Evaluation of Real-Time Weather Map Discussions in the Middle School Classroom A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts By Vanessa Myers May 2009 Thesis written by Vanessa Myers B.S., Valparaiso University M.A., Kent State University, 2009 Approved by Dr. Scott Sheridan, Advisor Dr. Jay Lee, Chair, Department of Geography Dr. Timothy Moerland, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………..v List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………..vi Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………vii Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………….…………….1 2 Literature Review………………………………………………………………….4 2.1 Educational Learning Theory………………………………………...……...4 2.1.1 Inquiry Based Learning……...…………………….............……..10 2.2 History of Weather Maps………………………………...............................13 2.3 Children’s Spatial Ability…………………………………………………..15 2.4 Education Content Standards…………………………………...…………..21 3 Methodology………………………………………………………………..…..25 3.1 Implementation……………………………………………………………..26 3.1.1 Classroom Descriptions………………………………………….28 3.2 Background Surveys and Consent Forms…………………………………..31 3.2.1 Design Changes………………………………………………….31 3.2.2 Implementation…………………………………………………..32 3.3 Pre- and Post- Assessments………………………………………………...32 3.3.1 Implementation…………………………………………………..33 3.3.2 Design Changes………………………………………………….34 3.4 Teacher Feedback…………………………………………………………..35 3.5 Analysis of Data………………………………………………………….....36 3.5.1 Creating a Rubric………………………………………………...36 3.5.2 Data Analysis for Background Surveys………………………….36 3.5.3 Data Analysis for Assessments…………………………………..37 4 Results…………………………………………………………………………..39 4.1 Background Survey…………………………………………………………39 4.1.1 Interest Section…………………………………………………...39 4.1.2 Geographic Knowledge Section…………………………………43 iii 4.2 Pre- and Post- Assessment Comparison……………………………………51 4.2.1 Overall Scores…………………………………………………....51 4.2.2 Results on Front-Related Questions……………………………...52 4.2.3 Results on Pressure-Related Questions…………………………..56 4.2.4 Results on Wind and Movement-Related Questions…………….61 4.3 Teacher Feedback………………….……………………………………….63 5 Discussion………………………………………………………………………66 5.1 Overall Assessment Results………………………………………………...66 5.2 Specific Concepts Within the Assessment………………………………….70 5.3 Limitations………………………………………………………………….72 6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...79 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..83 Appendix A Discussion Sheet…………………………..……………………………………87 B Background Survey……………………………………………………………..89 C Consent Forms………………………………………………………………...102 D Assessments…………………………………………………………………...105 E Assessment Grading Rubric…………………………………………………...115 iv LIST OF FIGURES 3.1 Image of website created for teachers……………………………………………27 3.2 Flow chart of divisions…………………………………………………………...27 v LIST OF TABLES 3.1 School and classroom information for all participants………………………….29 4.1 Percentage of responses to Background Survey Questions……………………..41 4.2 Different scores for the Geographic Knowledge section………………………...44 4.3 Percentage correct for the written questions……………………………………..46 4.4 Percentage correct for local awareness questions………………………………..48 4.5 Total overall scores on pre- and post-assessment by groups…………………….52 4.6 Score breakdown for front-related questions (10-12)….......…………………….53 4.7 Score breakdown for front-related questions (14,15,18,19)……………………..54 4.8 Score breakdown for high pressure-related questions…………………………...57 4.9 Score breakdown for low pressure-related questions……………………………59 4.10 Score breakdown for low wind and movement-related questions……………….62 5.1 Differences between the mean improvements of the two groups………………..70 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are several individuals that I owe a large amount of gratitude to, for without them I would never have finished this project. First I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Scott Sheridan, who first inspired the idea of combining my National Science Foundation GK-12 work and my love of meteorology. His ability to show patience, create ideas, and give constructive criticism has kept me going throughout the past several years. Also thanks to the rest of my thesis committee, Dr. Ute Dymon and Dr. Tom Schmidlin, for their help. A special thanks goes out to Nancy BakerCazan, from the Stark County ESC, who helped me recruit Stark County teachers to participate in the study. A huge thanks goes out to all of the teachers who took the time in their already tight schedule to fit in my assessments and discussions. Without Mr. Caldwell, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Breit, Mrs. Heckathorn, and Mrs. Neutzling and their classes, I would have no data. Finally, thanks to all of my family for their support. However, special thanks go to my mother, Dr. Valerie Myers, who provided her education expertise and helped me expand my knowledge of educational learning theory and to my Fiancé Jerad, who was there to constantly motivate me through to the very end. vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION In 1996 the Council of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) commissioned a study to plan for the future of the Society and in 1998 the report was presented. The report mentioned that change was occurring in the field of meteorology and identified five changes that have affected and would continue to affect the Society. One of the changes mentioned was that “the expanding public interest in our field and its products means enhancing our outreach” (“BAMS Annual Report”, 2003, p. 8). Because of the growing importance of weather in education and society, the meteorological community is placing more emphasis on weather outreach. This outreach currently includes individual programs focused on specific meteorological concepts or geographical areas, such as the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network, national programs directed at the general public, such as the National Weather Service’s Weather Safety Campaigns, and professional development opportunities for teachers such as the AMS’s DataStreme course (Pandya et al., 2004). The effectiveness of this outreach has yet to be fully evaluated, as most measures presently only evaluate the numbers of outreach programs created and presented, or evaluate the effectiveness of specific individual outreach programs. Few published studies have examined whether students actually understand and retain information from the different outreach programs. As outreach activities continue to expand, it is important to assess how students understand and learn weather, so that more effective outreach programs can be created. 1 2 Inquiry-based teaching and learning have become a “hot topic” in science classrooms since the National Science Education Standards (developed in 1996) included inquiry as “both a learning goal and as a teaching method” (Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education [CSMEE], 2000, p. 18). Inquiry as defined by the Standards “involves making observations, posing questions, …using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data…” (National Research Council, 1996, p. 23). These processes are also a main part of learning meteorology, especially when dealing with real-time data. Real-time data weather maps allow for students to make observations about what the weather is doing, ask questions about something on the map that is not familiar, and analyze and interpret the data to make a forecast. With schools emphasizing inquiry learning, it makes sense to evaluate inquiry learning as a possible learning method for outreach programs to use. Towards this end, the goal of this thesis is to evaluate how current surface weather maps help middle school students learn weather fundamentals, by assessing which methods allow students to retain the most correct information, so that meteorological outreach can be improved. This research will focus solely upon middle school students, as within Ohio’s school curriculum, “weather” is referred to most often in the middle school Earth and Space Science Standards, Benchmarks, and Indicators (Ohio Department of Education, 2005). A total of 531 students across 2 schools in Stark County, Ohio were divided into two different groups, reflecting two different teaching methods. One group only received the standard curriculum, mainly using textbook learning, while the second group received both the standard curriculum and a daily weather map discussion using current weather 3 maps. The weather map is chosen as the methods variable, as it is one of the most fundamental tools used to convey meteorological information; further, several of the Earth and Space Indicators for seventh grade refer to creating and interpreting weather maps (Ohio Department of Education, 2005). Through the implementation of background surveys, as well as pre- and post-assessments, and comparisons across the two groups, the utility of incorporating daily weather map discussions into the middle school classroom is evaluated. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW While there is no other research currently out specifically looking at how middle school students understand weather maps, there is much research relevant to this thesis. Since the research takes place in the classroom, it is very important to understand educational learning theory and educational learning standards. The history of weather maps provides insight into the purpose and uses of weather maps, as well as how weather maps have changed. Looking at students’ spatial abilities from the geographic standpoint should provide insight into how