Introductory Meteorology Research Articles

The Demise of the Knowledge–Action Gap in Climate Change Education

Abstract Advances in science literacy documented in an undergraduate course on Climate and Climate Change at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) in 2020 raised the question: Does the new climate knowledge translate into behavior change? Traditionally a “knowledge–action gap” has undermined educators’ efforts to galvanize actions toward mitigating climate change. Through a survey focused on carbon footprint and civic engagement and testimonials gleaned from students’ capstone elevator speeches, this study presents an encouraging update on young adults’ response to the climate crisis. By comparing responses to a similar survey distributed to UW students in another undergraduate course in 2021, we show that the course focused on ­Climate and Climate Change motivated behavior modifications that lighten the carbon footprint to a greater degree than a traditional introductory meteorology course.

Recipe for Successful Meteorology Majors: Are Incoming Test Scores Indicative?

AbstractMany high school students with a passion for meteorology visit college campuses each year, inquiring about program details and learning of the rigorous math requirements and somewhat daunting attrition risk. The natural question for many is, “Can I do it?” To address this question, the study herein has investigated the sensitivity of meteorology major outcomes at Valparaiso University to incoming test scores (based on 2008–14 first-year cohorts). These former students are classified as meteorology alumni (MET Degree), graduates of other programs (Other VU Degree), and those who left the University (Left VU). There is an additional performance classification, which indicates students who completed the program in good standing (On Track), students that completed the program with greater difficulty (Below Track), those who left the program in good academic standing (Left On Track), and those who left the program after not doing well (Left Below Track). Results indicate that incoming test scores are indeed indicative of student outcomes, with a substantially greater likelihood of being On Track and graduating with the MET Degree among students with higher incoming ACT scores. Among students who Left Below Track, signs of academic challenges typically appear within first semester calculus and/or the introductory meteorology course. Higher admission standards would increase retention and graduation rates, but at a cost of barring admission for some students who have been successful in the program.

The Fundamentals in Meteorology Inventory: Validation of a tool assessing basic meteorological conceptual understanding

The Fundamentals in Meteorology Inventory (FMI) concept inventory exam was recently developed to gauge understanding of fundamental meteorological concepts among introductory meteorology students. The exam was iteratively tested and refined over several years using a small sample of students. With a goal of evaluating the reliability and validity of the exam for broader instructor use, the FMI was administered to 282 students both pre- and postinstruction at 8 universities across the United States in fall 2017 and fall 2018. A variety of measures of validity and reliability for individual test items as well as whole-test metrics are presented. Overall, the exam appears to be sufficient for measuring the extent of understanding of basic meteorological concepts. This paves the way for future work by instructors and researchers to use the FMI exam as a method to identify levels of and gaps in fundamental meteorological understanding, thus providing opportunities to improve instruction of fundamental concepts.

Motivation for and Development of a Standardized Introductory Meteorology Assessment Exam

Abstract Education research has shown that there is often a disconnect between what instructors teach and what students actually comprehend. Much of this disconnect stems from students’ previous conceptions of the subject that often remain steadfast despite instruction. The field of meteorology is particularly susceptible to misconceptions as a result of the years of personal experience students have with weather before instruction. Consequently, it is often challenging for students to accurately integrate course material with their observations and personal explanations. A longitudinal assessment exam of the meteorology program at the U.S. Air Force Academy revealed that misconceptions of fundamental, introductory content can propagate through years of instruction, potentially impeding deeper understanding of advanced topics and hindering attainment of professional certifications. Thus, it is clear that such misconceptions must be identified and corrected early. This manuscript describes the development of the Fundamentals in Meteorology Inventory (FMI), a multiple-choice assessment exam designed to identify the common misconceptions of fundamental topics covered in introductory meteorology courses. In developing the FMI, care was taken to avoid complex vocabulary and to include plausible distractors identified by meteorology faculty members. Question topics include clouds and precipitation, wind, fronts and air masses, temperature, stability, severe weather, and climate. Applications of the exam for the meteorology community are discussed, including identifying common meteorology misconceptions, assessing student understanding, measuring teaching effectiveness, and diagnosing areas for improvement in introductory meteorology courses. Future work to be completed to ensure the efficacy of the FMI will also be acknowledged.

Modellus: Interactive computational modelling to improve teaching of physics in the geosciences

Many aspects of modern research and other professional activities in the geosciences require advanced knowledge about mathematical physics models and scientific computation methods and tools. In-depth meaningful learning of such knowledge skills is a difficult cognitive process which involves developing strong background knowledge of physics, mathematics and scientific computation appropriately contextualised in the geosciences themes. In this paper we describe an interactive engagement teaching approach that is based on Modellus, a freely available computer software system allowing (1) mathematical modelling ranging from explorative to expressive modelling, (2) the introduction of scientific computation without requiring the development of a working knowledge of programming and (3) the simultaneous manipulation and analysis of several different model representations, namely, tables, graphs and animations with interactive objects having properties defined in a visible and modifiable mathematical model. As examples of application, with insights for the development of other activities in a wide range of geosciences courses, we discuss a set of interactive computational modelling activities for introductory meteorology we have implemented in undergraduate university courses.

Dynamic weather forecaster: results of the testing of a collaborative, on-line educational platform for weather forecasting

The online Dynamic Weather Forecaster is an open, collaborative application available now to high-school and college instructors across the United States who would like to easily incorporate weather forecasting in their instruction. The application consists of a set of 13 questions that allow students to submit forecasts that cover most of the parameters used by professional weather forecasters. Submissions are automatically validated against weather parameters and graded. We tested the impact of the application on the learning of 199 undergraduate students in an introductory meteorology course in spring 2008. Students who begin forecasting early in the semester and continue to do so throughout the semester are statistically significantly more successful in the course than students who start late or complete a low number of forecasts. College, year in school, and gender were not significant predictors of success. Students found the application easy to use, and 92.3% of them found it at least somewhat helpful as they learned about the weather. Through the use of the DWF, students also experience first-hand that uncertainty is a critical part of weather forecasting and of scientific studies in general. With sufficient interest from potential users outside the USA, the DWF platform could easily be expanded to include global weather data.

The Bloomsburg Weather Viewer: A Resource for Integrating Webcam and Local Weather station Data into the Introductory Meteorology Classroom

No abstract available.

Teaching Upper-Atmospheric Meteorology Using Two- and Three-Dimensional Models

©2010 American Meteorological Society U pper-atmosphere meteorological concepts often confound introductory meteorology students. In particular, students are challenged by the threedimensional nature of constant-pressure surfaces. This struggle is likely due, in part, to the fact that nearly all representations of these three-dimensional surfaces are presented in two dimensions. Recent research argues that spatial visualization in three dimensions can be improved through instruction. However, several studies suggest that comprehension of a three-dimensional environment does not necessarily occur equally between males and females, or between individuals with different spatial abilities. The purpose of this project was to begin to assess whether threeor two-dimensional models of upperatmosphere constant-pressure surfaces were more effective as teaching and learning tools. The models were developed and tested on two groups of introductory meteorology students, and the results of the assessment were analyzed to determine which model was more effective and, secondarily, if there were differences in student performance based on sex. It was hypothesized that certain concepts would be better understood in three dimensions, while others would be better understood in two dimensions. It was also Teaching Upper-Atmospheric Meteorology Using Twoand Three-Dimensional Models a Pilot Study

Today's Forecast: Higher Thinking With a Chance of Conceptual Growth

Weather has all the characteristics of a motivating, authentic subject: Everybody has an interest in it and strong opinions about it. This interest has provided a way to tie science to a meaningful learning activity in an introductory meteorology course for nonscience students. The pedagogical foundation of such a course is that it is more important for students in science classes to learn to think like scientists than to accumulate facts; weather forecasting allows them to progressively apply their knowledge about the atmosphere by hypothesizing the next day's weather. By forecasting tomorrow's weather repeatedly throughout the course, students are given the opportunity to link what they are learning in class to a topic to which they all relate.

Reflections on a Large-Lecture, Introductory Meteorology Course: Goals, Assessment, and Opportunities for Improvement

The Atmospheric Science program at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee regularly offers the general education course Survey of Meteorology, serving over 400 students each year. This article describes a systematic inquiry into the teaching and learning goals of the course and the adequacy of current methods used to assess student performance. Following a survey of the six faculty members with teaching responsibilities for the course, common student learning goals of meteorological content and the application of meteorological concepts to observations were identified. Student surveys, designed to assess both the extent to which these learning goals were being met as well as the depth of learning, were administered to 241 students during the 2005–06 academic year. Results indicate that 80% of students surveyed met the content learning goal, while the application learning goal was met by only 66% of students. A deeper level of application learning, involving pattern recognition and the separation of concepts into component parts, was achieved by only 45% of the students. A comparison of student survey results with course grade distributions indicates that current grading practices are adequate for assessing the content learning goal but are inadequate for assessing the application learning goal.

Assessment of a Weather Forecasting Contest in Multi-Leveled Meteorology Classes

This study assesses an extra-credit weather forecasting contest offered in three different introductory meteorology courses, each consisting of a different student population: general education (Gen. Ed.) students, geology majors, and graduate students. Five semesters of data were collected, amounting to 15 Gen. Ed. sections (423 students), three majors sections (66 students), and one graduate class (16 students).Student participation in this optional contest is dependent on class level, ranging from 40% for Gen. Ed. students to 90% at the graduate level. Student responses indicate the primary reason for lack of participation is forgetfulness, with discouragement second.Scatterplots of final course grade versus final contest ranking indicate — to a statistically significant (> 99.5%) degree — those Gen. Ed. and majors students who do well academically will also do well in the contest. No statistical significance exists between course grade and contest ranking for graduate students.A quantitative assessment of student learning reveals that student forecasts improve relative to computer model output as the semester progresses. When averaged over all courses and semesters, the improvement is statistically significant at the 95% level. As a result of the increased experience that is acquired through contest participation, student forecasts — which initially have greater error when compared to corresponding model forecasts — have comparatively less error by semester's end.

Changing teaching techniques and adapting new technologies to improve student learning in an introductory meteorology and climate course

Abstract. Responding to the call for reform in science education, changes were made in an introductory meteorology and climate course offered at a large public university. These changes were a part of a larger project aimed at deepening and extending a program of science content courses that model effective teaching strategies for prospective middle school science teachers. Therefore, revisions were made to address misconceptions about meteorological phenomena, foster deeper understanding of key concepts, encourage engagement with the text, and promote inquiry-based learning. Techniques introduced include: use of a flash cards, student reflection questionnaires, writing assignments, and interactive discussions on weather and forecast data using computer technology such as Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). The revision process is described in a case study format. Preliminary results (self-reflection by the instructor, surveys of student opinion, and measurements of student achievement), suggest student learning has been positively influenced. This study is supported by three grants: NSF grant No. 0202923, the Unidata Equipment Award, and the Lucia Harrison Endowment Fund.

A virtual tornadic thunderstorm enabling students to construct knowledge about storm dynamics through data collection and analysis

Abstract. A visually realistic tornadic supercell thunderstorm has been constructed in a fully immersive virtual reality environment to allow students to better understand the complex small-scale dynamics present in such a storm through data probing. Less-immersive versions have been created that run on PCs, facilitating broader dissemination. The activity has been tested in introductory meteorology classes over the last four years. An exercise involving the virtual storm was first used by a subset of students from a large introductory meteorology course in spring 2002. Surveys were used at that time to evaluate the impact of this activity as a constructivist learning tool. More recently, data probe capabilities were added to the virtual storm activity enabling students to take measurements of temperature, wind, pressure, relative humidity, and vertical velocity at any point within the 3-D volume of the virtual world, and see the data plotted via a graphical user interface. Similar surveys applied to groups of students in 2003 and 2004 suggest that the addition of data probing improved the understanding of storm-scale features, but the improved understanding may not be statistically significant when evaluated using quizzes reflecting short-term retention. The use of the activity was revised in 2005 to first have students pose scientific questions about these storms and think about a scientific strategy to answer their questions before exploring the storm. Once again, scores on quizzes for students who used the virtual storm activity were slightly better than those of students who were exposed to only a typical lecture, but differences were not statistically significant.

Applications of "Integrated Data Viewer'' (IDV) in the classroom

Abstract. Conventionally, weather products utilized in synoptic meteorology reduce phenomena occurring in four dimensions to a 2-dimensional form. This constitutes a road-block for non-atmospheric-science majors who need to take meteorology as a non-mathematical and complementary course to their major programs. This research examines the use of Integrated Data Viewer-IDV as a teaching tool, as it allows a 4-dimensional representation of weather products. IDV was tested in the teaching of synoptic meteorology, weather analysis, and weather map interpretation to non-science students in the laboratory sessions of an introductory meteorology class at Western Michigan University. Comparison of student exam scores according to the laboratory teaching techniques, i.e., traditional lab manual and IDV was performed for short- and long-term learning. Results of the statistical analysis show that the Fall 2004 students in the IDV-based lab session retained learning. However, in the Spring 2005 the exam scores did not reflect retention in learning when compared with IDV-based and MANUAL-based lab scores (short term learning, i.e., exam taken one week after the lab exercise). Testing the long-term learning, seven weeks between the two exams in the Spring 2005, show no statistically significant difference between IDV-based group scores and MANUAL-based group scores. However, the IDV group obtained exam score average slightly higher than the MANUAL group. Statistical testing of the principal hypothesis in this study, leads to the conclusion that the IDV-based method did not prove to be a better teaching tool than the traditional paper-based method. Future studies could potentially find significant differences in the effectiveness of both manual and IDV methods if the conditions had been more controlled. That is, students in the control group should not be exposed to the weather analysis using IDV during lecture.

What Do Introductory Meteorology Students Want to Learn?

During 2002 and 2003, surveys of introductory meteorology students were conducted at the University of Georgia and the University of Wisconsin—Madison. These surveys asked which one question about weather and climate each student would most like to have answered in the class, as well as other demographic and educational information. The more than 750 responses that were obtained ran the gamut of meteorology and were not overwhelmingly focused on any one topic, including severe weather. Results from the two universities are nearly identical, with the exception of a greater awareness of climate issues at Wisconsin. Several topics that are most commonly noted by students, such as weather forecasting and atmospheric optics, are given inadequate treatment in many introductory meteorology textbooks and classes. The results of the surveys suggest that an instructor could use students' first-day responses to this kind of question to shape a syllabus that would incorporate student interests, while retaining educat...

Watching the Weather Using a Seismograph

Scientists are by nature a curious group of people (in all senses of that phrase!). Seismologists want to know everything they can about earthquakes, physicists about elementary particles, meteorologists about the weather, etc. Most scientists are curious not only about their own disciplines but also about many other scientific subjects as well. For example, I am a seismologist by training, but each fall I teach an introductory meteorology course to non-science majors at Boston College as part of the students' core science requirement. It is a good thing that scientists are so widely curious, since it helps them in their work. This is because scientific phenomena are inherently interrelated. For example, the study of global climate change does not merely involve an analysis of the atmosphere. The Earth's oceans and its biosphere are intricately linked factors that play roles in controlling global climate. In fact, the movement of continents has likely played a crucial role in determining climatic conditions in the geologic past. Thus, scientists often look outside their own disciplines for ideas to help them understand phenomena they study. For seismologists who routinely analyze seismograms, the presence of background noise is often a source of frustration, since such noise can partially or even totally obscure earthquake signals they wish to analyze. A study of seismic background noise can be an interesting subject on its own, however. There is a saying among scientists that is quite applicable to the subject of this EduQuakes column: “One person's noise is another person's signal.” If you've ever looked at the traces recorded by a sensitive seismograph, you will see that they are never flat. Rather, the traces indicate that there are always some vibrations that shake the ground. Some of these vibrations are man-made: vehicular traffic, people walking, operating machinery that shakes the …

Understanding and Portraying the Global Atmospheric Circulation

Atmospheric circulation and resultant surface pressure patterns are important discussion topics in many introductory geography, meteorology, and earth science courses. In the past, summary materials developed to aid in teaching these concepts have used a north-south oriented meridional cross-section of the troposphere (e.g., the three-cell model). We suggest that while the Hadley Cell model works well for the tropics, an alternative depiction incorporating two map views should be used to present a more meaningful view of the mean extratrop-ical circulation. The combination of a tropical cross-section map and an extra-tropical map will assist students in learning about first-order motions associated with the Earth's atmospheric circulation.

Emphasizing Environmental Concepts and Policies in an Introductory Meteorology Course

In an attempt to make the material covered in introductory meteorology courses more relevant to students, the concepts and policies central to the Clean Air Act have been integrated into the class. To further facilitate this integration of the material and to encourage class participation, each student is required to become the class expert in one facet of the development of this legislation. Assuming the roles of atmospheric scientists, legislators, regulatory personnel, economists, and lobbyists, students are required to comment on topics covered during the class from the perspective of their role and make a presentation as part of a classroom “Congressional” hearing on the Clean Air Act.An introductory meteorology textbook provides the underlying structure of the course, with material selected to furnish students with the necessary information to form an understanding of the environmental issues: global climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, urban air pollution, and acid rain. The interplay of the students in their classroom roles also provides an opportunity to introduce various perspectives on the material. Together, the focus of the material and the student roles help to meet the aims of the “science-technology-society” reform by providing the opportunity for students to discover that science is an integral part of our society and that society also influences the science that is performed.

Teaching Introductory Meteorology Through an Observation-Oriented Term Project

Introductory meteorology courses, when taught in undergraduate geology curricula, are often non- laboratory, elective courses that accommodate a large number and broad spectrum of students. An observation-oriented term project where each student photographs meteorological phenomena is an effective means of incorporating many of the elements that we value in our smaller laboratory courses, such as hands-on experience and the excitement of “doing” science. This term project, which can be done without a formal laboratory period, is designed to give each student an opportunity to develop his/her observational and interpretational skills in a focused and yet highly creative way. An emphasis on communication skills (both oral and written) is also incorporated into the term project and associated project activities. The project results in an album of first-hand meteorological observations (photographs) along with identifications and descriptive interpretations/explanations. Using the term project as a central component of the meteorology course has, from my experience, resulted in intensified engagement by the students and greatly enhanced comprehension and retention of the facts and concepts associated with atmospheric science. Additionally, the routine integration of class material with real, daily weather phenomena underscores the practicality and necessity of science literacy among our students.

An Analysis of the Liberal Arts in Introductory Meteorology Courses

A questionnaire was designed to probe the degree to which specific pedagogical tasks or techniques are incorporated into introductory meteorology courses. Responses from higher education institutio...