How to Teach Students to Make Weather Instruments
A fun science experiment is to create a weather station where students can track changes in the weather and perhaps even get a hand at predicting what tomorrow will bring. Plans to build a weather station are abundant online. Some of the more popular instruments are a weather vane, rain gauge, barometer, hygrometer, anemometer and compass.
Things You'll Need
- Lesson plans
- Construction instructions
- Supplies, depending upon instruments being built
Instructions
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Teaching How to Build Weather Instruments
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Decide if your students are ready to become meteorologists.Teach them about weather and climate and how certain elements are related to each other. Weather-related lesson plans are available online in a variety of places, such as educationworld.com and lessonplancentral.com (see Resources).
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Assemble the needed items to create an assortment of weather instruments. The Franklin Institute has step-by-step instructions for each of the instruments (see References). Most of the supplies are simple. For instance, to make a barometer, a piece of bubblegum is necessary. A hygrometer needs a dime. To make a compass, rocks are needed. In addition to gathering the supplies, it is important to make enough copies of the instructions so each student has a copy.
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Teach specifically about weather stations. Introduce students to each of the instruments that will be made by the class. Show the students how the instruments work, what they are used for and what can be inferred from the information gathered from the weather station.
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Divide the students into groups of four or five. Each group is assigned one instrument to make. Provide each group with the necessary supplies and instructions. Supervise the construction of the instruments and assist as needed.
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Test each instrument. Set up the weather station in an appropriate location outdoors. Make sure the students have notebooks to record the weather information. Have students take daily readings. At the end of a month, they should share their findings and make observations about how the instruments could be used for weather forecasting. Ask them to make some predictions based on what they have learned.
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