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Observing
Weather and Collecting Data
Integrating Meteorology and Journey North
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Time
ongoing as students make local weather observations and analyze
the impact of weather during the Journey North season
Materials
* Journey North maps
* Weather maps and links
Standards |
Overview:
As you make local observations and analyze Journey North News updates,
maps, and data, think critically about how weather influences seasonal
events.
Background
Seasonal and day-to-day changes in weather dramatically influence
the growth of plants and the timing and course of migration. Factors such
as temperatures, wind speed and direction, pressure fronts, and precipitation
can affect a migrating animal's route and timing, energy use and conservation,
and physical health. These can also affect availability of food sources,
such as plants, worms, insects and nectar. Throughout Journey North News
updates, you'll find suggestions for exploring questions about the influence
of weather on seasonal events.
Exploration:
Follow
Local Weather
- You can
set up a schoolyard weather station to track these types of local weather
phenomena.
- Gather
weather data from the schoolyard weather station, save the daily weather
maps from your newspaper, or view local online
weather maps. (Also see Tips
on Reading Weather Maps.) Use this data to help you make predictions
and look for patterns in Journey North studies.
Exploration:
Compare Journey North Maps with Weather Maps
- With any
Journey North study, pay attention to the data and maps in Journey North
News updates. Next, compare this information with weather data and maps
from the same period in the current year or past ones.
- Routinely
ask yourselves, Where have our species, plants, or other signs of
spring been observed? Are there any patterns or relationships
between weather and these seasonal events? You may want to start
simply, by looking at just one factor, such as temperatures. Eventually,
you can begin to look at a combination of factors.
Making
Connections
Here are some general questions to ask yourselves when comparing weather
maps with weekly or archived Journey North maps:
- What
patterns do we notice?
- How would
we explain them? What statements could we make?
- Do temperatures
(or wind direction or speed, air pressure, weather fronts) seem to affect
migrations or plant growth? If so, how? What's our evidence? Why do
we think that occurs?
- What
do we predict will happen next (for instance, with the direction or
pace of the migration)? Why?
Teacher
Tip: See what fourth grade teacher Dave Kust has to
say about weather and migration. |
Assessment
Departure
from
Normal Temperatures
You can find these maps here. |
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Extensions
You may also want to compare current data with maps in the Journey North
archives or with maps showing how
the temperatures depart from normal temperatures for each period of time.
(This assessment
tool provides a visual example that combines both ideas.)
National
Science Education Standards
Science
as Inquiry
- Use data
to conduct a reasonable explanation. (K-4)
- Develop
descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
(5-8)
- Think
critically and logically to make a relationship between evidence and
explanations. (5-8)
Life
Science
- Organisms
have basic needs and can survive only in environments in which their
needs can be met. (K-4)
- The behavior
of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues (such as hunger)
and by external cues (such as a change in the environment). (K-4)
Earth
Science
- Weather
changes from day to day and over the seasons. Weather can be described
by measurable quantities, such as temperature, wind direction and speed,
and precipitation. (K-4)
Geography
Standards
- How to
use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies
to acquire, process, and report information.
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