GLOBE Weather: an NGSS-driven Middle School Curriculum

Principal Investigators: John Ristvey, Becca Hatheway, Lisa Gardiner
Funder: NASA

Short Summary:

With GLOBE Weather, middle school students explore phenomena related to weather and storms during a five-week unit to help them understand weather at local, regional, and global scales. They analyze weather data collected by schools that are a part of the GLOBE Program, and they collect their own observations of the atmosphere following GLOBE Atmosphere Protocols.

Developed to address Next Generation Science Standards, the GLOBE Weather curriculum focuses on student explorations of weather phenomena, utilizing a storyline approach within the BSCS 5E learning cycles. The curriculum focuses on analyzing and interpreting weather data and developing models to explain and document student understandings. Avenues for further explorations of weather with the GLOBE Program provide opportunities to extend learning with student research projects.