YOUTH INITIATIVE HIGH SCHOOL
Waldorf Initiative in Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA
COURSES AND CLASSES
Meteorology and Climate
11th Grade Main Lesson
Instructor: Jacob Hundt
September 5-22, 2006
We do not live on the Earth. Rather, we live in it. Much like fish living in seawater or worms and insects living in the soil, we live submerged in a vast ocean of air. Our bodies are surrounded both inside and out by the atmosphere. Our lives and livelihoods largely depend on the complex patterns and currents that stir and shape the gaseous medium in which we live. The goal of this block, then, is to explore the dimensions and behavior of our airy home. Starting from an account of the basic gases and other elements that make up the atmosphere, we will proceed to add layer after layer of complexity to this picture, until we finally reach the massive and difficult to predict system of phenomena we know as the weather.
Along the way, we will carefully observe the weather phenomena occurring outside of our doors, using both meteorological instruments such as thermometers, barometers, and anemometers and our primary senses. On the basis of direct observations and some basic introductory information, the class will attempt to reach conclusions about climate and weather phenomena through a process of collective scientific reasoning. We will make a field trip to visit the Weather Service station on Grandad’s Bluff above La Crosse to get a look at some of the modern approaches to predicting and describing the weather, but we will also examine some of the traditional folk wisdom about the weather to see how predictions can be made using clues that are easily accessible to all.
Class Outline:
Tues. Sept. 5: Observation and review—common cloud forms, common local phenomena
Instruments: eyes, ears, nose, and skin
Weds. Sept. 6: Gases and layers of the atmosphere
Instrument: the barometer
Thurs. Sept. 7: Solar radiation and heat; Electromagnetic Radiation
Instrument: the thermometer
Fri. Sept. 8: Seasons and latitude; the tilted globe
Mon. Sept. 11: Global wind and weather patterns; the Coriolis effect
Instrument: the anemometer
Tues. Sept. 12: Atmospheric pressure, fronts
Weds. Sept. 13: Water, Humidity and Precipitation
Instrument: rain gauge
Thurs. Sept. 14: Ocean currents and mountain ranges, major climatic zones
Fri. Sept. 15: Storms: hurricanes, tornadoes, Nor’easters, and Alberta clippers
Mon. Sept. 18: Folk meteorology
Tues. Sept. 19: Global climate change: from Ice Age to Greenhouse
Weds. Sept. 20: Climate change and human history
Thurs. Sept. 21: La Crosse Weather Service Field Trip
Fri. Sept. 22: Catch-up
Goals and Expectations
A. Students in this class are expected to be present, attentive, and engaged. Students should plan on keeping careful notes during class discussions, as there will be several definition and short essay quizzes during the block. Hopefully, by the end of the class students will be able to define a handful of critical meteorological terms and to explain how the basic meteorological instruments work. They should also be able to comfortably answer common questions related to climate and weather, such as:
1. Why is it colder at the poles and hotter at the equator?
2. Why is it cold in the winter?
3. Why do weather patterns in Wisconsin move from west to east?
4. If heat rises, why are mountain tops cold?
5. If cold sinks, why does ice float on water?
6. What is heat anyway?
7. What causes tornadoes and hurricanes?
8. Why does land near Lake Michigan heat up and cool down slower than areas farther inland?
9. Why is the sky blue?
10. What exactly is a “mackerel sky”?
B. As a final project, students will be expected to produce either a main lesson book or a poster illustrating concepts explored in the class in beautiful and accurate graphic form. At minimum, these posters or main lesson books should cover the following topics:
1. The major clouds forms, based on direct observation if possible
2. The chemical composition of the atmosphere
3. The vertical structure of the atmosphere
4. The tilt of the Earth’s axis and its relation to the seasons
5. The climatic differences between the Earth’s latitudes
4. The prevailing global wind patterns
5. The basic processes of heating and cooling (radiation, convection, conduction, etc.)
6. Diagrams explaining at least 2 of the following: thermometer, barometer, anemometer, rain gauge, weather satellite, doppler radar
7. Diagrams explaining at least 1 of the following: tornadoes, hurricanes, monsoons, lightning, El Nino, the “greenhouse effect.”
C. Finally, throughout the block, students will be expected to keep a daily journal of basic weather observations. These should be made in roughly the same place and time each day and should include at least the following: types of clouds and their location in the sky, the wind direction and relative velocity, any precipitation occurring at the time, and the temperature. (I will provide a thermometer if you don’t have one at home.) The basic idea behind these journals is to spend some brief time each day observing the weather and gain a picture of the weather across our region. Hopefully these observations will serve to stimulate our class discussions. The journals may be included in the student’s main lesson book or may be handed in separately at the end of the block.
All assignments will be due at the end of class on Friday, Sept. 22, the last day of the block.