Sparking K-12 Student Interest in Meteorology and STEM Careers by Utilizing Real Time and Archival Weather Data

Having visited many K-12 schools over the years, the author has seen students’ excitement during presentations, whether it be a hands-on radiosonde demonstration, a PowerPoint show on a variety of weather topics, or a video of the launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). Using near real time radar and satellite data of a local event, such as the Cape Cod tornadoes that occurred during the midday hours of July 23, 2019, piques the students’ science interest in general and, in several cases, meteorology in particular.

While interest in citizen science is not new, dating back to colonial America when George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin kept weather observations, there has been a re-emergence over the last several years. People of all ages have volunteered to become weather spotters for the National Weather Service (NWS), with students as young as 16 years of age providing ground truth reports to the NWS Boston/Norton office’s SKYWARN program. Science and meteorological research has blossomed from elementary through high school levels. Many students participate in science fairs, while some high school students publish and present their results at local and national conferences.

Interest in meteorology continues to grow by leaps and bounds, thanks to local, regional and national television stations. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter to name a few, provide a venue for anyone to share their weather data and reports. Private and public meteorological organizations have developed live and virtual programs to feed this interest, whether live webinars or sharing data via smartphone applications. Meteorological organizations collect this data to use in research and real time weather forecast operations.

This presentation will describe the variety of weather programs in which students interested in meteorology can participate. Some of these organized groups include summer weather camps and workshops geared toward middle and high school students, school science competitions that include a meteorology event, and weather programs that collect data for use by a wide variety of local public service and private companies.