"Real weather" educators' conference: A successful formula for a 3-day weather workshop

This paper presents the results of a successful 3-day weather workshop held at a suburban Los Angeles middle school during spring of 1999. The authors discuss the goals of the conference and how well they were met, the benefits to the participants, including the relevance to California state education standards, and an assessment of participant evaluations.

The conference was held on three Saturdays at Jefferson Middle School, 8 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. 29 participants registered for the conference, representing elementary, middle, high schools and community colleges, from mostly the Los Angeles Basin, although some came from over 100 miles away. Teachers could register by mail, e-mail or on-line at the "Real Weather" website, http://www.op.net/~rae/RealWeather. Participants received conference materials, including AMS Project Atmosphere modules when completed in sessions, WeatherMaster Gold and TRAKSAT software, and CD-ROM's from the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). Also included on diskette was the California Science Content Standards for grades K-12. Participants were also eligible for L.A. Unified School District Point Credit Approval and/or 2 units of UCLA Extension credits.

Presentations included hands-on weather exercises, such as AMS Project Atmosphere modules, "Visit to an Ocean Planet", "Weather on Other Planets", "Emergency Manager's Weather Information Network", "Weather Resources", "Weather Satellites", "Building Your Own Weather Station", and a visit from KABC -TV Weathercaster, Dallas Raines. Presentations on Globe and Datastreme were also made.

Comments from participants were extremely favorable and teacher involvement in sessions was enthusiastic. Plans for future "Real Weather" conferences and a fall reunion are in the works.