Public Affairs and Outreach
Other Agency – ARM Program Outreach Activities
Funding Agency: U.S. DOE
Objectives
Provide outreach support for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)
Program to K-12 teachers and students throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, and
the U.S.
Accomplishments
ARM Program/SGP educational outreach activities are conducted through the
Oklahoma Climatological Survey’s (OCS) Outreach Group. During the
fiscal year, the activities were marked most notably by the July 2006
EarthStorm workshop for K-12 teachers, the 2006 National Weather Center
WeatherFest, the 15th Anniversary Mesonet/ARM Science Fair, the 2007
ScienceFest, and summer camp presentations for Girls Scouts and Chickasaw
Nation students. ARM/SGP Outreach staff presented at the Kansas Association
of Teachers of Science Annual Meeting in Junction City, KS, and at regional
and local teacher in-services and workshops throughout Oklahoma.
The Southern Great Plains has an educational outreach web site located at http://arm.ocs.ou.edu/. The home page displays observational data from yesterday at your choice of SGP ARM sites. In the data section, visitors can view SGP ARM data using the WxScope Plugin. The data can be displayed as maps of observations across the network, color gradients, or as a time series graph from your selected SGP ARM station. The site provides lessons, glossary, variable descriptions, and information about each of the 3 ARM regions, along with PowerPoint and pdf documents of presentations, posters, and symposium papers.
The 2006 EarthStorm Workshop took place July 17-20 in Enid, Oklahoma at Coolidge Elementary School. Thirty teachers from Kansas and Oklahoma attended. Below is a daily summary of activities followed by teacher comments about the workshop. On the first day the new teachers were introduced to basic meteorology concepts like state variables, observing systems, air masses, fronts, global weather patterns and forecasting. On the second day veteran teachers joined the group to tackle climate, severe weather, and radar topics. Teachers were divided into small groups and given a climate question. They used tools available at http://climate.ocs.ou.edu/ to answer their questions. The third day saw a tour of North Central Oklahoma through Garfield, Kay, and Grant counties. Our first stop was at the ARM Central Facility near Lamont. Dan Rusk provided an overview of ARM programs and the unique instruments used by scientists. We spent about 30 minutes walking around looking at the instruments. Questions were answered by Dan and John Harris. Next, we were off to Ponca City for lunch. Before leaving Ponca City, we stopped at the Pioneer Woman Museum. Our last stop was the Medford Mesonet site, but we made a slight detour to Wakita to visit the home of the Twister Movie museum. It is a small converted garage which contains memorabilia of the movie including Dorothy I. After Wakita, we stopped in Medford. The teachers were able to see an Oklahoma Mesonet station up close. Throughout the bus ride, the teachers watched The Weather in the Classroom DVD series produced by The Weather Channel. Teachers were provided copies of these DVDs in their workshop packets. On the fourth day everyone finally made it through the content lectures. The teachers spent the day using the computers and learning to use the WeatherScope software. Many of them had not seen the software before. Others were pleased by the expanded graphing features. The software greatly impressed them. The speaker could barely be heard above the side conversations occurring around the room. Each time someone found a new feature there was a gasp then a cry of "Show me!". You could literally feel the steam engine of ideas pick up speed. They were all very excited about how they could use the software with their students. Many of them were pleased that it was user-friendly enough that most students would be able to figure out how to use it on their own. The teachers finished the day anticipating the start of the new school year.
OCS moved into its new home in the National Weather Center building on
August 28th. The majority of OCS staff is located on the second floor connected
by an interior (non-public) hallway. The Distance Learning Lab is located
on the third floor just above the OCS office. The Lab is a new feature
to OCS. In the past we had to borrow computer labs from other units. This
will allow us to hold workshops when they are convenient for our users
instead of when computers are available. September 29th was the grand opening
of the National Weather Center. Speakers during the ceremony included:
John Snow, Dean, of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences;
Jacqueline Dubois Miller, Meteorology Masters student; David A. Sampson,
Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department Commerce; Brad Henry, Governor, of Oklahoma;
and David L. Boren, President, University of Oklahoma. A luncheon was provided
for guests at the Student Union. The lunch speakers were Jim Cantore from
The Weather Channel and Gary England from Oklahoma local television station
KWTV (Transcript of speeches - http://www.nwc.ou.edu/pdf/NWCspeeches.pdf 
).
In the afternoon, guests returned to the NWC for a reception and tours
of the facilities.
The Oklahoma Climate and Loss Mitigation Conference 2006 was held on October 18th at the NWC. Eighty-three attendees from the insurance industry were treated to a panel of expert speakers from weather to agriculture to emergency management. Participants enjoyed the unique blending of related topics. Many said they would attend future conferences if offered. Andrea Melvin was asked to speak about OCS Outreach activities at the Oklahoma Environmental Education Coordinating Committee annual retreat.
The OKEECC is organized by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. The committee members are state and federal agencies that provide environmental education resources to Oklahomans. The committee was formed in 1992 by House Bill 2227. At the end of the day Andrea was asked to represent OCS on the committee. Andrea agreed to join the committee. Meetings are held quarterly with one longer meeting a year referred to as the annual retreat.
Andrea Melvin and Andrew Reader presented and exhibited at the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association (OSTA) Conference in Oklahoma City on October 19th. The conference was set up with multiple sessions occurring at the same time. Andrea's talked focused on the outreach programs of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Teachers learned about the science fair, speaker's service, and summer workshops. They were provided with information on how to schedule tours of the NWC. Andrew introduced teachers to CoCoRaHS (http://www.cocorahs.org). Teachers can involve their students in daily reporting of rainfall amounts from their school. These data are ingested into the local NWS forecast offices for use in predicting drought and flooding conditions. Andrew was able to provide rain gauges for 5 teachers to take home with them. A donation of $25 helps to offset the cost of the rain gauges. Most observers gladly donate to the program. The program has only been available in Oklahoma since June 2006. Already we have 86 volunteers in 28 of 77 counties signed up to observer rainfall data. At the booth, teachers could sign up for CoCoRaHS and pick up posters, a set of Weather Channel dvds and other information about the Oklahoma Climatological Survey or the upcoming National Weather Festival.
OCS exhibited at the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association Fall Conference held at the Reed Center in Midwest City. The conference brings together the local, county, state, and military emergency managers to discuss issues facing their jurisdictions. The term emergency manager encompasses fire, police, EMTs, and other with responsibilities for public safety. Many Oklahoma agencies helped during last year's Hurricane Katrina. The conference focused on lessons learned during Katrina, response to the winter Oklahoma Wildfires, better ways of communicating between agencies, funding sources, and the restructuring of FEMA. Derek Arndt gave a presentation on OK-First (the OCS emergency management outreach program) and CASA radar initiative. OCS outreach staff manned a booth in the exhibit hall displaying the latest updates to the web site and new features in the WeatherScope software.
Andrea Melvin and Cerry Leffler hosted a booth called "Air- A powerful force" at the Super Science Night. The booth contained hands-on activities for children to learn about air/wind. Students learned about Bernoulli's Principle of Air Pressure and how an area of low pressure causes objects to move. The museum had booths from 20 different agencies and an attendance of close to 300. The staff at Sam Noble hopes to offer more free science nights in the future.
Even on a cold, windy day the National Weather Festival drew a crowd of about 3,000. The attendance nearly quadrupled any previous open house by the individual agencies. Hourly balloon launches were emceed by meteorologists from the local ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates with help from children in the audience. The SMART-R radar and other research vehicles were on display for visitors to view the instruments used when tracking severe storms. Exhibitor booths were located in the National Weather Center Atria with informational handouts, festival t-shirts, and interactive displays. Visitors toured the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction offices. The windowed hallway allowed visitors to see the forecasters at work without disturbing them. The David L. Boren Auditorium was packed most of the day with visitors watching severe weather videos. Outside, Oklahoma Mesonet staff was available at the National Weather Center tower to answer questions and explain how the network benefits Oklahomans. Next to the Mesonet tower was a section of the parking lot dedicated to the Storm Chaser Car Show. Weather enthusiast and storm spotters proudly displayed their weather instruments and ham radio equipment. Twenty-five cars and trucks were on display and eligible for special awards like: "Most Working Sensors", "Most Cutting Edge", "Meatwagon", and Most Hail Damage". If you looked real close, you probably spotted the many NWC agency staff wearing "Ask Me! I'm a Meteorologist!" buttons. These volunteers were available to answer those, "I've always wondered about..." questions. The youngest visitors enjoyed the day eating funnel cakes and Indian tacos from the food vendors in addition to the many activities provided in the Children's Tent. They learned to map wind direction with Oklahoma Mesonet data, classify clouds with the NWS Cloud Spotter Wheels, played Weather Jingo, make groundhog puppets, and took home severe weather safety posters for their walls. The activity booklet provided to visitors was sponsored by Republic Bank & Trust of Norman. Several school buses full of students spent their Saturday enjoying the event. We hope the National Weather Festival will become just as popular to the state as the annual Medieval Fair or Jazz In June. Once the event is established locally, we hope to draw attendance from surrounding states.
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey hosted the December meeting of OKCCEE at the National Weather Center. Committee members spent time going over sub-committee reports and wrap-up from the H2Oklahoma Water Festival that was held in September. Retiring committee members were presented with poinsettia plants. New members to the committee include Andrea Melvin from OCS and Laura McKay from the Oklahoma Mesonet.
Andrea Melvin and Derek Arndt were invited to give a presentation at the EE Expo 2007 on February 8th at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Environmental Educators. The conference theme was "From Dust to Dreams". Derek and Andrea's presentation was called "Winds of Change: Ten Events that Impacted History in Oklahoma and Beyond". Derek began with a discussion of significant weather events that changed the way Oklahomans live with extreme weather in Oklahoma. Andrea finished by showing how to use WeatherScope to create custom weather maps and graphs. Additionally, OCS had a booth in the exhibit area. About 40 of the 300 attendees attended the breakout session. The others visited OCS staff at the booth.
Andrea Melvin traveled to Ardmore on February 10th to speak to a group of about 30 retired teachers from Delta Kappa Gamma. She shared pictures of the National Weather Center and spoke about the unique opportunities available now that all the weather agencies are in one building. Andrea shared web address to find weather information and data. The teachers were especially intrigued with the WeatherScope software for creating custom weather maps
Students from Emerson Junior High (Enid), Gage Junior High, Jefferson Middle School (OKC), Monroe Elementary (Enid), and Southeast High School (OKC) competed at the 15th Annual OK Mesonet/ARM Science Fair hosted by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. The science fair had been postponed to February 24 because schools were closed for one week in January. Students and teachers needed additional time to complete their projects. The fair took place inside the National Weather Center. After their projects were judged, students, parents, and teachers toured the new facilities. The judging team spanned all education levels from undergraduates to professional meteorologists. The judges included undergraduates Darren Clabo, Sara Johnson, Melissa Koeka, Nicole Light and Nick Nauslar; graduate students Kodi Nemunaitis, and Justin Monroe; meteorologists Derek Arndt, Dr. Jeffrey Basara, James Hocker, and Andrew Reader from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey; Michael Klatt from the Environmental Verification and Analysis Center; Christopher Godfrey from the School of Meteorology; Dale Morris from NOAA/NWS Warning Decision Training Branch; and Daphne Thompson from NOAA Weather Partners. The judges are key to helping the students critique their projects for regional and state competitions. The time they spend asking questions and making suggestions for additional research encourages the students to improve their speaking skills, board layout and design, unit usage, and catching those pesky spelling errors. A list of overall winners can be found at http://earthstorm.ocs.ou.edu/for_teachers/2007_ov.php, and a list of results is at http://earthstorm.ocs.ou.edu/for_teachers/2007_cat.php. In honor of Oklahoma's Centennial celebration, the OK Mesonet/ARM Science Fair was listed as an official centennial event. Five special awards in addition to the annual awards were presented to students at this year's fair; they can be found at http://earthstorm.ocs.ou.edu/for_teachers/2007_okcent.php.
Andrea Melvin, Nicki Hickmon, Jessica Rathke, Celia Jones, and Dr. Susan Postawko provided information about the National Weather Center agencies, OU School of Meteorology undergraduate programs, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, and the Oklahoma Mesonet at Women In Science Conference on February 27th at the Omniplex Science Museum sponsored by the Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (OK-EPSCOR). Conference attendance was about 300 students and teachers. Panel discussions were divided by discipline: natural and environmental sciences, physical sciences and health sciences. Most of the panel speakers were female scientists from each discipline spoke about their careers, educational backgrounds, and how to better prepare in middle and high school for science majors. Nicki was the meteorologist on the physical sciences panel. After lunch, students participated in career planning sessions.
Four schools participated in a special Weather Program at the National Weather Center offered by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Andrea Melvin coordinated a full day field trip for each school. Bethel Middle School visited on March 7th with 25 students plus 2 adults. Tomlinson Middle School in Lawton, OK visited on March 28th. The large group (63 students plus 10 adults) resulted in 4 groups and repeated sessions. The only high school group was from Moore High School on April 30th. The smallest student group was from Mulhall-Orlando Middle School with 19 students and 6 adults on May 2nd. The Moore meteorology class consisted of 34 students and 2 adults. The Weather Programs included a basic meteorology lecture, a computer lab to learn to use the WeatherScope software, a tour of the Oklahoma Mesonet calibration lab and tower (located at the back of the NWC parking lot), a tour of the NWC facilities, and a short video on storms.
OCS partnered with the Oklahoman, the state-wide newspaper, on the second series of in-paper articles called Weather Wise which ran in the Oklahoman on April 2-5, 2007. Teachers receive 25 copies of the Oklahoman containing the Weather Wise series. There were over 94,700 individual newspapers containing the Weather Wise lessons delivered to 900 schools. The poster celebrated Oklahoma’s Centennial year with a timeline of weather events from 1907 to 2007. The lesson topics were spring planting, water conservation, severe winds, and wildfires. PDF copies of the articles are available at http://earthstorm.ocs.ou.edu/materials/lessons_OK_arti.php. The Newspapers in Education Staff submitted the 2006 series to the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. The 2007 Honorable Mention for Best Newspaper in Education Literacy Idea for circulations over 150,000 was awarded to The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City for Weather Wise.
Andrea Melvin served on the National Weather Center Research Experiences for Undergraduates Selection Committee. The selection determined which 10 students should be offered positions in 2007 summer's program. The committee received nearly 100 applications for the 10 available positions. The applicants came from large schools like Penn State and Purdue to smaller schools like Millersville and Northland College. In April, the committee focused on finding mentors to lead the individual projects conducted by the students. The students were in Norman from May 28th through August 3rd.
Andrea Melvin visited Lexington Middle School to speak with the Science Club about meteorology, automated weather networks, and building weather maps with WeatherScope. About 15 students attended two after school programs held on April 11th and 25th. Using a box of old Mesonet instruments, the students were able to touch and see inside a tipping bucket rain gauge and compare different types of anemometers and pyranometers.
Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten of the National Severe Storms Lab and Andrea Melvin spent the day in Mrs. Kelly Reynolds' class. Topics included fronts, weather safety, careers in meteorology, making maps with WeatherScope, and what classes they should take in high school to prepare for science careers. Dr. Van Cooten and Andrea visited with about 180 students by the end of the day.
ScienceFest 2007 was held on April 19th. We lost about 600 students who were unable to attend due to the scheduling changes of standardized test resulting from the winter storms. However, schools continued to register up to the deadline. On April 12th, training sessions were held for volunteers. On April 13th, committee members and the Zoo’s student volunteers assembled the teacher resource bags. April 18th was the committee work day. Tents, tables, and chairs were disbursed around the zoo to the proper locations for activity stations and exhibitors.
Students learned about air, water, and soil conservation and protection. The activity stations did a wonderful job of engaging the students. Activities ranged from Water Limbo and Survivor to quizzes like Environmental Jeopardy. Students mined for bird seeds and used the sun to cook chocolate cake and cherry upside-down cake. Exhibitors from the Wichita and Washita Wildlife Refuges helped students understand how animals adapt to their environment from the foods they eat to their coverings like feathers and fur. Alternative fuel vehicles run on ethanol and electricity were on display along with a Segway personal transporter. Student took the Earth Day pledge to take care of their environment. They signed pledge pennants that were given to the funding agencies as thank you for making ScienceFest possible.
For Oklahoma's Centennial, the Oklahoma City Zoo opened a new exhibit area celebrating the animals, insects, and plants native to Oklahoma. Students saw animals they don't typically associate with Oklahoma like alligators and bats. The exhibit is arranged by ecoregions. It is amazing to see the predatory animals right next to their prey surrounded by natural vegetation.
ScienceFest included 2 Fin and Feather shows for the first 3000 students who registered. The Fin and Feather shows teach recycling through trained behaviors of sea lions and various birds. This year the shows were introduced by Rick Mitchell, TV meteorologist for KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. Rick spent time talking with the students about the McReady (www.mcready.org) weather safety program. After each show, students were able to speak with Rick and get autographs. Rick's participation helped to gain needed publicity for the event. Local radio stations also spoke about the event on-air. Three local newspapers did feature articles on the event.
Andrea Melvin and 6th grade teacher Lori Painter from Monroe Elementary in Enid, OK spent a weekend in Kansas at the Kansas Association of Teachers of Science (KATS) annual teacher meeting. They presented two workshops entitled Weather Made By You and Groundhog Weather. Each workshop was presented twice with a total attendance of 15 teachers. Several teachers stopped by and mentioned that they will be coming to EarthStorm and opted to attend other sessions. Attendance for the conference was much lower than in past years. Unfortunately, schools no longer defray the cost for teachers to attend this annual conference.
Al Sutherland and Andrea Melvin presented at the Progressive Ag Safety Day held at the Oklahoma County Fairgrounds. Middle schools students from the Oklahoma Metro area learned about safety issues. Al and Andrea focused on weather safety ranging from tornadoes to flooding and lightning. Students learned to access radar and surface wind data from the Internet. Students learned the importance of having a NOAA weather radio in their homes and schools but especially carrying a portable one when outside on the farm or at sporting events. Other speakers presented fire, small equipment, ATV, bicycle, firearm, and tractor safety.
As part of the University of Oklahoma's Speaker Service, Andrea Melvin was invited to speak at the Rambling Oaks Retirement Home. Residents learned about creating a disaster supply kit and a preparing a list of important contact information. They learned about tornado, lightning, and flooding safety procedures. Fifteen residents attended this meeting. Rambling Oaks is located across the street from Westmoore High School. Westmoore was damaged during the May 3rd, 1999 tornado. Several residents shared their experiences from 1999.
Lexington Elementary hosted a summer program to bridge the gap between the time school ends and summer camps begin. Guest speakers are invited to read a children's book related to their occupation, provide a craft activity related to the story, and provide a themed snack. Andrea Melvin read "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett. Sun Thermometer kits were purchased from a hobby supply company. For snack the children made "sunny faces" made from half a bagel, yellow cream cheese, raisins, and yogurt dots.
Andrea Melvin, Cindy Morgan and Laura McKay worked with 4th grade Girl Scouts to earn their tornado badges. The theme for this year's camp was "Little House on the Prairie" in honor of Oklahoma's centennial year. The girls made cloud wheels to use when identifying and recording daily cloud types. They practiced estimating hail size using wooden balls of various diameters. They learned important weather safety procedures for tornadoes, lightning, and flooding. They looked at items contained in a Red Cross 1-person/3-day disaster supply backpack. The group discussed additional items they would include in their own kits. The girls learned the importance of creating a family emergency contact list. In fine Girl Scouts tradition, the day ended with a song called "Get Prepared!" written by students at Parks Elementary School in Oklahoma City. The song helps kids get prepared during National Preparedness Month annual held in September.
In partnership with the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and the NOAA Weather Partners Outreach staff, the Oklahoma Climatological Survey hosted Tech Success. Tech-Success is a three year service project geared toward fostering Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and interests among 110 middle school students with disabilities. Building upon a successful after– school program, High School High Tech, established by a private–nonprofit company, Tech-Now, Inc., the University of Oklahoma plans to create innovative STEM activities for targeted students. The students participated in a similar program to what was provided to the school groups earlier in the year. Dr. Kevin Kloesel had students predict whether or not several "atmospheres" (coffee cups) would produce rainfall. It wasn't enough to get just one student wet (only way to verify rainfall occurred is to measure it or have a witness). The National Weather Service did a special Noon balloon launch so that the students could witness it. After the weather balloon was released, the skies opened and all of us got soaked.
For the second year in a row, NWC agency staff has participated in the Chickasaw summer space camps, C-NASA. The Chickasaws hold two camps each summer: one for middle school and one for high school students. Instead of staff traveling to Ada, the students loaded the travel coach and headed to Norman. They were dazzled by Dr. Kevin Kloesel's (College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences) disappearing water. Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten, Chickasaw tribe member and NSSL Research Hydrologist, showed the atmospheric process of distributing heat with a tub full of warm, red-colored water and bluecolored ice cubes. Students could see the cold, blue dye sink to the bottom of the tub and the warm, red dye float to the surface. Eventually, the water turned purple when it reached an equilibrium temperature. Daphne Thompson, NOAA Weather Partners, helped the students make tornadoes in a bottle with a little dish soap and glitter. Andrea Melvin tested the students’ estimation abilities with the Hail Box activity. The students watched a short video on the 2006 El Reno, OK tornado which damaged an airplane hanger at a small airport. Andrew Reader from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey showed the students the radar data from El Reno. They built weather maps looking for severe weather ingredients before finally animating the radar data.
The second FOSS workshop held in Norman was a huge success. While we only had 6 participants along with three instructors from the Lawrence Hall of Science (FOSS kit developers), they were amazed by the National Weather Center Facilities and the openness of the scientists. Workshop participants were from MA, NY, PA, and WV. The workshop consisted of half the time spent on FOSS materials and content and half the time with guest speakers from the NWC or tours of NWC facilities. Dr. Kevin Kloesel, Assistant Dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences gave a presentation on basic meteorology and forecasting. The first day ended quite dramatically when lightning struck the building or very near the building. When the building was evacuated, we decided to end the day early. On Tuesday, Andrea Melvin spoke about the surface observing networks which cover Oklahoma. The afternoon was spent touring the NWC facilities. Wednesday began with a look at meteorology research conducted at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey presented by research meteorologist, Brad Illston. The day ended with a visit to one of the Norman weather businesses, Weather Decision Technologies. J.T. Johnson, Chief Technology Officer, explained how his company benefits by close proximity to university students and research units along with the many branches of the federal government. Friday was another full day of activities. Andrea Melvin introduced the teachers to several weather web pages including the EarthStorm page. Rick Smith from the Norman NWS Forecast Office showed pictures used to train Storm Spotters. The last guest speaker was Derek Arndt of OCS. He spoke about Climate Change and the debate over global warming. The teachers left tired but very excited to share with their students what they did on their summer vacation.
These activities are ongoing.
Middle School students learning to use WeatherScope software