Illustration of hurricane elements.

Core Subjects: Science

Students review the science of hurricanes (covered in part one) and put meteorology into context by learning how hurricanes are tracked and exploring simulations of hurricane weather data.

Tropical Storm Tracker

Information Fluency

Students examine real data simulations from past major hurricanes using the Tropical Storm Tracker. The simulations plot a variety of storm data—categorization, speed, path—on a map, allowing students to explore and make sense of complex weather systems.

Accuweather Hurricane Center current weather simluation.

Research Fluency

After analyzing historical storm data, students use Hurricane 2003! (Accuweather Hurricane Center) to track real-time weather data in multiple geographic regions.

Using animated maps students are able to analyze visualizations of meteorological data.

Illustration of research log.

Further Development

Teachers can build on information fluency by further exploring the meteorological data available through the Hurricane Center.

Teachers can construct simple research logs to allow students to assume the role of storm hunters. In this role, students can collect, analyze and log weather data for a particular region over time and discuss emerging patterns with classmates.

Virtual Exhibit Tool.

Tracking Hurricanes

As a culminating project, students can construct a presentation based on their research, drawing together resources using a virtual exhibit maker. The exhibit is stored on the site and can be shared via the Web and email.