Teaching the Weather Merit Badge: STEM Education in the Boy Scouts of America Organization

STEM education at an early age prepares youth for college and future careers in STEM fields. Not all STEM education, however, is taught in schools. Youth can be involved in many activities that generate interest in STEM subjects. The Boy Scouts of America is one organization that provides STEM education outside of formal schooling by offering merit badges in many STEM subjects including atmospheric science. The weather merit badge was introduced to the Boy Scouts of America as an elective in 1927. To earn the weather merit badge scouts must identify basic cloud types, explain fundamental weather phenomenon such as wind and rain, learn safety precautions for different types of dangerous weather, and learn about weather related careers. Scouts fulfill the requirements under the guidance of an instructor or counselor. Scouts learn about meteorology and other STEM subjects more effectively when taught by someone who is enthusiastic and has a background in the field. Teaching youth comes with challenges, but an effective instructor can spark a scout's interest in studying a science. Without a knowledgeable volunteer, this merit badge is taught by someone less interested in the weather or is not taught at all. One popular place scouts earn the weather merit badges is at merit badge pow wows hosted by local districts or councils across the country. Each fall and spring seven thousand boy scouts attend a merit badge pow wow at Brigham Young University. Scouts register for up to three merit badge classes for which an instructor helps them fulfill the requirements during two one hour classes. The weather merit badge is taught in a lecture style classroom with 20-30 scouts. Instructors can make the class most effective with the use of hands-on demonstrations, web based tools and visuals, homework assignments, and asking scouts to share personal stories and observations about the weather. Scouts become most interested in weather when a knowledgeable instructors uses real, applicable examples of weather to help scouts fulfill the requirements and see how weather might apply to their other interests. While it is difficult to track how the weather merit badge has influenced individual scout's interest in STEM subjects, most feedback has been positive with scouts commenting that they had “no idea that learning about weather was so cool.”