Webquest: Physical Science by Theresa B. Acerro

The Weather in San Diego

 

Introduction: There are 24 different climatic zones in the western part of the United States. We have 11 of these zones in San Diego County. Climatic zone is one of the factors which determines which plants and animales live in an area. This diversity of climate is part of the reason that San Diego County has more different species of plants and animals than any other county in the United States with the exception of some counties in Hawaii. Climate is an average of daily weather over a period of time. We are going to record weather data for four different localities in San Diego County. We will analize the differences which we observe and explain them. In order to do this we will need to make spreadsheets, study a topographical map of San Diego County, find information about how weather is measured on the Internet, and present our findings to the rest of the class.

(Montgomery High School is a member of WeatherNet AirWatch System. We have scientific instruments which continuously record information about the weather at Montgomery High School. There are 2,000 places in the world which have these same instruments. Using the internet anyone can access the information being collected at any of these sites. Up to four months of data is continually archived by the computers linked to the equipment. We will only take daily readings for our four localities in San Diego County for this webquest.)

The Task:

Before Starting: Read and discuss the instructions. Decide how you are going to divide up the work. Write your decisions on a sheet of paper and turn it in to your teacher.

1. Choose three other localities which are in different climatic zones than the school which you attend. Use the map in Sunset Western Garden Book. The list of localities is at this site: http://megawx.aws.com/nbc/knsd/sitelist.aspWrite down what differences you expect to find in the weather at your four study sites. Turn this paper in to your teacher.

2. For each location find out the altitude, longitud, latitud, the distance from the Pacific Ocean (or other bodies of water), the side of the Coastal Mountains where it is located, and the surface features around the site (houses, trees, sand, etc.). Use the CD of San Diego topographical maps. (or an actual map if you prefer.): TOPO! © 1997 Wildflower Productions (http://www.topo.com).

3. Use HyperStudio or PowerPoint to present the information you found out about your site. Include pictures ( find a link to a site which is about your location).http://www.50states.com/city/calif.htm

4. Each day at the same time record the temperature, the maximum temperature, the minimum temperature, the rainfall, the humidity, the maximum humidity, the minimum humidity, the wind speed, the maximum wind speed, the wind direction, the barametric pressure, the maximum barometric pressure and the minimum barometric pressure. Use a spreadsheet to organize the data which you collected over the course of your study. Assign each wind direction a different number and find the mode of that column. For rainfall find the sum. Set up your spreadsheet to find the average of the other columns.

http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/adptcty/blchart.html

5. Investigate which instruments are used by scientists to measure each aspect of the weather. Be prepared to explain how each measurement effects the weather of a locality. (For example: temperature tells whether it is hot or cold in a place. What factors influence the temperature in a place?) Use pictures or photographs to help explain this information to the rest of the class.http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wmeasur0.htm, http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wworks0.htm

http://www.weather.com/glossary/ http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/adptcty/respsht.html

6. At the end of your study time make a graph or table which compares the results from the four study sites. (http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/graphing/a6actpln.html)

7. Compare the data and explain the differences noted.

http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/adptcty/factors.html

Analize your data. Ask yourselves questions such as these: 1. Which site had the lowest maximum and minimum temperatures? 2. Which site had the highest maximum and minimum temperatures? 3. Which site had less difference between the maximum and the minimum temperatures? 4. Which site had more difference between the maximum and the minimum temperatures? 5. Which site had the greatest humidity? 6. Which site had the least humidity? 7. Which site had the most rain? 8. Which site had the least rain? 9. Did the wind blow from the same dirrection at each site? From where did the wind blow?

8. Present your analysis of the data plus your explaination for these differences to the class(i.e. Tell why there was more rain or less rain, why it is colder in one place, etc.). Be prepared to answer questions such as these when you present to your peers: What results were you expecting? Were there any surprises with the data? How do you know that your explainations are correct? Is there a better way to do this investigation? Are there other ways to explain your results? Do we need to monitor the weather for a longer period of time before we can draw conclusions?

Calificación:

30% accuracy of your graphs and spreadsheets

40% visual and oral presentation of the results of your investigations.

30% conclusions and explainations

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Standards: Language Arts 2.4 (multimedia presentations); Science grades 9-12: Content Standard A (Science as Inquiry), Content Standard D (Earth and Space Sciences), Content Standard E (Science and Technology), Content Standard F (Science in Social and Personal Perspective), K-12 Program Standard C (Correlation with Mathematics to collect, organize and analyze data) http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/6e.html#csa912

Montgomery High School ESLERS: Collaborative Workers, Effective Communicators, Quality Producers, Critical and Creative Thinkers, Self Directed Learners