Table of Contents:

1. Overview
2. Objectives
3. Materials and/or Software Required
4. Prerequisites
5. Module Description
6. National Standards Addressed
7. Assessment Techniques
8. Areas of Focus
9. Appropriate Grade Level(s)
10. Relevant Links and Related Resources

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Overview:

Students at all grade levels (ECE – 8) studied tornados and the weather over a 2-week period. Each classroom completed projects that could be presented to the public during an open house.

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Objectives:

To involve students at all grade levels in cross-curricular activities centered on the topic of tornados/weather.

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Materials:

Word processing, spreadsheet, graphing, & presentation software; weather data

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Prerequisites:

word processing, spreadsheet, graphing, & presentation software; internet searching;

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Module Description:

The unit was begun with an assembly featuring a meteorologist, Chuck Collins. Students prepared questions in advance for him to answer. Each teacher determined the type of activity to be completed in the classroom. Those activities ranged from drawing pictures with 1 sentence captions to graphing weather data to PowerPoint presentations. The unit concluded with an Open House at which parents and community members could view the work completed by the students.

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National Standards Addressed:

NETS:

• Standard 3- Technology productivity tools
• Standard 5- Technology research tools
• Standard 6- Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools

NCTM:

• Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them
• Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
• Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena

NSES:

• Standard A- develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry and understandings about scientific inquiry
• Standard D- develop an understanding of structure of the earth system, earth's history, and earth in the solar system
• Standard E- develop abilities of technological design and understandings about science and technology

NCTE:

• Standard 5- Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes
• Standard 7- Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• Standard 8- Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

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Assessment Techniques:

Classroom teachers developed assessments for their individual projects. The unit was assessed by noting attendance at the open house and by having teachers complete an evaluation form.
We experienced two major problems with this project.

• Teachers were reluctant to use new technologies for this project. Most used those with which they were most familiar. More time will need to be spent with the teachers to make them more comfortable with the new technologies.
• Because this was a short-term project, lab time became an issue. Some teachers signed up for several time periods which made it difficult for others to find available lab time. This is an issue that will need to be addressed for future projects. Possible solutions could be to make projects more long-term, split time of project by grade levels, or limit lab times for classes.

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Areas of Focus:

Earth Science- Weather

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Appropriate Grade Level(s):

ECE – 8

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Relevant Links and Related Resources:

http://www.spgs.net/CurrentProjects/TornadosWeather/oh04opening.htm

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