Project: Surviving Severe Weather

This project will be divided into three class periods.  On Day 1 you will be introduced to the project, complete your severe weather research, and start your bibliography.  On Day 2 you will conduct city research and complete your bibliography.  On Day Three you will use what you have learned to create a presentation that demonstrates your understanding.

The Learning Targets and Success Criteria for the entire project will be divided over three days.

Learning Targets

• Use data to describe how frequently some areas experience severe weather events.

• Use data to describe what type of damage each area is at risk of during a given natural hazard event.

• Provide examples of the technologies that engineers have developed to lessen the effects of natural hazards.

• Using patterns in the data, make a forecast for the potential of a natural hazard event to affect an area in the future.

• Provide peer feedback and use feedback to revise your own work.

Success Criteria

• I have completed my research about a specific severe weather event including all elements from the worksheet.

• I have completed a bibliography to cite my sources.

• I worked with my group to complete a presentation of our choice to demonstrate our understanding of our severe weather event.

Day 1

On Day 1 you will be introduced to the project, complete your severe weather research, and start your bibliography. 

Learning Targets

• Students will learn about how to create a bibliography to show works cited and research a particular severe weather event

Success Criteria

• I have started my bibliography to list all (at least three) of the sources I am using in my research.

• I have begun my research about a specific severe weather event including most (at least 2/3) of the elements from the worksheet.

Roles

• Organizer, Materials Manager/technician, Time keeper, checker

The Research

In researching your phenomenon you will need to keep in mind how you, in your role as a meteorologist, will inform your audience about an impending weather disturbance and help them make informed decisions regarding their safety in this situation (since they all live in an area where this phenomenon may occur). Your recommendations may someday save one of your viewer’s lives. Keep in mind, that you will conduct research and gather information on your topic in order to complete both an individual report and a team presentation.

Individual Task

Each person in your team must answer all of the following questions individually:

1. What is your severe weather topic?  

   • Give a definition

   • what does it look like, how does it behave?)

2. Does this weather have a season? If so, when is it?

3. How does this form of weather affect humans?

4. What is currently done to protect against this severe weather?

5. What are the top 5 safety steps that should be taken when one encounters your phenomenon?

6. What are some other interesting facts and statistics about  your phenomenon?

7. Describe your city

   • Name

   • hemisphere, continent, country, etc.

   • latitude/longitude

   • What is the climate of your location?

8. Explain why your city is more likely to have your severe weather.

• Keep a bibliography for all of your sources

Click here for a research worksheet

Day 2

On Day two you will evaluate your progress and conduct more research.  First you will meet with another team to evaluate your progress and then work with your team to research the particular city where your severe weather phenomenon occurs.

Learning Targets

• Use data to describe how frequently some areas experience severe weather events.

• Use data to describe what type of damage each area is at risk of during a given natural hazard event.

Success Criteria

• I can give feedback to other groups using the success criteria.

• I can revise my own work based on feedback and success criteria.

• I have completed my bibliography to list all of the sources I am using in my research.

• I have completed my research about a specific severe weather event including all of the elements from the worksheet.

Roles

• Organizer, Materials Manager/Technician, Time Keeper, Checker, Reader

Start with a meeting - Peer Reflection

• Meet with another team and take turns sharing the information that you have already collected.

• Review Day 1 Success Criteria to see if you are on target to meet your goals.

• Review Day 2 Success Criteria to discuss what you need to do to meet your goals.

• Use Communication Sentence Stems to discuss each other's projects.

• Ask questions if you are unsure of anything.

City Research

For your city research you will need to find some information using the internet.  Be sure to keep track of your internet resources to add to your bibliography.

Tips

• for hemisphere, continent, etc. use Google Earth

• for latitude and longitude just do a Google Search for "latitude and longitude of..."

• for climate refer to the Weather vs. Climate page of my website. Refer to the Koppen Climate Map

Day 3

On Day three you will be working with your team to create a presentation to share what you have learned about your severe weather phenomenon.  Before you are done we will take the time to evaluate our peer's work to provide feedback.  We will then use that feedback to finish the presentation and make sure we meet the success criteria for this project.

Learning Target

• Work with your group to complete a presentation of your choice to demonstrate your understanding of a specific severe weather event.

• Provide feedback and revise your own work based on peer feedback.

Success Criteria

• I can evaluate my peer's work and provide feedback.

• I can revise my own work based on peer feedback

• My presentation shows how to be safe during a particular severe weather event.

  • My presentation contains all elements from the worksheet.

  • My presentation contains a complete bibliography.

Roles

• Organizer, Materials Manager/Technician, Time Keeper, Checker, Reader

Using Your Knowledge

Now that you have worked to gain knowledge about a particular severe weather event we will discuss a few severe weather related scenarios.

Learning Target

• Students will use their knowledge of severe weather to make recommendations about safety preparation.

Success Criteria

• • I can apply what I have learned about severe weather to recommend courses of action that will keep people safe.