Also remind students to keep notes on any hypothesis formed, questions, thoughts, etc. Focus the early journal observations into more formal observations once the actual activity begins. Nebraska weather maps can be downloaded from the net or can be obtained from newspaper or possibly from your local weather service. Weather station model plots should be discussed at this time so that students can recognize temperature, wind direction, and cloud cover. Once the basic concepts have been developed, students can begin to utilize the data that has been collected.
Students can now begin to look for patterns in their data and the data obtained from other schools.
This should be supplemented with weather maps obtained from newspapers and the internet for the corresponding time frame. This will lead to the development of a hypothesis based on their data. Have students compare their data with at least five other schools from across the state and compare this data to data obtained from the weather service. Discuss accuracy and precision. Have students break into groups and look at temperature, wind and cloud cover from the data observations both locally and statewide for a given amount of time and have them compare and contrast.