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Sheet
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for Cultural Standards in Practice.
Winds
And
Weather
by Jonas Ramoth and Sidney Stephens
Activity 4 - Designing Local Studies
| Summary: |
In this lesson students think about and identify significant aspects of
local weather patterns by reflecting on their own observations and their
time with the Traditional Forecaster (TF). They then design local weather
studies by deciding which information to collect and how to collect and
record it consistently. Depending upon their information and priorities,
these studies may be replicas of the qualitative descriptions which characterize
traditional forecasting, or they may include some contemporary measures
such as wind speed or temperature as well. Such an approach is consistent
with weather forecasting in villages today in which old-timers may both
scan the morning horizon from their rooftops and listen to/incorporate forecasts
from programs like Alaska Weather *.
|
| Materials
|
« chart paper or blackboard
« student journals
« class log
|
| Procedure
Apply
|
1. Students will have already spent time with the TF, and will have recorded
and discussed their own, unstructured, daily weather observations in journals.
|
| Gear-up |
2. Ask students to review their journals and then brainstorm as a class,
a list of weather signs that are most significant for their community
as gleaned both from the TF and their own observations. Record lists
on
chart paper and post. (Embedded Assessment - Current Knowledge).
3. Discuss the list as a class, selecting the most
significant weather signs to watch for on a daily basis. For Selawik
in the winter, the list
might look something like this:
« evidence of wind speed and direction and changes
in wind from last observation
« relative temperature and changes in temperature
« cloud cover and change in cloud cover
« animal behavior and signs; human behavior
« atmospheric phenomena like sun or moon dogs
|
|
Explore
|
4. Tell students that they are about to work in teams to design a local
weather study. They will first create and try out their team study, and
then the team studies will be pooled into a cohesive class study. Provide
students with a copy of the Designing Local Studies rubric and discuss/clarify
expectations. Let them know that their work will be self-assessed and teacher-assessed
using this guide and that the TF will also review their work. |
Designing Local Studies Student Scoring Guide **
| |
Developing
|
Proficient
|
Exemplary
|
| Connecting Links local cultural knowledge, experiences, and observations to creation
of a weather investigation.
|
« I did not make
clear connections between cultural knowledge and my investigation « I
did not analyze the adequacy of my present cultural knowledge
|
« I identified,
explained or illustrated related knowledge, experiences and observations
and used them as a basis
for my study. « I analyzed the
adequacy of my present cultural knowledge |
« I clearly explained
and made explicit connections to cultural knowledge, experiences and
observations and used
them
as a basis for my study. « I
analyzed the adequacy of my present knowledge and made a plan
for gaining necessary information. |
| Designing Develops a plan to guide the investigation
|
« The plan I wrote
was confusing or didn't address the topic identified. « My
plan inconsistently reflected the importance of clear language,
careful observation and
measurement. « I made inappropriate
or no decisions concerning quantitative and qualitative methods,
use of estimation or units. « I
did not make or respond to suggestions for improvement in my design. |
« The plan I designed
made sense and could be followed by others without further explanation. « My
plan showed the importance of clear language, careful observation and
measurement. « My decisions
about qualitative and quantitative methods, estimation and use
of units were mostly appropriate. « I
reconsidered my design by describing problems and making improvements |
« I wrote a very
comprehensive plan that directly outlined all aspects of my investigation. « My
plan showed the importance of clear language and integrated the most
appropriate techniques for observation and measurement. « I
made appropriate decisions about qualitative and quantitative methods
and use of units. « I repeatedly
reconsidered myinvestigation design by describing problems and
making improvements. |
| |
5. Ask students to self-select the team they want to work with (e.g. wind,
temperature, clouds/atmosphere, animal/human behavior). Let them know that
each of them will continue to spend time with the Traditional Forecaster
in order to gain the skills and knowledge needed to make good observations,
and that the procedures they design now can be modified later as more knowledge
is gained. |
| Explore |
6. Ask teams to discuss weather observations, knowledge
and experiences that might be pertinent to their study. Encourage review
of past journal
entries and the class log. Students should record this information
individually in the "connecting"
section of their journal. They should also decide if both individually
and collectively (as a team) they have enough knowledge/information to design
a weather study. If not, they should make a plan for filling in needed skills/knowledge
or revising plan. |
| Generalize |
7. As teams work, rotate around to each group facilitating discussion,
helping students to sort out their current understandings and to organize
their thinking. Emphasize the importance of individual expression of ideas,
and point out that listening to the ideas of others might help better explain
their own ideas. If the TF is available for this discussion time, he or
she could be most helpful in this role as well. (Embedded assessment
- prior knowledge and group skills.) |
| Explore |
8. Next, ask student teams to put their heads together to design a plan
to collect relevant weather information. (In science such a plan is called
a protocol and involves designation of very specific procedures.) This
design process should be recorded in their journal under "designing".
« Encourage students to perform a trial run of the
procedure so that steps can be organized in a workable manner.
« Emphasize the use of detail to communicate clear
directions.
« Ask students to include precise definitions of terms (e.g. the term
"calm" means that smoke rises vertically); and steps or rules that will
be followed throughout the procedure (e.g. wind direction is to be gauged
daily at noon).
« Prompt student analysis with questions such as:
« Will your design yield enough information for
analysis?
« Does your design include information needed for
connections to other weather signs? (E.g. Both wind speed and direction
are critical measures.
Collecting only one or the other would be inadequate for prediction
of upcoming weather change.)
« How accurate and workable are your measurements/estimates
and use of tools?
|
| Generalize |
9. Ask the team reporter to share the team's procedure/protocol with
the class as a whole. Prompt student audience critique using by asking
questions such as the following (posted on a chart for clear reference):
« Are the terms clearly defined?
« Are the steps/procedures of the task clear?
« Does it tell specifically what data is to be collected?
When? Where? By whom? Etc?
« Does the plan reflect what has been learned from
the TF?
« Does the plan include attention to information
needed by other studies in order to make clear connections?
|
| Explore |
10. After all teams have shared and been critiqued, have them work in
their teams to revise. 11. Have teams conduct observations as designed for 1 week. 12. After 1 week of observation, have teams meet to assess how well their
observations/recordings are going. Provide structured discussion questions
as above. Teams revise for clarity.
|
| Generalize |
13. After the revision work, use a cooperative learning structure such
as jig-sawing during which students become fully acquainted with the details
of each of the other weather watching protocols.
14. Have a class discussion in which
you help negotiate an overall weather observation schedule and data recording
procedure for the all observations considering such issues as: « Can/should
observation times for all protocols be the same? « Are
there any duplications in data collected? « Can
individual data sheets be consolidated into one for purposes of entry into the log? (see sample) « How
should incidental information be handled? (Incidental
information is any other data that could contribute to
understanding such as faulty
equipment, an extreme weather conditions not anticipated, described or
quantified in protocol, etc.)
|
| Apply: |
15. Conduct weather observations |
| Assessment |
« Embedded Assessment as indicated in lesson text
« Traditional Forecaster reviews designs and provides
feedback.
« Teacher and student completion of Scoring Guides
and conference
|
See Selawik Winder Winds - Daily Observation Sheet , p. A-17
from handbook (in pdf-format)
* It is important to note that Jonas Ramoth sometimes incorporates
wind speed or temperature measurements in his otherwise qualitative descriptions
and that students should be encouraged to develop/use qualitative descriptions
with a similarly minimal use of measurement for now.
** Adapted from Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1999),
Science Inquiry Scoring Guide
Standards
Section I - Observing Locally
Section II - Understanding Wind
Section III - Connecting
Globally
Appendix A - Selawik Weather Information from
Jonas Ramoth
Appendix B - Assessment
Appendix C - Weather Resource
List
Appendix D - Interdisciplinary Integration
Handbook
for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum by Sidney Stephens
Excerpt: "The information and insights contained in this document will be
of interest to anyone involved in bringing local knowledge to bear in school
curriculum. Drawing upon the efforts of many people over a period of several
years, Sidney Stephens has managed to distill and synthesize the critical ingredients
for making the teaching of science relevant and meaningful in culturally adaptable
ways." |
