How to Teach GLOBE Weather During At-Home Learning

 

Modifying GLOBE Weather Lessons

What type of instruction are you doing?

During this time of uncertainty due to COVID-19 and its impacts on the remainder of the school year, we have created a list of ideas to help you teach GLOBE Weather during at-home learning. Even though this curriculum was not created to be taught online, it can be adapted for this situation and serve as an excellent resource for you and your students.

How you modify GLOBE Weather will depend on the type of instruction that you are doing. See the section below that fits with your current situation: (1) teaching with live broadcasts, (2) teaching with recorded lessons and independent student work online, or (3) teaching without access to the Internet.

Watch the short video below for an overview of how GLOBE Weather can be adapted for at-home learning.

Ideas if you are able to do live broadcasts with students:

Ideas if you are able to record lessons or have students work online independently:

  • Assign students to watch the Videos and Demonstrations (see list above).
  • Assign students to do the simulations (see list above).
    • In addition, have students explore the Smithsonian Weather Lab (interactive models for students), during Learning Sequence 2.
  • List of potential websites or applications to assist with recording instructions:
    • Near Pod (can record yourself teaching and easily upload to Google Classroom), can also do quiz questions and testing
    • Ed Puzzle (syncing questions to videos)
    • Screencastify
  • Encourage your students to record weather data or use the GLOBE Observer App to collect cloud observations if it is safe to go outside where they live.

Ideas for students with no access to the Internet or digital resources

  • Print out activity sheets for parents/students to pick up.
    • Students can do Lesson 1 using a reading or printed photos about the Colorado storm instead of the video.
    • Any of our lessons that use the I2 strategy (What I See and What It Means) work really well as take-home worksheets.
    • Lesson 3 (pdf, pages 11-13)
    • Lesson 8 (pdf)
    • Lesson 10 (pdf)
  • A few of our lessons have Interactive Readings that can be done at home.
  • Lesson 11(pdf) should be able to be done without the links if enough scaffolding is done to make sure students have enough understanding to draw conclusions about the Colorado Storm.
  • Lesson 13 (pdf) should be able to be done if the World Average Temperature graphic is printed in color and a copy of the GLOBE Temperature and Latitude Data Cards are provided. Students may need to use slightly different materials and a family member to help with Step 2: Observe energy angles.
  • Skip Step 1 of Lesson 15 (pdf). Students may need to use slightly different materials and a family member for Step 2. Some substitution ideas for the balloon and sharpie: a basketball and chalk; a volleyball and watercolor and paintbrush; a rubber ball and dry eraser marker.
  • Cloud observations outside (Lesson 2), or observing clouds out a window if it is not safe to be outside.
  • Print and provide some supplemental GLOBE Activities and Data Sheets that can be done at home:

GLOBE Weather Student Activity Sheets in Google Classroom

Created in Google Slides, these versions of the student activity sheets are designed to be used with online learning management systems, like Google Classroom. Students use Google Drawings to draw their models digitally. Check out the Digital Student Activity Sheet Guide for more instructions on how to use these activity sheets. Make sure to log into your Google account before copying any of the sheets to your drive.

To copy all files at once into your Google Drive:

  1. Make sure you are signed into your Google Account
  2. Navigate to the Full Curriculum folder.
  3. Select all files, right-click, and select Make a Copy. This will copy all files into your own Google Drive.
  4. Then assign the worksheets to your students in Google Classroom or another compatible learning management system.

To copy individual files into your Google Drive:

  1. Make sure you are signed into your Google Account
  2. Select the files you want to copy (use the links in the Digital Student Activity Sheet Guide or navigate to a lesson using the Curriculum's Table of Contents).
  3. Right-click and select Make a Copy. This will copy all files into your own Google Drive.
  4. Then assign the worksheets to your students in Google Classroom or another compatible learning management system.

How to incorporate other GLOBE Weather strategies

Group work and discussion

  • Use Breakout Rooms in Zoom during lessons in which students work in groups.
  • Use discussion boards within Google Classroom or your preferred learning management system.
  • Encourage your students to have discussions with their family members about weather.
    • Anchor example: Have students interview someone about a storm they experienced.

Driving Question Board

  • A shared Google Doc where students can add their questions
  • A digital sticky note board or Padlet
  • Students should be able to access this throughout the curriculum.

Model Idea Tracker

  • A shared Google Doc that you can add to as new ideas are agreed upon. Students should be able to access this throughout the curriculum.
  • A digital sticky note board or Padlet would also be great to use for the Model Idea Tracker. 

Consensus Models

GLOBE Protocols and Connections

Additional Resources you might find helpful

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Major funding for the GLOBE Program and the GLOBE Weather instructional unit comes from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The GLOBE Weather curriculum was supported by NASA under award #NNX17AD75G.

This website is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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