A convenient place to begin discussing overall wind patterns on Earth is to explain coastal winds. If you live near the coast (that would be near an ocean) or even near a large lake, you probably know the general pattern of winds there. During the day, breezes tend to blow from the water in toward the land, and at night, this tends to reverse,…

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. The formative assessment probe in this month's issue can be used as an initial elicitation before students are introduced to the formal concepts of weathering and erosion.

This paper is an examination of a teacher professional development program in northeast Louisiana, that provided 30 teachers and their students with the technology, skills, and content knowledge to collect data and explore weather trends. Data were collected from both continuous monitoring weather stations and simple school-based weather stations…

The "Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide 2.0" continues Project WET's dedication to 21st-century, cutting-edge water education. Now in full color, Guide 2.0 offers new activities on topics such as National Parks and storm water, fully revised and updated activities from the original Guide and the very best activities gathered from all of…

Introduces Wilson A. Bentley, who studied precipitation. Discusses Bentley's method for measuring the number, size, and shape of raindrops and determining the rate of rainfall. Lists required materials and explains the procedure for students and teachers. Provides scientific background on condensation and precipitation. (YDS)

Describes seasonal activities that can be used to study the sedimentation process. (ZWH)

Presents ideas on the use of rainy weather for activities in the earth, life, and physical sciences. Topics include formation and collision of raindrops, amount and distribution of rain, shedding of water by plants, mapping puddles and potholes, rainbow formation, stalking storms online, lightning, and comparing particles in the air before and…

Undergraduate students compared Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) estimates of storm total precipitation to measurements from a network of 20 rain gauges. Student researchers gained valuable experience in field data collection, global positioning systems (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), Internet data access and downloading,…

Introduces activities published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that can be used to explain the physical properties of a thunderstorm. Activities include cloud formation and the first step of thunderstorm development, cycle of a thunderstorm, the nature of lightning, ice in a thunderstorm, and tornado warning. Lists…

Provides a list of sources for weather information. (CP)

Discusses use of local newspaper weather maps (and related weather information) to create activities for the science classroom. Basic weather vocabulary and weather patterns are also discussed. (JM)

Suggests a number of ways in which Federal Aviation Agency weather report printouts can be used in teaching the weather section of meteorology. These weather sequence reports can be obtained free of charge at most major airports. (JR)