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David MacIver What's Up With the Weather? Program Title: What's Up With the Weather? Subject(s): Earth Science, Mathematics Grade Level: 9-12

Students compare yearly temperature data as teacher David MacIver looks on.

MacIver, who teaches at Southwick-Tolland Regional High School in Southwick, Massachusetts, begins a unit on climate change and the greenhouse effect by showing students the NOVA program.

Students are then asked to observe and describe patterns in the activity's raw data. Then, MacIver either divides the class into groups and has each group graph one year of the data or has every student graph all 10 years of Boston monthly average temperatures found in the activity. Students then examine the graphs once they are taped together. MacIver, whose class includes both Honors and Special Education students, finds the activity easily adaptable.

MacIver then graphs each year of data onto separate overhead transparencies using a different-colored marker or kind of line (e.g., solid or dashed) to distinguish each year. MacIver then overlays the overheads one at a time. When all graphs are in place, students notice seasonal temperature patterns and are often surprised to see minimal warming. This leads to a discussion of whether looking at 10 years of data from one location is sufficient to make predictions about global warming or long-term climate change.

Next, students calculate the moving average for the data. MacIver likes the integration of mathematics into the activity, but says this is often the most difficult part for his students. Depending on individuals' abilities, MacIver has students either calculate and graph the moving average for all 10 years, or calculate it for one year and then use the chart provided in the activity answer to graph the remaining data. MacIver then displays a second set of overheads he has created with graphs of the moving average data for each year. Through these, students observe that seasonal differences in the data disappear and that the data is more like the mean temperature for Boston. Students then discuss how different interpretations can be drawn from the same data set depending on how the data is presented.

As an extension, MacIver has students compare the Boston data to worldwide temperature data from 1960 to 1999, gathered from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University (www.cru.uea.ac.uk/) in the United Kingdom. MacIver notes that examining the data on a longer time scale and comparing local and global temperatures helps students make predictions about long-term climate change and see the warming trend that scientists discuss in the NOVA program. MacIver concludes the lesson with a class debate about whether global warming is the result of anthropogenic activities or part of a natural cycle.

For more information on MacIver's project, you can e-mail him at: revicam_568@yahoo.com —Kristina Ransick