Using meteorological data to teach teachers about inference: An adaptation of existing programs

The publication of the National Science Education Standards has led to the development of the Louisiana Science Framework, a guide for curriculum development that will help students in the State become lifelong learners and productive citizens in the 21st century. The Framework contains content standards in five strands: Science as Inquiry, Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Science and the Environment. Each strand in turn lists benchmarks for students at grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Similar efforts were done in mathematics. To coordinate the achievement of these benchmarks, the Louisiana Systemic Initiatives Program and the Louisiana Department of Education have formed the Developing Educational Excellence and Proficiency in Science and in Mathematics (DEEP in Science and DEEP in Mathematics) committees, a portion of whose jobs were aligning standards-based curricula, instruction, and assessment.

During this year, facilitators are being trained to help teachers use the DEEP in Science/Mathematics curricula. One of the training workshops for the facilitators focused on data analysis methods and the use of data to make inferences. Meteorological data are plentiful and easily accessible and offer students and teachers a view of phenomena with which they all have experience. Activities from Project Atmosphere, the Maury Project, and the DataStreme Project were adapted for the workshop, which culminated in the participants making a weather forecast. The workshop is reviewed and lessons learned from the experience are discussed.