Brief Description Objectives Materials and Resources Activity Description Internet Resources

• Grade Level: Upper elementary and middle school

• Subject Area: Science

Brief Description

    Students will collaborate with other schools to gather temperature data from a large number of locations. The goal is to see how the average daily temperature of a location is effected by how close you are to the equator.
Objectives

    Students will:

• Determine data needed.
• Choose participating schools to represent the data needed.
• Work collaboratively on-line with other schools to gather and interpret weather data.
• Infer the relationships between latitude and temperature.
• Predict the temperature range for a given location, based on the latitude principle.

Materials and Resources

• World map.
• Science Journals.

    In developing our lessons and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer (PC or Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

1. Special hardware requirements: Either an LCD projector or a TV Monitor hooked-up to the computer. This will allow the whole class to see the results as they sort and organize the data.
2. Special software requirements: Any operating system that includes a database/spreadsheet program with the ability to sort large amounts of data and present a report.
3. Internet access: Medium-speed (28,000 BPS via modem) or higher.

Activity Description

• Students should locate their state on a world map, followed by a discussion on weather that might include the following items:
  • Would it be warmer or colder as you move south along the same longitude?
  • What would happen if you move North? What happens as you get closer to the Equator, as you move farther away?
  • Is temperature effected by how close you are to the equator?

• Encourage students to notice the latitude numbers as they move from the North Pole towards the South Pole.
  • Can they make a prediction about the relationship of temperature and latitude?
  • Do cities located along similar latitudes, have the same weather?

• Ask students to form a hypothesis based on their prediction, and design an experiment to test their hypothesis.

• Design a spreadsheet/database that includes information such as: city, state, latitude, longitude, elevation, and average temperatures for each month.

• Locate another class via e-mail that is willing to work collaboratively with you on this project. There are listservers that you can join to post an interest in a particular subject, idea, or project. See the Internet Resources below for more on these resources.

• Gather Data
  • Each school will need to call their local weather station and ask for the 30 year average temperature data for 12 months.
  • Designate one school to assimilate all the data and share it with the others.
  • All data submitted should be in the following format: City, State, month (January - December), elevation, latitude, longitude. Each entry should be separated by a tab, to make the transition into a database easier.
  • Encourage students to get a large enough sampling of data to allow patterns to emerge. If they are having problems locating participating schools, they can write or e-mail weather stations for the information. After the data has been compiled into a database, it can be easily manipulated to test various predictions. For example: If the students hypothesis was: As the latitude decreases, the temperature increases, the following test might be appropriate: sort the data according to latitude, then view the location, temperature and latitude columns to test the hypothesis.

  In a large group with LCD screen or T.V. Monitor hook-up, guide the students in a discussion to test various hypothesis. Use the following questions to start the conversation:

  • Is temperature effected by how close you are to the equator?
  • Do cities located along similar latitudes, have the similar temperature?
  • Are there any other patterns that the students notice?
  • Are there any exceptions to the rule? How might you explain them? Any questions?

• Report all information in Science Journals.

    The process of manipulating the data to solve the problem is very important! Allow the students to figure out how to sort data, and to choose the appropriate information needed, etc.

Internet Resources

Telecommunications
• ThinkQuest Meeting Places
  [http://io.advanced.org/thinkquest/mtg_places.html]
  The ThinkQuest¬ team has put together several 'meeting places' for the contest participants to meet other participants to form Teams and share ideas.

• Teacher Link
  [http://www.cccnet.com/teacher/]
  The Teacher Link is an international community of teachers on-line. To register as a Teacher Link member, simply fill out the Teacher Link Membership Form. Once registered, you can share ideas and gain valuable insights into educational practice from others. Teacher Link members may also participate in SuccessMaker Online projects.

• (Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections
  [http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/]
  The IECC (Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections) mailing lists are provided by St. Olaf College as a free service to help teachers and classes link with partners in other countries and cultures for e-mail classroom pen-pal and project exchanges.

• Netpal Listserv
  [http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/netpal/0000.html]
  This listserv will allow classrooms to locate other classrooms who wish to collaborate and communicate via telecommunications.

• Classroom Connect's Teacher Contact Database
  [http://www.classroom.net/contact/]
  When you'd like to find other educators to do online projects with, keypal exchanges, etc., simply come here and search through Classroom Connect's Teacher Contact Database.

• Global SchoolNet Foundation
  [http://www.gsh.org/gsh/class/projsrch.htm]
  The Global Schoolhouse Projects Registry database provides a comprehensive source for Internet-based classroom projects. Anyone who visits the Global Schoolhouse can access the registry and it is an ideal way to get the word out by registering your project. Global SchoolNet FoundationÍs internet Project Registry is for busy teachers searching for appropriate on-line projects to integrate into their required coursework.

• Project Center
  [http://www.hmco.com/hmco/school/projects/index.html]
  This site, produced by Project Watch, is a good source to locate classroom projects involving the Internet. The site is updated every week. Many of the projects included in Project Watch come from Kidsphere or Classroom Connect mailing lists.

• Web66 International WWW School Registry
  [http://Web66.coled.umn.edu/schools.html]
  Web66 maintains the Internet's oldest and most comprehensive list of K12 WWW servers.

  CU-SeeMe Partners

• Global SchoolNet Foundation
  [http://www.gsn.org/gsn/cu/cuseeme.k12list.html]
  Global SchoolNet Foundation maintains a directory of K12 schools with the capability for using CU-SeeMe.

• National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Scientist-on-Tap
  [http://www.gsn.org/gsn/proj/sot.home.html]
  Scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) demonstrate the power of distance learning, by interacting with students around world, from the comfort of their own offices!

• Ask An Expert Page
  [http://njnie.dl.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/aska.html]
  New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education lists experts on-line by subject.

Back to The Climate and Weather Unit