, 377-385.

Renner, G. T. (1951). Learning Readiness inElementary Geography. Journal OfGeography 50, 65-74.

Richards, L, 1983: Piagetian Theory asan Organizer for GeographicSkills and Experiences. ERIC Doc.Ser. ED 241386. 14 pp.

V?

J1 . 2

EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS LEADING TO THE PROMOTON OFSTUDENT CENTERED METEOROLOGICAL FIELD STUDIES

IN A GLETSCHERVORFIELD ENVIRONMENT.JOSTEDALEN, NORWAY

George G. Meldrum Thomas C. Arnold

James Gillespie's High SchoolEdinburghEH9 1DD

United Kingdom

Selected schools in Scotland have had a longhistory of partnerships with industry Specifically, theJames Gillespie's High School has had a program ofoutreach to industry since its inclusion with the BP LinkScheme in the 1960's. The Scheme's objective is toincrease the mutual understanding and partnership ofeducation and :Musty. Incumbent to the scheme is theneed to stress the initial considerations of science andtechnology as they relate to the industrial community.

Nine secondary schools in the Lothian Regionare involved in the Link Scheme. In 1986, JamesGillespie's entered a new partnership that enabled theschools to embark on curriculum innovations thatresultedin a fully interactive centre of technological excellence.These partnerships enhanced teaching within thecurricular areas prescribed by examination boards andother outside agencies. One of the desired outcomes wasto prepare a student population in field experiencesassociated with the use of industry specific equipment,data collecting, and data analysis. This objective wouldnot only prepare those students graduating from school tobe more easily assimilated into the industrial community,but also to offer some experiences for those seekinghigher levels of education. The Norway Expeditiondescribed in this paper is an example of one of thesuccessful field studies.

Sponsorship from industries in Scotland hasplayed an important part in meeting the financialcommitments of the Expedition. Industry also providedtechnical assistance and a very positive learning

environment. Surveyors, engineers, technicians fromindustry, and learned members of the university andprofessional societies were placed at the disposal of theExpedition both in training the students , answering theirquestions, and making equipment available for studentuse. As the Expedition program continued to develop, theventure had the blessings of edtration authorities in threecountries who endeavored to ease the administrativedifficulties in organizing the trek, and provided supportwith expertise and formal blessings.

State College Area High SchoolState College. Pennsylvania

The theme of partnerships in education isrelatively new to the American science educationcommunity. Although it has been popular in some urbancenters of the United States, the 60% of the county thatcan be considered suburban or rural has experiencedlimited familiarity with this concept. Partnerships withfederal, industrial, and collegiate organizations increasedin the last decade as the United States education systemreeled from the accusations that the performance uf thenations's youth was appalling in the disciplines of scienceand mathematics. A lack of public funding coupled withthe reticence of the professional educators to address somenewer and more innovative means of confronting theproblems, prompted members of these organizations toexplore avenues that would permit them to becomeinvolved in the improvement of the student outcomes incritical subject areas.

The United States government has long beenactive in funding programs designated for improvingpublic education. Since Sputnik, the NSF has beenactively supporting teacher enrichment programs.However for the past two decades, their funding has beenlimited and other sources have had to initiate teacher orstudent training programs. More recently, industry hastaken an active role. If the United States and Scctland areto remain competitive in the world market, they willrequire a more educated work force that can adapt tochange and comprehend the increasingly sophisticatedworking environment. Colleges and Universities alsorecognized that they too would have to become moreactive in pre-college programs associated withmathematics and science if they were to maintain a poolof prospective majors in these disciplines.

Too often talented young men and womeneschewed the disciplines of science and mathematicsbecause of the perceived rigors of these courses of study.In many instances, their association with mathematics andthe physical sciences involved interaction with dull andunimaginative curriculums. Students seldom are offeredthe opportunity to become part of the energetic and


invigorating field studies that often precede research anddiscovery associated with these disciplines. Thus theyoften opt for the more glamorous disciplines of lifesciences or the less "boring" disciplines associated withthe liberal arts. Members of the teaching profession,especially those associated with the sciences often leavecollege with the same impressions. Those who neverparticipated in field studies, tend to design theircurriculums with units designed to emphasize informaionacquisition rather than as a true problem solvingenvironment. The mastery of subject matter is alwaysemphasized over the thrill of discovery. If as nations weare to improve the student outcomes ir science andmathematics, we must instill in the Wachers the "thrill" ofscience rather than the "content" of science.

A series of circumstances evolved that peimittedtwo teachers from different countries to participate in aninnovative and invigorating expedition that would not onlyallow them to once again experience the thrill of science,but also to share this experience with students. Often thenegative publicity associated with the public educationsystem leaves members of industrial, professional andcollegiate communities with the impression that publitschool teachers confine their professional activities to thedaily rigors of preparation and teaching of curricularmaterials. On the contrary, many teachers are activelyengaged in turmoil of publications, communication, andfor some, actual research. As with our associates in thecollegiate world, often we seek to communicate with othermembers of the profession the successes of our efforts.Last summer both authors of this paper were presentng atan international conference that was sponsored by theAmerican Meteorological Society and the RoyalMeteorological Society. While at the conference,discussions occurred concerning the embellishment of asuccessful field studies program already in place on theEuropean continent. The commitment of the AMS topublic education through the Atmospheric EducationResource Agents and their development of successfuleducational programs initiated discussions of howmeteorology might be more rigorously involved in aholistic field study already in the planning stages forEuropean students. As a result of these discussions,commitments were made to the program by agreeing tobecome part of the instructional team. In designing themeteorology component, it was necessary to define arational for an increased emphasis associated with thephysical sciences and then to determine what type ofresearch would both meet the needs of the establishedfield program and the potential needs of participatingstudents.

The first partnership was between the educationalmodels of Scotland and those of the United States. Thisrequired communication between the expedition leader (a

(JI) 6 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

teacher of geography) and an a American science teacher(a teacher of earth systems sciences) concerningprevailing philosophies and desired outcomes. This goalwas complicated by the misconceptions of educators oneach side of the Atlantic concerning the disciplines ofscience and geography. The partnership of educationalsystems required that we both accept that:

Earth System Science and the study of theenvironment is a human enterprise that includes theongoing process of seeking explanations andunderstandings of the natural world. One of science'sprincipal characteristics is its dynamic nature. If thisdiscipline of education is to achieve its potential inhelping students achieve this goal, then learningexperiences must strengthen the science foundations of thestudent by emphasizing and employing the scientificmethods, concepts, and knowledge that have broughtsociety to its current levels of development. (Arnold,1991). If teachers are to be able to "lead" stuebnts towardthis goal, they will have to engage in activities that willnot only enrich their own education, but also that of theirstudents. There is a strong feeling among the scientificcommunity that disciplines should be rrerged and treatedas interrelated parts of a single discipline.., that studentsshould become aware of the "themes of science" andhelped to develop "scientific ways" of looking at theirworld (LaPointe,1991).

Perhaps nothing enlightens students more thanbeing able to engage in the process of learning. Studentswho participate in field experiences become involved inthe skills of observation, datacollection and analysis, andthe utilization of the tools ofthe professional community.Students who have engaged in field studies are often awedby the learning atmosphere (Arnold, 1993). Throughfield experiences, students would come to realize thatknowledge in science is tentative and human-made, thatdoing science involves trial and error as well as systematicapproaches to problems. More importantly, fieldexperiences result in the knowledge that science is

something they can do themselves (LaPointe, 1991).Real-life problems are an effective method of raisingstudents interest level. Students are forced to use theirnew-found knowledge to help retain the less= they havelearned long after their studies are over. Thus puttingscience information in context with real-world problemshelps both teachers and students learn the importance ofthe specific concepts being taught (Glantz,1993).

As the leader of past mountain expeditions, itwas clear that hourly manual measurements of weatherhad a great h,mefit in providing useful introduction in theuse of instruments but the quality and amount of dataproved of limited value. Of primary concern was that datacould only be collected while studerts were present at theresearch site. There were startling weather effects in the

174

valleys which needed to be explored and not least cf thesewas the katabatic winds. Studies of vegetation had alreadyshown the differences between proximal and distal slopeswhich could only be explained with more detailedmeteorological data.

As a result of the chance meeting at thepreviously mentioned conference, an invitation to

participate in the 94 Expedition opened new avenues ofpartnerships by persuading an American science teacherto volunteer expertise associated with his involvementwith the AERA division of the AMS. His suggestion toinvoive American students "to carry equipment" wasreadily accepted. Remarkably, our ideas concerning thelearning objectives for student fieldwork were similar.Students were expected to be much more that Sherpas.Activities were designed to make it possible for them toask the questions, to devise strategies, and to solveproblems and verify their results. They were thenengaged in the process of solving the puzzles that raw dataalways seems to initiate and thanks to this conference,work towards a deadline in making results presentable.

Feedback from the expedition leader indicatedthat two proposed studies would not only enhance theprogram, but also provide much needed data for studentresearch. The two studies that were identified involvedthe determination of the energy budget for the glacialvalley and the dynamics of the katabatic glacial winds.The identification of these research problems wasprompted by past involvement of the United States authoras an intern with NOAA during the summer of 1991 and

consulting provided by the meteorology department ofthePennsylvania State University.

Prior to the American involvement with thisendeavor, only limited experience with partnerships hadbeen experienced. However, The expedition leader,George Meldrum, had considerable experience in thisregard (Meldrum, 1993) and through his encouragementand assistance, efforts were made to involve Americanindustry, federal agencies, professional societies, anduniversity partnerships toward what was becoming anInternational Expedition.

The energy budget experiment was the mostcomplicated of the experiments. The AtmosphericTurbulence and Diffusion Division associated withNOAA, and Dr. Dennis Thomson of the MeteorologyDepartment of Penn State University were instrumental indesigning and supporting the research. Each institutionprovided sophisticated instrumentation and expertisetoward the design. As the design developed, it becameapparent that student involvement from the United Stateswould be beneficial. Penn State offered to train studentsin the operation of the equipment and the critical aspectsof the experimental design. Through their assistance, ateam of five students was provided instruction in micro-

meteorology, instrumentation, and involved in theconstruction of some of the instrumentation. The StateCollege Area School District provided instructionalsupport concerning the science tint would be required forthe expedition, and e-mail contacts with scientists atATDD of NOAA and glaciologist at Penn State and theUniversity of Washington. As the equipment needs werebeing assessed, it was determined that computertechnology not available to the authors would be rewired.Portable lap top computers would beneeded to access thedata from the Campbell data loggers provided by PennState and ATDD. The Center of Academic Computing atPenn State provided a modified 386 IBM to meet ourrequirements. The Eduquest program sponsored by IBMCorporation supplied a 486 Think Pad 350 for studentuse. Additional data loggers and meteorologicalequipment were made available from the MJP Companyin Cornwall, UK, and the Royal Meteorological Society.Dr. Charles Duncan, Meteorology Department, EdinburghUniversity has given advice to the expedition membersthrough his role as "Adopted Meteorologist" to JamesGilespie's High School. The Adopted MeteorologistScheme is organised by the Royal Meteorological Society.Parents in Scotland constructed the needed towers andprotective shields and boxes for the experiment.

As discussed earlier, previous expeditions toglacial research stations, indicated a need for morespecific meteorological data that would supportinvestigations in the disciplines of biology and geogratity.In this expedition, data collection was expanded to covera 24 hour period and not limited to the time period thatthe student teams were at the site. In addition, this year acomprehensive effort would be made to determine thecharacteristics of the katabatic flow of air referred to asthe "glacial wind". Faculty from the Penn StateMeteorology Department were instrumental in helpingdesign the experiment. Neutrally buoyant balloons wouldbe employed to determine the dynamics of the stremeflow. However, in order to properly deploy the balloons,the experiment required knowledge about the time of themaximum winds. Through the cooperation of the DavisInstrument Company of Hayward, California, theexpedition was loaned a portable meteotology station thatwas capable of recording data for twenty four hours andstoring in a data logger at five minute intervals. Data wasthen downloaded daily to a Powerbook lap top providedby the State College School District. The DavisInstrument package proved to be very valuable for thewind experiment as the data provided wm instrumental indeveloping a model for the katabatic flow.

Without the partnerships that have beenidentified, the inclusion of the meteorology experimentscould not have occurred. That is not to say that allactivities went without incident. One of the benefits of

1 7 JOINT SESSION J1 (Ji) 7

engaging students in field research is to initiate them intothe realm of research and to allow them to becomeinvolved in the same problem solving exercises thatconfront professionals in the field. Through practicalexperience students learned how moisture ;rain) can causehavoc with electronic instruments, the difficulties ofmaintaining electrical currents required of sophisticatedinstruments via battery failure, and the need to repair andtroubleshoot complicated problems under adverseconditions. In addition, they learned the value ofadvanced preparation and the difficulty of problemsolving when details are not attended to. As an example,it is difficult to render corrections when the operatorsmanual is left at the camp site 15 kilometers distancewhich requires one to traverse 3 kilometers up and down4 mountain. Simple mistakes early in the studies resultedin lost data, but reinforced excellence in techniques as thestudy progressed. Students soon realized that theirsuccess in obtaining data was a function of their kills andquickly adapted. Problem solving skills became wellhoned, team cooperation became evident, and success waswelcomed with smiles and "high fives".

One of the most important lessons that can beimparted to young people engaged in their first realresearch activity is the need to complete the cycle. Thatis, the research is not over when the fun of collecting datais completed. Research to be of value must be analyzed,evaluated, and reported. Instruments must be recalibratedand tested. We were fortunate that the AMS permitted usthat forum this year. Selected students involved in dataanalysis were invited to present posters at this ccnference.Thus, the real panic began shortly after their return. It isnever too early to introduce them to the "publish orperish" syndrome. Teams from both sides of the oceanworked feverishly trying to comprehend the data andexpress their findings in a meaningful manner within theparameters of research guidelines. They completed thistask as "true partners". Many other individuals from theexpedition are using the information to present workwhich will be assessed as part of their further studies inschool.

Both authors would like to acknowledge thecontributions of the universities in their respectivecountries. In Scotland, we were fortunate to have theactive partnership of several Scottish Universities andother learned bodies who seemed to have the ability tomove heaven and earth to find answers to studentquestions and who showed a real interest in the workbeing undertaken and indeed in the students themselves.A prime example of this cooperation was the impressioncreated in the mind of the Scottish student who onreturning from a visit to the geography department atEdinburgh University in search of solutions that eludedboth her and teacher declared, "The Professor justtook all


of the papers and spread them on the floor. He spent anhour on his hands and knees explaininghis ideas and wethink we have the answer". We have received somecomforting words of encouragement for the work we havebeen undertaking with students, but it is satisfying whenwe learn that "this type of field work brings the publicschools and universities closer together".

As a result of this first venture into distance fieldwork, and international partnerships, several reflectionsare warranted by the authors.

1. Having organized expeditions to several mountainareas in Europe including three to Norway, it wasobserved that the more that was asked of the students interms of detailed and rigorous fieldwork, the more theynot only enjoyed the experience, but could deal withprogressively more complex remits.

2. The approach to the study of glacial valleys with seniorstudents was designed to present the area as a totalenvironment and to lead them into appreciation ofinterrelationships with this fragile ecosystem. Pastexpeditions and student studies indicated that the futureventures should include more emphasis on themeteorological realm.

3. Although some time was spent teaching the studentsabout the expectations of the experiment prior todeparture, more time must be spent on each side of theocean preparing students about the theory and ideasassociated with concepts such as the energy budget.

4. A student team involved with new equipment must begiven more time to comprehend the operation of theelectronics and the theory behind of equipment design inorder to effectively troubleshoot problems. This wouldimply more hands on work with the equipment prior fordeparture to the field site. Implicit here is that participantsworking with new equipment will have to be able todemonstrate and explain the materials to other membersof the field study at a "home site" prior to departure to theresearch site.

5. The success of this operation rested on the fact thatduplicate instruments were available. Whenever workingin new and remote locations, back-up instruments,computers, and electrical adapting units are required.

6. With proper planning, instruction, and patience, honorsstudents can design and implement research activitiesoften deemed only appropriate for college students.

7. Adequate time to prepare papers is essential. There arenumerous difficulties trying to coordinate communications

176

between international students. Fortunately both schoolsinvolved had access to e-mail and internet through theefforts of The University of Edinburgh in Scotland andThe Pennsylvania State University in the United States.This particular partnership facilitated the communicationbetween the two schools enabling us to be here today.

References

Arnold, T.C.. 1991, "Directions in Science Education: ATeachers Perspective", In S.K. Majumdar et.al.(eds.)Science Education in the United States: Issues, Crisis andPriorities, The Pennsylvania Academy of Science, Easton,PA., pp. 347-362.

Arnold, T.C.,1993: A Physical Oceanography Curiculumfor Honors High School Students. Preprints fir the 3rdInternational Conference On School and PopularMeteorology and Oceanography Education, AmericanMeteorological Society, Boston, MA, 117-120

Glantz, C.S, Estes J.C.,and GI, Andrews: 1993,

Bringing Meteorology Alive Through the use ofImmersion-Based Learning Activities that EmphasizeRole Playing and Probkm Solving. Preprints for the 3rdInternational Conference On School and PopularMeteorology and Oceanography Education, AmericanMeteorological Society, Boston, MA, 62-66

La Pointe, A.E.. "Profiling American Students Strengthsand Weakness in Science Achievement", In S.K.Majumdar etal.(eds.) Science Education in the UnitedStates: Issues, Crisis and Priorities, The PennsylvaniaAcademy of Science, Easton, PA., 61-68

Meldrum, G. G. 1993, Applied Meteorology- ASchool/Industry Initiative, Preprints for the 3rdInternational Conference On School and PopularMeteorology and Oceanography Education, AmericanMeteorological Society, Boston, MA, 214-218

Meldrum, G. G., 1992 Fieldwork Expedition BodalanJoedalsbreen Norway, Technical Report, Lothian RegionEducation Department, Edinburgh, UK

1 7 'tJOINT SESSION J1 (J1) 9

J1.3 PROJECT ATMOSPHERE: AMS PRECOLLEGE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE -AN OVERVIEW OF PROGRESS

lra W. GeerAmerican Meteorological Society

Washington, D.C.

Robert S. WeinbeckSUNY Brockport College

Brockport, NY

1. INTRODUCTION

Project ATMOSPHERE is nowin its fourth year of existence.In this brief lifespan muchprogress has been made to enhanceprecollege science education.Particularly noteworthy this pastyear has been the evolution ofexisting programs such as theAtmospheric Education ResourceAgent (AERA) program andmaterials development. Further,several new programs have beeninitiated which expand upon theoriginal vision of the AMSeducational program. Thefollowing is a brief descriptionof these existing and newprograms and a status report onprogress to date.

2. ATMOSPHERIC EDUCATION RESOURCEAGENT NETWORK

As has been the case sincethe inception of ProjectATMOSPHERE, the primary componentof the program is the AtmosphericEducation Resource Agent (AERA)network. This nationwide cadre,which now numbers 78 masterscience from 46 states and theDistrict of Columbia, has nearlyreached its full complement.Future additions to the programwill likely be to providerepresentation to those stateslacking an AERA, or to replacevacated positions.

AERAs continue to conductin-service training sessions for

Corrresponding Author Address:Ira W. Geer, Education Program,American Meteorological Society,1701 K St NW, Suite 300,Washington, DC 20006.


David R. SmithUnited States Naval Academy

Annapolis, MD

John T. SnowThe University of Oklahoma

Norman, OK

other teachers either locally orat regional or national teacherconventions. In the 1993-94academic year, AERA reached over13,000 teachers through 500sessions. Over the past threeyears, AERAs have conducted over1000 training sessions reachingover 32,000 teachers throughoutthe nation. Another positivebenefit is that many AERAsare becoming agents of change intheir respective educationalsystems, being appointed tocommittees to develop standardsor modify curriculum, beingelected to boards of state ornational educational orprofessional organizations, andadvocating for increasedatmospheric science content inschool curriculum.

Annual training for AERAscontinued as in previous years.This past summer 64 AERAsattended a one-week workshop inWashington D.C., where theytoured the National WeatherService headquarters and theNational Meteorological Center.This was followed by a one-weekprogram in Boulder, CO for the 27AERAs who had not attended asimilar workshop in 1992 (Smithet al., 1993). In addition, 24K-12 teachers participated in theAMS-NOAA Summer Workshop forPrecollege Teachers held at theNational Weather Service TrainingCenter (NWSTC) in Kansas City, MO(for details refer to Smith eta/., 1991). During this programan Australian teacher and aCanadian teacher attended withsupport from their countries'respective weather services andprofessional atmospheric/oceanographic societies.

I 7

3. INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCEDEVELOPMENT

Another key component ofthe AMS educational initiative isthe development of educationalmaterials that are scientificallyaccurate and pedagogicallyappropriate for precollegeteachers. Threa new teacherguides were developed fordistribution as training modulesfor AERA workshops, similar tothose in the two previous years(Weinbeck, 1993). The titles ofthe guides for this past yearare: "Weather Radar: DetectingPrecipitation", "Weather Radar:Detecting Motion", and "Sunlightand Seasons". In addition, twoissues of Look Upl, the ProjectATMOSPHERE "newsletter" thatincorporates a copy ofWeatherwise magazine, weredistributed to teachers acrossthe nation - the second issuefunded with contributions fromAMS 75th Anniversary Campaign.In addition, two educationalresource projects are underdevelopment: an activity moduleon sunlight and a teacher versionof a Glossary of CommonMeteorological Terms. Thesematerials will be marketednationally later this year.

4. DATASTREME PILOT STUDY

Last year, ProjectATMOSPHERE conducted afeasibility study to deliver nearreal-time weathez products to aechools at no recurring cost.The DataStreme program, a jointeffort of AMS, The WeatherChannel (TWC) and WSICorporation, utilize the VerticalBlanking Interval of TWC's cabletelevision signal to transmitweather information toclassrooms. Sixty-three teachers(which included AERA3 paired withpartner teachers in their states)from second grade through highschool incorporated the datatransmission in creative waysacross the curriculum fromscience to social studies.Responses from participantteachers were overwhelminglypositive, prompting extension ofthe program for a second year.

Plans are underway to expand thisconcept to include otherenvironmental data streams toenhance classroom instructionnationwide.

5. NEW EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

The AMS education programinitiated two new programs thispast year. The Maury Project, aK-12 teacher enhancement programon the physical foundations inoceanography, conducted its firstsummer workshop at the UnitedStates Naval Academy (for detailsrefer to Smith et a/., 1995). Asecond program, held concurrentlywith the AMS-NOAA Summer Programfor Precollege Teachers at theNWSTC in Kansas City, wasconducted for educators who teachcourses with weather content atcommunity college or four-yearundergraduate institutions (fordetails, see Weinbeck and Geer,1995). One interesting aspect ofthis program was that it enabledthe precollege and undergraduateeducators in attendance toexchange iueas on teaching attheir respective levels. Suchinteractions provide valuableopportulities for formingpartnerships and for teachers atone level to acquire greaterappreciation for the situationsof their counterparts at othereducational levels.

6. CONCLUSION

Project ATMOSPHERE has reacheda new level of activity. Theprincipal focus of the AMSeducational initiatives continuesto be precollege teacherenhancement and educationalmaterials development onatmospheric topics. The AERAprogram, the centerpiece ofProject ATMOSPHERE, has achievedfull maturity, and continues tobe a most valuable instrument fordelivering atmospheric scienceinstruction to teachers acrossthe country. In addition, AERAsare becoming agents of change asthey advocate for improvingscience education in theirrespective states. Through theDataStrems Pilot Study, Project

LiJJOINTSESSIONJ1 (J1) 11

ATMOSPHERE is exploring newavenues for delivering andutilizing weather information tothe classroom. Further, the AMSeducational program is nowexploring new avenues in itsendeavor to enhance scienceeducation. The Maury Project andthe new program for undergraduateeducators represent naturalextensions of the original AMSeducational initiatives. Theseprograms demonstrate theSociety's strong commitment topromote educational activity atall levels.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The following programs aresupported with funds from theNational Science Foundation:Project ATMOSPHERE (ESI-9153823),the Maury Project (ESI-9353370),Undergraduate Faculty EnhancementProject (DUE-9353910).

(J1) 12 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICA! SOCIETY

REFERENCES

Smith, D.R., I.W. Geer, R.S.Weinbeck and P.R. Chaston, 1991."Project ATMOSPHERE: AMS/NOAA1991 Workshop for Teachers",Bull, of the Amer. Meteor. Soc.,72(10), 1547-1550.

, andJ.T. Snow, 1993. "AMS ProjectATMOSPHERE 1992 Workshop forTeachers", Bull. of the Amer.Meteor. Soc., 74(3), 421-424.

, P.L. Guth, M.E.C.Vieira, D.W. Jones, J.F.H.Atangan, D.S. Dillner, C.A.Martinek, A.E. Strong, E.J.Miller, R.D. Middleton and G.A.Eisman, 1995. "The Maury Project:A teacher enhancement program inphysical oceanography", Preprintsof the 4th AMS Symposium onEducation, Amer. Meteor. Soc.,Boston, MA.

Weinbeck, R.S., 1993. "ProjectATMOSPHERE - Development ofteacher training modules",Preprints of the 3rd Inter. Conf.on Sch. and Pop. Meteor. andOcean. Educ., Amer. Meteor.Soc., Boston, MA, 28-30.

and I.W. Geer, 1995."Weather education at theintroductory college level",Preprints of the 4th AMSSymposium on Education, Amer.Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA.

J1.4 THE MAURY PROJECT:A TEACHER ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM IN PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

D.R. Smith, P.L. Guth, M.E.C. Vieira, D.W. Jones, J.F.H. Atangan, D.S.Dillner,C.A. Martinek, A.E. Strong, E.J. Miller, R.D. Middleton and G.A. Eisman

U.S. Naval AcademyAnnapolis, Maryland

and

D.E. McManus and I.W. GeerAmerican Meteorological Society

Washington, DC

1. BACKGROUND

The American MeteorolcgicalSociety formalized its precollegeeducational initiatives in 1990. Thisinitial investment of funds and otherinstitutional resources was intendedprimarily to support K-12 teachers ofscience with the instruction ofatmospheric topics (Houghton, 1990).In 1991, the Society's commitment totilt enhancement of precollege scienceeducation received a major boost witha five-year grant from the NationalScience Foundation, which enabled theAMS to establish Project ATMOSPHERE.The primary component of ProjectATMOSPHERE was the implementation ofa nationwide network of masterteachers to serve as resource agentsfor the Society. Designated asAtmospheric Education ResourceAgents, these teachers conducthundreds of peer-training sessionsfor thousands of teachers in theirrespective states to improve thebackground of teachers on weather andclimate (Smith, 1993). In addition,Project ATMOSPHERE has produced avariety of instructional materialsthat are scientifically accurate andappropriate for classroom use(Weinbeck, 1993).

In 1994 the AMS launched a neweducational endeavor, called theMaury Project. This teacherenharcement program focuses onanother area of AMS interest -physical oceanography. The followingis a description of the Maury Projectand how it is designed to promoteprecollege instruction of thephysical foundations of oceanoaravhv.

Corresponding author address: DavidR. Smith, Oceanography Department,United States Naval academy,Annapolis, MD 21402.

2. AN EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

The Maury Project represents aunique partnership of organizationswith a strong interest in physicaloceanography. The AmericanMeteorological Society has anexpressed commitment to the oceanicsciences, especially physicaloceanography, as stated in itsconstitution. The AMS has joinedforces with the U.S. Naval Academy,which has one of the premierundergraduate programs in physicaloceanography (Smith and Gunderson,1994). A third member of thispartnership is the National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration, whichhas an operational and researchmission in the oceanic sciences.Another member of the partnership isthe State University of New York atBrockport, which has a long standinghistory with precollege and teacherenhancement projects (Weinbeck andGeer, 1989). This collection of aprofessional society, universities,and government agencies provides adiverse group of individuals,resources, and strengths linked bythe common thread of enhancinginstruction for teachers on thephysical foundations of oceanography.

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKSHOP

The central component of theMaury Prpject is a series of two-weekworkshops (each summer beginning in1994) conducted at the U.S. NavalAcademy to train precollege teachersin selected physical oceanographytopics. Over the grant period, 72teachers, selected from elementary,middle and high school levels acrossthe country to maximize diversity,will participate in one or more ofthese summer workshops. Further,


Fig. 1. Map displaying locatlons of teachers participating in Maury Project1994 Summer Workshop for Teachers.

these teachers will become membersof a national network of resourceteachers similar to the AtmosphericEducation Resource Agents (AERAs) ofProject ATMOSPHERE. Fig. 1 displaysthe distribution of teachers (by homestates) participating in the 1994Maury Project Summer Workshop.

The instructional design of thesummer workshops includes lectureswith a strong hands-on labora:orycomponent to reinforce the learnIngprocess. This component of theprogram utilizes both civilian andmilitary instructional staff of theNaval Academy's OceanographyDepartment as well as guest speakersfrom a variety of oceanographicagencies within the Washington DCarea. This reinforces thepartnership aspect of the MauryProject and exposes participants tothe diversity of the oceanographiccommunity. Topics covered in the1994 summer workshop includeoceanographic instruments, dataanalysis, ocean and coastalcirculations,hydrography, acoustics,satellite oceanography and polaroceanography. Hands-on exercises


were incorporated to enhance thelearning process as well as toprovide the participant teachers withactivities to take back to theirscience classrooms. Each of theparticipants were assigned to one ofthe project scientists to prepare anactivity for their respective gradelevel. They demonstrated thisactivity to the entire group duringthe workshop. In addition, therewere two field experiences whichincluded oceanographic studies on theChesapeake Bay utilizing one of theyard patrol craft at the NavalAcademy as well as a coastal studyalong the Cheaspeake Bay.

Guest speakers from theoceanographic community in theWashington DC area were invited togive presentations on topics of theirparticular expertise. The Summer1994 speakers included: Marshall P.Waters, III and Jennifer Clark (NOAA,National Ocean Products Center) -

"Satellite Applications forOceanography"; Thomas H. Kinder(Office of Naval Research) -"ResearchAdvances in Oceanography"; Richard W.Spinrad (Office of Naval Research) -

182

"Ocean Modelling and Forecasting";and CDR Terry Tielking (Office of theOceanographer of the Navy) - "TheFuture of Oceanography". Inaddition, the participants visitedthe Department of Commerce, wherethey were addressed by D. James Baker(Undersecretary of Commerce andAdministrator of the National Oceanicand Atmospneric Administration[NOAA]), Kathryn D. Sullivan (ChiefScientist, NOAA) and David Goodrich(NOAA Office of Global Programs).The teachers also toured the NOAANational Ocean Products Center andthe Naval Ice Center to get first-hand exposure to operationaloceanography.

A final component of theworkshop included pedagogicalinstruction and exposure toprecollege educational programs inthe oceanic and related sciences. Inthe Summer 1994 Workshop, James R.McGinnis (University of Maryland atCollege Park) provided his insightson ways to enhance science eCucationand how to best incorporate theexperiences of the Maury Projectworkshop into the science classroom.James V. O'Connor (University of theDistrict of Columbia and formerpresident of the Marine EducatorsAssociation) discussed precollegeeducational programs in the oceansciences. Ira W. Geer (EducationDirector, American MeteorologicalSociety [AMS]) and David R. Smith(Oceanography Department, UnitedStates Naval Academy and Chair of theAMS Board on School and PopularMeteorological and OceanographicEducation) provided background on AMSK-12 education programs.

These activities provided theparticipant teachers with valuablebacYground information on physicaloceanography from operational andresearch perspectives. In addition,the teachers were exposed to themajor agencies involved in oceanicsciences as well as how theseorganizations are promoting educationat the precollege level.

4. MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Another important component ofthe Maury Project is the developmentof instructional materials. The

intent is to provide activity-basedmaterials for teachers to enhancetheir knowledge of physicaloceanography. In the first year, twoteachers' guides were developed,entitled Wind-driven OceanCirculation and Densitv-driven OceanCirculation. These modules includebasic understandings, or briefstatements that capture thefundamental essence of the respectivetoiics, as well as a short narrativethat describes the phenomena in moredetail. Finally, there is anactivity that provides hands-onexperience to enhance learning.

The teachers' guides are thebasis for the participant teachers toconduct peer training sessions forother teachers. Such sessions areconducted as in-service training intheir respective schools or schooldistricts or at state, regional ornational science teachersconferences.

5. EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The Maury Project is designedto enhance precollege education onthe physical foundations ofoceanography. Summer workshops forteachers represent the first step inthe process, in which 72 teachersfrom across the nation will attendone or more workshops at the NavalAcademy. Many of these teachers maythen be selected as resource agentsto conduct peer-training sessions forother teachers. These sessions aresingle-topic workshops conducted forother teachers as in-service trainingin their respective schools or schooldistricts, or at state, regional ornational science teacher conferences.The workshops are based on theteachers' guides developedspecifically for the Maury Project.Each participant teacher is expectedto conduct no less than two suchworkshops per year, although ProjectATMOSPHERE experience suggests thatthe participant teachers will conductmore sessions for their peers thanjust the required minimum. Thisgrassroots approach has a

multiplicative effect on teacherenhancement, reaching far greaternumbers than could be reached by thelimited staff of the Maury Project.In addition, it promotes a sense ofprofessional.4em among the teachers

JONTSESSIONAb

(J1) 15

themselves, who grow in self-esteemby presenting the material to theircolleagues. It also is a much moresound pedagogical model because theteachers are better prepared to adaptthe materials to fit the needs oftheir colleagues in their respectiveschool situations.

Future materials developmentinclude two additional teachers'guides each year and other materialsdeemed necessary to enhance theteaching of the physical foundationsof oceanography at the precollegelevel. Often, suggestions formaterials come from the participantteachers themselves, representingthose instructional materials thatthey believe would best benefit theclassroom teacher. For example,Project ATMOSPHERE has developedvideotapes and transparency sets toenhance classroom instruction.Similar developments are likely forthe Maury Project.

Finally, and most importantly,is the long-lasting benefit of thepartnership that will evolve as aresult of this endeavor. The networkof master teachers as resource agentsin conjunction with the organizationssupporting the Maury Project willgenerate a relationship that farexceeds the sum of its parts in termsof its ability to enhance precollegeinstruction of physical oceanography.Such partnerships enable individualgroups to blend their respectivestrengths with others, resulting in acomposite force far more capable ofaddressing issues to enhance theeducational process, than workingalone or apart. The ProjectATMOSPHERE model has demonstrated thepower of such partnerships ofprofessional scientific societies,universities, and government researchand operational agencies working inconcert with precollege educators toimprove science instruction.Undoubtedly, the Maury Project willexperience the same level of successto enhance the understanding of thephysical foundations of oceanography.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to expresstheir appreciation to the UnitedStates Naval Academy for its supportof the 1994 Maury Pr,114ct Summer


Workshop. In addition, the supportof several outside agencies was alsomost beneficial, including theNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration, the National OceanProducts Center, the Office of theOceanographer of the Navy, and theOffice of Naval Research. Further,consultation from Dr. James R.McGinnis (University of Maryland) andDr. James V. O'Connor (University ofthe District of Columbia) providedinvaluable insight for the summerworkshop.

The Maury Project is funded bythe National Science Foundation (NSFGrant No. ESI-9353370).

REFERENCES

Houghton, D.D., 1990: "AmericanMeteorological Society EducationalInitiatives, Bull. Amer. Meteor.Soc., 72, pp 648.

Smith, D.R., 1993: "The AtmosphericEducation Resource Agents (AERA)program: Development andimplementation of a nationwidenetwork of teachers to promote K-12science education", Preprints of the3rd Int. Conf. on School and PopularMeteorological and OceanographicEducation, Amer. Meteor. Soc.,Boston, MA, pp 31-34.

Smith, D.R. and C.R. Gunderson, 1994:"Physical oceanography a n d

meteorology curriculum at the UnitedStates Naval Academy: Preparingfuture naval officers for theoperational environment in the 21stCentury", Preprints of the Third AMsSymposium on Education, Amer. Meteor.Soc., Boston, MA, pp 49-52.

Weinbeck, R.S., 1993: "ProjectATMOSPHERE - Development of teachertraining modules", Preprints of the3rd Int. Conf. on School and PopularMeteorological and OceanographicEducation, Amer. Meteor. Soc.,Boston, MA, pp 28-30.

Weinbeck, R.S. and I.W. Geer, 1989:"Networking of weather education atthe secondary school level", PreprintVolume of the 2nd InternationalConference on School and PopularAeteorological and OceanographicEducation, Amer. Meteor. Soc.,Boston, MA, 48-49.

1S4

J1.5

I . INTRODUCTION

THE WEATHERVVATCH LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Steven J. Richards

The City College of New YorkNew York, New York

The WeatherWatch Leadership Network (ProjectWeatherWatch) is a three-year project, sponsored bythe Teacher Preparation and Enhancement Program ofthe National Science Foundation, designed to increaseand improve the use of science inquiry in the teachingand learning of weather in elementary and middleschools in New York City.

As a resutt of their involvement in the project,teachers will develop the capability of using c. com-puter-network linkage between The City College of NewYork (CCNY) and participating schools. This electronicconnection will allow for the transmission of current-weather products directly into their classrooms.

2. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of Project WeatherWatch includethe following:

(1) Improving the teaching of weather through usingcurricula, materials and strategies that developteachers' knowledge and understandings of meteoro-logical content and enable teachers to becomeeffective practitioners of inquiry methodology;

(2) Developing teachers' ability to use computersand modems in classroom networking activities in order

to allow for the acquisition of real-time weatherinformation, the exchange of school-based meteorolo-gical observations, curriculum development and inter-

actiie telecommunications projects;

(3) Preparing exceptional teacher participants forcurriculum leadership roles in their school districts.

3. CRITERIA FOR WEATHERWATCH PARTICIPANTS

The criteria for selection of participants to Weather-Watch include:

1. Certification in science (middle school teachers).

2. Expressed interest in weather, inquiry teaching,technology, and leadership.

Corresponding author address: Steven J. Richards,Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The

City College of New York, 138th Street at ConventAvenue, New York, New York 10031.

BEST COPY AVAIIABLE

3. Recommendation of the district science coordina-tor and school principal.

An additional p4edge was required from district andschool admir istrators. Each participant accepted bythe project hls received a written commitment ofsupport for the purchase of the computer haraWareand the establishment of telephone connections tomodems which are essential for the telecommuni-cations activities of WeathetWatch. The minimumharaWare requirements include a 486DX2 66 megahertzPC equipped with 8 megabytes RAM, a 400 megabytehard disk and a 14.4 bps modem.

4. TELECOMMUNICATIONS LINKS

A new electronic link will shortly be establishedbetween CCNY and the schools of participatingteachers. This connection will provide educators with avariety of weather products including satellite-cloudimagery, radar graphics, surface observations, and text

bulletins. It is anticipated that much of this weatherinformation will be provided by the University ofMichigan's Weather Underground services, 'Blue-Skies'and 'UM-WEATHER.' An agreement is now in place thatwill allow for CCNY to become a 'mirror site' for Blue-

Skies. In effect, this arrangement will enable all

WeatherWatch participants to access The WeatherUnderground data base through a local call to thecollege. The current system overview is illustrated in

figure 1.

Additional weather information products will beobtainable through Gopher links (very likely using aMosaic interface) to Unidata, to '!he University of Illinois'

Daily Planet, and to other sites, when necessary.

5. CLASSROOM ACTMTIES

The classroom educational program planned forWeatherWatch includes the exploration of weather by

means of on-site school observations and the analysisand interpretation of weather information transmittedto schools by the college network. Grade-appropriatecurricula and activities are currently being developedby project personnel for pilot testing in schools.

Students will also be engaged in the exchange ofschool observations through e-mail messages sent deity

to all pupils participating in the project. Personal

remarks and anecdotes about the weather will

accompany these readings in order to encourage a'community commentary.' It is anticipated that sc.hool

bJOINT SESSION J1 (J1) 17

observations will also be shared with pupils in othercities throughout the nation via e-mail.

Students will not be the sole beneficiaries of theelectronic network. Teacher participants of Weather-Watch will be sharing their ideas as well as anyproblems, either technical or educational, amongthemselves and with the project staff through e-mailcommunications. Additional curriculum information,particularly materials developed b/ the AMS EducationProgram, will be available to teachers from Blue-Skies.

6. SUMMER AND ACADEMIC YEAR ACTIWIES FORPARTICIPATING TEACHERS

During the three years of the project, three groupsof teachers will receive extensive training and supportwhich will provide them wtth the skills and technicalassistance needed to successfully conduct weather-education programs in their classrooms.

WecrtherWatch is empkMng a mutti-prongedapproach to engage teachers in the work of theproject including: a month-long Summer Instituteintegrating atmospheric science content, an introduc-tion to electronic networking and classroom weather-study applications; an academic year course thatincludes telecommunications, additional content studyin meteorology and leadership training; monthlycurriculum development and project discussion sessions;on-site support for electronic networking.

TerminalService

7. THE SUMMER INSTITUTE OF 1994

The initial Summer Institute for WeatherWatch beganon June 30, 1994 and concluded on July 28th. Twentyfour teachers were in attendance for 19 days.

A typical daily schedule included the followingactivities:

(1) A three-hour morning session, each day, fo-cusing on a single topic. Among the themes presentedwere: Sensing and Analyzing Weather; Water Vapor/ TheWater Cycle/ Clouds; Weather Systems; The Upper Air;Weather Forecasting; Weather Satellites; Weather Radar;Hazardous V eather: Hurricanes; Thunderstorms andTornadoes; Climate/ Global Climate Change.

(2) Each afternoon session began with a thirty toforty-five minute hands-on activity related to themorning's topic.

(3) The afternoon sessions concluded with aseventy-five to ninety minute period of curriculumancVor weather-education activity writing, again, basedon the topic of the day.

The instructional team for the atmospheric-sciencecontent presentations consisted of WeatherWatch Pro-ject Coordinator S. J. Richards, Prof. S. D. Gedzelmanand Prof. E. Hindman, the latter, members of the CCNYEarth and Atmospheric Sciences Department.

44

Modem Pool

CommunicatioriService

[ Sun Server

110:1314REM 11:11116Ktn3 WOW

Elementary and MiddleSchools

New York CitySchool Districts3,7,8,9,10,11,19,

20,25,29

Cisco Flouter

Workstation Workstation

City College Weather Station

RoulerCSU/DSLJ

Figure 1. Current System Overview.

(J1) 18 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 1S6

PiliatormaCOODICe

Two guest speakers were invited to make presenta-tions. Dr. David H. Rind, a climate research specialist atthe Goddard Institute for Space Studies In New YorkCity, spoke on the topic 'Global Climate Change.' Also,Dr. Nicholas Coch of Queens College, an expert onthe effects of hurricanes on the coastal environment,addressed Weather Watch teachers.

Three full days of the Summer Institute were allottedto an 'Introduction to Telecommunications.' Prof. SheilaGersh, CCNY School of Education telecommunicationsspecialist, led participants in an initial exploration ofTeinet and Gopher weather-information servers on theInternet. For most teachers, this was thek first

experience in accessing information from the Internet.Their response was overwhelmingty positive.

8. PLANS FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE

Weather Watch looks forward to the followingmilestones during the Fall, 1994:

(1) The placement of computer hardware in parti-cipating schools.

(2) The establishment of a computer linkagebetween CCNY and classrooms of participatingteachers allowing for the telecommunication of weatherinformation to schools.

(3) A follow-up course to the Summer Institute thatwill focus on telecommunications, additional contentstudy in meteorology and leadership training.

(4) The establishment of a 'mirror site' for Blue-Skiesat CCNIY.

9. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Funding for Project Weather Watch was provided bythe National Science Foundation through grant numberTPE-9353451. The author is also very grateful for theconsiderable encouragement, aaMce and assistanceprovided by Dr. Ben Domenico of the Unidata ProgramCenter during the planning stages of the project.

10. REFERENCES

Bates, S., 1994: Burrowing into on-line information: thepromise of gopher and other Internet servers. Amer.Meteor. Soc Third Symposium on Education, Nashville,TN, January, 1994, J21-J29.

Ramamurthy, M.K., R. Wilhelmson, S.E. Hall, M. Sridharand J.G. Kemp, 1994: Networked multimedia systemsand collaborattve visions. Amer. Meteor. Soc. Third

Symposium on Education, Nashville, TN, January, 1994,J30-J33.

Richards, S.J., 1988: Weather education grows in new

york city. Buil. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 63, 1390-1393.

, 1992: Hail to the bronx. Wecrtherwise, 45, 24-28.

Samson P.J., A. Steremberg, J. Ferguson, M. Kamprath,J. Masters, M. Monan, and T. Mullen, 1994: Blue-Skies:a new interactive teaching tool for K-12 education.Amer. Meteor. Soc. Third Symposium on Education,.Nashville, TN, January, 1994, J9-J14.


J1.8 HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE?

Anne-Marie Henry*

Environment CanadaWinuipeg, Manitoba, Canada

1. INTRODUCTION

The Atmospheric Environment Service(AES) is an organization based upon science inwhich approximately 15 per cent of theprofessional and technical staff are females,occupying a variety of scientific positions. Thecareers of these women provide an excellentexample of the opportunities that are availableto young girls in the scientific fields. Thispresentation discusses how a cross section ofthese women became interested in theenvironmental sciences, the positions theyoccupy and their scholastic backgrounds.

2. THE SURVEY

To obtain the information required forthis presentation a survey was circulated to thepertinent female staff. Of the 131questionnaires sent 89 (68%) were returned.The survey was separated into 5 sections.Section 1 covered personal information, section2 dealt with occupational information, andscholastic information was covered in section3. Section 4 asked the question, "How did youbecome interested in environmental sciences?".The last section asked the question, "Whatwould you have to say to a young girl who isconsidering scientific studies?".

3. THE RESULTS

3.1 Demographics

Women have occupied scientificpositions within AES for the last 30 years, but

* Corresponding author address: Anne-MarieHenry, Atmospheric and Hydrologic SciencesDivision, Environmental Services Branch,Environment Canada, Rm 1000, 266 Grahamave, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3C 3V4


their numbers were much smaller in the earlyyears. Figure 1 represents the distribution ofthe percentage of respondents versus theiryears in the service. About 15 years ago asignificant increase occurred in the number ofrespondents that joined the service. This wasprobably a sign of the times as the women'sgroups were becoming more vocal and it wasbecoming more acceptable for girls to study innon traditional fields.

114 1420 2141 2114

Figure 1. Years of Service.

3.2 Position description

Women within the AES occupy manyscientific positions. Figure 2 represents thepercentage of respondents versus eachoccupation. The large number of meteorologistis not surprising since the AES is primarilyinvolved with atmospheric phenomena andweather forecasting. What the figure does notshow is that within each field women occupypositions at every level.

In the case of meteorologist we have aregional director general, a director ofdevelopment, scientific service meteorologists,many supervisors and senior meteorologists and

1Sb

instructors, as well as meteorologists at the 4. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION

operational level.

swore11480

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1.14088111181418

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0 10 20 30 40

Figure 2. Occupations.

3.3 education

Figure 3 shows the breakdown of thehighest level of education achieved by eachrespondent. The rnajor areas of study seems tobe physics, mathematics, meteorology,chemistry and atmospheric sciences. Sixtythree percent of respondents also indicated thatthey have taken additional studies while on thejob. Some of the courses taken weremeteorology, computers, education,atmospheric chemistry and oceanography.

% a/ too;ondonto78 .

40

30

40

30

20

10

8400 C.481418 //84

Fip...re 3. Highest Level of Education Ach;eved.

1 S

The specific answers to the question,"How did you get interested in environmentalscience?" were varied (that is to be expected)but many of them have a recurring theme.Most of the respondents indicated that theyhave always been interested in science in oneway or another and, as a result, science wasnot usually a problem at school. Many indicatedthat their families had a great effect upon theirchoice of a career in science, either by theirsupport or by having a family member involvedin the field. School was also a great influenceon the respondents; many indicated that theirinterest in their future careers bloomed duringa certain class. Teachers were also bigmotivators. Their enthusiasm and support madesome subjects so interesting they just had to bepursued. University recruitment and summerjobs also resulted in career path decisions, butto a lesser degree.

5. CONCLUSION

In conclusion I leave you with theanswers to the last question, "What would youhave to say to a young girl who is consideringscientific studies?". The overall answer was aresounding "Go for it!". Most of therespondents indicated that their science relatedpositions are challenging and rewarding andthat the opportunities open to them are great.Many had also mentioned that they have hadno great problems combining a career with afamily. A few added recommendations weremade. The first one was that science is a greatbase for whatever the student wants to do inthe future and that even if she does not plan topursue a career in a scientific field, she shouldtry to take science and mathematics, at leastthrough high school. It was mentioned that todrop these subjects in high school could resultin closed doors in the future. The secondsuggestion was that if a student is thinking of

a career in science she should look into thesubject a bit more i.e. take more classes in thesubject, talk to people in the field, and try toget a summer job in a related field to see if shereally likes it. The last parting piece of advice isthat a career in science may not always be

easy but it is worth it.


4-WINDS, A TELEVISION EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP

Robert T. Ryan *

WRC-TV

Washington, DC

1. INTRODUCTION

Within the last few yearI a number ofcompanies have developed meteorologicalsystems which interface with computers andtelephone lines to allow remote access ofweather data. As these systems dew:loped,it became obvious that such system alsotended themselves to education by allowingstudents to access data from other sites andalso look at time based weather data on aclasmoom computer. For a number of yearsbroadcasters have talked about puttingweather instruments in schools as a way of"reaching out" to the local community andnow with these "interactive" systems,broadcasters throughout the country areestablishing mesonetworks of school basedmeteorological systems.

2. THE 4-WINDS IDEA

4-WINDS stands for Channel 4-WeatherINteractive Demonstration Schoolnet. In thesummer of 1993 we (WRC-TV) begandiscussing the idea of placing weatherinstruments in local schools, especially "atneed" schools. Preliminary discussions wereheld with a vendor of mesonet systems anda preliminary budget developed to establishan initial network of about 20 sites. To assistin developing the program we formed anadvisory group consisting of the educationchair from the local AMS chapter, 2 localAERAs (Project Atmosphere),representatives from the NationalGeographic Society, and educators involvedin similar "outreach" efforts. The groupreached the conclusion that for any"outreach" effort to be successful, the pointof contact should be the local teacher, notthe school principal or school system

* Corresponding author address Robert T.Ryan, WRC-TV, 4001 Nebraska Ave. NW,Washington, DC 20016

(Ji) n mAERICAN METE-OROLOGICAL SOCIETY

administrator, although their support wascritical. The advisory group drew up thebasic outline of the program, which includedarea meteorologists assisting as volunteertechnical support personnel, the selectioncriteria, and workshops with stipends for theteachers supported by the program.

2.1 Corporate Partners

When the basic outline of the 4-WINDSprogram had been drawn up, a proposal waswritten and submitted to local corporationsthat had expressed an interest in supportingthe 4-WINDS idea. Giant Inc. (a Washingtonbased supermarket chain) and HughesInformation Technology Inc. provided thefunding for 40 complete systems and fundingfor stipends for the 40 teachers who were tobe supported by the program.

2.2 4-WINDS Meteorological System

A local company (Automated WeatherSource Inc. (AWS), Gaithersburg, MD)provides all the hardware and software thatis the heart of the 4-WINDS program.Through the initial funding provided by thecorporate partners, 40 complete systems(hardware and software) were given free to40 schools and 20 software packages weregiven to other teachers. The AWS systemconsists of a sensor suite ( outdoor andindoor thermometer, humidity sensor,barometric pressure tranducer, anemometerand wind vane, rain gage, and light sensor),data logger, cabling from the sensors to thedata logger, interface with a classroomcomputer, software (either PC or Macintosh)and computer modem. Data is displayed atthe classroom computer or digital display(optional) and can be accessed by otherschools, or WRC-TV by telephone. AWSsoftware also allows each individual site to

be accessed, in real time, from WRC-TVand the data shown "live" during localnewscasts. AWS has also developedteacher classroom material for elementary,middle and secondary schools.

2.3 Selection Process

The 4-WINDS advisory committee, andthe corporate partners, supported the ideathat this program would be especiallyvaluable to "at need" schools and teacherstrying to bring science and math educationinto the "real world". WRC-TV contacted allthe area school superintendents and sciencecoordinators to let them know of the 4-WINDS project and invited them to a special"kick off' program where 4-WINDS wasformally announced. The "kick off' wasbroadcast on all our local news programsand area teachers were invited to write in toreceive more information about the program.A packet of material containing a descriptionof the program and the idea, an overview ofthe AWS hardware and software, an articleby R. Ryan (A Window on Science) and anapplication form was sent to all teachers whowrote requesting information. More than 800information packets were sent to areateachers! Requests came from westernMaryland to southern Pennsylvania, nearRichmond and even Baltimore, a differenttelevision market. Of about 800 packetssent out, 500 applications, for the 40complete systems, were received. Thereturned applications were first sorted bycounty and school level (elementary, middle,high). The advisory committee also servedas the selection committee and broke thenumber out that should go to each area togive both an geographic and educationaldistribution. Each application was read,often with extensive supporting material andletters from the school principal and otherteachers. One of the criteria, mentioned inthe intormation packet, was the desire toplace the equipment in schools where thesystem would be used by a number ofteachers. In the end, the final cuts were verydifficult and by running a very tight budget 20deserving teachers were provided just theAWS software so they could still access the4-WINDS weather station at a nearby schoolwhich had the complete system . Theselected teachers were -.4ufied by a personal

iJi

call and follow-up letter and invited to the 4-WINDS workshop.

2.4 4-WINDS Workshop

The first 4-WINDS workshop was heldat WRC-TV in January 1994. Dr. Joe Fridayand Dr. Kathleen Sullivan were featurespeakers. Each teacher was assigned a "4-WINDS technical partner' who were localNOAA meteorologists, Hughes technicalvolunteers and in some cases technicalvolunteers form WRC-TV.

The installation of the AWS equipmentwas outlined and the experiences of localteachers who had previously purchased theequipment was covered in the workshop.Additionally each teacher received a copy ofthe USA Today Weather Book, and avariety of educational material form NOAAand WRC-TV . The workshop also includedpresentations on Project Atmosphere, usingweather information to teach geography, atour of the WRC weather office and newsstudio and time for the many questions. Atthe conclusion of the workshop the teacherswere provided either PC or Mac software(depending on individual needs). Thehardware was delivered to the schools within10 days of the conclusion of the workshop.

3. 4-WINDS IN OPERATION

Some schools were able to install theAWS hardware within 1 week after delivery.A few teachers, because of changing classesand administrational difficulties had to waitmonths before getting "on line". Thegreatest difficulty has ' en getting a phoneline into the classroom to be able to fullyutilize the 4-WINDS system. Someteachers also have also expressedfrustration with the educational bureaucracyin getting the installation done properly. Inmost cases the school principals and areascience coordinators have baen enthusiasticsupports of the program. By June 1994, 37of the 40 4-WINDS hardware sites were "on-line".

As part of WRC-TV weathercasts theentire network is accessed and a geographicrange of schools shown on local maps.Featured schools are often shown "live".The actual readings at the "4-WINDS schoolof the day" can be shown bytelecommunicating with the school. Students


are very enthusiastic about "seeing theirweather station on TV" and seeing mapsdisplaying the weather at other schools.Software is currently being developed toallow for the network to be automaticallyaccessed and the data automatically plottedon existing TV weather graphics systems.

The response from treachers has beenvery positive. They now have "real" data touse in various units on science, geographyand math. Students interested in everythingfrom environmental studies to computernetworking have been contributing to the useof the 4-WINDS system in area schools. Anumber of area newspapers have publishedarticles about the program and the corporatepartners (Giant and Hughes) as well asWRC-TV have gotten extremely positivefeedback. This has been a "win-win"educational/corporate outreach effort.

4. FUTURE PLANS

Corporate funding has been renewedfor a second year. With the expectedfunding, another 30-40 complete AWSsystems will be donated to area schools.Many of the teachers who have receivedonly the 4-WINDS software last year will bereceiving the complete AWS meteorologicalsystem. By January 1995 there will be aWashington based mesonetwork of almost100 schools participating in the 4-WINDSprogram! This includes schools receivingthe systems provided by corporate supportand those schools purchasing the AWSsystem on their own.

The second 4-WINDS workshop will beheld in November 1994. The workshop willinclude a number of presentations on newuses of weather data in the classroom,networking ideas and teacher and studentfeedback about the 4-WINDS program.

For further information about thisprogram and the mesonet system, write tothe auihor or contact Automated WeatherSource Inc.

(J1) 24 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 1 9

J1.12

THE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS OF EDUCATION RESOURCES ENHANCES THE PRODUCT

Ray Boylan and

WSOC-TVCharlotte, NC

The broadcast meteorologist and the educatorare generally perceived to be expert in theirrespective fields. When afforded the opportunityto share their expertise with students andteachers that perception is enhanced and indeed,deserved. The Master Teacher who, bydedication to students and education, supplementtheir training by investment of time and energyto become AERAs (Atmospheric EducationResource Agents) are invaluable tools to

classrooms, schools and communities.

When these talents and energies are combined ina concerted and organized program they lead toan exciting infusion to education and the learningprocess.

Many broadcast meteorologists visit classroomsand allow visits from precollege classes;however, the contributions made by broadcastmeteorologists to enhance the precollegemeteorologic education are most useful whenbroadcasters work with precollege and collegeeducators to broaden the scope of what happensin the classroom. This can be done throughcoordination with educators and throughcooperative efforts to enhance what happens inthe classroom.

A survey of the 78 Atmospheric EducationResource Agents of the American MeteorologicalSociety found that 23 television broadcastersand 3 radio broadcasters have attempted tobecome more involved in the process of workingwith educators to present workshops forteachers, using students or classes as "guestbroadcasters" and coordinating weatherinformation and explanations with the curriculum

Corresponding author address: H. PatriciaWarthan, Science Dept. Chair, Towers HighSchool, 3919 Brookcrest Circle, Decatur,Georgia, 30032.

Pat Warthan*Towers High SchooiDecatur, GA

being presented in the classrooms served by themedia.

Some of these broadcasters have served as

science fair awards speakers and/or judges;some have conducted whole school assemblies;some nave had classes or students as *guestbroadcasters'; several have worked witheducators to conduct workshops on hazardousweather or copresented with educators at

Project Atmosphere Workshops.

The television meteorologist has the uniqueopportunity to serve the science of meteorology,enhance the learning process, build the audiencebase, his/her own credibility and providestimulus for advertiser clients at the station.

It is no new phenomena to find the broadcastmeteorologist in the classroom and highlightingthose visits on their broadcasts. By joiningforces and cooperating with local and regionalAERAs the impact of those visits can be

broadened to include in-service seminars witheducators. Teach a class and reach 60

students...Teach 60 teachers and reach

thousands of students!

The technological explosion in remote sensing,recording, manipulation, transfer and sharing ofdata has opened a whole new and exciting area ofeducational and ground-truth data. Vendors areclamoring to install their systems in the marketand partnerships with advertiser clients have

proven to be fiscally provocative fields of newrevenue.

The cultivation of managerial positions in schooldistricts goes a long way toward providing

easier access to a multitude of schools andeducators. Keep in mind that a partnershipshould provide the funding necessary to initiatethese programs.


)6: JOINT PAPERS"NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM"


and

11TH CONFERENCE ON INTERACTIVEINFORMATION AND PROCESSING SYSTEMS

(UPS) FOR METEOROLOGY, OCEANOGRAPHYAND HYDROLOGY

PAGES: ()6) 1-58

J6.1EXPLORING the Use of Weather Satellites in the K-12 Classroom

Dr. Kevin Kloesel, Dr. Paul Ruscher, Mr. Steven Graham, and Ms. Faith LansFlorida State University, Department of Meteorology, Tallahassee, FL 32306-3034

Mrs. Sue Hutchins, Wakulla County Middle SchoolCrawfordville, FL 32327

1. FLORIDA EXPLORES!

To encourage an enhanced scientific awareness inthe State of Florida, the Florida Technological Researchand Development Authority (TRDA) created an initia-tive in 1992 to provide funds to make APT-capableweather satellite ground stations available to Florida'spublic schools. In an attempt to prove the feasibilityof introducing meteorology, and specifically satelliteimagery, as a vehicle to teach integrated science and ap-plications, four demonstration/training sites were se-lected in 1992 to test curiculum and the effectivenessof popular meteorological education to meet thesegoals. This past summer, two and one-half years afterits inception, the EXPLORES! program welcomed its100th school to the program. Since 1992, 107 NOAADirect Readout satellite data ground stations have beeninstalled at elementary, middle and high schoolsthroughout the state. In addition, annual trairing aidcurriculum development workshops have bee, conduct-ed to provide the necessary training so that these sys-tems may be used to their maximum extent. Thiscombination of providing the ground stations, trainingand curriculum is unique when compared to all other ef-forts of its kind.

The original deployment of ground stations inFlorida's schools coincided with the observance of theInternational Space Year, 1992 - the 500th anniversaryof the voyage and explorations of Columbus. In honorof all scientific explorations past, present and future,the program was christened FLORIDA EXPLORES!(EXPloring and Learning the Operations a)dResources of Environmental Satellites, Ruscher et al1993). The current suite of ground stations arc receiv-ing Automatic Picture Transmissions (APT) from op-erating polar orbiting satellites. Sites which havedemonstrated superior competency with the APT sys-tems are also provided with the equipment which en-ables them to receive Weather Facsim ile (WEFAX) atiafrom geosynchronous (GOES) weather satellites withdirect readout capabilities. Approximately one-half of

corresponding author address: Dr. Kevin A. Klocscl,Dept. of Meteorology, Fla. St. Univ. Box 3034,Tallahassee, FL 32306-3034; [email protected]

our 107 schools, over 80% of those eligible for up-grades, will have WEFAX capabilities by thc cnd of1994.

In 1995, the program continues to expand. TheState of Florida is undertaking a program to providedirect-line or modem dial-up full INTERNET accessinto all Florida schools. Many of the original partici-pants in this effort are also EXPLORES! participants.In orderto meet the needs of these schools in terms ofclassroom applications for INTERNET, EXPLORES!now provides a Home Page on the World Wide Web,accessible using Mosaic (available from NCSA at theUniv. of Illinois). This page includes satellite imageryas well as curriculum activities. We invite you to uti-

lize this page in support of your popular meteorologi-cal education activities:

hup://thundermetisu.edu/explores/explores.htm I

2. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

An intensive program to develop materials for theteachers and students is continuing. These materialsand projects arc being developed in conjunction withFSU's Department of Curriculum and Instruction(Science Education) to take advantage of the exist:ngcapabilities and facilities of each school selected, and toprovide a wide variety of activities for the various edu-cational and interest levels that Florida's diverse school-age population exhibits. Using the resources available,an instructional guide to we3ther satellites was cicatedto provide information concerning the history of weath-

er satellites, how satellites arc placed in orbit, howthey function, their capabilities and instrumentation,etc. Pictures and diagrams were used wherever possibleto help teachers and students visualize the amazing ut-pabilities of these space-borne earth observing stations.NOAA Technical Report - NESDIS #4.; by R. JoeSummers (1989) was provit's.4 to each panicipant to in-struct the leachers and stuuents on how the direct real-

out ground station components work to receive satellitesignals and how these components translorm the sig-nals into visual images. Instructions on how to set tip

1 9


the ground station, including installation of computervideo and receiver boards and antenna construction werealso provided. In addition, workshop sessions designedto expose the teachers to the basics of meteorologicalknowledge were conducted. Included in these sessionswere trips to the Melbourne NWS office (modernized)and the Flight Forecast and Range Safety Facilities atCape Canaveral Air Force Station. Workshopsessions on satellite imagery interpretation, anddeveloping observational skills were also held. Withthis knowledge, the ground stations can be used to theirmaximum capabilities, providing an extraordinarylearning experience for both the teachers and students.Units for the meteorological curriculum included basicssuch as temperature, humidity, winds, thunderstorms,hurricanes and tornadoes, safety precautions andprocedures, regional and local climate, and thehydrologic cycle and its importance, as well as morecomplicated issues such as radiative transfer, thedispersion of pollution and global climate change.

Specifications for constructing school-madeweather stations are also being made available tointerested industrial arts and vocational skills teachersstate-wide to augment the overall state sciencecurriculum. In this way, the industrial arts curriculumis complementing the earth and space sciencecurriculum, allowing students access to a total hands-on/minds-on educational experience. In addition, manyof our schools are using maximum and minimumthermometers and rain gauges to take daily weatherobservations. The meteorological observationscollected from school-made or purchased instrumentswill allow for ground-truth comparisons betweenobservations of meteorological phenomena from earth-orbiting platforms and surface-based instrumentation, aswell as provide the network of National Weather Serviceoffices in Florida with additional cooperative stationswhich will have the ability to rcport climatologicaldata. Several students involved in the project _ie alreadyactively involved in meteorological and oceanographicstudies which are winning awardsat regional, state andinternational science fairs. In addition, extracurriculargroups such as science clubs and 'exploratory' sciencegroups are using the ground stations as a centerpiece oftheir activities. As a Department of Meteorology, weare now realizing the importance of EXPLORES!, ashighly qualified students from high schools with theseground stations enter our Undergraduate MeteorologyDegree program much better qualified to pursue themajor than the typical high school graduate.

3. PRESENT/FUTURE PLANS

The project continues to grow in 1995 We amconducting numerous site visits and follow-upworkshops with teachers in an effort to stay one stcpahead of questions which can arise while using theground stations. Advanced computer technology in theclassroom works only if the teacher is highly motivatedand interested in the approaches demonstrated, as well asin generating alternative approaches when necessary.Many of the EXPLORES! participants havedemonstrated the ability to perform both, and thenetworking of all participants via INTERNET hasallowed these teachers to share ..aw ideas for the benefitof the entire group.

As the state of Florida embarks upon programswhich increase the emphasis on environmental andnatural science components for the curricula inelementary, middle and high school classrooms,meteorology becomes an increasingly effective tool fortraining our future scientists in concepts as basic as thescientific method, and as complex as global climatechange. The EXPLORES! program strives to prepareFlorida students to meet these challenges in both criticaland intellectual ways.

4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We could not have accomplished these tasks withoutthe help of individuals too numerous to mentionhere..but you know who you are..thank you!

Support for this project is acknowledged from theTRDA under contracts #211, #309 and #401, the TitleII Program of the US Dept. of Education, administeredby the State of Florida Dept. of Education.

5. REFERENCES

Ruschcr, P.H., K.A. Klocsel, S.B. Hutchins, and S.Graham, 1993: Implementation of NOAA directreadout satellite data capabi lifts in Florida's public schools. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 74, May.

Summers, R. Joseph, 1989: Educainr's guide for build-ing and operating environmental satellite receivingstations. NOAA Technical Report NESDIS No

44. U.S. Department of Commerce, NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration,Washington D.C., 20233, 1201)1).

(J6) 2 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY I 9 ti

J6.2 BRINGING McIDAS TECHNOLOGY INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM

Thomas Achtor* and William L. Smith

University of WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin

The Man-computer Interactive Data AccessSystem (McIDAS) is a well known researchand operational videographic computersystem. McIDAS software currently runs onIBM mainframe systems, several brands ofUnix workstations, and IBM personalcomputers. The extensive meteorologicaldat :. base maintained at the UW/SSECprovides the key component to exploit thesystem capabilities.

With the development of the PC-basedMcIDAS, the opportunity existed to offerthese lower cost systems to K-12 educationalusers. For real-time use, the bottleneck oftransferring large data volumes has beensomewhat resolved by the expansion of theInternet and higher speed asynchronoustelephone communication. Although themajority of K-12 schools do not yet havesignificant Internet capability, that situationshould change rapidly over the next fewyears. A second bottleneck is free access todata. For a real-time, interactive system tobe a successful visualization tool, low (no)cost access to large d?'-a bases is a keyrequirement.

The outstanding educational feature ofMcIDAS is the complete interactive nature ofthe system. The user starts with a blankscreen and defines (creates) what isdisplayed. Unlike GIF viewers orGopher/Mosaic sites, the McIDAS screen istotally created by the user, through a series

* Corresponding author address:Thomas Achtor, University of Wisconsin,Space Science and Engineer Center (SSEC),1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706

1 0';

Lee Buescher and Ron Graewin

Watertown High SchoolWatertown, Wisconsin

of commands. This creativity is not withoutcost. The sheer diversity of options availableto the user does not render itself to a simplegraphical user interface. Although menusystems, graphics tablets and GUIs havebeen developed, most users who have accessto the complete McIDAS data base choose touse the command line method of programexecution. As an educational tool, McIDASnot only provides an excellent scientificplatform to study atmospheric and otherphysical sciences, but also provides aplatform for creative development; one doesnot point at an object and click, one thinksabout what they want to create, develops aplan of execution and then proceeds with thatplan, or a modification thereof. The creativeelement is maximized.

With the decrease in PC costs, the possibilityof promoting McIDAS as a K-12 educationaltool became possible. PC-based McIDASsystems are demonstrated at the SummerWorkshop in Earth and AtmosphericScience, held for the past 3 years on the UW-Madison campus. (A poster discussing theWorkshop participants and curriculum willbe on display at the evening poster session.)Response to MeIDAS was very positive, andin the winter of 1992-93 the UW/CIMSS andWatertown WI high school entered into acollaboration to place two Mc1DAS systemsat Watertown, train two teachers in the basicMcIDAS command structure and create thefirst series of education modules that provideself-instruction of McIDAS operations usinga hands-on approach. In the summer of 1993the Watertown teachers and CIMSSscientists worked to develop the first threeeducation modules for the newly createdSatellite Technology Education Program(STEP).


TABLE 1: McIDAS Education Modules

1. An Introduction to McIDAS2. McIDAS: The Host Mode (Connecting toand Using the Data Base)3. McIDAS: Imaging Visible and InfraredRadiances from Weather Satellites4. Planetary Geography Viewed fromWeather Satellites (under development)

Several methods for usmg McIDAS in thehigh school were tested the first year,including daily classroom activities in anaeronautics/aviation ground school course,teaching units in physics, chemistry andgeography, extra-curricular instruction byteachers in the media center (where oneworkstation was permanently located), andcommunity outreach programs by teachersand students. All programs were verypositively evaluated. By the middle of theschool year two students were taking aMcIDAS workstation to district middleschools and giving demonstrations to scienceclasses.

Through the Summer Workshop on Earthand Atmospheric Science, a NASA grant,and the activities of UW and Watertownparticipants, the STEP program wasexpanded to include Madison area highschools. Development of education modulesalso continues; a project to create a globalgeography module for CD-ROM usingweather satellite imagery is undenvay.

McIDAS can be brought into schools at avery low cost. If the school has a high endIBM PC to commit to the program, SSEC isproviding the McIDAS OS/2 software at no-cost to STEP program participants. Thus, touse historical data (e.g. McIDAS' GreatestHits) there is essentially no cost commitmentfor a school. Expansion of this program tomany schools has two hurdles to overcome.The first, high speed data transfcr, will beaddressed with more Internet connectionsinto K-12 schools. Currently high speed


modem access means long distance calls forthose schools out of the Madison area(motivating our current program to placesystems in local schools). The second hurdleis low (no) cost data access. Currently,accessing the SSEP., data base is "at cost";the user pays for cpu cycle time or for datavolume transferred, whichever is cheaper.For schools to use real-time data, there mustbe a means to provide free data. Severalways of accomplishing this are underconsideration. Before a wide expansion ofthis program can take place, this hurdle mustbe cleared.

The real key to success of programs such asSTEP is teacher interest in the K-12community. There are many programsavailable to teachers to incorporate into theirteaching curriculum, but only limited timefor them to understand and learn thetechnology; thus it takes a significantinvestment of teacher time. In ourexperience, where teacher interest is high,many students are attracted to McIDAS,with some becoming totally absorbed with itscapabilities. In Watertown, the studentshave taken over training neophytes andmaking the public presentations.

In science and education, our current andfuture scientific focus is broadening toexamine integrated science topics. Thevolume of environmental data available toscientists on all space and time scales isgrowing rapidly, offering numerousinvestigative possibilities. During the EOSera these trends will increase. It is timc tobring modern technical tools andcontemporary scientific data to our futurescientists so they can better understand keyscientific issues and exp,-_-.rience the tools usedto investigate these issues. For thosc notentering careers in science, programs likeSTEP offer an enhanced learning experienceto better grasp scientific principals.McIDAS offers one such possibility.

9 3

J6.3 BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH EARTHLAB

Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.*

Ross Computational ResourcesMadison, WI 53705

1. INTRODUCTION

During the past decade, a number of nationallysponsored commissions have reported that themajority of American students do not fare well insciences, technology and mathematics. Recentefforts to improve this situation have beeninitiated by various professional groups,including several from the earth sciences (e.g.,American Meteorological Society and the AmericanGeological Institute). Additionally, recentnational attention has been directed to the"information superhighway". A need exists formaking students of all ages knowledgeable aboutcomputers and the various electronic means foracquiring information. While access to this"information superhighway" would benefit educationat all levels, many school districts may be unableto offer this service to all students, eitherbecause of budgetary constraints or because of thelack of adequate equipment and expertise.

Effective pre-college earth science educationprograms are in a position to help stimulatestudent involvement in science and technology.The earth sciences, in particular the weathersciences, could attract the attention of variousgroups of students, even those not traditionallymotivated or with special learning needs. Schoolscould be electronically linked to each other aswell as to active sources of real scientificdata. Some great opportunities inherently existfor enriching science education in such anapproach. However, challenging problems must besolved. Study of the planet can be fascinating,but the large amounts of information may besomewhat overwhelming to many students withoutadequate means for visualization. Softwareappropriate to the earth sciences must be designedfor use on several different computer platforms.

*Corresponding author address: Edward J. Hopkins,Ross Computational Resources, 222 N. MidvaleBlvd., Suite 4 Madison, WI 53705email: [email protected]

Many educational software products currentlyavailable appear to be passive in the sense that thestudent is asked to follow a guided sequence,answering questions with little real interaction.

To approach this opportunity and attempt tosolve some of these problems, a group of earthscientists and K-12 teachers formulated an earthscience education project called Earth Lab, with acommitment to provide an interactive learningenvironment for earth science education throughthe use of computer technology. This report tracesthe formation of partnerships between educators,earth scientists and computer experts to de rn aneffective interactive software environmen, andaccompanying instructional packages forpre-college earth science programs.

2. HISTORY OF PROJECT EARTHLAB

Earth Lab was designed to be a highlyinteractive and visually rich computer-basedenvironment for K-12 earth science educationwhich stresses student inquiry and problem solvingusing real data in the learning process. The name"Earth Lab" was selected to convey the idea of alaboratory experience in earth science. The idea ofsuch an environment evolved from the research ofRuth Anne Ross at Texas A&M University in theScientific Visualization Laboratory with Dr. BruceMcCormick, one of the originators of the idea ofscientific visualization.

A proposal to build the partnerships needed tocreate Earth Lab was submitted to the U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) in early 1993.Under the request, Ross Computational Resources(RCR) would conduct a six month feasibility studyand limited prototype development of theEarth Lab system. Active collaboration was soughtbetween RCR, several University of Wisconsin-Madison academic departments, a scienceeducation center and several local school districts.

Several objectives were stated in the DOEproposal to define the system requirements, tocreate documentation structures, to create an

I:49JOINT SESSION J6 (J6) 5

Earth Lab prototype and to evaluate thisprototype. Ideally, input from numerous expertswith a broad range of backgrounds and viewpointswould be desirable. This group would includedomain scientists, curriculum and instructionspecialists, software developers and earth scienceteachers at the elementary, middle and high schoollevels. Realistically, the limited funds meantthat in the initial phase of the project, activeparticipation would mostly involve individualsfrom the Madison area. Newsletters weredistributed to solicit ideas from various K-12science teachers who would not be able toparticipate because of distance. An advisorygroup was formed, composed of the RCR staff,consultants and several highly motivated earthscience teachers from the Madison area; a listingof these participants appears in the last section.

Througheut _Phase I, regularly scheduledadvisory group kilefttinp were held. These meetingswere very fruitful since they permitted the RCRstaff to build a working relationship with theparticipating teachers and to learn from thevaluable suggestions made by these experiencedteachers. The teachers learned about newhardware, software and data sources that could aidthem in their instructional programs. Some of theearly meetings focused upon what types ofequipment, software and data the teachers wouldlike to see in their classrooms. Subsequentmeetings focused upon system design.

A prototype Earth Lab learning environment (seenext section) was a product of these meetings.Valuable input to the design of this prototype wasprovided by *he honors earth science class of oneof the teachers. Meetings between several of theteachers and the software specialists lead toimprovements in the design and ultimately, to thedevelopment of the user interface. Twoexhibition/ workshops were sponsored to encourageother teachers to participate in the project. Apresentation of the project was made at an annualconference of teachers and University of Wisconsinresearchers. As a result of this presentation,several teachers from an elementary school in aneighboring community provided ideas and offeredto help develop and test curricula that would makeeffective use of Earth Lab.

Concurrent with the prototype development,strategic partnerships with local industry andseveral larger businesses were explored with aview to helping schools connect to the Internet,adding value to the eventual Earth Lab product andassisting in its commercialization.


3. GOALS OF EARTHLAB

The primary concern of the Earth Lab advisorygroup has been enrichment of earth scienceeducation through the use of current data andhands-on type activities. Consequently, theEarth Lab Learning Environment emphasizes"doing science" with built-in interactive laboratorytype activities (adventures) for students to solve,using real data (e.g., current weather observations).Additionally, students will hz coached to pose theirown research problems and then use Earth Lab as aresearch tool to solve these problems. Earth Labwill eventually provide a totally integrated earthscience curriculum and environment, to allow forinterdisciplinary research. As a result, Earth Labwill encourage development of cross-disciplinaryknowledge and skills

The software will be designed for use onseveral different computer platforms. Theexperience of the Project Earth Lab group indicatesthat many school districts in Wisconsin haveMacintosh computers, and DOS based systems arefound in a significant number of schools. Thecomputer environment must have an easy to useinterface for both the student and the teacher. Thisinterface will include an option to allow freeexploration of all available resources for reports.Printed reports and multimedia presentations canbe produced from the collected data.

Earth Lab intends to be network ready.Support for internetworking and experiment datamanagement are key features to the Earth Labenvironment. As states commit to the informationsuperhighway, teachers could use Earth Lab as ameans communicate with others as well as toretrieve real scientific data.

Obviously, the Earth Lab team will not be ableto produce an all-encompassing set of high qualitylaborato," experiences for all of the earth scienceswithout the active participation of a number ofcreative teachers. Teachers should be able toproduce their own materials if they wish. DuringEarth Lab Project discussions, it became clear thatthe teacher (and student) should be provided withthe capability to modify existing instructionalresource packages and create new ones.Therefore, Earth Lab will produce comprehensi,'eauthoring tools and RCR plans to sponsor"authoring workshops" for educators who want tolearn how to use Earth Lab authoring effectively.

Adaptable softwate, flexible lessonpresentation, and multimedia will also help ProjectEarth Lab promise to insure a barrier-free learning

) !

.

environment. Effort will be made to accommodatethe needs of those segments of the studentpopu16.ion typically under-represented or who havespecial learning needs.

4. DESIGN OF AN EARTHLABENVIRONMENT

The efforts of the Advisory group resulted inthe design of a unique Earth Lab environment.Figure 1 shows the introductory screen display forEarth Lab. This display will be essentially thesame regardless of the computer platform. Variousicons are displayed along the periphery of themain screen. The user can use a mouse drivencursor to click on these icons.

The Earth Lab environment depicted in Figure 1can be used in one of three modes: Adventure,Inquiry and Presentation. Because a commonformat is used, these three modes areoperationally quite similar, but with certaindifferences resulting from their individual goals.

In the Adventure mode, a realistic problem isposed for the student to solve. Since theseproblems could entail teacher produced laboratoryexercises, the teacher will be able to exercisesome degree of direction and control of thevarious data and information resources that thestudent will investigate in solving the particularproblem. Several completed Adventures are to beincluded in Earth Lab to demonstrate the system andto assist teachers with further development oftheir own Adventures. Earth Lab is designed topermit individual authoring of Adventures. Someof the suggested Earth Lab adventures include:

Earth Lab Adventures (Solving a given problem)

Weather Adventures (Is a storm coming?)Climate Adventures (Where should I live?)Water Adventures (Locate a home-site)Mapping Adventures (Where am l?;

Find my way home)Prospector Adventures (Mineral Find;

Energy Find)Environmental Adventures (Landfill adventures;

Nuclear accident; Oil spill clean-up)Astronomy Adventures (Check out the

habitability of Mars)Ocean Adventures (Deep dive and ocean trench;

Investigate the mid-ocean ridges)

The Inquiry Mode is the part of the Earth Labenvironment where the student proposes aproblem, designs an experiment and works towarda plausible solution through appropriateexploration and research. This Inquiry modediffers from the Adventure mode only in thatInquiry mode is more open-ended. Earth Lab willcarry a substantial library of information inscientific databases; additionally, as real-time databecome more readily available, a combination oflive data plus archived information will provide thebasis for more complex problem solving.

Presentation Mode, the third mode, can beused in conjunction with either the Adventure orInquiry modes. In the Presentation mode, thestudent or teacher will be able to utilize variousgraphical and other resources to create and presenta multimedia report. This report may be a list ofanswers made by the student working in theAdventure mode, or a presentation produced as anoutcome of the Inquiry mode. The fmished reportcan be printed, used in an organized slide showpresentation, or saved to videotape.

5. IMPLEMENTATION

The prototype instructional packages that havebeen assembled and demonstrated to teachersinclude a unit on weather observation, completewith an icon-driven "toolbox" of weatherinstruments or observation platforms (e.g.,thermometers, barometers, radiosondes andweather satellites). A hypertext layer describingthese instruments has been included. Access tothese weather instruments and pertinentbackground information from other weather unitsis not only possible but encouraged as part of theemphasis upon active student inquiry. Another unitdescribing weather charts, analyses and satelliteimages has been produced.

6. FUTURE PLANS

The Earth Lab team is discussing collaborationwith potential partners in industry and governmentin order to continue development of Earth Lab. Aweather calculator, designed to be an integral partof the meteorological portion of Earth Lab may bemade available as a "stand-alone" tool for ahand-held computer. Additional weather relatedinstructional packages are being contemplated.


7. CONCLUSIONS

enriched by the partnerships, the formativephase of the Earth Lab Project provided a learningexperience for all participants. For some of thestaff of RCR, contact with teachers revealed thatwhile attractive software is important, a set ofdefinitive instructions, organized curricula andexplicit lesson plans are needed to allow teachersthe opportunity to utilize the units moreeffectively. In other words, continuing teacherinput is essential. Contacts with softwaredesigners permitted the teachers to explorevarious computer systems and software packages.Furthermore, while teachers may have to cope withexisting curricula and computer equipment, theyshould be encouraged to *invent* the future, withnew curricula and equipment. The RCR staff andteachers both became aware of numerous datasources from domain scientists. Many inexpensivedata sources pertinent to earth science educationare available electronically, if the teachers canobtain ready access to the informationsuperhighway.

8. PROJECT EARTHLAB PARTICIPANTS

Numerous people and organizations havedirectly or indirectly assisted RCR in developingEarth Lab. The involvement of these dedicatedexperts is valuable and essential. Severalteachers have volunteered their time to provideinsight. Among them are Tom Adas (Verona HighSchool), Ben Season (James Madison MemorialHigh School in Madison) and Ron Welhoefer(Madison East High School). Lois Kelso (BelmontHigh School in Laconia, NH) has contributed herexperiences with reading disabled students to theproject's commitment to special studentpopulations. Science teachers from the CottageGrove Elementary School (Monona Grove SchoolDistrict) have joined the Earth Lab Project tooffer their help in designing and evaluatingprototype systems. Discussions were held withBruce Smith of Appleton West High School, theProject Atmosphere AERA for the state ofWisconsin concerning the development of a districtwide weather observation network which would belinked electronically.

Dr. Gary Lake, a valuable consultant in allphases of the Earth Lab, is Program Director of theCenter for the Advancement of Science,Ma... ematical, and Technology Education of theWisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters.

(j6) 8 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

C.)

Don Vmcent, earth science educator and presidentof ESRA, offered his perspective on requirementsfor EarthLab.

The UW Space Place, a public-outreacheducational facility operated by the SpaceAstronomy Laboratory of the University ofWisconsin-Madison, has been the site of twoRCR/Project EarthLab exhibitions. It also servedas the meeting place for the Project EarthLabteam. On-site at the Space Place, RCR placed aDOS computer, a large television monitor, and aSilicon Graphics computer for advanced scientificvisualization development. The Director of theSpace Place, Kathy Stittleburg, is on the EarthLabsteering committee.

The Department of Atmospheric and OceanicSciences at UW-Madison was also a sponsor.Encouragement has come from the departmentalchairman, Professor David D. Houghton, long anadvocate of quality science education and ofuniversity out-reach programs to K-1.2 levels. Dr.Houghton is currently President-elect of theAmerican Meteorological Sodety.

Wis.:sawn -J4

Wert Palette

7717rbeary - Rale GamicReis Gnaw A rale mem isthe stem ore. mom etpreopitalles messeeltmseem. Simple types *I estegauges Revs berm usedAsia lee mem Mee SOO years.he peleciple. precipasesemeasurement nevem OmMe Jaime peetipasem be

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Figure 1. An Overview of the EarthLab LearningEnvironment.

J6.4

A COLLABORATIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY UNIT ON WEATHER FOR ELEMENTARYEDUCATORS ON THE INTERNET

Dee A. Chapman1, Dawn E. Novak2, William L. Chapman3

1. National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign2. Champaign School District, Champaign, Illinois

3. Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1. INTRODUCTION

Educators increasingly are looking to the Internetfor resources and collaboration with colleagues asmore schools have access to the network. To helpmeet the needs of these educators, we are developingan Internet-based Thematic Unit Archive (TUA)which will house thematic unit lessons accessible toand contributed by educators. A thematic unit is acollection of lessons spanning many disciplinesutilizing a common theme or topic. In a thematic unitthe focus is on a topic of interest to students ratherthan traditional school subjects such as reading,writing, and math [Gamberg, 1989]. The advantageof a thematic unit is that a topic can be studied in-depth, incorporating relevant lessol..- from traditionalschool subjects to approach the topic from a varietyof perspectives. The intent of the TUA is to create aforum by which educators can share unit and lessonideas among themselves and with "experts in thefield" via the Internet. The asynchronouscollaboration on lesson submissions andmodifications creates an evolving educationalresource which will grow in scope and quality.

We foresee the need to distribute text, images,occasionally sounds, and other multimedia elementsas shared resources comprising the thematic units.We chose the application Mosaic which wasdeveloped at the National Center for SupercomputingApplications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign as the primary tool for the TUA.Mosaic facilitates the sharing of information on theInternet by providing a unified and intuitive interfaceto the various protocols, data formats and informationavailable on the Internet [Andreesen, 1993].

The first thematic unit developed for the archiveis a weather unit iniended for elementary gradelevels. The weathei unit is a collection of Mosaicdocuments including classroom lessons on a varietyof subjects, experiment descriptions, stories, student

journal pages, literature reviews, games,extracurricular activities, and more. A user

t

accessing the weather unit through the TUA can postcomments either within the archive to comment onthe curricular material contained on the archive orwithin the weather unit to suggest m -xlifications oradditions to a particular lesson.

2. THEMATIC UNIT ARCHIVE

The thematic unit archive provides educators aforum to share knowledge, expertise, resources, andlesson plans. Lessons available on the archive can beevaluated as they are uied in the classroom. Throughthe comment board available in the TUA, theeducators can make suggestions to improve thelessons. The Mosaic link to the TUA is:

hup:I/faldo.atmos.uiuc.edulTUAHome.html

Collaboration between educators will result in acontinuous infiltration of new ideas providing tools topresent the same concept through multiple teachingmethods and from various perspectives. Because theTUA is an Internet tool, collaboration will includeaccess to experts in many fields who may commenton the validity of the concepts explored in the lessonsas well as suggest alternative teaching strategies.Internet access will provide educators, even in remotelocations, the ability to use and contribute to theTUA. The TUA may particularly benefit thoseteachers with less experience through collaborationwith experts and more proficient educators.

2,1 TUA Structure

The thematic unit archive consists of a series ofMosaic documents which reside on a centralcomputer server. Any of the text, images, or soundscontained in a document may act as a hyperlinkconnecting the document to information locatedanywhere on the Internet. The portion of text orimage designated as a hyperlink is generallyhighlighted and can be activated by selecting wil a amouse. When thc hyperlink is activated, Mosaicautomatically retrieves the remote document from its

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origin on the Internet and displays the hypermediausing the appropriate display application. We utilizethis funcionality provided by Mosaic to simulate anarchive Ly creating a centralized access point to thelocal as well as the remote information whichcomprise the thematic unit archive.

Figure 1 shows the structure of the TUA. Thetop level of the TUA contains a list of grade levels(preschool through twelfth grade) which arehyperlinked (solid lines) to lists of thematic units forthat grade level. Each thematic unit is composed ofseveral subject areas with lessons linked to theappropriate subject area(s).

IThematic Unit Archive j

Preschool Kinder

11\Thematic Unit

0 Subject Area

Lessons

First Second Eleventh

/111

\\\

Twelfth

Figure 1. Structure of the Thematic Unit Archive

3. THE WE _THER UNIT

We chose weather as the subject of ourintroductory unit because it is well suited to theinterdisciplinary concept of the thematic unit. lnaddition, weather has many math and scienceapplications which are areas of national educationalweakness [Fitzsimmons, 1994]. Students can easilyrelate to most of the concepts presented because theyexperience weather everyday and often enter theclassroom with an interest in severe and unusualweather phenomena.

The weather unit currently is targeted foreducators of second to fourth grade but concepts canbe expanded or simplified for other grade levels. Ourphilosophy in developing this unit is that the basicconcepts should be teachable to any grade levelprovided the appropriate techniques and language areused. The lessons encourage the students to exploreand experience the concepts through "hands-on"activities, cooperative learning and personaldiscovery.


3.1 Weather Unit Structure

The weather unit is organized into twelve subjectareas. The subjects are listed in Table 1, as are thenumber of lessons for each subject. Initially, thereare a total of nineteen lessons written for the weatherunit. The interdisciplinary lessons are cross-listedunder multiple subject areas.

TABLE 1Subject Number of

LessonsArt 3

Classroom Props 1

Drama 1

Geography 2Math 1

Music 2Reading & Writing 4

Resources 5Science 13

Social StudiesTri s

Many lessons contain hyperlink r. to otherlessons. Often the links connect lessons contained inthe same subject areas. For example, in the Sciencesubject area the lessons Evaporation, Condensation,and Precipitation are connected to each other and tothe unifying lesson of the Water Cycle. Theconnectivity between lessons is not limited to lessonsin the same subject area, however. For example, theWater Cycle lesson (under Science) is linked toseveral lessons in other disciplines such as Art,Reading, and Physical Education. Thisinterdisciplinary approach is favored by many

educators because the format provides a variety ofeducational perspectives on the concept.

Figure 2 shows the interdisciplinary nature ofthe weather unit. For every lesson which has one ormore hyperlinks to another subject area, a thin line isdrawn between the subject areas in the schematic torepresent the link(s). In most cases, the links arefound in the Prerequisites, Follow-Up, andEvaluation sections of the lessons.

1

Re,;ources Drama

Social

Studies

Reading &

Writing Aa41

iSr.4411004Weathr

UnitScience

Trips

P.E.

Math

la

Art

ssroom

Props

Geography.]

Figure 2. The Weather Unit Web

The web-like structure of the weather unitprecludes any predef4ied starting and ending pointsto the unit. This makes it possible to extract andteach only portions of the unit when needed. Forexample, an educator working on a lesson onnocturnal animals may decide that an educationalexcursion into the explanations for night and day mayaugment the nocturnal animal lesson. He or she canenter the web structure directly to the night and daylesson. From here it will take only a short time tosurvey the prerequisites and follow-up lessons todetermine what will be involved in teaching the nightand day concept.

A student weather journal is included as part ofthe weather unit. The pages of the journai are

included as hyperlinked documents embedded withinthe lessons. The documents can be printed anddistributed for the student's use. The journal providesa work area for students to record daily weatherobservations, experiment results, personal writingsand illustrations. The weather journal can bereviewed periodically by the teacher as a portfolioassessment.

Another tool included in the weather unit is aLiterature Review section found under Reading andWriting. The reviews consist of bibliographicinformation and a brief summary of each book. Weprovide personal opinions and ratings of the bookcontent and illustrations as well as special notes whenthe accuracy of the book content, is in question. ThcLiterature Review section is intended to be


collaborative so that TUA users can submitsummaries and opinions of books they have reviewedor used in their classes, as well as read the reviewsand summaries of previously posted by others. Asthe Literature Review section grows it will facilitateaccess to books on specialized topics and providesome subjective guidance to the quality books.

The Resource section of the weather unit givesadditional information about contacts which mayassist in the teaching of the unit. Examples ofresources include: locations to order supplies andmaterials, museums that have educational materialavailable, experts in the field, and universities andlibraries that can supply additional material andinformation.

3.2 Lesson Structure

For the weather unit lessons, we chose to utilizea standard lesson format. The section headings anddescriptions for each lesson include:

Prerequisites: Includes concepts that prcparestudents for the ideas to be presented in thelesson. Some of these concepts are hyperlinks tolessons found elsewhere in the unit.

Objectives: Describes the educational goals of thelesson.

Materials: Lists thc materials required for thelessons; some of these are hyperlinked todocuments in the Resources section of the unit.

Introduction: Includes brief stories, discussions, orshort experiments to engage the students inthought about the concept being taught.

Body: Contains the main experiments anddemonstrations used to guide the students to anunderstanding of the concept.

Conclusion: Summarizes the concepts taught in thebody through discussions, writings, and/orgames.

Follow-up: Includes concepts which relate to theidea taught in the lesson. Some of the conceptsare hyperlinks to other lessons in the unit.

Evaluation: Games, writings, tests, and/ordiscussions used to determine the student'sunderstanding of the concepts taught.

4. COLLABORATION

The strength of the Thematic Unit Archive lies inthe contributions and collaborations by thc users. InAugust 1994 the Thematic Unit Archive and theweather unit were released to the public and


introduced to a group of thirty teachers attending anInternet Workshop at the National Center forSupercomputing Applications. After the attendeesexplored the archive we held a discussion and took awritten survey of their comments. The initialcomments regarding the thematic unit archive werepositive and the users proposed a series of workshopsfor educators to submit and evaluate thematic unitsfor the TUA. Also, the possibility of establishing apeer review process was discussed. The commentson the weather unit centered around the appropriatelevel of detail for the individual lessons and morestringent student evaluation techniques which mayaddress state requirements.

Statistics were compiled for the first month afterrelease to the public. There were a total of 1,153accesses to the WA and the weather unit during themonth of August 1994. About 75% of the accesseswere from the educational community. Theremaining accesses were divided betweengovernmental, commercial, and foreign users. Thelessons on urban data visualization and therelationship between sunlight and temperature wereaccessed the most, perhaps because they were crosslisted in several different subject areas andencountered more often by users traversing the unitweb.

5. SUMMARY

The weather unit as it was released to the NCSAworkshop was intended to be a prototypecollaborative thematic unit. The workshop and theuser comments to date have provided feedback whichwill help to improve the weather unit and the TUA.As the TUA continues to get exposure, we expect thiscollaboration to continue and the TUA to grow into arich resource for the educational community.

6. REFERENCES

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Andreesen, M., 1993: NCSA Mosaic TechnicalSummary 2.1. National Center forSupercomputing Applications, University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Fitzsimmons, S. J., L. C. Kerpelman, 1994: TheNational Perspective. Teacher Enhancement forElementary and Secondary Science andMathematics: Status, Issues, and Problems, pp.1-22.

Gamberg R., W. Kwak, M. Hutchings, J. Althcim,1989: The Theme Study Approach. Learningand Loving It: Theme Studies in the Classroom,P. 9.

J6.5 CoVis: A National Science Education Col laboratory

Mohan K. Ramamurthy and Robert B.WilhelmsonDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801

andRoy D. Pea, Louis M. Gomez and Daniel C. Edelson

The School of Education and Social PolicyNorthwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208

1.0 IntroductionHuman interactions have largely been shaped byphysical space. Except for a few technologies like thetelephone, fax and perhaps electronic mail, the way wework, learn and play has been constrained bygeography. This will change with the NationalInformation Infrastructure (NH) as it creates a new"place" for human activities. This confluence ofcomputing, communications, and networkingtechnologies is expected to touch all aspects ofAmerican life. What will the NH mean to schools andlearning communities, for science education and teacherdevelopment?

There is not one answer. Just as school buildings andthe communities they house are shaped by factors likepopulation density, local economy, and prevailingviews of pedagogy, the NH will take shape in learningcommunities in diverse ways. No single research anddevelopment effort can be a model of all of these. TheLearning Through Collaborative Visualization" or moresimply. CoVis, is an NSF-NIE testbed that focuses onhow to use applications of high performance computingand communications technologies (HPCC) to supportscience education reform. CoVis is centered atNorthwestern University and UIUC's Department ofAtmospheric Sciences is a key participant in CoVisdevelopment. The CoVis community includes teachersand students, research scientists, museum-basedinformal science educators, and science educationresearchers, in a "distributed multimedia learningenvironment" (Pea & Gomez, 1992a).

The CoVis philosophy is grounded in a constructivistapproach to science learning and teaching thatemphasizes authentic, challenging projects as thenucleus of activities for "learning communities" whichinclude students, teachers, scientists, and otherparticipants. The goal is to create learning communiticsthat more closely resemble the collaborative practice ofscience, which increasingly relies on HPCCtechnologies to create "collaboratories" (Lederberg &Uncapher, 1989). In CoVis we have been using LIPCCto support the formation and work activities of learningcommunities with media-rich communication andscientific visualization tools in a highly-interactivenetworked collaborative context (Pea & Gomez, 1992b;Pea, 1993). CoVis has focused on three areasproject-enhanced science learning, collaboration, and scientific

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visualizationas means for transforming scienceeducation. In this process, we have worked with highschool teachers in development activities to transformtheir classrooms from traditional teacher-centeredclasses to project-enhanced classes in which studentslearn about science through personal and groupinquiries.

2.0 CoVis NetworkTo bring the practices of science to classrooms, theCoVis network extends today to Evanston TownshipHigh School (ETHS), New Trier High School (NTHS),Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy,the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Universityof Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and theExploratorium Science Museum. The network enableshigh school students to join with other students atremote locations in collaborative groups. Students alsouse the network to communicate with universityresearchers and other scientific experts inteleapprenticing relations. Our experiences inconstructing a collaboratory highlight systemintegration and ne w software design andimplementation in classrooms, two challenges that willface all National Infrastructure for Education (NIE)testbeds and other NH efforts.

One major goal of the CoVis project is to combineprototype and off-the-shelf applications to create areliable, networked environment that showcases HPCCtechnologies for K-12 learning communities. Our keyresult is that the network is running and in daily use byapproximately 300 people, mainly high school students.The challenge of this effort has been to take a collectionof technologies, many only demonstrated or tested insmall-scale lab and demo situations, and place theminto daily service in demanding conditions. Ourprogress culminated in a stage-by-stage installationduring Fall 1993 of the CoVis network testbed usingpublic-switched ISDN services.

The network design and implementation is the result ofintensive collaboration between Northwestern,Ameritech, and Bellcore, and it uses the Primary RateIntegrated Services Data Network (PRI-ISDN) as thetransport layer for the CoVis network. In the immediateterm, ISDN is the network service that offers the hestcombination of high bandwidth and ubiquity in aswitched service. Bellcore predicts that by 1996 morethan 70% of the nation's population will have access to

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ISDN service. A key benefit of ISDN for the CoVisProject is that its bandwidth can be broken up into callchannels, which can be dedicated to different functions.We used this feature to create a two-function "overlay"network that gives student workstations access to bothethernet-based packet-switched data services andcircuit-switched desktop audio/video conferencing.One group of 6 64 kb/s ISDN channels is being used tocreate a virtual ethernet to each school running at 384kb/s. With compression, this network has aperformance close to 1 Mb/s. Other channels provide384 kb/s switched video teleconferencing for each ofthe CoVis workstations in the schools. Since ISDN is"public switched service," CoVis participants can, inprinciple, place calls to any other ISDN line in thecountry.

Within each school, the CoVis network supportssynchronous and asynchronous communication. TheCoVis Project supplied each school with fiveworkstations per classroom plus one workstation at analternative location for student access outside classes.All workstations are connected to an ethernet which isbridged via ISDN lines to the Internet. The CoViscommunications and collaboration suite includes theCol laboratory Notebook (see below), e-mail, filetransfer, Usenet news (filtered for suitability), andaccess to the World Wide Web.

In addition to these applications, the communicationssuite includes screen sharing and videoteleconferencing. CoVis participants may collaboratesynchronously through screen sharing, in which oneuser can see exactly what appears on the screen ofanother user, even though at a distance, using thecommercial application Timbuktu, produced by CoVis'industry partner Farallon Computing. Desktop videoteleconferencing is another critical element of theCoVis testbed, and examinations of its utility forlearning and teaching are a key part of our research.Students use the CruiserTM application, provided byBellcore (Fish et al., 1993), to establish videoteleconferencing calls. Cruiser allows students to placecalls, both point-to-point and point-to-multi-point, toother CoVis addressees by selecting the name of theindividual(s) from a directory. Cruiser is a clientapplication of Touring Machine, the networkmanagement software developed by Bellcore (BellcoreInformation Networking Research Laboratory, 1993)which manages the heterogeneous resources (e.g.cameras, microphones, monitors, switch ports, directoryservices) in the CoVis network. It is significant thatCoVis Project needs and Ameritech (one of the babyIkll companies) interests drove the first integration byBellcore of Touring Machine into an ISDN network.To our knowledge, CoVis is the first school-basedapplication of ISDN desktop video conferencing.

3.0 CoVis Testbed ComponentsThe CoVis testbed seeks to provide students withauthentic scientific inquiry experiences acrossgeographically dispersed sites. To succeed in this


endeavor, it has been necessary to develop two newapplication environments: (1) a groupware applicationto support collaborative student inquiry, and (2) tools tomake scientific investigation techniques, specificallydata visualization, accessible to high school students.

Collaboratory Notebook. The Collaboratory Notebookis a central and unique element of the CoVisenvironment, serving several roles for project-enhancedscience learning (Edelson & O'Neill, 1994). Briefly,the Notebook is groupware for scientific inquiry. It is ashared, hypermedia database built on top of an Oracledatabase connected to the Internet. The Notebookprovides a place for students to record their activities,observations, and hypotheses as they work on projects.It provides a means for planning and tracking theprogress of a project and for collaborators to share andcomment upon each other's work. Within theNotebook, there is a small, fixed set of page and linktypes. These types provide a scaffold intended to assiststudents in structuring their open-ended inquiry process.Foi example, a page that records a set of visualizationactivities can be linked to questions raised during thoseactivities. Those questions can, in turn, be linked toconjectures that address the questions, and to plans forinvestigating the questions. The goal of the Notebookis to provide students with a "scaffolding structure" foropen-ended scientific inquiry, and a mechanism forcollaborative work within or across schools.

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Scientific Visualization Environmen. Todayatmospheric and other scientists use data visualizationtools and work with standard data sets routinely (e.g.,Searight et al., 1993; Wilhelmson, 1994; Wilhelmson etal., 1994). These tools and data sets are mainly usefulto highly specialized members of technical communities(Gordin & Pea, in press). To allow students to workwith the same data sets as scientists in similar ways, wehave adapted the tools used by atmospheric scientists tobe appropriate for high school students. To date, CoVishas developed two such visualization environments,The Climate Visualizer and The Weather Visualizer,and is developing a third, The Greenhouse EffectsVisualizer. All three visualization environments aretightly integrated with the Collaboratory Notebook.

( I) The Climate Vist-alizer allows students to constructscientific visualizat:ons to explore global climatepatterns (Gordin, Polman & Pea, in press). It contains25 years of twice daily weather values (temperature,pressure, and wind) for most of the northernhemisphere. In the Climate Visualizer, temperature isencoded as a raster color image, altitude as contours,and wind as arrows (or vectors), with an optionaloverlay showing continents. Students can interactivelysample values in a '..isualization by selecting locationswith a mouse and can view trends across timc bysubtracting one image from another. For example,seasonal differences can be seen by subtracting Januarytemperature from July. Such a visualization mighthighlight the differing properties of land and water inabsorbing heat. The Climate Visualizer is a front-end toSpyglass Transform, a commercial visualization

package, and uses a data set available on CD-ROMfrom the National Meteorological Center's Grid PointData Set.

(2) The Weather Visualizer (Fishman & D'Amico,1994) is a tool for examining current weat.ter conditionsthroughout the U.S. in the form of: satellite images invisible and infrared spectrums; customized weathermaps displaying up to 14 different variaoles at fivedifferent altitudes for any region or city in the U.S. at avariety of zoom factors; "six-panel images" displayingtemperature, pressure, wind speed, wind direction, dewpoint, and moisture convergence for the entire U.S.; andtextual reports providing local conditions and local andstate forecasts for all reporting stations. The WeatherVisualizer is implemented as a front end to wxmap, aUNIX program developed at the University of Illinois.The data for the Weather Visualizer currently comesfrom our collaborator University of Illinois' WeatherMachine, which, in turn, receives data from theNational Weather Service's Family of Services DDfeed and from GOES satellites (Ramamurthy et al.,1992). Through its gopher server for current weatherimages and information, the Weather Machine at UIUCis providing a valuable service to a community wellbeyond K-12, including researchers and educatorsnationwide. Over 100,000 requests for images and textare received per day in peak usage periods(Ramamurthy & Kemp, 1993; Ramamurthy et al., 1994;Ramamurthy & Wilhelmson, 1993).

(3) The Greenhouse Effects Visualizer (Gordin, Pea,& Edelson, 1994) coordinates a collection of data setsthat include the sun's incoming radiation (insolation),the amount reflected by the earth (albedo), thetemperature on Earth's surface, and the earth's outgoingradiation, to allow students to examine the balance ofincoming and outgoing radiation for the earth(Greenhouse effect.)

Multimedia Modules In addition to providing real-timeweather information, one of UIUC's main contributionsto CoVis has been the development of an array ofInternet-accessible multimedia instructional modules,consisting of text, color diagrams, movies, audio, andscanned images, that introduce and explain a variety ofimportant concepts in atmospheric sciences as theyarise in project inquiry. These multimedia instructionalmodules on various topics are being developed for useat the high s hool level, and are available from TheDaily Planetrm server, A Web server at UlUC. Themodules are being tested at the two current CoVisschools in the Chicago area, and they are being revisedand refined based on the feedback from them. Suchmultimedia-based instruction provides an alternativeapproach to learning, one in which the student, throughinteraction with the computer, becomes activelyinvolved in the learning process.

The first set of modules that has been developeddescribes pressure and wind, various types of weathermaps, satellite and radar images, and their use inweather analysis and forecasting (Ramamurthy et al.,

1994, Sridhar et al., 1994). Through the use of colorfuldiagrams, video clips, text, and audio narration, astudent becomes acquainted with topics like pressure,high and low pressure centers, and the balance of forcesthat generate winds. CoVis teachers at the two Chicago-area schools incorporate appropriate resources fromthese modules and our online weather databases intotheir courses. Other modules currently underdevelopment include a: (1) Cloud Catalog, (2) Guide toAtmospheric Optics, (3) Tornado Spotters Guide, and(4) Severe Storms Guide. The Tornado Spotters Guide,in addition to informative text and graphic inserts,contains clips of live tornado footage. The ultimategoal is to deliver extensive and broadly usefulmultimedia resources over the Internet, to support verydiverse project inquiries. The multimedia modules arenot only improving education at the K-12 level bymaking it more interactive through the use of advancedcomputer technologies, but are also providing acollection of curriculum resources for the wholeInternet community.

4.0 Use of the CoVis Tool SuiteCoVis technology is in daily use by the entirecommunity. A measure of use can be provided by alook at application uses: From Jan-Mar 1994, CoVisschool-based users launched approximately 14,000applications. The overwhelming proportion of use is ofInternet tools (e.g. e-mail, Gopher) at 59%, with anadditional 13% representing CoVis tool launches (e.g.Collaboratory Notebook, Climate Visualizer, WeatherVisualizer), 13% graphic tools, 8% word processors orspreadsheets, and 7% utilities and games. The CoViscommunity has not had time to develop well-definedpatterns of tool use, but early impressions are thatCoVis applications are very popular and may increasein use percentage with familiarity. Video conferencingwas introduced to students mid-January '94. We foundconsiderable increases in HPCC uses for the studentpopulation from Fall 1993 to Spring 1994.

In its ongoing research, the CoVis Project studies andreports on the design, implementation and use of thesenetwork-based and media-rich learning environmentsfor an audience of learning scientists, educators,educational telecommunications policy analysts, andcorporations who are defining "new media" applicationsand services. CoVis is examining pedagogy andtechnology questions such as: How should next-generation information networking be implemented tospur science educational reform? What are propereducational support roles for networked multimediatechnology, desktop videoconferencing, and other next-generation communication and computingtechnologies? What are the details of a pedagogywhich will support diverse communities of practice?Ilow can today's teachers transform their work-roles innew learning environments? What new curriculummaterials and tools will be needed to support revitalizedscience curriculum that keeps pace with developments


in the sciences and changes in the national informationinfrastructure?

5.0 New Developments in CoVisTo significantly scale the CoVis testbed over the nextthree years, we have developed strategies for realizingthe innovative concepts and benefits of the CoVisbroadband technology approach for a spectrum ofschools with very different levels of technologicalreadiness and infra.tructures. We have defined threelevels we describe in terms of a Technology Pyramid.Each level corresponds to a specific richness oftechnology infrastructure. At Level 1, the Pyramid'sapex, will be a relatively small number of schools withthe complete suite of CoVis technologies, includingnew applications and services to be developed. Movingdown the pyramid, Levels 2 and 3 representincreasingly larger numbers of schools, requiringsuccessively lower levels of technology infrastructure.Our goals are to include as many schools as possible toleverage use of the more common levels of installedtechnology in our testbed, and to define affordable entrylevels for migration paths to higher levels of thepyramid. The levels are not rigid but serve as a realisticrepresentation of the spectrum of schools that will cometo join the NIL Schools will migrate across levels inboth directions and combine different capabilitieswithin a building. Including schools at these diversetechnology levels will enable us to provide key dataconcerning the cost-effectiveness of the different levelsfor educational networking connectivity for scienceeducation reform outcomes.

At the top of the pyramid representing our Level 1 sites,we will intensively work with a few schools butincrease their number and diversity from our current 2suburban Chicago schools (involving 12 classes) to sixtotal schools by 1996-97. These schools will includeurban, suburban, and rural sites and will cross states. Insix Level 1 schools, we will continue exploring high-end HPCC technological infusion and implementationfor schools at the cutting-edge (below). Theconsiderable diversity of new sites at this level will helpus to understand the challenges and particular benefitsof adding high-bandwidth connections to schools indifferent types of communities, since the;r technicalsuite will approximate the current CoVis school profile:broadband data connections to the Internet (384Kb/s orbetter), and at least three desktop videoconferencestations per school.

Schools at Level 2 of the pyramid will have similar datanetworks to Level 1 schools except for desktop videoconferencing and video server access. However,through ordinary phone lines and screen-sharing, Level2 sites can participate in audio teleconferencing and willhave access to all CoVis software and materials via theInternet. Schools at Level 3 will have low-bandwidthconnections to the Internet, via dialup, and willrepresent the typical network connection paradigm forU.S. schools today. Through SLIP or PPP protocols,they may access CoVis software and materials on the


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Internet, but will not have any form of synchronousconferencing. To support these Level 3 schools, wewill be developing and distributing video tapes and CD-ROMs to help them take advantage of thematerials/pedagogy we are developing throughout theCoVis Collaboratory testbed.

In adding new functionalities to the Collaboratory overthe next three years, as described below, we seek tobuild on the existing CoVis network architecture inorder to extend the range of ways that students,teachers, and other members of the community cancommunicate and collaborate with each other. Inbuilding and extending the CoVis technologyinfrastructure, our challenge continues to be takinginnovations that have been used in limited ways inresearch tests and demonstrations and placing them intoservice so that they can reliably serve the needs of ademanding population.

(1) Software Environments to Support Collaboration.In the early years of the CoVis Project we havedeveloped an architecture for collaboration thatcombines the Collaboratory Notebook, specially-developed software for collaborative inquiry, videoconferencing, remote screen sharing, and a standardpackage of Internet tools. In the next several years, wewill continue development of the Notebook as weextend from a single community of 12 classes tomultiple communities of thousands of classes. This willinvolve, for example, the development of "libraries" ofnotebooks that will allow students to locate relevantprior work by other students through easy-to-use searchmechanisms. In addition, it will be necessary toprovide easy administration of the Notebook to schoolpersonnel. This goal will be achieved in collaborationwith the National School Network Testbed Project atBolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) in Cambridge,Massachusetts. We will migrate the management ofuser accounts for the Collaboratory Notebook to BBN'sCopernicus server, which already supports manyimportant administration functions for schools.

(2) Enhanced Video Conferencing Services. Today ourvideo conferencing network is used for point-to-pointvideo calls. As part of our new work on the CoVistestbed, we will have multi-point video conference callsavailable. This ability to involve participants in avariety of locations in a single call lets us extend howthe video network is being used to include twotelepresence experiments.

(3) Video server. The CoVis video server will allowusers to both view and record digital video in real time.Unlike current networked applications such as Gopherand Mosaic, the users will not have to downloadcompressed video to the local workstation beforeviewing it. Instead, the video will be streamed livebetween the video server and the user's workstation, ineither playback or recording modes. The video serverwill he supported by StarWorksTm, a video applicationsserver produced by industry leader Starlight Networks(Mountain View, CA).

(4) Geosciences Server, A multi-institutional designwill be developed and implemented for a World-WideWeb Server for Geosciences Education to include tools,datasets, and diverse multimedia materials for use in K-12 science education involving the earth, atmosphere,and environment. Initial contributors to design andmaterials available over the server nodes will includeNorthwestern, UIUC, U. Michigan, U. Colorado,Exploratorium Museum, and select schools. Materialswill include: datasets, editorially-reviewed studentprojects in Col laboratory Notebooks, directory servicesfor participants, and a comprehensive indexing scheme.We will seek to assure compatibility of testbed sciencecurriculum resources and activities with the leadingstate frameworks and national science educationstandards. This same server will provide the majordissemination vehicle for the project, and will includepublications, papers, reports, images, animations, andbrief Quick Time video clips to share its results on anongoing basis with a broad community. For Level Ischools that have video conferencing capability, theGeosciences Server will provide an interface tomaterials on the video server.

The ultimate goal of the server is to develop a newparadigm for Environmental Sciences education. Ourconsortium will develop an on-line weather laboratory,to provide interactive access to a wide range of weatherinformation. An important aspect of the server is that itwill provide access to observations, local forecasts,watches and warnings, satellite images and numericalmodel forecasts from any computer that is connected tothe Internet. Not only will any computer on the Internethave access to the server, but we will also structure theinformation such that others who create their ownservers can follow our model in setting up servers thatpoint to ours.

The educational and informational material on theserver will initially be focused on atmospheric sciencesbut will grow to include a broad range of earth sciencetopics. One section of the server will be devoted toweather. The access to up-to-the-hour weather data thatis currently available through CoVis Weather Visualizerwill be augmented with historical data that coversrecent years at daily or twice daily intervals and thatcovers major weather events during those years athourly intervals. A second section of the server will bedevoted to climate. An example of the resources to beavailable there is information drawn from theMidwestern Climate Atlas, which was recently preparedby tiT Midwest Climate Center at the Illinois StateWater Survey. The statistics in the atlas includetemperature, rainfall, snowfall, and extremes andprobabilities of occurrence. In addition to theseprimary climatic elements, the atlas includes a varietyof other derived variables such as heating: cooling; andgrowing degree days, growing season length, and frostdates. Most of the development of the server and theresources on it will be conducted at UIUC with closeconsultation on pedagogical matters from teammembers at Northwestern and the Exploratorium.

)

The server will also contain Exploratorium-producedVideo Answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions).These will be produced multimedia responses toquestions on geosciences created using Exploratoriumresources (exhibits, materials, media) that aredistributed on demand from Exploratorium World WideWeb and the CoVis Geosciences Server. These VideoFAQ's will also be available for real-time viewingthrough the CoVis video server. This material will bedeveloped based on participation in the Collaboratoryactivities and from responses from teachers andstudents. In addition, a video introduction to themuseum will be available for the usurs to help themunderstand what they can get from the Exploratoriumand to give a personal introduction to the museum andstaff.

To increase the level of interaction betweenatmospheric scientists and CoVis students, UIUC willbe conducting daily weather briefings via the Cruiservideoconferencing system to CoVis sites. Theseweather briefings will be tailored to the CoViscommunity, and offered by UIUC faculty and students.During these video weather briefings, we will illustrate,through interpretation and analysis of weather charts,satellite and radar animations, and forecast products,key concepts that will enable a student to conceptualizethe structure and dynamics of the atmosphere. Studentsmay also participate in discussions of weather processesas depicted by weather maps, and learn techniques offorecasting weather. The depiction of atmospherickinematic and dynamic processes on weather charts willbe emphasized. We plan to record and digitize some ofthe weather briefings and eventually make themavailable to the CoVis sites and explore the use of videoserver technologies in instruction and collaboration.Such video servers are currently under development atseveral places, including NCSA at University ofIllinois, Urbana-Champaign.

6.0 Concluding RemarksCoVis envisions widespread use of learningenvironments where next-generation communicationand computing technologies enable: students, teachers,scientists and other professionals to work together innetworked communities focused on science education.Today CoVis is a small-scale working model of thisvision in two high schools. in the next phase of theCoVis Project, we are poised to provide some of thekey national research and development required toinform large-scale and cost-effective implmentationsof reform-oriented science educational networking.There are over 18,000 high schools and 12,000middle/junior high schools in the nation. We will bedeveloping and researching the CoVis testbed as aNational Science Education Collaboratory, bysystematically addressing the scaling issues inherent inachieving goals of critical mass of participation and indiversity of schools, teachers, students and otherparticipants in such an enterprise. In addition, CoVis is


expected o grow from a venue for addressing researchand development questions to an experimental facilityfor informing governments and businesses about how todo the large-scale implementation of HPCCtechnologies within the NII in a cost-effective mannerthat meets the reform needs of school communities.

7.0 AcknowledgementsWe are grateful for research sup9ort of thc CoVisProject by the National Science Foundation Grant#MDR-9253462, by Apple Computer, Inc., ExternalResearch, by Sun Microsystems, by our major induscrialpartners Ameritech and Bellcore, and by contributionsfrom Aldus, Farallon, ScienceKit, Sony, and Spyglass.We would also like to thank our colleagues trcra theCoVis Project and community of users fcr extendeddiscussions, and continual useful feedback on design,rationale, and pedagogicai issues. For furtherinformation, see The CoVis World Wide Web Server(url: http: //www.covis.nwu.edu).

8.0 ReferencesBellcore Information Networking Research Laboratory,

1993: The Touring Machine System.Communications of the ACM, 36(1), 68-77.

Edelson, D.C., and O'Neill, D.K. , 1994: The CoVisCollaboratory Notebook: supportingcollaborative scientific inquiry. Proceedings ofThe 1994 National Educational ComputingConference, Boston, MA.

Fish, R. S., Kraut, R. E., Root, R. W., and Rice, R. E.,1993: Video as a technology for informalcommunication. Communications of the ACM,48-61.

Gordin, D., Edelson, D. C., and Pea, R. D., 1995: TheGreenhouse Effect Visualizer: A tool for thescience classroom. Proceedings of the FourthSymposium on Education, AmericanMeteorological Society, Dallas, TX.

Gordin, D., and Pea, R. D., 1994, in press: Prospectsfor scientific visualization as an educationaltechnology. Journal of the Learning Sciences.

Gordin, D., Polman, J., and Pea, R. D. , 1994: TheClimate Visualizer: Sense-making throughscientific visualization. Journal of ScienceEducation and Technology.

Lederberg, J., and Uncapher, K. (Co-Chairs). 1989:Towards a National Collaborator): Report qfan Invitational Workshop at the RockefellerUniversity, March 17-18, 1989. Washington,DC: NSF Directorate for Computer andInformation Science.

Pea, R.D. , 1993: Distributed multimedia learningenvironments: The Collaborative Visualiz-ation Project. Communications of the ACM,36(5), 60-63.

Pea, R.. and Gomez. L., 1992a: Distributed multi-medialearning environments: Why and how?Interactive Learning Environments, 2(2), 73-109.


Pea, R.D., and Gomez, L., 1992b: Learning throughcollaborative visualization: Shared technologylearning environments for science. Proceedingsof SPIE '92 (International Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers): EnablingTechnologies for High-Bandwidth Applications,Vol. 1785, pp. 253-264.

Ramamurthy, M. K., K. P. Bowman, B. F. Jewett, J. G.K:inp, and C. Kline, 1992: A NetworkedDesktop Synoptic Laboratory. Bull. Amer.Meteor. Soc., 73, Cover and 944-950.

Ramamurthy, M. K., and J. Kemp, 1993: The WeatherMachine: A Gopher server at the University ofIllinois. STORM, 1(3), 34-39.

Ramamurthy, M. K., and R. B. Wilhelmson, 1993: Anetworked multimedia meteorology laboratory.Proceedings of the Second Symposium onEducation, Anaheim, California, AmericanMeteorological Society.

Ramamurthy, M. K., R. B. Wilhelmson, S. Hall, M.Sridhar and J. G. Kemp, 1994: NetworkedMultimedia Systems and CollaborativeVisualization, Proceedings of the ThirdSymposium on Education, Nashville, Tennessee,American Meteorological Society.

Searight, K.R., D.P. Wojtowicz, K.P. Bowman, R.B.Wilhelmson, and J.E. Walsh, 1993: ENVISION:A collaborative analysis and display system forlarge geophysical data sets. Preprints of theSixth International Conf. on InteractiveInformation and Processing Systems forMeteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology,American Meteorological Society.

Sridhar, M., Ramamurthy, M. K., R. B. Wilhelmson, S.E. Hall, R. Panoff and L. Bievenue, 1994:Increased student participation in collaborativemultimedia systems. Fifteenth NationalEducational Computing Conference,International Society for Technology inEducation (ISTE), Boston, MA.

Willielmson, R., S. Koch, M. Arrott, J. Hagedorn, G.Mehrotra, C. Shaw, J. Thingvold, B. Jewett, andL. Wicker, 1993: PATHFINDER-ProbingATmospHeric Flows in an INteractive andDistributed EnviRonment. Preprints, SixthInternational Conf on Interactive Informationand Processing Systems for Meteorology,Oceanography, and Hydrology, AmericanMeteorological Society'.

Wilhelmson, R.B., 1994, February: NCSAPATHFINDER: Probing ATmospHeric Flows inan INtegrated and Distributed En viRonment.NASA Science Information Systems Newsletter.

J6.6 The Daily PlanetTM: An Internet-Based Information Serverfor the Atmospheric Sciences Community and the Public

Robert Wilhelmson, Mohan K. Ramamurthy, David Wojtowicz, John Kemp,Steve Hall, and Mythili Sridhar

Department of Atmospheric SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign105 S. Gregory Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801

Tel: (217) 333-8650Fax: (217) 244-4393

e-mail: [email protected]

1.0 Introduction

The availability of information about the behavior ofour atmosphere and about atmospheric science activitieson the Internet is of growing importance in makingprogress in both our understanding of the atmosphereand in weather forecasting. It is also of substantialvalue to the general public, particularly in informal andformal educational settings, providing access to currentas well as historical information in a timely manner andstimulating curiosity in the behavior of the atmosphere.Beginning in the early 90's, we began to developInternet-based resources for the atmospheric sciencecommunity that include the popular University ofIllinois (UofI) Weather Machine accessible throughGopher and more recently The Daily Planetrm (TDP).The latter is accessed through NCSA (National Centerfor Supercomputing Applications) Mosaic software,which is based on World Wide Web (WWW)technology, and includes access to the WeatherMachine. The Daily Planetrm is becoming a full-scaleEnvironmental Information Server that will providetransparent access to meteorological, climatological,hydrological, and Earth Observing System (EOS)databases, multimedia educational modules, distributedarchives of data sets (both real-time and retrospective),and other Internet-based resources.

2.0 The Weather Machine(gopher://wx.atmos.uiuc.edu)

The Department of Atmospheric Science at theUniversity of Illinois has a proven track record ofproviding earth and space sciences data to the public.In the initial implementation of its weather distributionsystem, raster image products were created and madeavailable, along with textual information, using the X-window System software to any computer or terminalon the Internet (Ramamurthy, et. al., 1992). Thisinformation was expanded and made available via aGopher server, the 1.1ofl Weather Machine, in Januaryof 1993 (Ramamurthy and Kemp, 1993). Using Gopherclient software, any Unix workstation, Macintosh or anIBM-compatiblc PC on the Internet has a simple,straight-forward way of accessing the Weather

tJ t3

Machine's products, most of which are updated on anear-real-time basis. The products include surface,upper-air, and operational model forecasts from theNational Weather Service, GOES and AVHRR satelliteimages, severe weather watches and warnings, someclimatological data, and other informational documentsof interest to the atmospheric sciences community.

The Weather Machine has become one of the mosthighly visible landmarks on the rapidly expandinginformation super-highway. Time and time again innewspapers, magazine articles, and other presentationsit has been pointed to as an excellent example of thepotential usefulness of the National InformationInfrastructure. We t:ave seen a steady increase in thenumber of requests made to the server. In the past year-and-a-half, server requests have gone from less than1,000 to an average of over 80,000 per day (Fig. 1). Onactive weather days, such as during hurricane Emily,the number of calls to this server increaseddramatically, exceeding 100,000 daily. The number oforganizations connecting to the Weather Machine hasalso grown to include nearly 5,000 different Internetdomains, each containing many individual machines. Itis being used in research and education. Privatecitizens, pilots, sailors, skiers, and community centerswho have access to the Internet often requestinformation. In addition, the Weather Machine isaccessed by high schools, community colleges,universities, businesses engaged in computers,networking and publishing, insurance companies,utilities, museums, organizations providing emergencyservices, media outlets, and several governmentorganizations.

3.0 The Daily PlanetTM from the Uofl(http://www.atmos.uiuc.eduf)

In March, 1994, the Weather Machine Gopher serverwas extended to a hypermedia environment, which wecall The Daily PlanetTM, using Mosaic a WWW)browser. NCSA Mosaic provides a unified interface tovarious protocols, data formats, and informationarchives accessible over the Internet and there arealready millions of copies of Mosaic (both public and


commercial versions) in use. Currently, The DailyPlanet Tm features real-time weather information(including all Weather Machine data), a collection oflists of other weather servers and sources of weatherdata, local information about the Department ofAtmospheric Sciences' faculty and research, plus agrowing number of on-line levelhypermedia/multimedia instructional modules. Thereal-time weather information includes over 200 currentmaps and images, over 1,100 archived images, and 52MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group that generatesstanthrds for digital video and audio compression)animations, many of which are updated hourly.Further, TDP is used to post important informationrelevant to the atmospheric sciences community.Examples include a link to the NASA maintainedMosaic page describing the status of the GOES-8deployment and a feature on the GLOBE Project,recently announced by Vice-President Gore. The latterincludes a 3 minute video/audio clip of an interviewwith the Vice-President that was made available withinhours of Gore's appearance on ABC's Good MorningAmerica program.

Mosaic is an Internet-based graphical globalhypermedia browser that allows the user to discover,retrieve, and display documents and data from all overthe Internet. It is part of the WWW project, adistributed hypermedia environment originating atCERN. Global hypermedia means that informationlocated around the world is interconnected in anenvironment that allows the user to travel throughinformation by clicking on hyperlinks -- terms, icons, orimages in documents that point to other relateddocuments. Any hyperlink can point to any documentanywhere on the Internet. Mosaic also included formscapability for users to supply information such as thatneeded in making a database request. Users fill informs typing in open fields, clicking on buttonchoices, or choosing a menu item - to build up acomplex query, which may then be sent to a databasesearch engine and resolved, with data and otherinformation subsequently sent back to the user. Thisfeature can also be used to supply information to aserver collecting data, i.e., a student providing localenvironmental data to the a Globe Project server.Further information on Mosaic can be found in Schatzand Hardin (1994). Mosaic is licensed software that isprovided freely through NCSA. Versions of Mosaic forthe Mac, for PC Windows, and for Unix systems can beobtained via anonymous FTP at ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu under/Web/Mosaic. The Mosaic Demo Page can beaccessed from within Mosaic a t(http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/demo.html).Mosaic is also provided commercially by severalcompanies with a variety of enhancements and fullsuppol t.

Hypetlinked documents in Mosaic are written inHTML, a Hypertext Markup Language. HTML is asubset of SGML (Generalized Markup Language),specialized for simple interactive displays with

(J6) 20 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY1) 4

embedded links. SGML is a specification language forthe structure of a document, including headers andreferences, that has been widely adopted throughout thepublishing industry. Information on HTML can befound using Mosaic at the following URL (UniversalResource Locator address):(http://wx.atmos.uiuc.edu/kemp/hotlist.html).

3.1 The Weather World(http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/wxwoOd/html/top.html)

The portion of The Daily PlanetTM that provides currentweather data is called Weather World. The WWWserver differs from the Gopher server in that it providesup-do-date animations of a variety of images and for avariety of time periods. Current animation products forthe United States and vicinity include infrared satelliteimages, visible satellite images, satellite water vaporimages, satellite floater sector images, surface andupper air maps weather maps using WXMAP, 6-panelsurface weather maps, and 6-panel ETA and NGMsurface and upper air forecast maps out to 48 hours.

This is the largest animation-oriented display ofweather information on the Internet to our knowledge,with the updating of images and maps totallyautomated. To accomplish this we designed anintegrated processing system called upro (a contractionof "unified product update processor") that handles theprocessing of all Weather World products. Most of thebasic image content in Weather World was alreadybeing produced for distribution on our WeatherMachine gopher server by a collection of scripts andother processes. The job of upro is to gather the outputof these processes from the gopher server directoriesand other places and to reprocess them into full sizedimages, small images (used for icons and samples in theHTML pages), image archives and MPEG animations.The HTML pages that provide access to these productsare also considered products because they alwayscontain new information including new images.

Each product is defined in a product description. Theproduct description contains information such as theproduct's unique name, the type of product (image,MPEG, HTML page), the location of the input data(such as in one of thc Weather Machine gopherdirectories) and other type specific characteristics. Forall image types these characteristics include items likeoutput image size, cropping, labeling and even optionsto add a raised boarder around the edge of a reduceclimage to use as an icon with a three-dimensionalappearance. MPEG and archive type characteristicsinclude number of frames or number of images saved,etc.

HTML products also contain a template for the htmlpage to he produced. This template contains normalHTML plus special layout macros that help to keep thestyle consistent and to keep references to other productssuch as images. These references are replaced by the

actual URL of the latest instance of a given product.This keeps the HTML menus on the server insynchronization with the products available throughthem.

There is also the capability to use template products.These template products form a class-like hierarchy thatsimplifies product definition. All products need notredefine every characteristic. A parent class for thatproduct type can hold default characteristics while thespecific product description holds only informationunique to that particular product. As many levels canbe added to the hierarchy as desired.

Upro keeps all of this information in its internaldatabase and is launched automatically about once anhour. It scans its database and looks for products thatneed updating. An MPEO satellite loop may need tohave a new frame added to it, for example, when a newimage has appeared in its input directory (in this case,one of the image directories on the gopher server). Theimage is processed and added to the animation. If thisparticular animation is set to hold only the last 24frames, the oldest frame is removed to make room forthe new one. The new MPEG file is then placed in oneof the TDP server's directories. The HTML page thatreferences it is also updated to reflect the newly updatedanimation. This sequence is repeated in a similarmanner for all other products.

Nearly all of our weather data files (before and afterprocessing) have the time and date encoded into thefilename. Upro can interpret this (via a filename formatspecification in the product description) and use thisinformation to better track the files and organize themproperly.

Because it maintains information in its database aboutthe contents of both input and output directories as wellas the products, upro can detect changes in any of theseplaces and respond accordingly. It can take note of newfiles in input directories and sense he removal of filesin output directories. For example, if one were to startrandomly deleting files from the WWW serverdirectories, these files would automatically be replacedduring the next upro run. With the product definitionssafely backed up, the system is fully self-recoverablefrom major problems. In fact, we've purposely deletedthe entire server directory structure in rare instances toforce a complete rebuild.

Efficiency is of major concern. If there are productsthat need to be updated every hour and it takes morethan an hour to process them all, the server wouldcertainly not be able to keep up with incoming data.One of our approaches has been to distribute the load(by task) across multiple machines. Input data isgenerated and stored on two machines, while outputdata is served to the WWW on a third machine. A

fourth machine sits in the middle of the chain runningupro. The other approach has been to develop specialsoftware to increase the efficiency of certain

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

computationally intensive tasks such as MPEGproduction in particular. At present it takesapproximately 45 minutes to process each hour's worthof data on the machine running upro.

A future version will be more comprehensive and use amore sophisticated database, possibly even to store theimage and animation data itself.

3.2 Multimedia Modules Available in TheDaily Planet TM(http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/covis/modules/html/module.html)

Internet-accessible multimedia instructional modulesthat introduce and explain a variety of importantconcepts in atmospheric sciences are available in TheDaily PlanetTM. They consist of text, colorfuldiagrams, animations and movies, audio, and scannedimages, that introduce and explain a variety ofimportant concepts in atmospheric sciences. Thesemultimedia instructional modules are being developedfor use at the high school level, but are also useful forgeneral undergraduate education (Ramamurthy andWilhelmson, 1993; Ramamurthy et al., 1994). Themodules are being tested at the two current CoVisschools in the Chicago area, and they are being revisedand refined based on the feedback from them(Ramamurthy et al., 1995). Such multimedia-basedinstruction provides an alternative approach to learning,one in which the student, through interaction with thecomputer, becomes actively involved in the learningprocess that includes current weather data.

The Pressure and the Forces and Wind modules includedescriptions of high and low pressure centers and thebalance of forces that generate winds. These areenhanced through the use of colorful diagrams andanimations, video clips, and audio narration. A moduleentitled Guide to Weather Maps and Images providesimportant information on understanding many of theweather displays available in TDP. We have alsodeveloped a hypermedia Glossary for the modules thathave been developed thus far. Other modules currentlyunder development include: (1) Cloud Catalog, (2)Guide to Atmospheric Optics, (3) Tornado SpottersGuide. and (4) Severe Storms Guide The ultimate goalis to deliver an entire multimedia textbook over theInternet for use by students and the general public.

4.0 Future Development

The growth in data available over the Internet has beenastronomical and with the availability of data throughsuch programs as EOS will continue to grow. It is vitalthat appropriate information be locatable by aninterested researcher, educator, .)ir the general public.For the most part, data archives and digital libraries 'n

earth sciences have been generally established to aidscientists in carrying out research. T ypically, scientist !know a lot about the type of data they are studying or


have the ability to find what they need to know.Further, they generally have the skills to deal withdifferent data formats, user interfaces, and queryrequirements, and they have conside-able computerresources available to handle the massive volumes ofdata which might have to be filtered in order to obtainthe desired data. However, even they will havedifficulty locating useful information within thegrowing number oi Internet data servers. Mosaicdevelopment and digital library research is currentlyunderway at the University of Illinois to address theseneeds.

Recently, support from NASA has been obtained to testapplications and digital library technologies in Supportof Public Access to Earth and Space Science Data. Thisjoint work involves the Department of AtmosphericSciences, NCSA, and the Computer ScienceDepaninent faculty and staff at the University ofIllinois. Data from the earth and space sciencecommunity (including supplementary information andeducation modules) will be utilized to test servertechnologies needed to support effective access to thedata and information. These technologies will addressthe issue of scalability needed to deal with the growth inavailable data. In the data management area, the focusis on integrating data from different sources withoutundergoing costly data conversion and the need forrapid access to parts of very large data sets. Forinformation technologies, work is being undertaken toprovide the users with the server-side tools needed tofind the information they desire, to interact with it, andto analyze it. The scalable server technologies mergesthe other technology areas, addressing problems ofdealing with large and numerous files on web serversalong with tertiary storage issues related to these files.In addition, client software development, the onlycomponent directly seen by the user, will includeMosaic enhancements and associated softwaredevelopment needed to improve the use of images inproviding hyperlinks and hypermedia and in overlayingand subsetting of data and images.

The Daily PlanetTM will serve as the major initialtestbed of the new software developeJ. A prototypeinterface, designed in Mosaic, will allow users tobrowse the available metadata and select subsets of thisdata to be delivered in either HDF or netCDF formatsfor downloading. The available data would initiallyinclude GOES and AVHRR processed and value-addeddata and images. The amount of data available fromon-line will be signiticantly increased in order to assessscalability and tertiary storage technologydevelopments. This will be accomplished using theabove data together with additional datasets(specifically DMSP or SMM/I data and UARS).

The Daily Planet Tm will also incorporate softwaredeveloped to allow the comparison or overlaying ofdata in order to examine relationships. An examplewould be to overlay AVHRR derived vegetation datawith SSM/1 derived precipitation data to note the


relationship between rainfall amount and vegetationcover or to overlay GOES water vapor data withprecipitation to note their relationship. A Mosaic-based interface that extends the data browse andsubsetting features would allow selections fromdifferent datasets to be compared. New Mosaicfeatures such as the extended GIS (GeographicalInformation System) hypermedia interface would alsobe incorporated in The Daily Planet Tm.

Finally, through other funding and collaborations, newmultimedia modules, new weather products, andadditional climate data will be added to The DailyPlanet TM . This will include data from the MidwestClimate Center and other midwest hydrologic data, aswell as flood and water quality information. The DailyPlanetTm will be adapted to include environmental datacollected in the Globe Project and adaptations will bemade to maximize its usefulness in K-12 education inboth the urban and rural settings and to improvescientific literacy both nationally and internationally.

5.0 Acknowledgments

The support of NCSA, NSF, NASA, NOAA, and theUniversity of Illinois is gratefully acknowledged.

6.0 References

Ramamurthy, M. K., K. P. Bowman, B. F. Jewett, J. G.Kemp, and C. Kline, 1992: A Networked desktopsynoptic laboratory. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 73,Cover and 944-950.

Ramamurthy, M. K., and J. Kemp, 1993: The WeatherMachine: A Gopher server at the University ofIllinois. STORM, 1(3), 34-39.

Ramamurthy, M. K., and R. B. Wilhelmson, 1993: Anetworked multimedia meteorology laboratory.Proceedings of the Second Symposium onEducation, Anaheim, California, AmericanMeteorological Society.

Ramamurthy, M. K., R. B. Wilhelmson, S. Hall, M.Sridhar and J. G. Kemp, 1994: Networkedmultimedia systems and collaborative visualization,Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Education,Nashville, Tennessee, American MeteorologicalSociety.

Ramamurthy, M. K., R. B. Wilhelmson, R. D. Pea, L.M. Gomcz, and D. C. Edelson, 1995: CoVis: Anational science education collaboratory.Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on Education,Dallas, Texas, American Meteorological Society.

Schat7 R. R. and J. B. Hardin, 1994: NCSA Mosaicand the World Wide Web: Global hypermediaprotocols for the Internet. Science, Vol. 265, 12August 1994, 895-901.

J6.7 COMET': A PROGRAM UPDATE AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Timothy C. Spangler* and Victoria C. Johnson

Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and TrainingBoulder, CO 80301

1. BACKGROUND

During the 1980s. the National Weather Service(NWS) embarked on a major r .Jdernization program thatincludes the installation of state-of-the-art observingsystems and extensive reorganization of the NWS fieldoffice structure. As part of this effort, a strong emphasishas been placed on enhancing the professionalbackgound and capabilities of operational meteorologistsand hydrologists to use mesoscale information.Additionally, the NWS rmognized the need to acceleratethe transfer of information from research activities intopractical operations. Three means by which these goalscould be accomplished were identified: 1) intensive andongoing education and training for meteorologists nowemployed; 2) increased collaboration between theoperational and research communities; and 3)improvements to university education throughout thecountry in order to provide future meteorologists withstronger educational and professional qualifications.

At the request of the NWS, the University

Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR )established the Cooperative Program for OperationalMeteorology. Education and Training (COMET) withthe following objectives:

1) Support the professional development of weatherforecasters and hydrologists through a program ofin-residence interactions with research scientists andthe creation of an effective means of delivering suchknowledge remotely to both students and operationalforecasters;

2) Facilitate the transfer of research results to

operational forecasting through the development andtesting of forecasting techniques;

3) Provide a mechanism for the participation or

operational forecasters, research scientists, andacademic scholars in advancing the weather servicesof the nation:

4) Stimulate the further advancement of basic andapplied research in the science of forecasting :Indnowcasting tedm iques.

* C ponding author ,uttirrAs- Timothy I'. Spanyler, 11 'ARA *()V1F11.1 1 1025, 1450 NAnchdl Lane, linilder, CO 50101

The three COMET programs that have beendeveloped to meet these objectives are the ResidenceProgram, the Distance Learning Program, and theOutreach Program. These three programs are describedin the following sections. COMET is also reviewing waysin which it can broaden its scope of activities in areasconsistent with the general UCAR objectives related toeducation and technology transfer. A vision for whatthese activities might include is described in Section 3.

2. CURRENT COMET PROGRAMS

2.1 The Residence Program

The Residence Program was created to develop andoffer courses, symposia, and workshops that provideoperational weather forecasters, hydrologists, and otheratmospheric scientists with new skills and concepts inmesoscale meteorology. Classes offered through theResidence Program are conducted by both academic andoperationally experienced instructors, using a case studyapproach to teach advanced-level topics. The program isdedicated to bringing meteorologists and hydrologistswith specialized duties together with nationallyrecognized experts for the purpose of improving theircollective understanding of mesoscale meteorology.

The cornerstone of the Residence Program is aclassroom that currently relies on personal computer (PC)workstations. The classroom, located at the UCARFoothills Laboratory in Boulder, is approximately 2000square feet in size and has classroom seating in the frontof the facility for 24 students and visitors. Nineworkstations (for a class of 18 students) are located in therear of the classroom.

An extensive library of mesoscale case studies ofintegattxlsurface, upper air, satellite, and radar data hasbeen developed by COMET staff for use in both theResidence Program and the Distance Learning Program.A typical Residence Program course uses up to 16 casestudies to support lecture topics and displaced real-time(DRT) laboratory exercises. DRT exercises contain data


that have been previously collected and integrated in aformat that allows the student to review essentially thesame products that a forecaster would see in real time. Asinteresting weather events occur, new case studies arecreattx1 using COMET-developed software that canprocess operational data, as well as experimental datasuch as field study observations. Real-time data displayedwith Forecast Systems Laboratory software, GEMPAK.and the PC Gridded Information Display and DiagnosisSystem are used to support weather briefings and otherclass discussions during significant weather events.

The main focus of the Residence Program during thelast few years has been to offer the following courses:

COMAP Course: The COMET Mesoscale Analysisand Prediction Course (COMAP) provides an in-depthreview of mesoscale meteorology and is designedspecifically for the science and operations officer (SOO)at each NWS Weather Service Forecast Office. The SOOat each field office serves as the scientific leader andcoordinates research projects between the office andacademic/research institutions. COMAP, an eight-weekcourse, is taught at the graduate level, and includes casestudies to illustrate inesoscale phenomena, DRT casestudies to simulate the forecasting environment, seminarsby visiting scientists, discussions of new observingsystems. and supervised interactions with local Boulderscientists on independent research projects.

Annual Mesoscale Course: This course provides anoverview of mesoscale meteorology and lasts threeweeks. Taught at the graduate level, the MesoscaleCourse uses many of the same materials as the COMAPCourse and also provides the students with opportunitiesto utilize COMET computer-based learning modules. Thecourse is offered to regional headquarters and nationalcenter meteorologists within the NWS, U.S. Departmentof Defense, private sector, and foreign governments.

Hydrometeorology Course: This course is a three-week overview of hydrometeorology and meteorologicalevents producing both flash and systemic flooding. Thecourse is designed for service hydrologists,hydrometeorological analysis and support forecasters,hydrology focal points, and other hycirologists. Theprinciple objective is to increase the participants'knowledge of the interaction between hydrology andmeteorology durinr flood events and to improve theirknowledge of new hydrometeorological observingsystems.

Faculty Course: The Faculty Course is a two-weekcourse in mesoscale meteorology designed for universityfaculty who wish to offer a new course in mesoscale


meteorology or improve a course that is already beingtaught.

Manager's Course: The Manager's Course is a one-week mesoscale meteorology course designed forgovernment and private sector managers. The coursedemonstrates the new opportunities that now exist forimproving short-range forecasts of significant weatherthrough the use of new observing systems.

Residence Program activities planned for the nextfive years will focus primarily on the presentation of thecore courses. Table 1 lists the number of weeks thevarious courses will be taught each year through 1997.Starting in 1996, a two-week course on GOES satelliteinterpretation will be taught twice per year. The coursewill be designed for satellite focal points and otherindividuals who will lead on-station training. In addition,COMAP symposia will be offered two or threetimes a year beginning in 1995. These one-wwlsymposia will cover recent advances in mesoscaleresearch and will provide a mechanisn, for the excb.geof training and forecast technique devet Tment ideas.

2.2 The Distance Learning Program

Cost and staffing limitations make it impossible forthe nation's forecasters to meet their education needsentirely through the Residence Program at COMET orthrough similar on-site courses and workshops. TheCOMET Distance Learning Program was established inresponse to this need for professional developmentopportunities in the field office. The objective of theprogram is to provide education for operational weatherforecasters, university faculty and students, and othermeteorologists in the teclmiques of modern weatherforecasting, including the use of new observational tools.Efforts to date have focused almost entirely on developinginteractive, multimedia computer-based learning (CBL)instructional materials.

A CBL system consists of an interactive softwaremodule that teaches a specific topic and the computerhardware required to run the module. A typical CBLmodule contains tour to eight hours 3f highly interactiveinstruction and utilizes a mixture of case studies.graphics. animation, and video to provide an effectiveeducational experience. Concepts are introduced via bothcomputer text and spoken dialogue and are reinforced bydisplays of such graphic materials as time-sequencedsatellite and radar data and vid os demonstratinglaboratory experiments or showing experts explainingconcepts. At various points throughout each ithidule, thestudent has the opportunity to practice using conceptscovered in the module by answering questions and/or

working through sample case studies. If the studentwould like more detailed information during the processor provides an incorrect response to a question, additionalmaterial is presented, often by an expert in the particularfield.

The development of a CBL module is a complexprocess, requiring the interaction of instructionaldesigners, meteorologists. hydrologists, graphics andmedia specialists, computer scientists, and other expertsin the specific field addressed by each module. Eightmodules have already been produced, and over 20additional modules will be developed during the next sixyears. All of the COMET modules will form anoperational forecaster's multimedia library coveringimportant aspects of operational forecasting and

emphasizing mesoscale meteorology. Published modules(as of the end of 1994) include the following:

Workshop on Doppler Radar Interpretation: Threelearning methods are highlighted in this module: basicinterpretation of patterns associated with fronts,

convergence and divergence, etc.: integration of othermeteorological information with radar data; and

compensation for complications in radar data, such asrange folding and aliasing. Content experts are DonaldBurgess of the NWS Weather Surveillance RadarDoppler (WSR-1i8D) Operational Support Facility andLarry Dunn of the NWS Salt Lake City Forecast Office.

Boundary Detection and Convection Initiation:This module focuses on challenges frequently faced byforecasters in an operational environment. It teaches howto detect, using a variety of observational data, importantconvergence boundaries embedded in the boundary layerand how to make short-range forecasts ((1-1 h) usingseveral forecast guidelines. hunes Wilson of NCAR andJames Purdom of the National Environmental SatelliteData and Information Service (NESDIS) are the contentexperts.

Heavy Precipitation and Flash Flooding: This

module provides an introductory-level understanding ofthe multiple factors and conditions that go into a forecastof t,1.! potential for flash flooding. Subject matter expertsoutline important flash flood forecasting and monitoringmethodologies through step-by-step observation andanalysis demonstrations. Content experts are CharlesChappell of COMET. Rod Scofield of NESDIS. and TimSweeney of the NWS Office of Hydrology.

Forecast Process: The modernization of sensingand data acquisition systems makes it even more criticalthat forecasters have a consistent general framework forproperly observing. organizing, analyting, diagnosing.

and forecasting meteorological conditions and eventsusing this increasing supply of new data. The focus of thismodule is on developing and applying such a systematicapproach to operational forecasting. Len Snellman, aretired NWS Scientific Services Division chief, and EricThaler, the SOO at the NWS Denver Forecast Office,served as content experts.

Marine Meteorology Volume I: In this module,through a unique set of interviews with mariners involvedin a variety of activities ranging from military operationsto rtx:reational uses, the learner gains an understanding ofthe need for accurate marine forecasts. The module alsoprovides a basic understanding of wave and swelldynamics and forecasting. Both deep water wavedevelopment and shallow water wave interactions arepresental through a simple set of wave equations andgraphics. The concepts of fetch length, wind duration,and wind speed are used in a wave nomogram to forecastwave generation. A case study demonstrating a techniquefor forecasting the arrival time and height of swell at acoastal location is presented by one of the contentexperts, Steve Lyons, of the National Hurricane Center.The two other content experts are Carlyle Wash of theNaval Postgraduate School and Steve Reinard of theNWS Southern Region Headquarters.

Marine Meteorology Volume II: Forecasting in themarine environment requires an understanding of thedifferences in the characteristics of the planetaryboundary layer between the ocean and land. This moduleis an extension of volume I and concentrates on stability:aid surface roughness influences with respect to

forecasting surface winds over open water. Use of a windnomogram and the geostrophic wind relationship arepresented to develop surface wind forecasts. The forecastof surface wind speed is then applied to wave height andperiod forecasting through use of the wave nomogram. Acase study engages the learner in an exercise where thesurface wind speed, fetch length and duration must all bedetermined before providing a wave height and periodforecast for three different locations within the Gulf ofMexico. The content experts for this module arc SteveLyons of the National Hurricane Center, Carlyle Wash ofthe Naval Postgraduate School, and Steve Reinard of theNWS Southern Region Headquarters.

Extratropical Cyclows Volume I: Several of theprimary conceptual topics and forecasting methodsrelated to extratropical cyclogenesis and evolution arepresented in this module. The relationships betweenupper-level jet streaks, conveyor belts, heat and moistureare discussed with regard to their role in the developmentand evolution of extratropical cyclones. The analysis ofageostrophic motions, potential vorticity. Q vectors, and

2 ;3


the assessment of numerical model formasts arepresented to aid the learner in diagnosing and forecastingthese storm systems. A case study engages the learner inapplying these techniques to forecasting the evolution ofa frontal wave cyclone and its attendant weather atseveral locations. The content experts for this module areJohn Nielsen-Gammon of the Department of Meteorologyat Texas A&M University, and Roger Wel .ion ofNESDIS, Satellite Applications Division.

Numerica Weather Prediction: In the COMETcourse on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), eachcomponent of an NWP system is analyzed in terms of theprocesses that define it. An in-depth explanation of theprinciples and practices of NWP data collection, qualitycontrol, analysi.s. forecast modeling, post-processing andverification lead to a thorough understanding of thestrengths and weaknesses of NWP. Through the NWPmodule, a forecaster is given the means to assess theappropriateness of applying any particular NWP systemto a given forecast problem. From this knowledge it ispossible to evaluate the validity of the guidance. Theforecaster is then able to make critical subjectiveadjustments to NWP guidance based upon new insightsinto NWP and meteorological principles. The modulealso includes an analysis of sources of possible NWPforecast error, and two case studies that explore theeffectiveness of NWP model nms for particular weathersituations. Fred Carr of the University of Oklahoma,School of Meteorology, and Ralph Petersen, of the NWSOffice of Meteorology, are the content experts.

Hydrology for the Meteorologist: Ln this modulebasic concepts of hydrology are taught through theapplication of preparing a river forecast. The modulepresents a review of current hydrologic forecasting tools.as well as an introduction to future computerized tools.The content experts for this module are Gerald Nibler ofthe Alaska River Forecast Center and C. Mike Callahanof the NWS Forecast Office in Louisville, KY.

Currently, COMET modules are published with thevideo portions on the laser disks. We are activelyworking to transition by 1996 to digital video pablicationwhich will allow COMET modules to be played oninexpensive multimedia personal computers.

2.1 The Outreach Progrwn

The Residence and Distance Learning Programswere created to address the objectives of improving theeducation of operational forecasters and meteorologystudents. The Outreach Program is an important elementof the COMET program in that it meets a differentCOMET objectivethat of advancing applied research in


mesoscale meteorology. In the past, operational weatherservices and academic researchers have not oftencommunicated effectively. As a result, operationalweather forecasters have sometimes been unaware ofrecent advances in meteorological research, whilemeteorological research conducted in universities hastended to focus more on basic research than on issues offoremost concern to operational weather forecasters. TheOutreach Program is designed to address thiscommunication problem by creating partnershipsbetween members of the academic research andoperational forecasting communities that will facilitatethe flow of ideas and concepts to the benefit of bothgroups.

Under the Outreach Program, COMET providesmodest financial support for these partnerships in threeareas: NWS Cooperative ?rojects, NWS PartnersProjects, and Air Weather Service (AWS) Projects.

Cooperative Projects: Cooperative Projects typicallyinvolve broad interactions between a universitymeteorology program and a local NWS office. Theseprojects undergo a competitive selection process and anannual review. Funding is usually for a two- ol three-yearperiod at an average level of $20,000 - $25,000 per year.

Partners Projects: Partners Projects involve a singleuniversity professor or laboratory researcher whocollaborates with a forecaster on a specific problem ofmutual interest. These are generally one-year researchstudies that are funded at a level of approximately$5,000, subject to a favorable review and availablefunding.

&KS Pr( jects: In 1992, the AWS begansponsorship of the Outreach Program when its firstproject was funded. The two AWS Outreach Projectsfundtxl thus far have been similar to Cooperative Projectsin level of funding and duration.

During 1994, 14 new Cooperative Projects, 2 AWSprojects. and 15 Partners Projects received funding.Outreach Program efforts are described in an annualreport that summarizes the research results fromOutreach Projects. Table 2 lists some of the projectscurrently being supported.

The Outreach Program is continuing to expand interms of the number of projects funded and total fundsavailable. Although the support provided to each projectis relatively modest, the program has proven to be highlysuccessful in promoting educational and researchexchanges between academic researchers and operationalforeca.ters, many of whom conduct part of the research

2cU

on their own time. By 1996, it is expected that thenumber of projects funded by both the AWS and theNWS will increase.

Future plans for the Outreach Program includeorganizing workshops that will address recent advancesin mesoscale meteorology inique to various regions. Onesuch workshop will occur in 1995 and will bring togethertropical meteorologists in Hawaii to discuss how newobserving systems can be used to improve weatherforecasting in the Pacific region. Special two- or three-week mesoscale meteorology workshops for government.academic, and private sector forecasters will also beoffered in the future.

3. THE FUTURE OF COMET

Of the many possible activities COMET couldpursue in the next five years. not all meet the originalgoals of the program. The first priority is, of course, tomeet these ohjectives as stated in the agreement betweenUCAR and the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA). However. COMET is

frequently contacted by other governmental agencies,educational institutions, and foreign governments that areinterested in making use of their services. The kind ofsupport COMET can give these organizations is currentlygoverned by the availability of resources for taking onadditional projects, as well as by how well the request fitswith the basic COMET mission and UCARs goals andobjectives. Available resources will be very limited in thenext few years, however, given the intensive ResidenceProgram schedule and the CBL module productionschedules. In future years, when the core objectives havebeen largely met or have diminished somewhat, COMETmay well he ready to take on additional activities. Thosechosen will likely be ones that promote improvedforecasting techniques and/or education in the field ofmeteorology and, consequently. fit best within a broaddefmition of the COMET program. Some of the activitiesthat COMET may undertake in the future include:

A pilot program in the use of videoconferencing;Development of a performance support system toprovide critical information at the time of need onoperational workstations;Development of an on-line reference system forintegration into meteorological workstations:Support for regional information exchanges andworkshops on new mesoscale research and datafindings:Development of CBL modules for other populations.including weather broadcasters, private sector'

meteorologists, and pilots;Promotion of improved weather forecasts in other

0 0s.s.,

countries by offering courses in modern weatherforeca.sting, developing CBL modules for

operational forecasters of other nations, and

translating existing CBL modules into other

languages;Assistance in the development of universitycorrespondence courses in meteorology that makeuse of COMET CBL materials;Improvements to the education of the next

generation of operational forecasters by offeringcourses and workshops in modern mesoscaleanalysis and prediction to professors of synoptic andmesoscale meteorology and assisting meteorologydepartments in the integration of multimedialearning techniques into their curriculum.

4. CONCLUSIONS

As the nation enters a new era in forecastingcapabilities, the importance of having an educated andwell-trained professional hydrometeorological work forcecannot be overestimatod. Similarly, the need for

collaboration between the operational forecastingcommunity and the research community has never beengreater. The COMET program is a key component inmeeting these needs and will likely continue to play amajor role in improving mesoscale meteorologyeducation in this country and throughout the world.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is funded by a cooperative agreementfrom the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration. The views expressed herein are those ofthe author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views ofNOAA or any of its sub-agencies.


Table 1: Number of weeks of teaching in each year

1991/1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Total

COMM' 8 8 16 16 16 16 80

HYDROMET 0 6 9 9 9 6 39

Follow-on symposiUM 0 0 0 2 4 4 10

Mesoscale Meteorology 1 3 3 1 3 18

Manager's course 0 0 2 2 2 2 8

Faculty course 0 0 2 0 2 0 4

Faculty workshop 0 1 0 1 0 2

Regional workshop* 0 0 0 2 6 10 IS

Courses for foreign govts 3 0 0 0 0 0

GOES 0 0 0 0 6 6 12

Total

*Off-siw

14 17 33 34 49 47 194

Table 2: Example Research Topics Supported by the COMET Outreach Program in 1994

UNIVERSITY FORECAST OFFICE TOPIC

I .niv. of California (San Diego) NWS Alaska Region Integration of Optical Line Scanner (OLS) and Special SensorMicrowave Imager (SSW) data into operational weatherforecasting.

'mv. of Hawaii NWS Honolulu Regional environmental analysis project for the Pacific.

Iowa State University NW'S Chicago. Minneapolis, Forecasting nocturnal mesoscale convection.Des Moines

I Me. of Oklahoma NWS Norman, Arkansas-Red Improving estimates of surface rainfall and river stage forecasts.Basin RH'

Mv. of Virginia NWS Pittsburgh. RFC Pmhabilistic river stage forecasting.Cincinnati

Colorado State I 'my. NWS Phoenix NFXRAD and lightning studies.

I 'my. of South ( 'arolina NWS Columbia :se of prototpe (3(S to integrate topographic, hydrologic, andclimatic data with WSK-881) data.

Nonh Carolina State l 'my AWS/Cape 1ennet.y Nowcastmg convective activity during space shuttle launches and

landing.

BEM COPY AVAILABLE

(J6) 28 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 0 )

J6.8AN UPDATE ON NCDC'S CD-ROM PRODUCTS AND ON-LINE SERVICES AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATORS.

Thomas F. Ross

National Climatic Data CenterAsheville, North Carolina

1. INTRODUCTION

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is part ofthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), which is under the umbrella of theDepartment of Commerce (DOC). NCDC's missionis to manage and disseminate national and globalenvironmental data. As operator of the World DataCenter-A for Meteorology, which promotesinternational data exchange, NCDC collects datafrom around the globe. NCDC performs differentdata management techniques depending on data typearchived. NCDC archives nearly a quarter-millionmagnetic tapes/cartridges, 1.2 million microficherecords, and 319 million paper records. NCDC hasmore than 150 years of data on hand and adds 55gigabytes of new information each day.

One of the major efforts in data management atNCDC is the development of CD-ROM products usingNCDC's digital database. NCDC has produced a suiteof CD-ROM products ranging from hourly U.S.observational data, gridded global monthly upper airanalysis, to tropical storm plots worldwide.

41, 00D

Fig 1. NCDC Yearly Contacts.

Corresponding author address: Thomas F. Ross,National Climatic Data Center, Research CustomerService Group, Room 123, Asheville, NC 28801.

0 I)

NCDC averages over 9,000 user contacts per monthconcerning data availability. Requests fromeducators and university researchers make up 2 to 5% of that total or about 200-400 requests permonth. The. majority of requests are handled bytelephone, electronic mail, letter, or fax. The yearlynumber of contacts is shown in Figure 1. NCDCcontacts include a wide spectrum of users in thebusiness, academic and government fields. Majoruser groups include: consultants, business, legal,engineering, government, researchers, andeducation. Users have different capabilities forreceiving and using climatological data. Researchersmay have access to Internet, whereas the legalcommunity requires paper copy records. NCDC'scommitment to data dissemination spans all theseusers. New CD-ROM products developed by NCDCcan be useful classroom tools to teach meteorology,climatology or even basic geography in an int.eractiveway. Students can select and define geographicregions and climatic variables using the CD-ROMdisplay, and then print or capture the data to a fileand even graph selected products.

2. CD-ROM PRODUCTS

--International StationMeteorological ClimateSummary (ISMCS) Ver3.0. This product hasdetailed climatologicalsummaries for 2200 worldwide locations. Theyinclude National Weather Service offices, domesticand overseas Navy and Air Force sites, and selectedforeign stations. Limited summaries are included foralmost an additional b,000 worldwide sites. Tabularor statistical data can be exported to a printer,spreadsheet. Version 3.0 supports mouse capabilityand graphics. Joint NCDC, USAF, and U.S. Navyproduct.

--National Climate Information Disc Vol 1.0. ThisCD-ROM contains monthly sequential temperature,precipitation, and drought data for 344 climatedivisions in the contiguous U.S. The data can beviewed in a tabular or graphical format and outputsent to a printer. The CD-ROM covers the period1895-1989 and contains 1032 time-series graphs,4180 maps, and 5400 frames of video aniniatuin.NCDC product.


-- U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the WorldVer 2.0. This CD-ROM includes analysis and displaysoftware for climatological averages of atmosphericand oceanographic data. The data are summarizedwith user-defined 1 and 5 degree grid areas coveringthe global marine environment. The summaries areproduced using predominantly ship data collectedbetween 1854-1969. The major elements include airand sea temperature, dewpoint temperatufe, scalarwind speed, sea-level pressure, wave height, windand ocean-current roses. This product allows usersto define element intervals (e.g. 5 to 10 knots, 2degree temperature intervals). Contouring forexplicitly user-defined regions and exporting data toa printer or diskette are supported. Ocean basinnarratives and Mediterranean port guides were addedin this version. U.S. Navy sponsored product.

--Global Upper Air Climatic Atlas (GUACA). Thistwo-volume CD-ROM set uses 12-year (1980-1991)2.5 degree gridded upper air climatic summariesderived from the European Centre for Medium RangeWeather Forecasts (ECMWF) model analyses. Thisproduct presents monthly upper air statistics for 15different vertical levels in the Northern and SouthernHemisphere for dry bulb and dewpoint temperature,geopotential height, air density, and vecto' andscalar wind speed. Access/display software forgridpoint data, contouring capability for user-definedareas, and vertical profiles are also supported. Theclimatology covers the 12-year period as well asindividual year-months. Joint NCDC and U.S. Navyproduct.

CLIVUE CD-ROM. The National Climatic DataCenter (NCDC) developed a CD-ROM in support of amuseum exhibit which traveled across the U.S. TheCD-ROM contains a 1,500-station subset of NCDC'snearly 8,000 U.S. daily cooperative stations. Theuser selects a date and area of the U.S. and theCD-ROM database is queried for stations within thespecified domain having data. Then, the systemdisplays daily maximum and minimum temperatures,precipitation, and snowfall for the site. Graphsshowing 7 years, 21 years, and the full period ofrecord (varies by station) for the station(s) areavailable. Visual displays allow users to view trends,vviability, and extremes. Joint NCDC and FranklinInstitute product.

-- SAMSON CD-ROM Set. NCDC developed a Solarand Meteorological Surface Observational Network(SAMSON) three-volume CD-ROM set. The threeCD-ROMs are divided geographically into regions:eastern, central, and western U.S., and containhourly solar radiation data along with selected


meteorological elements for the period 1961-1990.It encompasses 237 NWS stations in the UnitedStates, plus offices in Guam and Puerto Rico. Thedataset includes both observational and modeleddata. The hourly solar elements are:Extraterrestrial horizontal and extraterrestrial directnormal radiation; global, diffuse, and direct normalradiation. Meteorological elements are: Total andopaque sky cover, temperature and dew point,relative humidity, pressure, wind direction and speed,visibility, ceiling height, present weather, precipitablewater, aerosol optical depth, snow depth, days sincelast snowfall, and hourly precipitation. Joint NCDCand NREL product.

--Radiosonde Data of North America 1946-1993.Contains all available radiosonde data for NorthAmerica (U.S., Canada, Mexico, and CaribbeanIslands) through the 100-mb level on four disks.Disk periods are 1946-1965, 1966-1979,1980-1989, and 1990-1993. Data includessignificant, mandatory, and special wind levels for allobservation times and includes geopotential height,temperature, dew point, wind direction, and scalarspeed. The user can select for output to printer,screen, or file: A single station or multiple stationsfor a defined time period, or all stations within aspecified geographic region in either synoptic orstation sort. The CD-ROM also contains availablestation metadata. Joint NCDC and ERL product,available as 4 volume set only.

-- Global Tropical and Extratropical Cyclone ClimaticAtlas (GTECCA) Ver 2.0. This single volumeCD-ROM contains global historic tropical storm trackdata available for five tropical storm basins. Periodsof record varies for each basin, with the beginning asearly as the 1870s and 1993 as the latest year.Northern hemispheric extratropical storm track datawill be included from 1965 to 1993. Tropical trackdata includes time, position, storm stage (andmaximum wind, central pressure when available).The user has the option to display tracks, and trackdata for anY basin or user-selected geographic area.The user can select storm tracks passing within auser-defined radius of any point. Narratives for alltropical storms (varying periods by basin) areincluded as well as basin-wide tropical stormclimatology. Requires 520K of RAM memory. JointNCDC and U.S. Navy product.

Global Daily Summary (GDS). This CD-ROMprovides access to a 10,000-world wide station set ofdaily maximum/minimum temperature, dailyprecipitation, and 3-hourly present weather for the1977-1991 period of record. Data can be selected

for viewing or output to file for geographic areas orby a predefined user-selected list of stations. Thedataset includes element flags for suspectederroneous data. A data inventory contains stationname, latitude and longitude, elevation, period ofrecord, and the number of observations of availabledata. Requires a bare minimum of 4 MB of RAM with8 MB of RAM recommended for superiorperformance.

-- Station Climatic Daily Summary Ver 1.0. Summarystatistics and access software provided to presentdaily data for over 500 major NWS , U.S. Navy andUSAF stations worldwide. This CD-ROM providesmenu driven software utilities which allow multipletype queries to the database. Frequencydistributions, bivariate distributions are included. Thegeneral Period of Record (POR) is 1948-1993 but islonger for some stations. Joint NCDC , U.S. Navyand USAF product.

Hourly Modeled Sounding Data. This 12 volumeCD-ROM set contains hourly 60 KM gridpoint U.S.sounding data for 1990. This data is the outputfrom the Penn State University MM4 model whichused available daily sounding data for 1990 as input.One of the applications of this CD-ROM is to accessair pollution impacts on a local scale. Joint NCDCand ARL product.

NCDC Cooperative Station Data. This 19 volumeCD-ROM set has TD-3200 Cooperative station data.Major elements include daily high and lowtemperatures, daily rainfall, daily snowfall and snowdepth and evaporation. General POR is 1948-1993but is longer for selected stations. This version willcontain inventories, station history, and raw data,but no access display software. Joint NCDC andARL project.

-- Global Historic Fields. This CD allows users toview daily surface charts for the period 1899through April 1994. Daily upper air charts (700 mb,500 mb, 300 mb) are available from the 1940'sthrough April 1994. Charts have pressure fieldscontoured, and can be exported to a file or printer.Joint NCDC and U.S. Navy product.

Climatic Data and Summaries for Buoys and C-MAN Stations. This CD-ROM presents statisticalsummaries and hourly data for NDBC moored buoysand coastal marine (C-MAN) stations. Period ofrecord will vary by site depending on data

availability. Joint NCDC and NDBC product.

3. ON-LINE DATA ACCESS

a. NCDC On-Line Access andService Information System(OASIS)

NCDC has on-line data andmetadata available by FTPcomputer access. Data areplaced on-line as soon aspossible after receipt andprocessing. These data are available without chargevia FTP for immediate downloading (up to 50MB), orusers can order data for off-line delivery (standardNCDC charges). OASIS datasets include WindProfiler, Surface Hourly and Upper Air Data,Cooperative Summary of the Day, Climate Divisiondata, Hourly and 15-Minute Precipitation data, andGeneral Circulation Model data. Most datasets areavailable from NCDC in either enhanced BUFR orASCII format. Details about formats and formattranslators are available on-line. In addition to data,important metadata are included with the on-linedata. Station hi-tories, data dictionaries, fieldexperiment information, and data inventories areavailable.

Access to the system is via Internet using telnet.Please use the address 192.67.134.72 orhurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov

The Login is : stormThe Password is : research

b. Bulletin Board Access at NCDC.

The National ClimaticData Center (NCDC)Bulletin Board System(BBS) is a PC-basedsystem with 400 mb ofdata storage. Thebulletin board operates24 hours/day using PCBoard software for its primary operating system, andcan be accessed using most commercial modems.Simply follow the instructions given after dialing intothe system.

225

Modem Specifications for Accessing BBS

Telephone: (704) 271-4286Baud rate: 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600Parity: NoData bits: 8

Stop bits: 1

Echo: Y or N(Please call 704-271-4619 if you havetechnical questions.)


NCDC Bulletin Board Products

There are several different products available onthe Bulletin Board, each having unique file name(s).Product documentation is available for several of thedata files listed below. This documentation providesformats and further interpretation and clarification ofthe data. Without using these files, the data areoften difficult or impossible to understand. Aseparate file has been developed for selectedproducts. It is suggested that you download andprint the documentation file for each product you willbe using and save for future use. The same formatwill be used for all files with the same product name.

--Preliminary Monthly Summary--Printable Local Climatological Data--Spreadsheet Local Climatological Data--Station Narratives--Printable ASOS Local Climatologkal Data--ASOS Unedited Summary of the Day NWS F6--Daily Weather Highlights--Major Weather Events--Other Data and Services

Selected Products on NCDC BBS

A complete BBS users manual with details andsubscription information is available from NCDC.

c. NCDC Home PageVia the

World Wide Web

NCDC has developed a

Home Page accessible viathe World Wide Web(WWW) usir,g Mosaic. TheNCDC Home page, with information about productsand services, can be accessed at the followingWWW address:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

A wealth of information and data are available viathe NCDC Home Page. Sample products range fromNCDC technical reports, LCD annual summaries,inventories, global summary of the day, andInteractive On- Line Climatological Products.

! Explore the System !


d. NCDC FTP Access

Newly evolving computertechnology has allowed theNCDC to offer anonymousFTP via Internet as a datatransfer mechanism.

e. NCDC FTP InventoryAccess

The following are instructions for obtaining certaindata inventories via internet from NCDC. An NCDCworkstation has a subdirectory called "inventories"where the inventory files are located. User's shouldlogin to the workstation uing internet via FTP.Please enter commands in lower case letters. Thesefiles are also available through our mosaic/homepageserver at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

a) Enter: open 192.67.134.72 oropen hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov

b) Login is: anonymous

c) Password is: your email address

d) You are now logged onto a UNIX workstation.Enter "help" if you'd like a list of availablecommands.

el To move to the correct subdirectory, enter:cd /pub/data/inventories

f) To get a copy of the file descriptions, enter:get README.TXT destination (destination isyour output location and name)...e.g.--get README.TXT c:README.TXT copies tohard drive c:Note that file names are in all CAPITAL letters.

g) Then, to get a copy of any of the inventoryfiles, use the same procedure.

h) To logoff the system when finished, enter:bye

The "README.TXT" file describes the variousinventory information that is available. The inventoryfiles cover many of NCDC's most popular databasesand products.

Notes: All files are ASCII text format with a "TXT"name extension (e.g., COOP.TXT). File names arestrictly upper-case. The files will be updatedperiodically as soon as resources/information allow.To read any of the files, you can use Wordperfect or

1

any other editor. In Wordperfect, the "TEXTIN" command (CTRL-F5) will read in a large filerather quickly, and the "SEARCH" command (F2) willlocate a character string (e.g., a station name). Ofcourse, Fortran or any other language may be usedto access any of the data.

The data to which these inventories pertain(e.g., hourly surface data) are not available on-line(internet, etc). To place orders for data (magnetictape, cartridge tape, 8 mm tape, diskette, papercopy), please contact our Climate Services Branch.

f) Global Summaryof the Day Data

These summary of daydata files include thelatest month's data,normally availableabout 1 month after the end of the data month, forover 8,000 worldwide locations. They are accessiblethrough our mosaic/homepage server athttp://www.ncdc.noaa.gov or throughdirect ftp connection as follows:

open 192.67.134.72login is: anonymouspassword is: your email addressdirectory for global summary of day:/pub/data/globalsod

The directory has a "readme.txt" file withinformation about the contents and individual filenames. The data are available as 7 regional files oras 1 file containing all of the data (in ASCII orcompressed mode). The daily elements included inthe dataset (as available from each station) are:

Mean temperature (.1 Fahrenheit)Mean dew point (.1 Fahrenheit)Mean sea level pressure (.1 rnb)Mean station pressure (.1 mb)Mean visibility (.1 miles)Mean wind speed (.1 knots)Max sustained wind speed (.1 knots)Maximum wind gust (.1 knots)Maximum temperature (.1 Fahrenheit)Minimum temperature (.1 Fahrenheit)Precipitation amount (.01 inches)Snow depth 1.1 inches)Indicator for occurrence of: Fog,Rain, Snow, Hail, Thunder, Tornado

I) .

A. ,T

Other periods of historical summary of day data canbe obtained oft-line from NCDC. Additionalinformation and complete documentation areavailable from NCDC.

5. CONCLUSION

NCDC has developed a suite o; products andservices useful to teachers and educators. Theseproducts can easily be added to any earth sciencecurriculum.

NCDC CONTACT INFORMATION

NCDC'S Climate Services Branch is the groupresponsible for distribution of information about On-Line access. They can be contacted via the followingphone number, Internet, electronic mailbox orfacsimile.

Please call for latest availability and pricing of any ofthese products and services.

Telephone NumberFax NumberInternet AccessOMNET Mailbox

[email protected]


J6.9 The Use Of Hypertext Climatologies To Train Weather Fomeasters

Scott A. Straw, and Kenneth R. Walters, Sr.

United States Air Force Environmental Technical Applications CenterScott Air Force Base, Illinois

1. INTRODUCTION.

The use of hypertext climatologies to train weatherforecasters has great promise. Hypertext climatologiesprovide forecasters information on areas of the worldthat they may know little about. They discussgeneral geography of land areas, majormeteorological features and climate controls. Thesemajor areas are then broken down into smallerclimatic regions by season with typical weather andlocal effects addressed. By putting this information ona computer and providing the ability to "link" or"jump" to specific topics, understanding is greatlyenhanced. Graphics can also be included, and bypointing a mouse to a particular area on a graphic,you can jump to text which provides information onthe area.

The use of hypertext climatologies has severaladvantages that allow forecasters to increase theirknowledge of remote areas of the world quickly.Thumbing through pages of a narrative climatologywhile trying to locate information can be timeconsuming. Hypertext climatologies can enhance thespeed with which the information can be located.I lypertext allows the reader to follow trails ofinformation that interest them or are relevant to theirtask. This is very different from paper documents orbooks which typically force the reader to movethough large numbers of pages to retrieve only asingle piece of information.

2 TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITION

Although easy to use, hypertext is not easy to define.The traditional definition of hypertext is "nonlinearwriting or reading". A clearer definition describeshypertext as "a technology for authoring or readinginformation on a computer screen".

* Corresponding author address: Scott A. Straw,USAFETAC/D0J, 859 13uchanan Street Room 511,Scott APB, IL 62225-5116


Within hypertexted documents, subjects areinterconnected by links which give immediate accessbetween linked topics. A good example of ahypertext document is a "Microsoft Windows" helpfile. In a paper document you have to turn pages tofind more information. The hypertext document isstructured so that whenever more information isneeded, the user can link to it by clicking on a word,graphic, or phrase on which they need information.This can be described as a non-linear flow.

3. DISCUSSION

Hypertext climatologies promise to be better fortraining weather forecasters than conventional books.Narrative climatologies are a good example ofnonlinear reading. Many chapters refer to othersections in the book. In hypertext terminology thesereferences would be called links. Due to theextensive indexing and organization of most narrativeclimatologies, multiple references or links can befollowed. With conventional books, if the user is notfamiliar with a term, they have to refer to anotherlocation in the book to find it. This is a manuallydifficult process to follow, and can inhibit theretention of a person trying to study the weather fora particular location. Everything isn't in one placefor a person to quickly grasp and retain.

A normal session spent studying the weather forEquatorial Africa might go something like this.Suppose you need to study information for aparticular area to which you may deploy. You firstlook into the index and find Equatorial Africa. Youthen turn to the correct page, skim over theparagraph headings, and begin reading the materialwithin each paragraph. As you read about the generallandmass features, the "great escarpment" ismentioned and you have no idea what this is. Youlocate a map a couple of pages into the chaptcr andfind the "great escarpment". It turns out to he amountain range that runs along the western coastalregion of Africa. You have lost your place in thc

.)4

text, so now you have to retrace your steps. Anotherthree minutes into the reading there is a reference to"savanna area" and a "savanna plain". You'recurious as to what a "savanna" is, so you turn to thereference section in the back of the book and findthat "savanna" is defined in the beginning of thatchapter. You find out that "savanna" is a subtropicaland tropical grass area. Now you return to theoriginal text, move onto the temperature of theEquatorial Africa, and find that you don't understandthe term "maritime tropical airmass". You now haveto concentrate on looking up "maritime tropicalairmass". While finding out what the meaning of thephase is by referencing the back of the book, youremember seeing "continental tropical airmass" andlook this up also. Back you go again to find thecorrect spot you were at before you were sidetracked.

Now for contrast, consider this description of thesame research into Equatorial Africa using a

hypertext climatology. You click on the icon thatstarts the program. Once the program is running youare led into the table of contents. From this pointyou choose Equatorial Africa. You are then given achapter table of contents or you can choose to readthrough the chapter as one continuous document.You choose to read through the chapter as acontinuous document and are shown the generallandmass features. When the "great escarpment" is

mentioned, you click on the phrase and a windowappears with information on the "great escarpment".It is a mountain range that runs along the westerncoast of Equatorial Africa. You now close thewindow and the mouse is pointing to the exactposition where you stopped reading. You continueyour reading and come across a reference to

"savanna area" and a "savanna plain". You clickyour mouse on the phrase and find that "savanna" isa subtropical and tropical grass area. You close thisinformation window and continue scrolling throughthe document. Now you move onto the temperatureof the Equatorial Africa and find that you don'tunderstand the term "maritime tropical airmass". Byclicking your mouse on this phrase you areimmediately linked to the chapter that explains abouttropical airmass. You also note that "continentaltropical airrnass" is explained. You press a functionkey and you arc back in the text at thc point whereyou left.

You can see by this example that the hypertextdocument can be quickly studied without distractionsEverything is interwoven and right at your fingertips.By not continually turning pages to reference the

unfamiliar, you have the chance to absorb what youare studying.

Hypertext is a communication medium that draws itsbasis from conventional writing but surpasses it in thedepth that it offers the reader. However, unlikeconventional writing, hypertext is nonlinear in nature.It eliminates the one basic assumption that pervadesall paper based writing, that, is "one page comes afterthe other". A hypertext climatology is designed to beexplored by the reader. There is not a definiteorderly progression of pages in a hypertext document.Readers are free to follow whatever paths ofinformation they feel are significant.

Neophyte users sometimes fail to recognize that ahypertext climatology is very similar to a book. Theproblem ;.s that a reader may feel they are not incontrol of the hypertext document ac :ney believethey are over a book. Once a user ;-,ecomes confidentin both the computer system and the documentinterface, they are much more likely to use ahypertext document than a paper document.

Hypertext documents contain many additional usefultools. One provides a method to leave electronic"notes" attached to a topic or document. This is theelectronic equivalent of writing in the margin of abook. Notes allow forecasters to add detail to thehypertext climatologies. The "home" commandreturns the reader to where he began reading. It isvery useful to quickly jump back to a document'sbeginning. Another function in the hypertextclimatology document that is similar to a book is thebookmark. When you find a section of the book thatyou would like to return to, the bookmark gives youthe ability to jump to that location at any time.Hypertext climatologics can also include tests. End ofchaptcr tests can help improve the level ofunderstanding. A question can be linked with aspecific topic. If the student answers the questionwrong, the student will be sent to the text from whichthe question was developed.

4. SUMMARY

By putting narrative climatologies on a computer withthe ability to be able to link or jump to specifictopics, depth and speed of comprehension is greatlyenhanced. Hypertext allows the readei to followtrails of information that interest him or are relevantto his task. This is very different from paperdocuments, which typically force the leader to movethough large numbers of pages to retrieve only a

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single piece of information. It has been said that thehuman mind operates by association. With one itemin its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that issuggested, in accordance with some intricate web oftrails connected with the brain. Man cannot hope tofully duplicate this mental process artificially, but hecertainly ought to be able to learn from it. Thistechnique is the basis of hypertext documents.

(J6) 36 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL OCIETYA.,

J6.10A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF AUTOMATED WEATHER STATIONS:

USING REAL-TIME WEATHER DATA AS A HANDS-ON EDUCATIONAL TOOL

Robert S. Marshall

Automated Weather Source, Inc.Gaithersburg, Maryland

1. INTRODUCTION

In today's information age, we arerequired to collect, analyze and interpret vastamounts of data. To prepare students forthis world, educators are challenged to bringreal-world concepts and experiences into theclassroom. Automated weather systemslend themselves readily to this task.Teachers and students have found thatnetworks of automated weather observationstations in schools can provide a hands-on,technology based approach to learning thatinterests students. The networks alsoprovide an avenue to TV meteorologists andbusinesses for creating a meaningfulpartnership with the educational commur....that benefits all.

2. THE PROBLEM

Today's teachers are competing for

students attention. Advanced technology,often outside of school, including computernd video games, television, and multimediaseems to be more enticing than a science

textbook. Motivating students to learn is aconstant challenge faced by educators.Many traditional teaching methods do notcapture the interest of students.

Teaching problem solving techniques tostudents is critical in our complex andconstantly changing world. Findingexamples of data to collect, analyze andinterpret can be difficult. Many times,problem solving exercises are awkwardlyconstructed and unmeaningful because thedata is not relevant to real world situations.

* Corresponding author address: Robert S.Marshall, Automated Weather Source, Inc.,2-5 Metropolitan Court, Gaithersburg,

Maryland 20878

2 3

Many studem 3 find science andmathematics concepts intimidating, abstract,and too difficult to comprehend. Studentsare often discouraged and turned off toexploring math and science at an early age.

In addition, school systems throughoutthe country are faced with budget shortfalls,limiting the ability to bring current technologyinto the classroom. Yet, educators recognizethat the use of high technology in theclassroom is essential for today's students tosucceed tomorrow.

3. AN APPROACH

Now that we have defined the problem,let us employ some of our own scientificproblem solving skills to formulate a possiblesolution. We should develop a hypothesis,test it, interpret and analyze our findings andthen draw conclusions based on them.

We need to incorporate a subject thatinterests all -- state-o`-the-art technology,computers and software, captivatingteaching techniques, broadcast television,and business/educatio ial partnerships (seeFigure 1: Concept).

Local TV Broadcast 'weather System & Network

Education

Figure 1 - Concept


4. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Weather affects everyone's life: thestudent hoping for snow, the pilot preparingto land, the landscaper planning a dayswork... Weather is not intimidating! Weatheris in the news! We all relate to it in somemanner on a daily basis (see Figure 2).

State-of-the-art automated weatherstations, networked through tele-communications, can provide the technologywe need. Advanced software to access real-time data from these networked weatherstations will provide the computer interface.Data displays will use interesting, colorgraphic that are informative, easy tounderstand and allow for data interpretationand analysis.

Figure 2 - Educational Impact

Interdisciplinary lessons can bedeveloped using the latest teachingtechniques utilizing the weather stations andsoftware. Why not provide software totelevision meteorologists to access andbroadcast real-time data from the network ofweather stations in schools? This wouldinstill a sense of pride in the community andschool and further motivate the students.

In addition, this concept can obtainbusiness support! Businesses recognize thattheir future depends on an educatedworkforce who are literate in manydisciplines, most particularly the sciencesand technology. They are willing and eagerto partner with schools to achieve thesegoals.


5. ESTABLISHING A NETWORK

The approach outlined above ispresently being setup throughout the UnitedStates. Meso-networks of fully automatedweather observation stations are beingestablished in schools throughout thecountry (see Figure 3). Over 45 cities haveinitiated school weather networks.

Figure 3 - The National Network

The Washington / Baltimore area isleading the way with a rnesonet of more than130 stations (Bob Ryan's 4-WINDS Networkon WRC TV, see Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Washington/Baltimore Area Network

In addition to schools being able toaccess and use real-time weather data in theclassroom, broadcast meteorologists alsoparticipate in the program by presentingviewers with "live" weather conditions fromneighborhood schools. Students andteachers are excited by the broadcastexposure, and they translate that . ccitementinto an enhanced interest in the sciences.Businesses are also participating bypartnering with broadcasters and schools

The following are several examples ofactive business/educational partnerships:Giant Food and Hughes InformationSystems (Washington DC area); Fifth-ThirdBank (Dayton, Ohio); Best Buy (Chicago,Illinois); and Motorola Corporation (Austin,Texas).

6. THE SYSTEM

The system used for this concept hasbeen developed by Automated WeatherSource (AWS), Inc. The AWS systemconsists of a sensor suite (temperature,relative humidity, barometric pressure, windspeed and direction, precipitation and lightintensity), data logger, digital display,modem and software for a PC or Macintoshcomputer. Data is transferred throughouteach mesonet through telecommunications.

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Figure 5: System Components

The AWS software has beenspecifically designed by engineers andteachers for use in education. Students canview real-time weather data from their ownweather station or any other station on theschool weather network. Interdisciplinarylessons based on the system and softwareare included with the system and incorporatethe latest teaching techniques.

The automated data logging features ofthe system are critical to education. Thesystem can store internally up to four monthsof weather data, which can be effortlesslytransferred to the computer. With thesoftware, schools can maintain a permanentrecord of hourly weather conditions at anysite on the network.

233

All data can be plotted and graphedover varying time periods, providingexcellent tools for mathematics and sCie.'curriculum. The data also provides afoundation for formulating weatherpredictions and subsequently analyzingweather events.

7. EXAMPLES OF USE

This section of the paper will provideand discuss a few examples of incorporatingdata generated by automated weatherstations into classroom curriculum. Theexamples given here are just a small subsetof what is being done and what can be donewith systems of this type.

The beauty of an automated weathersystem and network is that it can beincorporated into all facets of curriculum, notjust math and science. The system can beused at all grade levels and with students ofall skill levels. Many schools use aninterdisciplinary approach, that is,incorporating the system in all disciplinesand subjects and tying the lessons/conceptstogether with a single theme.

7.1 Language Arts and Public Speaking

Almost all schools participating in theprogram use the weather system andsoftwa:e for morning announcements.Stuc'ents use the software to gather weatherdata from schools throughout their regionand produce a weather report to bebroadcast to the entire school. Upper levelstudents also include a forecast with theirweather report.

Some schools have in-house videoequipment and are capable of producingtheir own TV weather broadcast. Oneschool in Jacksonville, Florida hasdocumented a case in which dropoutprevention students consistently arrived 30minutes early to school to use the weathersoftware and produce a daily TV weatherbroadcast, No small feat for students at riskof dropping out of school!


7.2 Social Studies

An interesting lesson being performedby many schools ties social studies to mathand science. Students are asked tohypothesize how weather may affect anumber of social variables, including studentattendance, student behavior, testperformance, or even economic

performance of various industries.

Students use the weather station andsoftware to track and graph weathervariables over time. They also collect datafrom other sources to track the social studiesparameters. The students correlate andanalyze the data and draw conclusions. Thisis a fine example of a real-world problem thatis readily integrated into the classroom.

7.3 Geography

The network of weather stations fitsperfectly into geography studies, as thecomputer software allows any weathervariable to be auto-plotted on a variety ofcustom maps. Students can access currentweather data from any station on thenetwork. They then can plot the data on amap and discuss the results. Many studentsare challenged to explain the reasons behindthe variety of weather data exhibited on themaps. Figure 6 depicts an example of aweather mapping display.

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Figure 6 - Example Weather Map

In another higher level thinking activity,students were given network data in the formof tables and asked to associate it withunmarked locations on a map. Studentswere required to draw upon their knowledge


of climate, weather and geography to arriveat conclusions.

7.4 Math and Science

The opportunities to incorporate theweather system and network into math andscience curriculum are endless, so just a fewwill be presented here.

Graphing and interpreting data can takeon special significance and generate a greatdeal of interest when severe weatherphenomena occur. Using the weatherstation's data logging and software features,students were able to collect and analyzedata from the "Blizzard of 93" that traveledup the East coast of the US, as shown inFigure 7. While only temperature andbarometric pressure are shown here,students discovered interesting correlationsby plotting several variables, including,barometric pressure rate, wind speed, andrelative humidity.

30.25

The Blizzard of 93' :Bates Middle SchoolAnnapolis, Maryland

Baromettic Pressure and Temperature vs Time

211.1

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Figure 7 - Blizzard Analysis

In fact, a plot of temperature andrelative humidity at the beginning of thesnow storm produced several uniquefeatures. One of particular interest wasevaporative cooling of the atmosphere (anexothermic reaction) as the snow began tofall, producing a nice link between scienceand chemistry.

Interpreting data many times requiresstatistical analysis. Students often do notunderstand statistical terms like mean,median and mode. When lessons dealing

2 3 q

with statistics use data from the weathernetwork, these terms are given concretemeanings to which the students can relate.

Understanding relationships betweenvariables in science and math is very difficultfor some students. Weather data provides avariety of fundamental relationships thatstudents can readily relate to and

understand. Linear, cyclical, proportional,inversely proportional, and cause and effectrelationships can be demonstrated with easeusing the weather system.

Cyclical relationships can bedemonstrated by plotting hourly temperaturedata over an extended period of time (3 daysor more). A cause and effect relationshipcan be shown by plotting hourly lightintensity and temperature data over a oneday period, as shown in Figure 8. An

increase in the light intensity causes anincrease in the outdoor temperature.

100

95-

Temperature and Light Intensity vs Time

65

60,0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Time (Hours)

100

90

80

70

60$

50

40

30

20

10

0

Figure 8 - Cause and Effect Relationship

Plotting temperature and relative

humidity together depicts an inverselyproportional relationship in most cases, asshown in Figure 9 with two days plotted onthe X-axis.

Since the weather stations also trackand log hourly change rates, the data fitsnaturally into high school level calculuscurriculum. Students can plot hourly

temperatures along with the hourlytemperature change rates and grasp theconcept of a derivative in all its many facets.Monthly climate data (highs and lows foreach day) can be integrated to computeheating and cooling degree days as well.

2 3 5

Temperature and Relative Humidity vs Time

40

0 2 4 0 II 10 12 14 14 14 20 12 0 2 4 6 6 10 12 14 16 14 20 2224

Time (Hours)

Figure 9: Inversely ProportionalRelationships

8. CONCLUSIONS

While feedback from students andteachers continues to come in from all overthe country, initial results look extremelypromising. Weather provides a perfectwindow of opportunity for teachers to link arelevant real world environment with state-of-the-art technology via an interdisciplinarycurriculum. This system represents anexample of authentic testing.

Networks of automated weatherobservation stations in schools providestudents and teachers with an excellent toolfor a concrete, hands-on approach tolearning. The weather data generated bythese systems interests students, easy to isunderstand and lends itself to use in anycurriculum.

9. FUTURE PLANS

With the support of educators, TVbroadcasters, and corporate sponsors, theschool weather network will continue toexpand to cover the entire nation andbeyond. AWS will also be introducing anewsletter and an enhanced computerbulletin board system to help AWS usersshare ideas and ask questions about theweather.

Many schools have recognized thebenefits of the AWS system and haveincorporated it into their curriculum planning.As the number of students and teachersinvolved in the program increases, so will theinnovative ideas for the application of thissystem.


J6.11

APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITE IMAGERY AND REMOTE SENSINGIN ENVIRONMENTAL /SCIENCE EDUCATION:

AN EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE APPROACH

John D. Moore

Burlington County Institute of TechnologyMedford, New Jersey

1. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this paper is to examine theuse and effect of satellite imagery, direct readout data, and other remote sensing sources ofreal time data, and their impact on issuesidentified in science education research.Imagery generated from international remotesensing satellites provide real time data formonitoring global natural resources and otheratmospheric and environmental phenomena.These images present interdisciplinaryopportunities for students and teachers toexamine and study Planet Earth on a local toglobal scale, and opens a new chapter in the fieldof environmental interpretation. The followingobservations, review of current literature, anddocumentation of technological developments,lead to the following conclusions, and providefor the foundation of this paper.

The science education community, as wellas the nation, is calling for reform in scienceeducation.There is rapidly growing concern forenvironmental issues ranging from the localto global level, and a call for mandatoryincorporation of environmental education inthe K-12 curriculum.There is a call for incorporation andapplication of new technologies in theclassroom.Costs of powerful (high capability)computer systems are in rapid decline.There exists today, an archive of scientificenvironmental data.NASA and NOAA have planned andbudgeted for future environmentalmonitoring satellites that provide time datathrough the turn of the century.


2. RATIONALE

In 1983 an advisory council of NASAestablished an Earth Systems SciencesCommittee to review the science of Earth as anintegrated system of interacting components.The stated goal of Earth Systems Science is to"obtain a scientific understanding of the entireEarth System on a global scale by describinghow its component parts and their interactionshave evolved, how they function, and how theymay be expected to continue to evolve on alltime scales." NASA's Earth Observing SystemProgram states, " observations from space haveprovided extensive global views that allow us tostudy the Earth as a unified system. Thissystematic approach to Earth Science will helpus understand how local activities might produceeffects on a worldwide scale. The goal is tounderstand relationships among atmosphere,land, and ocean processes on scales that rangefrom chemical reactions to global climatechange. To do this, earth science needs aninterdisciplinary approach that combines theclassical disciplines of physics, chemistry, andbiology." In 1990 the U.S. Congress adopted theGlobal Change Research Act. The U.S. GlobalChange Research Program was established"aimed at understanding and responding toglobal change, including the cumulative effectsof human activities and natural processes on theenvironment ..." with a recommended FY 1995budget of $1.8 billion. The U.S. Global ChangeResearch Program identifies their scientificobjectives as follows:

Establish an integrated, comprehensivelong-term program of documenting theEarth System on a global scale.Conduct a program of focused andexploratory studies to improve the

236

understanding of the physical, chemical,biological, and social processes thatinfluence the Earth System changes andtrends on global and regional scales.Cevelop integrated conceptual andpredictive Earth-System models on globaland regional scales.

The education component of this program hasidentified the following objectives:

Involve public and institutional decisionmakers in program planning andexamination of policies and optionsExpand public awareness of global change,including awareness of the prominent issues,their scientific complexity, and researchneeded for predicting consequences andevaluating national and international policyoptions for respondingTrain future scientists, engineers, andeducators by promoting understandingamong educators and decision makers of themultidisciplinary nature of global changeissues and solutions

The FY 1995 U.S. Global Change ResearchProgram budget allocates funding to thefollowing federal agencies to accomplish thesegoals, and therefore have an educationalresponsibility:

Department of AgricultureDepartment of Commerce/NOAADepartment of DefenseDepai tment of EnergyDepartment of Health and HumanServices/National Institutes of HealthDepartment of InteriorEnvironmental Protection AgencyNational Aeronautics and SpLceAdministrationNational Science FoundationSmithsonian InstitutionTennessee Valley Authority

As we approach the 21st Century, themonitoring of the planet's environmental systemshas been coordinated into a massive scientificand technological undertaking. The "EarthObserving System" (EOS), is an internationallycoordinated, multidisciplinary spacebourneprogram that will study the interactions ofEarth's land, sea, and atmosphere, and documcnt

"3'1

these changes in the global environment in aninitiative called "Mission to Planet Earth." Earlydocuments did not include the K-12 curriculumas a potential user. More recently. the document"Public Use of Earth and Space Science Dataover the Internet" (NASA 94) which was asolicitation to "stimulate broad public use, viathe Internet, of very large remote sensingdatabases maintained by NASA, and otheragencies to stimulate US. economic growth,improve the quality of life, and contribute to theNational Information Infrastructure," wasintroduced. The announcement identifies itspurpose and focus. The potential applications ofremote sensing databases, and areas of interestinclude: atmospheric, oceanic, and landmonitoring; publishing; agriculture; forestry;transportation; aquaculture; mineral exploration;land-use planning; libraries; cartography;education (especially K-12); entertainment;environmental hazards monitoring; and spacescience data applications" (CAN-OA-94-1,NASA, 94.) This project is representative of thefuture impact of dialog between teachers,students, schools, and scientists in scienceeducation.

3. APPLICATIONS, RESOURCES ANDTOOLS

A Shift in the Pr ,digm

Three distinct educational disciplines havebeen evolving over the past three decades As weapproach the 25th Anniversary of Earth Day(April 22, 1995), Science Education,Technology Education, and EnvironmentalEducation have the opportunity to unite theircommon educational goals and objectives andembark in a new direction leading educationtowards the classroom of the 21st Century, aclassroom where students practice real science,in real time, interacting with internationalscientists representing an array of agencies andorganizations. The development of thinkingskills, cooperative and hands-on learningutilizing the power of technology, while appliedto real world applications can lead toimprovement in , math, and geography as well.Archives of scientific environmental data exist ina variety of formats, and plans are in place thatwill increase the quantity, quality, andavailability of such environmental data.


Technological advancements, which includesatellite receivers, cable/television, radio, andtelephone lines (traditional and fiber optic) makeit possible to receive, and exchange, real timedata in the classroom within reasonableeconomical limits. The increasing availabilityadditional formats, such as CD-ROM, allows oneto access and examine achieved data sets,consisting of a variety of historicaler..f-onmental data and information. It isimportant to note that if the required technologyis not yet available in the schools, manyresources exist in printed form. Agencies havedeveloped monographs, resource guides,curricula, and other supporting teachingmaterials on global change, thus allowingstudents to engage in similar activities using theEarth Systems Science approach, using recentdata and images usually available througheducational outreach programs within bothindustry and government. The K-I2 audience isnot only capable of utilizing these technologiesand information, but research indicates thatstudents exhibit higher interest, and thereforemotivation in their science studies. The successand necessity of Science Technology andSociety (STS) format in science education iswell documented. An Earth Systems ScienceApproach satisfies the STS agenda.

One of the national educational goals inAmerica is for students to globally place first inscience education by the year 2000. This ofcourse has spurred the Science Educationcommunity to examine what exists, and beginexploration of possible new directions. Nationalscience standards have been drafted and willlikely be implemented. An Earth SystemsScience approach to science education modelscurrent science research. Part of the educationalagenda is to address the need for futuregenerations to move into the scientific researchcommunity. As students develop proficiency inthe identification, acquisition and applications ofavailable real time data, student initiatedresearch can begin. Students have thecapabilities to globally observe, record, andexchange data, which may lead to solutions ofglobal environmentally related problems.Technology provides the forum for rapidexchange of information. In the process, studentshave exposure to real issues, and realapplications, factors that have been identified inscience education research as improving student


interest and performance. Ground truthverification of satellite data is an essentialcomponent of data reliability, and therefore,students from around the plant may have theopportunity to contribute to the process.

Satellite Imagery/Direct Readout Data

NASA and NOAA have a full slate ofenvironmental data gathering satellites plannedto be operation by the turn of the century, thusopening the door to advance opportunities tostudy/monitor our planet, and revolutionizing theeducational opportunities in environmentalscience. Students can today utilize NOAAweather satellite data and experience thefollowing practical applications of scienceconCepts and principle which include but arelimited to:

Develop a knowledge and understanding ofenvironmental satellites, their operation, andapplication of dataA hands-on application of data processingskills and work with computersApplication of satellite images as they applyto: weather forecasting, identification ofland masses, location of geographical areasvia coordinates, tracking weatherphenomena, and developing forecastingskills from a visual data baseDevelop a knowledge and understanding ofglobal conditions and how environmentalfactors such as weather are globallyinterconnectedIdentify visually, weather phenomena suchas: cold, warm and stationary fronts, areasof precipitation, hurricanes, tropicaldepressions, global cloud formations, andglobal weather movementApply meteorological terminology, andNational Weather Service reports/data toobservable satellite imagesDevelop and conduct individual researchprojects using data and/or the technology toexpand student experiences in the areas ofMeteorology and/or the use of technologyActs as a demonstration project toencourage and develop interest by womenand other minorities in the study ofenvironmental sciences

4 Co

NASA's "Mission to Planet Earth," whenfully functional, will produce environmental datathat includes ocean circulation and atmosphericchemistry, the ',zone hole, ocean productivity,marine winds, tropical rain, influence of clouds,heat transport, rainfall patterns, atmosphericCO2, and seeks to answer the questions of howis the atmosphere changing, and the role of thesolid earth.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GIS applications have advanced considerablyin the past two years. Once viewed as anexclusive domain of researchers and highlyexperienced professionals in the field, it is todayavailable to the K-12 community. ArcView andArcData CD ROM software, marketed as a"geographic exploration system," is available toK-12 schools enabling students and teachers tocreate an almost complete GIS database.Applications identified in the science curriculuminclude:

Expand analyses of environmentalrelationships by displaying the micro andmacro systems as they occurExpand local environmental analyses byseeking similar patterns in other placesStudy the impact on visible patterns alteringthe electromagnetic radiation received insatellite imageryOverlay satellite imagery with groundmapping to examine the impact ofenvironmental characteristics on people andvice versa

ArcData products include data sets "structuredto fulfill a wide range of map display, query, andanalysis applications. Regional, national, andglobal analyses can be performed using thedemographic, economic, and environmental datasets, and can be supplemented with other sourcesfrom specific thematic mapping applications."Electronic mapping can help students learnconcepts in geography, science, math; developdata analysis, visualization and spatial reasoning(Barstow). It enables the student to exploretopics of local regional, and global impact.

PataStreme

DataStreme is a cooperative effort betweenProject ATMOSPHERE of the AMS and cable

television's The Weather Channel. The WSICorporation is participating in the project byproviding the access and free use of TheDomestic Data Service data stream it delivers toThe Weather Channel. During the 1993-94school year, a pilot study designed to"investigate the educational potential of real-time scientific data for use across the curriculumK-12 was implemented. The objectives are asfollows:

The determination of the technical andeconomic feasibility of delivering a real-time meteorological data stream to schoolsacross the country at no additionai recurringcosts to schoolsThe investigation of the educational;potential of using real-time scientific data inschool learning environment through thedevelopment, implementation, andevaluation of prototypical instructionalstrategies and materialsThe preliminary identification and teachingof understandings and skills employed in theprocessing, analysis, evaluation, application.and interpretation of a continuous datastream to seek answers, trends andpredications.

THE GLOBE PROGRAM

The GLOBE Program (Global Learning andObservations to Benefit the Environment)introduced by Vice President Al Gore on April22, 1994 will link students worldwide in aneffort to monitor changes in the world'senvironment. The objectives of GLOBE are:

To enhance the collective awareness ofindividuals throughout the world concerningthe environmentTo increase scientific understanding of theEarthTo help all students reach higher standardsin science and mathematics

A worldwide network of K-12 students willmaking environmental observations includingtemperature, wind speed and direction,precipitation, land cover, water chemistry, andsoil moisture content. Via Internet, satellitetransmission, and television the network willsupport:


The acquisition of environmental data bystudentsTransmission of data to processing sites inthe U.S. and other countriesDistribution of vivid, graphicalenvironmental pictures of the world tostudents at their schoolsDistribution of student data toenvironmental scientists throughout theworld.

4. SUMMARY

In order to understand global change and thedemands on human activity, the sciencecommunity is documenting global environmentalsystems so we can better comprehend how theEarth works as a system. The science educationcommunity can likewise respond by encouragingstudents to begin use the data and technology inthe classroom that will prepare them to transitioninto the rapidly emerging professions of the 21stCentury. This paper did not venture into theresources available via the Internet. There existstoday, a wide menu of images, real time data anddiversity information and products that isgrowing at rapid rates. An Earth Systemsapproach applies environmental systemsprinciples to traditional Earth Science, Biology,Chemistry, and Physics core proficiencies, andmore importantly provides the structure, or focusof instruction. It is Science with a purpose. TheEarth Systems Science Approach is science forthe 99%. The Earth Systems Science approach toenvironmental /science education will apply,model and teach skill proficiencies that arerepresentive of the science research community.Equally as important, the Earth Systemsapproach will develop interest and preparestudents for careers in the science, technology,and environmental fields. while fostering anenvironmentally literate and conscious society,leading towards better local and global decisionmakers.

REFERENCES

American Meteorological Society. 1993.ProjectAIMSPHERE: Teachers Manual

Baker, D. J. 1990. Planet Earth: The Vim.from Space, Harvard University Press.

Barstow, D. 1994. Geographic InformationSystems: New Tools for Student Exploration.}lands On! TERC, Vol. 17, No.1: 10-13.


Bednarz, S. 1994. GIS in Schools? Why?How? ArcSchool Reader, Winter 1994, p. 3.

NASA, FOS: A Mission to Planet arth, EOSProgram Office.

Report of the Earth Systems SciencesCommittee, 1988, Earth System Science. ACloser View,

Report by the Committee on Environmentand Natural Resources Research of the NationalScience and Technology Council. 1995, OurChanging Planet: The FY 1995 U.S. GlobalChange Research Program

The GLOBE Program. 1994. The WhiteHouse, Washington D.C.

J6.I 2

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT VISUALIZER:A TOOL FOR THE SCIENCE CLASSROOM

Douglas N. Gordin*Roy D. Pea

School of Education and Social PolicyNorthwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

1. INTRODUCTION

The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer (GEV) isdesigned to help students visualize data sets related tothe earth's energy balance. This work was inspired bythe benefits scientific visualization have provided toscientists in discovering patterns and presenting theresults of their work to broad communities. Thehope is that scientific visualization can provide equalassistance to students trying to learn science. Thephilosophy underlying this approach links learningwith practice. Hence, students are encouraged to learnscience initiating and pursuing scientific questionsand through interacting with the scientificcommunity. This approach is by no means new, thedifference is the auetnpt to ease the task through theassistance of selected technologies. This frameworkis basic to the Collaborative Visualization Project(Pea, 1993) of which the GEV is a part. This paperdescribes the GEV, including its data sets, models andvisualizations, supported operations on data, andsuggested uses. In addition, since the GEV is stillvery much under development, current shortcomingsare described along with potential remedies.

2. WHY THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT?

The greenhouse effect has become the focus of an

international research effort in the scientificcommunity that views the earth and its atmosphere asa unified system affected by the fuel policies ofindustrial and emerging nations (Silver and DeFries,1990). This intertwining of scientific and socialconcerns is useful since it provides diverse hooks orentryways for students to become involved with

science. Optimally, this variety allows students tochoose an angle that combines with their existinginterests, yet relates to a common topic. Forexample, one project might propose a cap on carbon-dioxide emissions, while another evaluates the cap'simpact on developing nations. Projects of this typeinvolve substantial amounts of science, yet are nottraditional science projects, since they integrate socialand political concerns. It is hoped that integrated

*Douglas N. Gordin, Northwestern University,School of Education and Social Policy, 2115 N.

Campus Dr., Evanston, IL 60208

Az .4

projects like these will help students to view sciencewithin a social context, rather than as isolatedformulas.

3. WHY SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION?

Students need specialized resources in order toparticipate in scientific practices. This need isdocumented by sociologists of scientific knowledgewho have analyzed the role of specializedrepresentations in negotiating scientific questions(Latour and Woolgard, 1979). Their findings showthat when a scientific community adopts a newrepresentation, it signifies an important change in thefield. Arguably, scientific visualization is such achange for atmospheric science. Hence, givingstudents usable access to it can help them tounderstand and perform atmospheric science. Inpractice, the most common usage of visualizations isto portray scientific processes that vary spatially.This allows increasing or decreasing values to beeasily picked out through noticing distinctive colorsand patterns. As detailed below, these observationscan help students to understand processes involved inthe greenhouse effect.

4. DATA SETS IN THE GEV

The GEV data is based on the Earth RadiationBudget Experiment (ERBE; Barkstrom, 1984) datasets. These data sets provide monthly means of thequantities involved in the radiation balance throughwhich the earth system reflects, absorbs, and re-emitsradiation. In addition, surface temperature is providedfrom European Common Model World Forecast(ECMWF) data. The data sets provided by the GEVare:

I. Sunlight coming to earth (insolation)2. Reflectivity of Earth-Atmosphere system

(albedo)3. Reflected sunlight (reflected shortwave

radiation flux)4. Absorbed solar radiation (insolation minus

reflected sunlight)5. Surface temperature6. Outgoing terrestrial radiation (longwavc

radiation flux)


7. Net radiation (outgoing minus net incomingradiation)

8. Greenhouse effect amount (amount of energyretained in the atmosphere)

9. Greenhouse effect percent (percent ofterrestrial radiation flux that is retained in theatmosphere)

These data sets were selected to help studentsunderstand how increased greenhouse effect couldincrease surface temperatures.

4.1 Models in the Greenhouse Effect Visualizer

The GEV offers three models under which toview the above data sets:

1. Earth without atmosphere2. Earth with atmosphere but no clouds (i.e.

clear atmosphere)3. Earth with atmosphere and clouds

This sequence of models is motivated by order ofmagnitude effects involved in producing our climate.This is demonstrated by calculations that show thatthe global temperature of an atmosphere-free Earthwould be around 254° Kelvin.. Adding an atmospherebrings this chilly average up above freezing, toaround 276° Kelvin (freezing is 273° Kelvin). Theeffect of clouds is to refine this number still further(exactly how is still being debated). The main pointis that the models provide successive approximationsto the Earth climate. The primary basis has been theblack-body model which relates energy to the fourthpower of temperature. The specific formulas used arelisted in Table 1. Each model is now analyzed inturn, by discussing the derivation of the data sets,current limitations, and potential remedies.

4.2 Model 1: Earth without an atmosphere

An earth without an aunosphere would have asimple energy balance where the amount of incomingradiation would equal outgoing radiation. This allowsthe calculation of surface temperature using a blackbody model as follows:

T = -/( -aeL,R) S

awhere a is the Stephan-Boltzman constant, S is thesolar constant and acLR is clear sky albedo, so ( 1-(XCLR ) S is the absorbed solar radiation. The use ofacLR to model albedo without an atmosphere is asubstantial simplification, since aCLR includesatmospheric gases, such as, watcr vapor and carbon-dioxide. However, it is useful in identifying highalbedo areas, such as, polar caps and deserts. The fullset of derivations used to calculate GEV data setsfrom ERBE data, for this model and the others, is inTable 1 . Note that the greenhouse effect amount andpercent are zero for this model. This is definitionally

(1)


true, since greenhouse effect refers to the energytrapped by the atmosphere and this model specificallyexcludes an atmosphere. Similarly, the net radiationis zero as the outgoing radiation is assumed to equalthe incoming radiation.

The primary problem with this model is that itdoes not take into account thermal inertia; this isparticularly significant for the poles and oceans, sinceice and water retain significant amounts of heat. Apossible solution is to use the current monthly meanradiative calculation for land (due to its low thermalinertia) and use annual mean radiative calculations forwater (due to its high thermal inertia). The poles aremore complicated because of the latent heat of ice.The overall temperature cannot rise until the ice hasmelted. A several month moving average could beused to smooth out the excessively quick changes,thus taking into account the time needed to melt andfreeze polar ice.

4.3 Model 2: Earth with an atmosphere, but noclouds

The presence of an atmosphere increases thesurface temperature, since the atmosphere trapsoutgoing terrestrial radiation, but allows incomingsolar radiation to pass through. The atmosphere ishere modeled as a black body, thus all terrestrialradiation is assumed to be caught. Further, when theatmosphere re-emits the trapped terrestrial radiationhalf is sent to outer space and half back to the earth.This means the measured outgoing longwaveradiation flux equals incoming longwave radiation.This allows the surface temperature to be calculatedusing a black body model as follows:

T =( 1 -acL,R) S+ FCLR

( 2 )awhere - CLR i incoming longwave radiation flux

(taken as equal to observed outgoing longwave flux)and (1-aCLR) S is again the absorbed solar radiation.This model uses a very simplified view of theatmosphere. In particular, the atmosphere is modeledas a single layer, hence the temperature profile (orlapse rate) of the atmosphere is not taken intoaccount. This leaves little room to answer a naturalquestion from students: "If surface temperature isbased on a radiation balance and your model alreadyassumes a black body atmosphere (i.e. one thatabsorbs all terrestrial radiation), why would increasingamounts of CO2 make any difference?" Indeed, inthis model it would not cause a difference (Horel andGeisler, 1993). Rising levels of CO2 in theatmosphere make a difference because as they raise thetemperature of the atmosphere, the temperature at thesurface of thc earth also rises due to the verticaltemperature profile of the atmosphere (i.e., a lapserate of around 6.5°C per kilometer). The proposed

24 '4

Model 1Earth withoutatmosphere

Model 2Earth with atmosphere

but no clouds

Model 3Earth with

atmosphere andclouds

Insolation

Albedo aCLR aCLR a

ReflectedShortwave

aCLRS aCLRS aS

AbsorbedShortwave

(1 acLOS (1-GCLOS (1-a)S

OutgoingLongwave

1 ac..LR) SFaR

NetRadiation

0(1 aCLR)S FCLR (1-a)5 F

SurfaceTemperature

11\11

(l (XoLR) S

0 sJ

(1-aCLR) S FCLR

0GreenhouseEffectAmount

0 (1 aci_a ) S ar4 _F

GreenhouseEffectPercent

0 FeLR1

(1 aCLR)S FCLR1

aT4 -F

Key to datas:a:

sets

aCLR:

aS:

aCLRS:F:

FCLR:

(1-(x)S F:

( S

T:

F:

(source):

Insolation (ERBE)

Cloudy albedo (ERBE)

Clear albedo (ERBE)

Cloudy outgoing shortwave radiation flux (ERBE)

Clear outgoing shortwave radiation flux (ERBE)Cloudy outgoing longwave radiation flux (ERBE)Clear outgoing longwave radiation flux (ERBE)

Cloudy net radiation (ERSE)

Clear net radiation (ERBE)

Surface temperature (ECMWF)

Table 1: Formulas used to calculate data sets

solution to these problems is to use a moresophisticated model of the atmosphere provided byNCAR. This model parameterizes outgoinglongwave radiation flux based on atmospherictemperature, relative humidity, and CO2. The plan isto use tropical, mid-latitude, and polar referenceprofiles for temperature and humidity. This wouldprovide a surface temperature data set that a studentcould adjust bascd on the CO2 level. In addition, themodel-based result should differentiate betweentemperature increans caused directly by CO2 and theforced increase due to water vapor which is thefeedback mechanism that occurs when surfacetemperature increases. Separating out the directtemperature increase from thc forced increase allowsstudents to differentiate direct effects from feedbackeffects. Further, the forced effects only occur after atimelag, due to the earth's thermal inertia. It is this

243

lag that provides a window for compensating effectsthat could reduce the predicted surface warming (e.g.,increased albedo from clouds)* .

4.4 Model 3: Earth with an atmosphere,including clouds

Although considered here as a model, thiscategory is closer to observations. The surfacetemperature is not calculated from ERBE data sets,but based on data from the ECMWF. A strength ofusing observed data is that these data sets can be usedby students to study a wide variety of projects. Forexample, by supplying several years more of data

* Thanks to Roy Jenne of NCAR foremphasizing this distinction and its pedagogicalvalue.


(currently only 1987 data is provided) El Nifio effectscould be studied. More detail on using the GEV foractivities is provided below.

4.5 Greenhouse Effect Data Sets

Measurement of greenhouse effect is given intwo ways (for the models with an atmosphere whichproduce a greenhouse effect). First, a measurement ofthe energy contained in the atmosphere due togreenhouse effect is provided by subtracting the top ofthe atmosphere longwave radiation flux fromterrestrial longwave flux. This is called thegreenhouse effect amount. Second, the greenhouseeffect is shown as the fraction of energy leaving earththat is retained in the atmosphere, calculated bysubtracting from one the ratio of top of theatmosphere longwave radiation flux divided byterrestrial longwave radiation flux. This is called thegreenhouse effect percent. Figure 1 shows thegreenhouse effect percent for July, 1987; equations forthese data sets are listed in Table 1.

5. VISUALIZATION AND MANIPULATION OFDATA SETS

The GEV provides visualizations of all the datasets described for the three models, see Figure 1 for anexample*. Several features have been included toincrease comprehensibility. In particular, the colorpalette, located below the visualization, records theminimum and maximum data set values keyed totheir respective colors. Further, all numbers are listedwith their appropriate units (e.g. watts per metersquared). Specific data values pop up on the colorpalette when the student clicks on the visualizations;the latitude and longitude are given by call-out lines.A number of enhancements are planned to allowfurther manipulation of the visualizations and theirunderlying data by students. First, is the ability tocompute the average on parts of the data by sweepingout an arca. This provides a mean to convert part orall of the visualization to a scalar number, thusassisting quick comparison, summary, and calculation(for examples of student projects of this sort seeMcGee, 1995). Second, is the ability to zoom inon a portion of the visualization, so as to focus in ona selected section. For example, a student mightwant to zoom in on a single continent or the poles.Third, is the ability to look at data over time byaveraging multiple data sets of the same quality,extracting point data over time, and creatinganimations. At a minimum, annual means should beprovided for the all the data sets. Fourth, we wouldadd arithmetic operations on the data sets including

* Visualizations rendered in color can be foundon the Collaborative Visualization World Wide WebServer (http://www.covis.nwu.edu).

(J6) 50 AMERICAN MEMOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.These operations could be subjected to some semanticchecking (e.g. to ensure that only like units are addedor subtracted). The intention is to provide for flexibleanalysis of the data sets. Providing these arithmeticfunctions would allow students to calculate theamount of cloud forcing* as detailed by Ramanathanet. al (1989). Fifth, is the ability to spatiallycorrelate data sets. This would provide a means tohelp determine the relationship that holds betweentwo data sets (e.g., is one data set a linear orexponential function of another). Such patterns canhelp in understanding the underlying causality.Several means to perform such a correlation are beinginvestigated, in particular, a multi-dimensionalhistogram cr scatter plot could be created where thevalues in the two data sets provide the x and ycoordinate axes and points are plotted from the valuesat the latitude and longitude positions in the two datasets (e.g., the values at location 42°N, 88°W wouldcompose the x,y coordinates of a point). Thecorrelations are detected by the way the points cluster(e.g., in a linear correlation the points would line up).

6. USING THE GEV WITHIN THE SCIENCECLASSROOM

Studying the greenhouse effect provides anintegrated approach to science, since its understandingrelies on atmospheric chemistry (e.g., spectralcharacteristics of grcenhouse gases and theirinteractions in the environment), physics (e.g.,electro-magnetic spectrum and relating temperatureand radiation through the black-body model), biology(e.g., role of forests and plankton in carbon cycle),and earth systems science (e.g., consideration of theearth, atmosphere, and oceans as an integratedsystem). In addition, using models is essential, as isassessing their limitations. A general goal for anygreenhouse effect curriculum is helping the student tounderstand why so many uncertainties persist. TheGEV can aid inquiry in these areas by exploringspecific processes and use of models.

6.1 Learning about tadiation balance andgreenhouse effect

Using selected visualizations from the GEV avariety of topics can be explored in the classroom. Ingeneral, the suggestions are either to comparediffering data sets within the same model or tocompare the same data set visualizations in differentmodels. The following arc example investigations:

* Cloud forcing refers to the overall effect ofclouds on temperature, that is, do clouds cause a netincrease or decrease in surface temperature.

44,1"A''

Compare insolation for January and July toobserve the change over Seasons. Groundthe source of this change in the rotation ofthe earth around the sun and the earth's tiltoff the ecliptic.Deduce how insolation would differ whenearth is in different stages of theMilankovitch cycle. It might be attractivefor this variability to be incorporated intothe GEV when calculating surfacetemperature.Examine insolation, albedo, and shortwavereflection to find their relationship. Use thisto explain why the poles stay relatively coolduring their summer.Compare clear and cloudy albedos to see theimpact of clouds. In particular, examinehow the lack of the intertropical climatezone (ITCZ) affects the tropics.Compare the absorbed solar radiation withthe surface temperature in order to see theeffects of atmospheric heat transports.Observe the differing thermal inertia of oceanand land by subtracting January's surfacetemperature from July's. Explore theinteraction between land and ocean bycontrasting a El Nitio with a La Niiia year.Contrast the surface temperature between thethree models to see the effects of anatmosphere and of clouds.Look for a correlation between greenhouseeffect amount and percent.Explore the effect of increased CO2 onsurface temperature by varying the amountpresent. Note and explain which areas of theglobe are most affected.

6.2 Learning about Models through the GEV

The GEV models exemplify several importantpractices in the use of models by scientists that are ofvalue to students:

Use of multiple models to understand asingle phenomena, where each model is differentiatedby order of magnitude effects.

Importance of feedback loops (includingforcing agents) in describing effects of a change.

Use of balance to describe a complexecology. Br greenhouse effect the essential balanceis of eneigy; for a wetland the essential balance is ofwater -- in both cases the ecology is analyzed bytracing out a balance.

6.3 GEV in the classroom

During the 1994-1995 school year, we will beincluding the GEV as a new educational resource in anumber of high school classrooms in the Chicagoarea, and formatively improving its interface and

245

educational utility through learner and teacherfeedback and re-design. Earth science andenvironmental science teachers and students will bestudied in their use of this visualizatith. package, andhow it is complemented by print and video resources,in service of completing their curriculum. We willbe particularly concerned to determine what forms ofsupport are needed to guide students' use of theirphysical intuitions and prior knowledge about heat,temperature, sunlight, reflectivity, feedback, andbalance as they bear on the relationships amongradiation, atmosphere, clouds, and the electro-magnetic spectrum as used in service of understandingthe greenhouse effect. Since key conceptualrelationships in the models are defined in terms ofmathematical formula involving algebraicrelationships and new kinds of semantic units (e.g.,watts per meter squared), we will identify how therequisite knowledge for understanding theseunderlying mathematical considerations may beeffectively built up through instruction aroundexamples, when students do not have the proficienciesrequired. While section 6.1 outlines someinvestigations the GEV will enable, the relativedifficulties of such projects for high school students,and modifications of their design required for studentsuccess in their inquiries, remain to be determinedthrough this fieldwork and curriculum design withteacher guidance.

7 CONCLUSION

The international focus on greenhouse effect canserve to form a nexus for a course of study in scienceby providing a single issue that combinesfundamental material from diverse scientific areas andis of crucial importance to world wide economicpolicy. The GEV can help to explore some of thisphenomena. In particular, the GEV allows:

physical processes to be shown, discovered,and analyzed visuallyexploration via a succession of models thatisolate order of magnitude effectsstudent investigation of state-of-the-artresearch data sets

The goal is to enable science students to successfullyengage in the practices of science, rather thanmemorizing a simulacrum of its products. Wewelcome feedback and use of the GEV as it developsfrom both the scientific and educational community.

8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful for research support of the CoVisProject by the National Science Foundation Grant#MDR-9253462, by Apple Computer, Inc., ExternalResearch, by Sun Microsystems, and by ourindustrial partners Ameritech and Bellcore. We wouldalso like to thank our colleagues from the CoVis

JOINT SESSION J6 (JO) 51

Project and community of users for extendeddiscussions of these issues, and continual usefulftedback on design, rationale, and pedagogical issues.

This work and paper was enormously aided bythe generous efforts of Professor Raymond T.Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago whosuggested the models presented here, provided datasets, and whose insightful critiques are presented herenearly verbatim. Thanks also to John Horel whograciously provided a pre-print of his climate changetextbook.

9 REFERENCES

Barkstrom, B.R., 1984: The ear,h radiationbudget experiment (ERBE) data sets. [MachineReadable Data Filel. Atmospheric Sciences DivisionNASA/Langley Research Ccrter (Producer). NASAClimate Data System, Distributed Active ArchiveCcnter (Distributor).

Horel, J. and J. Geis ler, 1993: Climate change:A survey of the variations of the earth's climate.Unpublished manuscript.

Latour B., and S. Woolgar S, 1979, 1986:Laboratory life: The construction of scientific facts.

1:5

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

McGee, S., 1995:. Where is your data? A look atstudent projects in geoscience. In Proceedings of theFourth Symposium on Education at the 75th AnnualMeeting of the American Meteorological SocietyDallas, TX: American Meteorological Society.

Pea, R.D., 1993: Distributed multi-medialearning environments: The collaborativevisualization project. Communications of the ACM,36(5), 60-63.

Ramanathan, V., R.D. Cess, E.F. Harrison, P.Minnis, B.R. Barkstrom, E. Ahmad, D. Hartmann,1989: Cloud-radiative forcing and climate: Resultsfrom the earth radiation budget experiment. Science,243, 57-64.

Silver, C.S. and R.S. DeFrics, 1990: One earth,one future: Our changing global environment.Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

Greenhouse Percent for January 87

900

North

45°

Greenhouse Percent for January 8 7

North

00

13.rs45°

South

90°South

180°West

900 66.81DWest

Pementage from 0-1 -0.13

00 900

East180°East

8.54"1111111111111111111 0.65


Figure 1: Example GEV Visualization

24o

J6.13

WHERE IS YOUR DATA?A LOOK AT STUDENT PROJECTS IN GEOSCIENCE

Steven McGee

Northwestern UniversityEvanston, Illinois

1. INTRODUCTION

After eight years of science in elementary school,many students view science as a set of facts to bememorized that have little bearing to their life outsideof the classroom (Linn & Songer, 1992). At the highschool or college level, students who have successfullycompleted courses in physics, often cannot solve basic"real-world" Newtonian problems (Halloun & Hestenes,1987). In an effort to address problems such as these inthe textbook-based curricula, state agencies (CaliforniaState Board of Education, 1993), scientific organizations(Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990), and the federalgovernment (U.S. Department of Education, 1991) haveall callet: for a revamping of science education throughscience education standards that emphasize higher-ordercognitive abilities.

Unfortunately, teachers are often caught in themiddle between science standards, on the one hand andpublished curricula, on the other hand, which usuallylag far behind reform efforts. Teachers are often left witha choice between using a published textbook-basedcurriculum which docs not support thc science standardsor creating their own alternative curriculum. Because ofthe isolated nature of teaching, even teachers who aresuccessful in implementing an alternative curriculumfind it difficult to share their successful experiences withother teachers (Ruopp et. al., 1992). As a consequence,teachers may often be reinventing solutions that othershave developed before them. This makes it very difficultfor most teachers to reform their teaching practices.

With the support of the Learning ThroughCollaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project, six highschool earth science and environmental science teachershave undertaken an effort to reinvent their own curriculato inPorporate open-ended science projects (Pea, 1993).Some of the teachers are extending their textbook-basedcurriculum to include science projects, while othershave completely abandoned the textbook and are almostentirely pursuing a project-based approach. As is calledfor in many of the science standards, most of the CoVisteachers feel that project inquiry should be consistent

Corresponding author address: Steven McGee,Northwestern University, 2115 N. Campus Dr.,Evanston, IL 60208. For more information on TheCoVis Project, use Mosaic to accev the CoVis World-Wide Web Server (URL: http://www.covis.nwu.edu).

2 4

with the nature of scientific inquiry (Rutherford &Ahlgren, 1990). Therefore, most of the CoVis teachersrequire a project to contain a research question, dataanalysis that supports an investigation of the questionand conclusions based on data analysis.

The goal of this work is to begin to gauge theprogress that the CoVis teachers have made towardimplementing alternative project-enhanced or project-based curricula and to document their success atreinventing their curricula so that other teachers do nothave to start from scratch when they want to reformtheir own curricula.

2. THE STRUCTURE OF STUDENT PROJECTS

All of the CoVis teachers went through at least twoproject cycles during the 1993/1994 school year, whichis defined as the time from which a project is firstassigned until the day the project is due. Student-directedproject cycles ranged in length from three to sixteenweeks. The importance that the CoVis teachers placedin project pedagogy can be seen in their allocation oftime to classroom activities. Overall, the CoVisteachers allocated 58% of their class time to projectrelated activities (see Table 1). Textbook-based lectureand lab activities account for only 30% of overallCoVis class time. Even those teachers who areextending their textbook-based curriculum, have placedan emphasis on project activity.

In a typical project cycle, students were given aninitial period of time to explore a topic through readingreference material, through watching videos, or throughclass discussion. During this exploratory period studentswere expected to narrow their focus to a researchquestion and to decide on their project team. Thenumber of team members on a project team ranged fromone member to ten members. The average number oftcam members fell somewhere between two and threemembers.

After deciding on a research question studentstypically developed a formal research proposal that wassubmitted to the teacher. This offered an opportunity forteachers to provide feedback and guide students' projectwork. Once a proposal was accepted, students conductedtheir research and shared their results. For most of theprojects, students shared their results by submitting awrittcn report to the teacher and by giving an oralpresentation to their classmates. For the remainingprojects, students shared their results in other formats,


Classroom Activity Percent of TotalClass Time_

Project 58%

Lecture or video 13%

Lab or activity 17%

Test or review 7%

TABLE 1: Proportion of overall CoVis class time devotedto different classroom activities

such as, making a video, a poster, or a computeranimation or hypermedia document.

A central concern that the CoVis teachers haveshared at teacher meetings is the difficulty that studentshave in working with data. Research indicates, thatstudents gain very limited experience in school usingthe tools that scientists use to reason about phenomena(Pea et. al., in press). Therefore, it is no wonder thatstudents in the CoVis classes have had difficulty inusing data in their projects. The teachers reported thatstudents had difficulty in finding and selecting the rightdata for their question, in organizing and manipulatingtheir data, and in conducting systematic (eitherquantitatively or qualitatively) analyses of their data.

By analyzing the final project reports from theCoVis student projects, it is possible to gain insightinto the nature of these difficulties in such a way thatother students and teachers can benefit from theseexperiences. The projects have been categorizedaccording to the source of the data, the format of thedata, and the use to which the data was put.

3. STUDENT USE OF PROJECT DATA

Of 298 student-directed projects that were conductedacross all twelve of the CoVis classes, 231 final projectreports were obtained (78%). The remaining projectseither did not have a final report or the reports wereunavailable. An analysis of the project reports revealedthat 54% (n=125) of the projects did not incorporate anysubstantive data in their project analysis. These projectswere not considered further in this report.

3.1 Sources of data for student projects

Of the remaining 106 projects, Table 2 indicatesthe percentage of projects that acquired their data fromdifferent sources. The numbers do not sum to 100%because several projects used data from more than onesource. The Hands On category includes data collectedfrom experiments, observational measurements such aswater testing, and the construction of physical models,such as the construction of a wave tank to simulatetsunami waves. The Community Dataset categoryincludes data that was acquired directly from thescientific community, either from one of the CoV isVisualizers (see below), from internet ftp sites, fromscientists or from scientific organizations. The


Data Source Percent of Data-oriented Projects

Hands On 36%Community Dataset 35%Reference Material 36%

TABLE 2: Proportion of student projects that acquiredtheir data from different sources

Reference Material category includes data acquired fromreference material such as books, almanacs, newspapers,periodicals, etc.

The CoVis Project provides students with directaccess to the scientific community. Each high schoolhas one CoVis classroom with 6 CoVis workstations.The workstations are networked to the Internet andprovide a standard suite of Internet tools that allowsstudents to communicate with scientists via email andnews and to access datasets available at various ftp sites.

The CoVis Project has produced three visualizationenvironments with student appropriate interfaces to datafrom the scientific community. The Climate Visualizerprovides access to visualizations from a NationalMeteorological Center dataset of temperature, pressureand wind over the northern hemisphere from a 25 yearperiod (see Gordin, Polman, & Pea, in press). TheWeather Visualizer provides access to the real-timesatellite photos, weather maps, and station reports thatUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign generatesfrom the National Weather Service data (see Fishman &D'Amico, 1994). The Greenhouse Effect Visualizerprovides access to visualizations from the EarthRadiation Budget Experiment dataset, such as albedo,insolation, and outgoing radiation for the purpose ofinvestigating the earth's energy balance. (see Gordin &Pea, 1995, in this volume).

This Community Dataset category is one in whichthe CoVis Project had a direct influence on theclassroom. Without the technology that the CoVisenvironment provides it would be very difficult forstudents to gain access to datasets from the scientificcommunity. They would be limited to phone and postalmail interactions. Using the Internet and theVisualizers, students can gain easier access to datasetsfrom the scientific community.

3.2 Format of data for student projects

Table 3 indicates the percentage of projects thatused different formats. The first number in each cellrepresents the percentage of projects that received data inthat format. The number in parentheses indicates thepercentage of projects that used that format for drawingconclusions. Many of the projects transformed theinitial data they received. In the Hands On category,students for the most part recorded their data innumerical or qualitative format. In the CommunityDataset category, students were as likely to get a

24,

Graph Map Visuali-zation

Numbers Qual-itative

Photo-graph

SatelliteImage

Hands On 3% (31%) 0% (0%) 0% (0%) 77% (49%) 28% (26%) 3% (3%) 0% (0%)

Community Dataset 3% (41%) 14% (19%) 38% (14%) 41% (30%) 8% (5%) 0% (0%) 11% (I/%)

Reference Material 3% (38%) 26% (23%) 0% (0%) 67% (31%) 18% (13%) 3% (3%) 0% (0%)

Total 3% (40%) 14% (15%) 13% (5%) 67% (40%) I 20% (16%) 2% (2%) 4% (4%)

TABLE 3: Proportion of student projects using different data formats as a function of source

visualization from one of the visualizers as they were toreceive a table of numbers. Maps and satellite imageswere also prevalent in these projects. In the ReferenceMaterial category, students were most likely to get atable of numbers, but also received maps and qualitativedata. Overall, students mostly received their data innumerical format, followed by qualitative descriptions,visualizations and maps.

In many cases, the format that students ultimatelyused for drawing conclusions involved a transformationof the original data format. Such transformationsusually involved creating a graph from a table ofnumbers. In the Community Dataset category, studentsalso created maps and used the visualizations to createtables of numbers from specific points in thevisualizations which were sometimes graphed.

Overall, students were as likely to draw conclusionsfrom a table of numbers as they were to drawconclusions from a graph. A significant number ofprojects in the Community Dataset category (14%) usedvisualizations to draw conclusions through visualanalysis. However, in very few instances did studentsattempt to build a mathematical model of their data.Results were mostly based on intuitive inspection of atable of nunitbers, a graph, a map, or a visualization.We consider this an important instructional finding,since we would hope for movement toward model-basedinquiry and argumentation.

3.3 Use of data in student projeca

Table 4 indicates the percentage of projects thatmade different uses of the data. In most cases theprojects attempted to describe a cause-effect relationshipbetween two or more variables. As was mentionedearlier, most of these cause-effect relationships were notdescribed mathematically. The students mainlydeveloped qualitative and descriptive relationships.

A use that was prevalent in the Community

Dataset category and the Reference Material categorywas finding patterns. In this case, the students took onevariable and plotted it either temporally or spatially.There was no attempt made to draw a cause/effectconclusion. The students were interested in the temporalor spatial distribution of a given variable. It isinteresting to note that very few Hands On projectsattempted to find patterns. It is possible that since thestudents, in the Hands On category, collected the datathemselves and there was a relatively small amount ofdata, they had a better understanding of where thenumbers came from and they could better take advantageof the data to build relationships with other variables.Since the students do not necessarily understand the datathat they have received from the scientific communityor from reference material, it becomes an important goaljust to try to understand what, the data is telling themabout the given phenomena.

In all but one of the projects in the MakePrediction category, the students based their predictionon a mathematical extrapolation from current data. Inthe other project, the students gave a weather predictionfor the next day based on the previous weeks worth ofsatellite and temperature data. Even though they made anumerical prediction, it was not clear from the reporthow they came up with the numbers.

Although most of the projects in the MakePrediction category developed simple mathematicalmodels to create their predictions, none of them testedtheir model predictions in order to refine the model.Theretbre, there were no projects in the ReferenceMaterial and Community Dataset categories that testedtheir own models. Instead, the projects in thosecategories tested the accuracy of scientist's modelpredictions. For example, one student tested IbenBrowning's earthquake prediction model against actualearthquakes and the phases of the moon. In the HandsOn category, several projects attempted to buildphysical simulation models of physical phenomena. For

Cause/EffectRelationship

MakePrediction

TestModel

FindPatterns

Compare toNorm

Classifica-ti on

Hands On 67% 0% 23% 3% 13% 3%

Community Dataset 59% 11% 3% 30% 0% 3%

Reference 64% 10% 5% 13% 0% 3%

Total 69% 8% 11% 16% 5% 3%

TABLE 4: Proportion of types of data use in student projects as a function of data source

249JOINT SESSION J6 (J6) 55

example, one group built a wave tank to simulate theformation of a tsunami wave. Unlike the other twocategories, the collection of numerical and qualitativedata in the Hands On category was in the service of notonly testing the accuracy of the model, but alsoproviding information for refining the model insubsequent model runs.

During the course of the school year, the theme ofwater quality emerged as an important topic to theCoVis students. Most of the projects in the Hands Oncategory that collected data to compare to a norminvolved testing water quality. Students either collectedwater samples from their school drinking fountains orthey collected water from local rivers to determine howclean the water was. In some cases, students tried toinfer the effect of local conditions such as the locationof a water treatment plant on the quality of the NorthBranch of the Chicago River.

4. CONCLUSION

An analysis of the final reports from the CoVisstudent projects has provided insight into the nature ofstudents' difficulties in working with data. ( I ) Only44% of the projects used data for drawing conclusions.Many of the projects were well designed but thestudents were not able to find the appropriate datasets toconduct their research. More student-appropriate datasetsneed to be provided to extend the number of data-oriented projects that students can conduct. (2) None ofthe projects incorporated mathematical comparisonsbetween variables. Since many of the datasets that thestudents used were relatively small, it might be possibleto provide tools for doing simple correlations and t-tests. (3) Several of the projects developed simplemodels for the purpose of prediction. However, thesestudents should be encouraged to create and comparealternative models and to test the model predictions forthe purpose of refining their models. (4) Environmentalscience issues are highly motivating for high schoolstudents. By having students collect their own dataaround a highly motivating topic, students may gain abetter understanding of the relationship between the dataand the phenomena.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research has been supported in part by thcNational Science Foundation (#MDR-9253462), and theCoVis industrial partners, Ameritech and Bellcore.CoVis is grateful for hardware and/or softwarecontributions by Aldus, Apple Computer, FarallonComputing, Sony Corporation, Spyglass, Inc., and SunMicrosystems. I am grateful to my colleagues on theCoVis project and to the CoVis teachers and students.


6. REFERENCES

California State Board of Education (1990). ScienceFramewoek for California Public Schools.Sacramento, CA: California Department ofEducation.

Fishman, B., & D'Amico, L. (1994, June). Which waywill the wind blow? Networked computer tools forstudying the weather. Paper presented at themeeting of ED-MEDIA 94. Vancouver, B.C.

Gordin, D. & Pea, R. D. (1995, January). TheGreenhouse Effect Visualizer: A tool for the scienceclassroom. In Proceedings of the FourthSymposium on Education at the 75th AnnualMeeting of the American Meteorological SocietyDallas, TX: American Meteorological Society.

Gordin, D. N., Polman, J., & Pea, R. D. (in press).The Climate Visualizer: Sense-making throughscientific visualization. Journal of ScienceEducation and Technology.

Halloun, I. A., & Hestenes, D. (1985). The initialknowledge state of college physics students.American Journal of Physics, 53(11), 1043-1055.

Linn, M., & Songer, N. B. (1993). How do studentsmake sense of science? Merrill Palmer Quarterly,39(1), 47-73.

Pea, R. D. (1993). Distributed multimedia learningenvironments: The Collaborative VisualizationProject. Communications of the ACM, 36(5), 60-63.

Pea, R. D., Sipusic, M., & Allen, S. (in press). Seeingthe light on optics: Classroom-based research anddevelopment of a learning environment forconceptual change. In S. Strauss (Eds.),Development and Learning Environments: SeventhAnnual Workshop on Human DevelopmentNorwood, NJ: Ablex.

Ruopp, R., Gal, S., Drayton, B., & Pfister, M. (1992).LabNet: Toward a community of practice.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate.

Rutherford, F. J., & Ahlgren, A. (1990). Science for allAmericans: Project 2061. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

U.S. Department of Education (1991). America 2000:An education strategy. Washington, D.C.: U. S.Department of Education Washington.

J6.15 ANALYSIS AND DISPLAY OF SINGLE AND MULTIPLEDOPPLER RADAR DATA USING GEMPAK AND VIS-5D

Michael R. Nelson, Svetla Hristova-Veleva,John W. Nielsen-Gammon*, and Michael Biggerstaff

Texas A&M UniversityCollege Station, Texas

1. OVERVIEW OF GEMPAK AND VIS-5D

GEMPAK is a software packageoriginally developed at the GoddardLaboratory of the National Aeronauticand Space Administration (NASA) andnow under continued development at theNational Meteorological Center (NMC),with additional functionality contributedby Unidata (a program of the UniversityCorporation for Atmospheric Research).GEMPAK is designed to utilize surfaceweather data (from both fixed andmobile sites), rawinsonde data, griddednumerical data, satellite imagery, andlightning data. GEMPAK is distributedfree of charge to universities throughUnidata.

Vis-5D is a software package underdevelopment at the Space Science andEngineering Center at the University ofWisconsin, Madison. The packagepermits the visualization of three-dimensional gridded meteorologicalfields, using isosurfaces, two-dimensional slices, trajectories, andlooping. Vis-5D software is availablefree of charge from the University ofWisconsin.

Together, these two softwarepackages allow the university scientistt o undertake comprehensiveexplorations of gridded data sets. Thestrength of GEMPAK lies in its flexibilityand range of applications: it supportsarbitrary user-defined functions and

* Corresponding author address: JohnW. Nielsen-Gammon, MS 3150, Dept. ofMeteorology, Texas A&M University,College Station, TX 77843-3150Telephone: 409-862-2248Email: [email protected]

complete control over the plotting andappearance of the graphicalinformation. With this strength comesthe cost of relative difficulty inunderstanding and using the GEMPAKprograms. Vis-5D is almost entirelymouse-based and built for speed, and as aresult is relatively easy to learn to use.Its weaknesses are its lack of precisionand the need to specify user-definedfunctions ahead of time.

Neither package was designed toanalyze and display radar data, but thereare obvious advantages to being able todo so. With GEMPAK, one could performprecise, quantitative cross-sections ofraw fields, such as reflectivity, andderived fields, such as divergence.Streamline capabilities and time-heightcross sections are available as well. WithVis-5D, one could synthesize theordinarily vast amount of radar data intoa three-dimensional image and examinespatial relationships between featuresand airflow through the system.

This paper reports on thedevelopment of software to transformradar data into GEMPAK and Vis-5Dformats, and the use of these softwarepackages in radar research andeducation.

2. TRANSLATION SOFTWARE

Both pieces of translation softwareassume that the radar data is available ina Cartesian format known as Mudras.This format is commonly used by

National Center for AtmosphericResearch software packages forperforming multiple-Doppler analyses.Existing softwarc, such as Reorder,performs a Cressman analysis to convert

2 5 1 JOINT SESSION J6 (J6) 57

Universal format radar data, in polarcoordinates, onto a regularlyspacedCartesian grid.

GEMPAK is capable of transformingand plotting in a wide range ofprojections. To transform the Cartesianradar data onto a georeferenced grid inGempak format, we have developed theprogram Georad. Using the knownCartesian grid spacing and the latitudeand longitude of a reference grid point(normally the location of a radar), theupper right and lower left locations ofthe grid are computed and the grid isstored as a Lambert Conformal Conicprojection true at the northern andsouthern latitudes. The verticalcoordinate remains height.

The version of Vis-5D presentlyavailable to us requires a latitude-longi tude grid. In order to avoidinterpolation of data and resulting lossof information, the program Convradspeci fies a bogus grid location centeredalong the equator. As a result, the aspectratio and angles of the Cartesian grid arepreserved, but at the expense of anygeoreferencing inform ation.

Most multiple Doppler radar dataexists at only one time, or at a fewwidely-spaced times. To take advantageof the trajectory capabilities of Vis-5D,Convrad produces multiple copies of theradar grids, evenly-spaced in time, Ifthe velocities stored in the radar filesinclude storm-relative winds, this allowsthe computation of both instantaneousstorm-relative streamlines and steady -state storm-relative trajectories.

3. USES

Examples of the use of GEMPAK andVis-5D for the analysis and display ofradar data will be presented at theconference. We will include a Vis-5Dvideotape of flow visualization for anobserved mesosc ale convective system.These capabilities are used for classroominstruction, for hands-on manipulationof data in the computer laboratory, andfor research into the structure anddynamics of mesoscale convectivesystems.

(J6) 58 AMERICAN MErEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

The georeferencing capabilities ofGEMPAK are especially useful whendealing with mobile radar platforms.Observations from two different timescan easily be overlaid and compared. Anadditional grid diagnostic function,called MAX, has been added to GEMPAKfor use with airborne radar reflectivitydata. The MAX function accepts twocolocated grids as input and selects thelargest value at each grid point asoutput.

In our first classroom application ofthis capability,, the METR 452 class(Dynamics of Weather Processes) usedVis-5D during their study of squall lines.The class consisted of thirty students,who utilized our computer laboratory,the Laboratory for Meteorological DataAnalysis, which includes fourteen SGIworkstations. The students, afterhearing a discussion of squall linestructure, were walked through avisualization of the 28 May 1985 PRE-STORM squall line system. They wereshown, for example, how the location ofthe rear-inflow jet affects the intensityof the convection. They were thengiven the opportunity to examine otherfields and isosurfaces and to rotate theview to obtain different perspectives ofthe field. This gave the students a fullythree-dimensional mental model of areal-life squall line, including thealong-line variability, that would havebeen otherwise unattainable.

4. AVAILABILITY

Georad and Convrad are availablefree of charge from the Department ofMeteorology at Texas A&M University.Please email us if you would like toobtain the software.

5 . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Laboratory for MeteorologicalData Analysis was funded through theInstrumentation a n d LaboratoryImprovement program of the NationalScience Foundation, under grant DUE-9352601, and by Texas A&M University.

252

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