Laying the groundwork for understanding of climate models

For students to understand how climate models are developed, they need to understand how to interpret data. The author has students learn how to organize and analyze data by using publicly ... See More

For students to understand how climate models are developed, they need to understand how to interpret data. The author has students learn how to organize and analyze data by using publicly available data to construct their own graphs. By using spreadsheets, they can make more concise and well ordered graphs. In turn, they can more readily identify patterns because their scale will be standardized. I especially liked the author's extension to compare local data with global data. This is a solid set of lessons that will prepare students to analyze larger data sets in the future whether that be junior high or high school.

Lesson mixing math, science, and technology

This article provides what will turn out to be several lessons on teaching students how to use spreadsheets to graph data for analysis. It is a time consuming lesson, however, it does teach ... See More

This article provides what will turn out to be several lessons on teaching students how to use spreadsheets to graph data for analysis. It is a time consuming lesson, however, it does teach students useful skills in how to graph on a computer and once they know how to do that, the lessons will go more quickly. Once students can graph data from the spreadsheet, now they can create their OWN graphs instead of passively reading textbook information. This lesson would be good at any level 4th or 5th grade and up to learn how to use spreadsheets to create graphs and/or how to analyze data from spreadsheets or online databases. I especially like the authors suggestion of work groups instead of individuals to allow for social construction of meaning for the data, I do this a lot, especially when I am introducing a complex topic where "two heads are better than one". Good article!