What’s the Weather? Lorin Pontelandolfo Tools for Visualizing Information Final Project

Target Audience Woodrow Wilson Middle School 7 th grade 99 students (between 4 classes) General Education, Basic Skills, Accelerated

Goals and Objectives Goals: Students will be able to build working models of instruments in order to collect, organize and analyze data. Objective: –Working individually, students will complete lessons in Google site (temperature and air pressure) –Working collaboratively, students will build working weather instruments, collect and analyze data and create charts and graphs

Timeline Project will take place over a 3 week period Most work will be completed at home In class instruction will encompass the following: –Explanation of unit/project (Day minutes) –Check on progress and questions (10 minutes daily) –Instrument check (Day minutes) –Lesson on how to use excel to make data table and graphs (Day minutes)

NJCCS Standards F.1 Explain the interrelationships between daily temperature, air pressure, and relative humidity data F.1 Determine the origin of local weather by exploring national and international weather maps B.1 Design investigations and use scientific instrumentation to collect, analyze, and evaluate evidence as part of building and revising models and explanations B.2 Gather, evaluate, and represent evidence using scientific tools, technologies, and computational strategies B.3 Use qualitative and quantitative evidence to develop evidence-based arguments.

Assessment You must write a 5 paragraph essay. Please follow this format: Paragraph 1- An introduction to your project Paragraph 2- A summary for how each weather instrument works. Include what YOU used to build it and how you collected data from it. Paragraph 3- A summary of the data you collected. What were the hottest temperatures? When were they? When was there the most rainfall? When was air pressure the highest? Lowest? Etc. Paragraph 4- Write an analysis of any patterns you found in your data. Is there a relationship between air pressure and rainfall? Between air pressure and temperature? Use YOUR data to support your answer. Paragraph 5- A conclusion to your project- what did you like or dislike about the project. Was there anything that worked particularly well or not well at all?

Rubric Part 1: The Weather Station_____/20 Part 2: Data Table _____/20 Part 3: Graphs_____/20 Part 4: Analysis/five paragraphs_____/25 (5 points each) Neatness & Creativity_____/15 TOTAL: _____/100

Sample Data Table and Graph

Blooms Taxonomy In this unit, students start with using the Google site to build up their knowledge of how to read a thermometer and how air pressure affects weather. There are various check points along the way to test comprehension. Students then move to the project where they apply what they have learned by making instruments, collecting data and analyzing the data to draw conclusions. Finally, students must make a weather prediction and justify their prediction.

Pedagogy Piece Gregorc’s Learning Styles Concrete Random- These learners like to experiment. This learner will enjoy making the instruments and collecting the data each day. Concrete Sequential- These learners do well with things they can touch, see, hear, taste and smell. This learner will love being outside to collect the data and picking up the instruments to gather data. Abstract Sequential- These learners like key points and details. They will enjoy making the tables and graphs as well as analyzing the data. Abstract Random- These learners like to reflect and do well in unstructured, people oriented situations. This learner will like going outside on their own schedule to collect the data. They will also like to figure out how the data supports what they have learned in class.

Cerebral Lobes Temporal Lobes- Deals with sound, speech and object recognition (Sousa, 17) Examples include: being outside for data collection watching the videos for instruction. Frontal Lobes- This is where higher-order thinking occurs and problem solving. Also this regulates the brain’s emotional system (Sousa, 17). Examples include: Analyzing the data once in tables and graphs, putting together the instruments. Occipital Lobes- Deals mostly with visual processing (Sousa, 17). Examples include: reading the weather instruments, watching the videos for instructions. Parietal Lobes-Deals with spatial orientation, calculation and reasoning (Sousa, 17) Examples include: making the excel spreadsheet, analyzing the data.

Teaching Strategies Sensory Input Visual- watching videos, investigating Google site Auditory- listening to video, teacher’s instructions, student input, outside sounds Touch- building instruments, reading instruments

Citations and Resouces Buckley, D., Miller, Z., Padilla, M. J., Thornton, K., & Wysession, M. E. (2001). Interactive science:water and atmosphere. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved from Image of sun and clouds taken from: Image of sun and rain cloud taken from: multiple-times-a-day/ Image of weather recipe card taken from: Sousa, D. (2005). How the brain learns. a classroom teacher's guide. (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc. Gregoric image taken from Paei.wikidot.com Cerbral Lobes image taken from Morphonix.com Blooms Taxonomy image taken from