In this lesson, students practice meteorology for a day. Students work in pairs or groups to research and present a weather report for a city somewhere in the country. Students present their reports to the class using Microsoft Office PowerPoint. For variety, assign cities with different climates.
"Meteorologist" Can you define this word? A meteorologist is a scientist who studies the weather and predicts weather conditions.What kinds of information or data does a meteorologist use to give accurate weather forecasts? What kind of tools do meteorologists use to help them predict accurately?
Why are weather forecasts important? Name some kinds of work for which weather forecasts might be essential. Name some activities or situations in which weather forecasts can be useful.
Have you ever wanted to be a meteorologist? Now is your chance! In this activity, you will research the weather conditions for a specific city, use your data to prepare a weather forecast for people living there, and present your report to the class.
Main activity
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Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office PowerPoint
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What to do
Research and present a weather report
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Read the Student directions and make sure you understand the process you will follow.
In the Find Weather for search box, type in the name of the city you are researching
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Gather data for your weather report. Be sure to include:
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Current conditions
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Temperature
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Humidity
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Wind
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Precipitation
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Current Doppler image
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5-day forecast
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For the last part of your forecast, include a paragraph on how you think the weather will affect people in this city. Is there anything in the forecast that might affect people's daily routines?
6.
Open the Office PowerPoint Weather forecast template. Use this template to enter all the data you collected, create your weather forecast and present it to the class.
Conclusion
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Have students present their reports to the class as live meteorologists broadcasting from a local TV station.
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Assess students on:
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Their research skills.
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How accurately they collected data.
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Their participation and performance in the class presentation.
Students can research other types of data meteorologists use when creating weather reports. They can watch a television news weather forecast or look to see what other kinds of weather data they can find on the Internet, and then add these to their reports.
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Have students chart the weather for their city or their hometown over time, and look for trends, and practice making their own forecasts.
