In the event that students need to polish
the skills needed to track hurricanes and make predictions
or recommendations, they have the resources available
in the student section. We will take you to several
sites that provide primers in hurricanes that will allow
your students to come up to speed.
Preparation to engage in the
hurricane PBL
1. Start by having students read
one or the other scenarios (listed below). You can
use the problem-based learning instructions found
in the teachers section. Give them time to go through
a KWH model. This model differs slightly from the
usual KWL model. In KWH, students first list what
they already know about hurricanes, next they list
what they need to know. Listing what they need to
know comes in the form of questions. They list the
questions they need to answer in order to solve the
problem. The "H" in this model stands for
"how." That is, the students come up with
a plan about how to answer the questions, learn the
appropriate material and go about solving the problem.
In this case, they need to learn enough about hurricanes
to analyze data, track hurricanes and make informed
decisions and recommendations.
2. There are two
scenarios. One involves a cruise ship in the Caribbean
that may be in peril due to the approach of a hurricane.
There are two ways to present this information to
students in order to turn this project into a simulation.
A. Scenario One,
Simulation I Cruise Ship: This file contains a day
by day listing of the hurricane's information, along
with questions to ask students. The days can be
handed out at your own pace. Use Hurricane
Tracking and Forecasting.
B. Scenario One, Simulation II.
Cruise Ship: This file contains day by day charts
with multiple reading. You might consider cutting
out this information and handing it out over a four
day period. Use Module
Rationale.
3. Two charts are
available for students to track the hurricane: Hurricane
Tracking Chart and Hurricane
Chart Western Atlantic.
4. Students can use
the following resources to become hurricane experts:
A. The University
of Illinois Online
meteorology guide offers background readings
along with well developed graphics and QuickTime
movies to illustrate the formation and behavior
of hurricanes. This is a rather extensive site and
may take up to 120 minutes to get a good grasp of
the content.
B. Another very fine resource for
hurricanes with good graphics is the USA Today's
"All
About Hurricanes Guide".
5. These sites and
others are listed in the materials given to students.
6. There are also
very instructional applets or graphic simulations
from the University of Wisconsin that will help students
come to understand the variables at work with hurricanes.
Links are available to these at the appropriate places
within the students' materials.
Simulation
on tangential winds
Simulation
on the importance of water temperature
How
satellite images can help
7. Scenario 1 (to
be used with either of two sets of data listed above
in paragraph 2A and 2B)
Norfolk has become the new port on the Atlantic for
cruise ships! What a boon for Virginians and mid-Atlantic
residents - who no longer have to fly to the cruise
ships! But Norfolk has a history with summer tropical
systems. Hurricanes in the Caribbean have dominated
the news the last few years. With today's sophisticated
hurricane information systems, ships can navigate
around severe tropical storms or hurricanes.
Hurricanes are one of the only natural
disasters that provide warning. This weather module
focuses on the possibility of a Hurricane impacting
the itinerary of a cruise ship departing Norfolk for
a nine-day long cruise to the Caribbean and back.
Will the approaching hurricane cooperate?
You and your fellow students will
be the meteorologists who will make that call! You
will need to decide whether and how to redirect
a cruise ship on its return from the Caribbean to
Norfolk You will know the ship's planned track and
schedule as it sails from Norfolk to the Caribbean
and back. The challenge is to track and make some
predictions about this hurricane that threatens cruise
ships leaving out of Norfolk.
8. Scenario 2
With the increased cruise traffic out of Norfolk,
a new major cruise line has decided to build its headquarters
in the area. They would like to build the new headquarters
as close to the port as possible, but remembering
the news reports from Hurricane Katrina are wary of
building it too close to the port. Of course they
are worried about winds - but winds are responsible
for only part of the damage caused by a hurricane.
Storm surge, waves and flooding also accompany hurricanes.
Occasionally, a tornado may even accompany a hurricane's
landfall!
Your job is to find the best location
in the Norfolk area to locate the cruise line's headquarters,
taking into account the hazards caused by a hurricane
and how best to minimize their impact. You can give
suggestions on what the building should be like and
where in the Norfolk area, it should be located.
9. National Science Education
Standards (NSES) and Ocean Literacy Standards (OL)
5-8 NSES Standards - Earth Science - Standard
D
Structure of the Earth System - Global patterns
of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans
have a major effect on climate, because water in the
oceans holds a large amount of heat.
5-8 OL Standards - Influence on Weather and
Climate
5-8 NSES Standards - Science in
Personal and Social Perspectives - Standard F
Natural Hazards - Internal and external processes
of the earth system cause natural hazards, events
that change or destroy human and wildlife habitats,
damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural
hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires,
volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible
impacts from asteroids.
5-8 OL Standards - Influence on Weather and
Climate
9-12 NSES Standards - Earth Science
- Standard D
Energy in the Earth System - Heating in earth's
surface and atmosphere by the
sun drives convections within the atmosphere and oceans,
producing winds and ocean currents.
9-12 OL Standards - Influence on Weather
and Climate, Ocean Shapes the Earth
9-12 NSES Standards - Science
in Personal and Social Perspectives - Standard F
Natural Hazards - Normal adjustments of earth
may be hazardous for humans. Humans live at the interface
between the atmosphere driven by solar energy and
the upper mantle where convection creates changes
in the earth's solid crust. As societies have grown,
become stable, and come to value aspects of the environment,
vulnerability to natural processes of change has increased.
Natural and human induced hazards
present the need for humans to assess potential danger
and risk. Students should understand the costs and
trade-offs of various hazards. The scale of events
and accuracy with which scientists and engineers can
predict events are important considerations.
9-12 OL Standards - Influence on Weather
and Climate, Oceans Shapes the Earth
10. Key Concepts
A. Define hurricanes
B. Describe the Saffir-Simpson
scale of hurricane intensity.
C. Describe how hurricanes form.
D. Describe the three things that
favor hurricane intensification.
E. Describe the most favorable
season for hurricane and tell why.
F. Explain where most hurricanes
occur and why.
G. Explain what storm surge is
and how it occurs.
H. Describe the effects of a storm
surge.
I. Describe a hurricane in terms
of vertical and horizontal wind speed and direction.
J. Discuss why fewer and less intense
hurricanes are likely in an El Nino year.
