weather station
instruments (See Resources for ideas on
how to build your own) - anemometer, psychrometer/hygrometer or cobalt chloride
paper, thermometer, rain gauge
glue/tape
aquarium-style
‘strip’ thermometers for surface temperatures
construction
paper
scissors
poster/foam
board for weather report or picture board
journals
pencils/pens
cameras (digital
and/or instant)
Getting
started
Start by gathering
today’s weather readings and recording them in journals or on a central
chart. Gather information about surface temperatures of objects (chairs, picnic
tables, telephone poles) and temperatures of local water sources (swimming
pools, garden hoses). Also get "weather" readings indoors. You might
want to get a friend to help.
Have kids compare
the answers that they get. Compare your readings with that of a national/local
weather website and/or other personal weather stations
Take pictures
of the weather conditions (clouds/sun/rain) to illustrate the journal entries.
Look at satellite
pictures of the area and try to predict the weather
What next
Creation
and invention:
Write a weather
forecast/update using your data and predictions, and/or forecast information
from the web or newspaper.
Create a display
of weather pictures taken yourselves or of interesting weather phenomena from
the web.
Collect data
over days/weeks and use a spreadsheet program to make colorful charts and
graphs.
Discussion:
How did scales
affect your readings and those of others?
How accurate
are your instruments compared with official weather stations?
Why do different
people get different readings? Why do readings vary around the city?
Why do different
areas of the country have different weather, i.e. what affects weather?
Field
trip possibilities:
local
weather station (bring your homemade instruments to measure for yourself)
