This article presents a semester-long, interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) suitable for secondary and postsecondary students enrolled in a second-semester (i.e., intermediate) meteorology course. This case-study approach builds on the research question "What atmospheric conditions lead to tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds…

We propose the formal inclusion of the K-12 education system as a critical step to achieving the National Weather Service's (NWS) vision of a Weather Ready Nation (WRN). The WRN is a NWS initiative to build resilience within the U.S. population to extreme weather, water, and climate events, and includes considerable research investments in science…

This study was grounded in the spatial computational thinking model developed by the "3D Weather" project funded by the NSF STEM+C program. The model reflects a discipline-based perspective towards computational thinking and captures the spatial nature of computational thinking in meteorology and the reliance of computational thinking on…

The Precipitating Change Project was a 5-year development, implementation, and research study of an innovative 4-week middle school curricular unit in computational weather forecasting that integrates students' learning and use of meteorology and computational thinking (CT) concepts and practices. The project produced a list of CT skills and…

A STEM education program entitled "Come rain or shine" implemented in a primary rural school in southern Greece as part of the "Diffusion of STEM (DI-STEM)" project and the results of its implementation are presented in this paper. The educational program deepened in weather education and intended to develop eight scientific…

The Fundamentals in Meteorology Inventory (FMI) concept inventory exam was recently developed to gauge understanding of fundamental meteorological concepts among introductory meteorology students. The exam was iteratively tested and refined over several years using a small sample of students. With a goal of evaluating the reliability and validity…

The non-SI unit sverdrup, named to honor Norwegian oceanographer and meteorologist Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (1888-1957), is adopted for quantifying large-scale volume transport by oceanographers, meteorologists, and atmospheric physicists. The sverdrup is used to appraise the volumetric rate of evaporation, precipitation, runoff, transport of ocean…

Background: Surprisingly little is known from a research perspective about the conceptual development of children's understanding of rainbows and rainbow formation. Yet research has shown that teachers tend to overestimate the proportion of students' correct answers in this domain. The present cross-sectional study aims to rectify this…

Research into early childhood children's understandings in science has a long history. However, few studies have drawn upon cultural-historical theory to frame their research. Mostly, what is known has come from studies which have examined individual understandings of science concepts, without reference to culture, context or the collective nature…

The "flipped classroom" pedagogical approach is used for a combined undergraduate and graduate computer programming course in meteorology. Details of how the course was flipped are discussed, as well as how student perceptions of the approach, which were gathered from qualitative feedback collected throughout the semester, evolved.…

The Köppen climatic classification system in a modified format is the most widely applied system in use today. Mapping and analysis of hundreds of arid and semiarid climate stations has made the use of the additional fourth letter in BW/BS climates essential. The addition of "s," "w," or "f" to the standard…

A sample of 43 Mississippi school counselors was surveyed regarding resources they use in career counseling, as well as resources they believe are effective in informing students about STEM careers, particularly the geosciences. Participants were asked a number of questions about their knowledge and perceptions about STEM majors and careers. The…

The African Data Initiative started as a crowd-sourced campaign to improve the teaching of statistics in African universities. The analysis of climate data provides one suitable context to illustrate ideas that lead to a radical new form of teaching. The problem within the context comes first, the technicalities are largely reduced -- mathematics…

Since 2008, automatic, multiple assessment options have been utilised in selected undergraduate meteorology courses at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee. Motivated by a desire to reduce stress among students, the assessment methodology includes examination-heavy and homework-heavy alternatives, differing by an adjustable 15% of the overall…

This paper describes a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) about air pollution and the findings resulting from its implementation by pre-service elementary teachers (PET) currently undergraduate students of the Department of Primary Education in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. The TLS focused on the relation of air…