An EO Communicating Science series, February - May 2011

providing support to NCAR and UCAR staff wishing to communicate science in K-12 classrooms and public events

  • Hands-on Magnetism Activities, Space Weather, and Geomagnetism
  • Cloudy Day: Activities Bridging Cloud Science, Literacy, and Art
  • Radar and Weather Together
  • The Impacts of Climate Change in Colorado: Today and Tomorrow

Color flier for posting/forwarding to colleagues: download Word doc


Thursday, February 3
1:00 - 2:30 pm
CG1 Conference Room 2126
Presented by Randy Russell

Hands-on Magnetism Activities, Space Weather, and Geomagnetism

This workshop blends several hands-on activities about magnetism with background information about the Sun, space weather, Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, auroral activity, and geomagnetism. We’ve presented versions of this workshop regularly (roughly a half-dozen times per year at various venues) for the past eight years, progressively refining and improving it in response to the interests and requests of teachers.


Thursday, March 17
2:30 pm
FL2 Cafeteria Atrium
Presented by Becca Hatheway

Cloudy Day: Activities Bridging Cloud Science, Literacy, and Art

Explore hands-on and online approaches to teaching elementary to middle school students how clouds form, common cloud types, and what clouds have to do with the weather. The next cloudy day will become a teachable moment using our cloud viewer and online cloud type gallery, clouds in art interactive, cloud formation activities, literacy activities, and related content.


Thursday, April 14
2:30 pm
FL2 Cafeteria Atrium
Presented by Tim Barnes

Radar and Weather Together

Find out how the use of radar technology and the physics of wave energy can be highlighted while engaging learners in hands on activities about NCAR’s weather and severe weather research. These activities have been used effectively in both public science events and in the K-12 classroom, especially with a focus on the deployment of the Doppler on Wheels in field campaigns.


Tuesday, May 3
2:30 pm
Mesa Lab Classroom
Presented by Teri Eastburn, Becca Hatheway, and Susan Foster

The Impacts of Climate Change in Colorado: Today and Tomorrow

Pine beetles, water resources, urban heat, snowpack, and other factors are expected to be affected as the global climate warms. This workshop combines hands-on activities with science content related to what we know about Earth’s climate, how climate change is causing environmental changes in Colorado, and how scientists are monitoring and predicting these impacts.


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