The Spring of 1998 marked the fourth year of Project TWISTER. Project TWISTER (Thunderstorm and Weather Interpretation with Student and Teacher Evaluation and Reporting) is an education and outreach program which provides high school science students with an overview of severe weather forecasting and behavior. After completing a classroom training program, participants have an opportunity to apply the concepts they learned in a simulated NWS forecast office environment. During the simulated forecast and warning operations, students receive guidance from volunteer NWS staff members. However, the participants are responsible for operating the equipment and making the necessary forecast and warning decisions.
During the past four years, Project TWISTER has reached a broad cross section of high school science students. In addition, we have had participation from a handful of science teachers and coordinators. Some of the students were already interested in meteorology as a college and career selection, while others were weather enthusiasts who were considering other disciplines as a profession. With Project TWISTER now having reached a state of maturity, we feel this is an appropriate time to evaluate the impact the program has had on those who participated.
During the month of June, we will develop a questionnaire and contact as many of the former participants as possible. Questions will include why participants originally joined Project TWISTER, their college and career preferences before joining the project, and how the project altered those preferences. Once all of the data is collected, we will analyze and quantify the impact Project TWISTER has had on the participants. These results will in turn be utilized as input to future enhancements and revisions to Project TWISTER.