Taking Meteorology Education to the Next Level: Enhancing Problem Solving Skills through Classroom Activities and Assignment

Each day the atmosphere provides a new scenario to meteorologists. Assessment of the scenario, swift recognition of the problems, and resolution into an accurate forecast is generally the ideal outcome. Increasingly, students are less able to assess, recognize and define the problems of an atmospheric scenario.

Following an inter-disciplinary workshop on problem solving, the authors have incorporated new methodologies to foster the self-growth of students throughout the meteorology curriculum. Specifically, we have begun to incorporate the ten-step problem solving methodology and self-assessment into class assignments and projects. The use of the problem solving methodology will assist in reducing the “compartmentalization” effect that is prevalent among our undergraduate students. This will lead to better-equipped students and graduates who will be able to investigate and solve problems throughout their careers. The self-assessment component will allow our students and graduates to continually improve their abilities in solving problems in whatever scenarios they encounter.

This paper will present our efforts after the first semester of implementation of the workshop methodologies and offer the strengths, weaknesses, and insights of this approach for use in broader meteorological education.