Students can also use the visualizations to explore specific hypotheses. Using temperature maps, students might investigate whether schools closer to the Equator have warmer temperatures. They may find that this is true, in general, but they may also discover interesting exceptions that can lead to the study of environmental factors influencing temperature. Traditional science instruction seldom asks students to visualize changes in the data over time. Yet if students are to understand global circulation patterns or the rhythms of seasonal change, they need to visualize changes over time in the patterns of the environmental data.
Students can run the movie and observe changes over time.
The movies display a series of frames composed of dot maps or contour maps. For careful examination of changes, the movies can be single-stepped to show one frame at a time. Students also can assemble any collection of dot maps or contour maps into a slide show with explanatory captions and text. Comparing Variables Students may sometimes want to compare the spatial pattern of two variables. For example, suppose a student was curious about the relationship between precipitation and vegetation in South Asia.