This article describes how a farm-based class in the Great Lakes region investigated how plants and animals prepare for winter. Two groups of children, ranging in ages from three to five years old, had a farm, pasture, gardens, forest, and a pond available for exploration. A low teacher-to-child ratio was maintained, with one teacher to…

Having high-quality early childhood education programs that prepare children for success in school and later years continues to be an ever increasing national priority. While the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") do not provide standards for preschool, there are ample opportunities to use the Standards as a guide to…

The Met Office has a long history of weather forecasting, creating tailored weather forecasts for customers across the world. Based in Exeter, the Met Office is also home to the Met Office Hadley Centre, a world-leading centre for the study of climate change and its potential impacts. Climate information from the Met Office Hadley Centre is used…

You'll gain plenty of weather resources from this month's issue (temperature concepts, weather instruments, the water cycle/evaporation). You can use that information with these outdoor seasonal connections.

The SATELLITES program uses geospatial technologies to study surface temperatures of Earth's materials, such as sand, soil, grass, and water. Data are collected using Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) protocols, which are then used in research projects that are a part of the International Polar Year (IPY).…

A tornado is a rotating, funnel-shaped column of air, which extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. The winds of a tornado can reach up to 480 km per hour. This is about five times faster than a car driving on a highway. Tornadoes can be almost invisible until they pick up dust and debris. This article describes an activity that stimulates…

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

Presents a brief introduction of our atmosphere, a guide to reading and interpreting weather maps, and a set of activities to facilitate teachers in helping to enhance student understanding of the Earth's atmosphere. (ZWH)

Describes how the study of a hurricane can be used to provide integrated basic mechanics in a first-year college course in engineering mechanics. Presents models that predict wind speed given surface eye pressure and several radial dimensions of the storm and calculate total kinetic energy once the wind speed is determined. (ZWH)

Scientists have associated the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon with extreme climate events such as flooding in California, droughts in Australia, fires in Indonesia, and increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean. The popular media is constantly attributing individual storms to the ENSO phenomenon. The reality is that a…

This article describes one fifth grade's participation in in NASA's S'COOL (Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) Project, making cloud observations, reporting them online, exploring weather concepts, and gleaning some of the things involved in authentic scientific research. S?COOL is part of a real scientific study of the effect of clouds on…

Suggests using a vortex generator to produce tornados in the classroom. Instructions for making the generator and for producing the tornado are provided. (JN)

Described is how an amateur weather observer measures and records temperature and precipitation at a well-equipped, backyard weather station. Directions for building an instrument shelter and a description of the instruments needed for measuring temperature and precipitation are included. (KR)

Although weather, including its role in the water cycle, is included in most elementary science programs, any further examination of raindrops and snowflakes is rare. Together rain and snow make up most of the precipitation that replenishes Earth's life-sustaining fresh water supply. When viewed individually, raindrops and snowflakes are quite…

Of this series of Science Readers, Books I, II, and III are adapted to secondary grades comprising pupils who are in their third and fourth years of school work. Both the reading and the subject matter of Books IV, V, and VI are suitable for grammar grades. At the end of each of the first three volumes is a short summary of the lesson. This may…