Title:   Finding The Direction From Which The Wind is Blowing

Grade Level: 8

Once common on top of many homes in America, the weather vane was used to tell Americans, particularly farmers, the direction of the wind.  This information tells the farmer something about the weather that will be coming into the area.  In this lesson, we will learn how to make our own simple weather vane and how to use it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Subject:  Science

Learner Outcomes:

• The student will assemble a device for determining from which direction the wind is blowing.
• The student will use the wind vane that has been made for making a series of weather observations.

Duration of Lesson:

• It will take one day to create the wind vane.
• It will take small parts of class sessions over a three week period for making observations.  (see teacher notes)

Materials:

Soda Straw

Pin

New pencil with eraser

Modeling clay

Several 3 by 5 Index cards

Glue

Magnetic compass

Chalk

Data table

Technology Tools / Courseware:

• Computer with Internet connection.
• TV with cable connection.

Teacher Notes:

• Safety: Students are working with a sharp object.  Students need to be aware of the possibility of being injured.  Obviously students should behave in a mature manner.
• Introductory and follow-up extension activities involve use of the Internet.  There are many sites available on the Internet involving weather and weather information.  At the eighth grade level, it should not be necessary for the teacher to "pre surf" Internet sites for the students, but this is up to the teacher.
• Part of the lesson involves student groups making daily outside observations of current weather conditions.  This needs to only take five minutes.  You can have your students record their observations and go on with the day's lesson.  After three weeks (or a period set by you), you may bring the lesson to its closing phase.
• Optionally, if you have a TV in your classroom connected to cable, have your students compare their weather readings to the Weather Channel.
• If you don't have access to a TV, the following links on the Internet have similar information about your local weather conditions:
• Weather Channel.com
• Intellicast.com
• UM Weather
• Weather Underground

There is background material that can be read:

• browser version
• printable version (Word 97/2000 format)

1.  Have students read the background material (above).  Discuss with them why it is important to know from which direction the wind is blowing.  Have the students check the Internet for information about the winds to better understand the concept.  Here are some good sites:

• Instructional Materials On Making Weather Observations
• World Wind Patterns For the Next 72 Hours
• Winds and Weather

• Safety concerns
• How to work in cooperative learning groups  Unfamiliar with Cooperative Learning groups?  Click here for a description and links.
• Jobs of each member of each group (i.e. leader, materials gatherer, quality control, information recorder)
• Inform the students that they will be using their weather vane to take observations of the weather for the next (insert period of time) so they should a) make it sturdy; b) treat it carefully; and c) store it carefully

3.  Directions for the lab:
        1.  send the materials gatherer to obtain the materials
        2.  glue or tape several index cards together to make a thicker card.  Optionally, students may decorate this card with wind related symbols.
        3.  Assemble the wind vane following these instructions: (see diagram below)
             (1) start by pushing the pin through the straw at the middle of the straw.
             (2) stick the pin into the center of the eraser of the pencil.
             (3) stick a quarter sized lump of clay on one end of the straw.
             (4) glue the Index Cards to the other end of the straw.
             (5) insert the pencil point into a large, heavy ball of clay.
 

4.  Directions for using the wind vane.
        (1) Take the wind vane outside, being very careful not to drop the wind vane.
        (2) Place the wind vane in an open area away from the shelter of the school building.
        (3) Use the magnetic compass to determine where North and South are.  Mark all four directions on the ground/pavement with chalk.
        (4) Students should step back from the wind vane to not block the wind.  The end of the straw with the small piece of clay will swing around and point in the direction the wind is blowing towards.  The opposite direction is the direction the wind is blowing from.  It is this direction that should be recorded in the data table.

Click here for a printable Data Table for this lesson (Word 97/2000 format)

5.  Using either the Weather Channel on TV or one of the Internet sites that provides local weather information (see teacher notes, above), have students compare their observations with the official weather conditions.  Discuss with your students why there might be a disparity in conditions.  This disparity might be due to where the local conditions are being measured (usually at an airport outside of town).  Another possibility is the phenomenon of local weather conditions.  I.e.. if your school is in a valley, or on a hill, or amongst high buildings, these conditions will create local weather that is slightly different from the main weather conditions for the region.

Modifications:

Enrichment Activities:

Miami Museum of Science - Weather Tools

Encarta Online - Meteorology  - follow links for more information

2.  You may wish to have your students use a good search engine to look for more information.  Afterwards, students could submit written reports describing the information they have discovered.  Here is a suggested format:
        a)  When you find a good site and have read it, shrink the browser to your toolbar (if using Windows 95/98) by clicking on the underline box in the upper right corner of your screen.
        b)  Start your word processor and then shrink it to your toolbar also.
        c)  Click on the browser button on your toolbar to restore it.  Click on the address to highlight it and right click to get a menu.  Select "copy" by clicking on it.  Shrink the browser to the toolbar again.
        d) Click on the word processor button on your toolbar to restore it.  Type your name, date and class on separate lines.  Highlight the three lines and click the right alignment button.  Press <enter> twice to skip two lines.
        e)  Type the word "Address" and then click the paste button.  The address of your web site will appear.  If it is still right aligned, simply click the left alignment button on your toolbar.  Press <enter> twice to skip two lines.
        f)  Type in a brief description of what you learned on the web site.  Several paragraphs should do.
        g)  Save your work in the method your teacher wants and submit it to your teacher in the method your teacher wants.

Evaluation / Assessment

2.  The students will turn in a completed Data Table.  (Summative)
 

West Virginia Goals and Objectives:

Eighth grade Science:  8.8  8.10  8.13  8.17  8.22  8.72  8.78  8.89  8.98

National Standards

References:

1    The following links to the World Wide Web:

Instructional Materials On Making Weather Observations
Intellicast.com
State of WV Instructional Goals and Objectives for Eight Grade
UM Weather
Weather Channel.com
Weather Underground
Winds and Weather
World Wind Patterns For the Next 72 Hours

2.    The following documents written by the author:
        Winds
        Cooperative Learning Groups

3.      The midi file was The Wind Cries Mary originally performed by Jimmy Hendrix.
Author:

Robert Wharton
Hamilton Junior High School
http://hjhs.wood.k12.wv.us
Parkersburg, WV
email: rwharton@access.k12.wv.us

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