Dress for the Weather
Thu, Oct 30, 2014 12:19 PM
"Dress for the Weather" article review
"Dress for the Weather" is great! Glen and Smetana do a great job explaining the details of the activities. First of all, I really like how Glen and Smetana capitalize on current weather conditions. Students also investigate relevant weather from their area. Relevancy to the learner is very important to better support learning! Also, the activities provide opportunities for collaboration, independent work, and group discussion. I also like that the students are guided to form their own definitions of weather and climate. This would make it clearer for understanding. Glen and Smetana provide different ways to extend student investigation. Some of the extensions could be used to differentiate instruction too.
“Dress for the Weather” is adaptable to any location relevant to the students. Living in the Baltimore/Annapolis region, the lesson could easily be tailored to a Maryland location instead of Boston, Massachusetts. This makes this lesson a great resource for all teachers, regardless of location. Additionally, I think students could also do this investigation in the summer time. On a particularly warm day, the students could collect data from each sample (sand and water) as it heated outside. Then the students could actively participate in the science learning, as opposed to demonstration only. More math could then be added by having students find averages of the sand and water samples from individual student's or group's observations. I would like to see more hands on activities for the learners.