This University of Wisconsin-Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) program builds classroom and web based teaching materials for middle and high school teachers (G7-12) in satellite meteorology. Leveraging against a UW-Madison undergraduate course in Satellite Meteorology, the investigators teamed with curriculum experts to develop and distribute standards based curriculum to state of Wisconsin teachers. The course benefits from the extensive satellite meteorology research and the satellite data resources at the UW-Madison CIMSS. The program has received financial support through a grant from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium and through outreach components of NOAA and NASA research projects. The ultimate goal of this program is to expand the materials and offer them nationwide.
The analysis and application of operational and research satellite data improves our understanding of the atmosphere. Environmental satellites are providing a rapidly expanding database of information on weather and climate. However, most students are not able to appreciate the wealth of information provided by these measurements. This course seeks to address this by highlighting the information available from satellite imagery and sounding data. Each module includes hands-on interactive CD-ROM and web based exercises designed to help students interpret satellite data. Lesson activities are designed to help users continue developing essential success skills such as problem solving, inquiry based research, and using technology to intepret our natural environment. The introductory material includes topics such as:
* A historical summary of remote sensing and satellite development * Current characteristics of weather satellite orbits, observations and data * A discussion of the electromagnetic spectrum, with emphasis on visible, infrared and microwave * Solar and Earth radiation and the Earth’s radiation budget * Atmospheric composition, structure and variability * Atmospheric absorption, transmission and reflection of electromagnetic spectrum * Radiative energy transfer; atmospheric windows and absorption bands * Identifying weather events in satellite images * Applying knowledge to construct remote sensing instruments * Visualization tools
These materials offer G7-12 teachers and students the opportunity to acquire proficiency in environmental satellite technologies to better understand and care for our global environment. The foundation material should lead the students to work directly with weather satellite observations. The materials provide many labs and/or web exercises that can be used in multiple classroom environments. The exercises present a wide range of case study and real time examples, such as:
* Identifying cloud types using visible and satellite imagery and using faders to make a "virtual shift" from looking at clouds from below then shifting to a satellite view of the same clouds from above. * Associating cloud type and cloud free areas with weather patterns * Scales of motion in the atmosphere, from a global view down to local scales * Studying hurricanes by locating the low level cyclonic circulation in the visible imagery and the upper level anticyclonic circulation in the infrared window imagery * Locating areas of upper tropospheric moisture, upper level storms, and jet stream locations in water vapor imagery * Studying winter snowstorms and summer thunderstorms from satellite and other observations.
Our team has developed a growing network of science teachers around Wisconsin by conducting workshops and distance learning courses in earth and space science. We have engaged middle and high school teachers in curriculum review that has specific, documented evaluation objectives to acquire the needed feedback in preparation for distribution to schools. We found many opportunities within Wisconsin (and some out-of-state) to distribute the 1st generation of the curriculum as widely as possible. We have made several improvments based on educator's feedback. Our plan is to continue to build upon our initial successes, with the ultimate goal of national and even international distribution through the investigators association with NOAA, NASA and the World Meteorological Organization.
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