Welcome! The lessons on this website were created as a part of the Meteorological Education and Secondary-school Outreach (MESO) program. As we created these lessons, we had in mind the typical high school science student, who has had some exposure to the basic concepts of mathematics, earth science, chemistry, and physics, but who is not necessarily far advanced in these areas. Students at many different levels may find these lessons useful. We have tried to make the lessons self-contained, so that pre-high school students who are motivated may be able to work through them. We have also tried to include some advanced topics, which are linked within the lessons. These may be suitable jumping-off points for more challenging independent studies.
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Lesson plans, activities, and assessments These online modules can be integrated into the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. But, we realize that teachers are extremely busy and may be unlikely to adopt new materials/resources unless it is clear how they can be integrated into their existing courses. With this in mind, a variety of lesson plans, activities, and assessments have been designed to accompany the modules. These supplemental resources are provided as Microsoft Word documents (so that teachers may modify them as desired). The following materials represent the time and effort of Wendy Edwards, Ken Nagel, and Ann Spencer, who are public high school teachers in Wake County, North Carolina. Supplemental materials for Weather Systems Suggested Prompts for Student Writing Assignments
Supplemental materials for Thunderstorms Suggested Prompts for Student Writing Assignments
Supplemental materials for Hurricanes Suggested Prompts for Student Writing Assignments
Supplemental materials for Winter Weather Suggested Prompts for Student Writing Assignments
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Links to related websites that you may wish to visit If you would like to look at current meteorological data, including weather observations, satellite images, radar images, and computer forecasts, a great place to start is the Real-Time Weather Data page, maintained by the Research Applications Program (RAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/ The State Climate Office (SCO) of North Carolina is the primary source for NC weather and climate information. Their website offers a wealth of information, historical data, a glossary, and even an "Ask a Meteorologist" resource. http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/ Note: the SCO staff also is happy to give presentations on weather and climate to classes and groups in North Carolina. The following are links to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about several popular meteorological topics: FAQ on severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/ FAQ on hurricanes from the Hurricane Research Division http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html If you are seeking images or historical data for significant weather episodes, an excellent resource is the Severe and Hazardous Weather website, maintained by faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://severewx.atmos.uiuc.edu/ If you are interested in careers in atmospheric science, there is a great deal of information available online from the American Meteorological Society (AMS). http://www.ametsoc.org/ If you like MESO's lessons and would like to try some more advanced meteorological instruction online, you might try the web modules that were created by the Cooperative program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET). Their lessons are designed for professional meteorologists, and some are very challenging. http://www.comet.ucar.edu/ |