|
Grade Level/Subject/Class Time:
- Grades 3,4,5 /Gifted/Approximately 8 hours.
Prerequisites:
- Students should already be competent in the use of research skills, the Internet, ProQuest, CD Rom, and the use of HyperStudio.
Objectives:
- The student will use sources to gather research about clouds.
- The student will create a HyperStudio stack that describes (and illustrates) twelve different kinds of clouds.
- The student will use a rubric to evaluate his HyperStudio stack.
Applications to Technology and Society:
- The student will use the Internet, electronic encyclopedias, Pro Quest, and Hyper Studio for the purpose of gathering and presenting information.
- The student will know how to interpret cloud coverage.
National Standards and the following Virginia SOLs:
- English 5.7 - The student will write for a variety of purposes - to describe, to inform, to entertain, and to explain.
- English 5.8 - The student will synthesize information from a variety of resources.
- Computer/Technology C/T 5.3 -The student will process, store, retrieve, and transmit electronic information.
- Computer/Technology C/T 5.4 -The student will communicate through application software.
- Science 4.6 -The student will investigate and understand how weather conditions and phenomena occur and can be predicted.
Vocabulary:
- altostratus, nimbostratus, cirrostratus, stratus, cirrocumulus, cirrus, altocumulus, cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratocumulus, contrails, and fog
Class of Activity
- Exploratory and application
Materials:
- Access to computer, Internet, Science/Weather CD Roms, nonfiction science/weather books as found in school library, HyperStudio program, S'COOL cloud poster, handouts included in lesson plan
- Spreadsheet or graphing program.
Procedures:
- Show students a teacher prepared Claris Works slide show of clouds that pictorially illustrates different kinds of clouds. (Picture of clouds could be used.)
- Ask students to predict what kinds of weather the different kinds of clouds could help predict. Give students a list of clouds (see vocabulary cited above).
- Have students research the different cloud formations via the Internet, CD Rom, Pro Quest, and/or the books available in the school library. (Book-mark a list of potentially useful sites on the computer for the students to use to save student "exploration time."
- Distribute and review self-evaluation rubric for purpose of explaining specific requirement of the HyperStudio stack.
- Have students plan their HyperStudio stack using storyboard card handout. (s).
- Have students create their HyperStudio stack.
- Have students self-evaluate their work using a rubric.
- Have students share their HyperStudio stack with their classmates.
- Hold a parent open house so that parents can preview the student's products.
- Display HyperStudio stacks on a computer in the school library.
Teacher's Notes:
- Storyboard card handout is included.
- A sample rubric is included. The teacher will need to determine her grading scale from the available points which may be earned. i.e. 145 - 160 = A.
- It is recommended that the teacher book-mark several Internet sites for the students to use. Ex. General Cloud Information from S'COOL web page and from Ask Jeeves (www.askjeeves), How are clouds formed?
- This unit will serve to introduce Project S'COOL. Upon completion of this unit, students will begin gathering data and submitting it to S'COOL via the Internet.
- Different presentation tools could be used in lieu of HyperStudio such as Astound, Power point, Claris Slide Show, etc. If technology is not available, the same activity could be done with students creating a booklet, pop-up book, transparencies, or posters.
- This is intended to be done as individual HyperStudio stacks but could certainly also be done in partnerships or small groups.
- Time constraints may be added at the research stage, the planning stage, and the creation of the stack stage.
Additional Internet sites:
Rubric Grading for Cloud Slideshow
Lesson Plan developed by Pamela M. Saunders, Isle of Wight County Schools, Virginia, USA, for NASA's S'COOL Project.
