In the context of introductory courses in physical geography and meteorology, it is common around February 2 for curiosity to arise among students regarding the veracity of "Groundhog Day" predictions. Historically, most instructors' immediate response to such inquiries has been a definitive "NO," emphasizing the impossibility…

The basics of climate must be understood to have a climate literate populace. Understanding climatic change is a wicked problem. This work identifies three foundational content challenges to climate and climate change education, discusses them thoroughly, and offers graphics and conceptual models to address this content in the classroom. The three…

Natural disasters, like hurricanes, are great forces that enter and alter people's lives as well as their perceptions of reality. This article offers a model for community education events based on history, culture, and lore using the centennial of the Great October Storm of 1893 in Louisiana as a case study.

This theoretical article proposes using statewide weather-observing networks (Mesonets) to support data-intensive, issue-based teaching of atmospheric topics in middle and high school science. It is argued that the incorporation of this new technology and its affordances into the school curriculum can drastically change the ways that atmospheric…

This paper reports on insights gained from incorporating dance improvisation into a broader early years environmental education ethnographic research project. Findings are reported from a two-day workshop where a dancer was invited to work with young children to attune to the weather through their bodies. In these workshops, the practice of dance…

There are arguably advantages to adopting a cross-curricular approach to planning, teaching and learning. This approach often works well for incorporating scientific skills and the wider perspectives of geography, technology and maths. It can help children to develop and consolidate their understanding through practical application and gives them…

The devastating wildfires that erupted in Southern California in early January 2025 were historic in scale and impact, and interrupted the education of more than 725,000 students. There was a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, including students with disabilities, Latino and multilingual learners, and the socio-economically…

Thundercloud charge separation, or the process by which the bottom portion of a cloud gathers charge and the top portion of the cloud gathers the opposite charge, is still not thoroughly understood. Whatever the mechanism, though, a charge separation definitely exists and can lead to electrostatic discharge via cloud-to-cloud lightning and…

Drought is a major environmental stress factor that affects the growth and development of plants. All plants have to maintain the reactive oxygen species within certain levels for normal cellular homeostasis by means of their antioxidant systems, which can be classified as enzymatic and non-enzymatic. Plants under drought stress generate an excess…

Early Childhood Education in general, and Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in particular, have dominantly relied on an ontological framework that privileges children's agency. This paper challenges this dominant narrative by attuning to the everyday ways in which children are moved by the weather within a multitude of weather…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radios (NWRs) can be used by education agencies before, during, and after an emergency. The information collected through the NWR may be used to determine which annexes (whether functional or threat- or hazard-specific) should be activated. Furthermore, NWRs may be used to receive…

Cloud cover created fog and many days of low visibility. With surprisingly no wind for weeks on end, water droplets in the fog froze on impact with tree branches, poles, doors--any stable object, creating a magical display of rime ice, which is heavier and denser than hoarfrost. The picturesque result made the month seem so much less dreary,…

The goal of this work is to build a low cost pedagogical device able to improve the comprehension of weather phenomena for African students in particular and in general for students across the world. This experimental and didactic device can be seen as an easy teaching tool to measure meteorological and climatic data. This structure is called a…

Although severe weather has the potential to significantly impact people and the environment, it also presents unique opportunities to teach students about different weather phenomena and how to prepare. When our community was anticipating the hit of Hurricane Matthew, this was a great opportunity for students to become meteorologists and…

On April 13, 2019, an EF3 tornado demolished the traditional Caddo grass house and the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site museum with approximately 80 people inside. This occurred on Caddo Days, an annual event designed for Caddo people to share their culture with the surrounding community. In July 2019, survivors, community members, and Caddo…