Module VI Response

Explain:

The resource Compare and Contrast Warm and Cold Air Fronts was a great way to visualize how a warm and cold front move and how they develop clouds.  I have noticed how the cloud formations can be made up of various types of clouds or just one type but never wondered how or why.  This is a great tool and like Clay says, its right there in Teacher Direct.

Giving Rise to The Jet Stream is the coolest resource and best explanation of the jet streams and subsequently how complex wind systems really are.

I am still puzzled as to how the ice forms in the vacuum and where the heat goes.   I am assuming, after much more surfing, that the heat is taken away with the evaporated vapor when the water boils.  The movie Mosquito Coast has a machine for making ice using propane and my friend has a propane refrigerator.  These use a totally different process and I don't really get how they work either.  This discussion at eHow.com did not help me much.  These are both pretty interesting processes though.

As I was looking at the NOAA page of the current cloud view of Alaska, I had Google Earth open with the weather layer on.  They updated close to each other with very different information.  Does anyone know why they are different?  One would think that they would be using similar data, or at least both be reliable.

Google Earth clouds at the same time as below 

NOAA clouds

Extend:

These videos are pretty cool for sharing this understanding.  What a great set of resources for presenting such a tough concept.  Visualizing the idea of wind and wind currents is next to impossible without video.

I am about ready to sign up to learn how to skydive with a snowboard on.  That video about the fluid atmosphere was great!

Evaluate:

Google Earth is a terrific piece of software.  I would love to put it on the iPads in my school but the current version of the app sounds like a dud.  I'll have to keep checking.  I wonder if these incredible layers are available in the app.  This will be a great tool.

When talking about the water cycle, I try to make the point that there is no new water out there.  We talk about where water has been before and how likely it is that the water they drink has already been drank by several different animals in the past.  We talk about were our clouds come from and were the water we are drinking was last urinated.  These resources will help me present the idea that our water is from far off bodies of water.


3 Colleagues:

Tommy posted a pretty cool Nova video but I had trouble getting it to work.  I hope it works on my classroom computer because it is a nice summary.  I like to wrap up units with videos like this because I am presenting it from another source to review just prior to the test.

Marilyn posted an interesting video about population history and how concentrations of people have changed over the last 2,000 years.  There are so many good discussions to be had with a video like this, such as how the environmental concern of the day can change dramatically and the various reasons for the population explosion.  I spent some time with French exchange students during college and I remember one remarking that there was so much open space in our country, so what are people talking about overpopulation for.

Tracy put up some nice info about weather patterns that affect her in North Pole.  And I agree with her assessment that the toxins in polar animals are a total bummer.