Weather forecast from the stratosphere
This lesson sequence is designed to introduce students to data analysis using a spreadsheet such as MS Excel. The project is based on a real world problem and a real data set from a weather balloon launched in Australia earlier this year. The project consists of 5 lessons of variable length, each with a different focus. The lessons are mapped to Digital Technologies outcomes, with a strong association to the science outcomes for water cycles in year 7.
Additional details
| Year band(s) | 7-8 |
|---|---|
| Content type | Lesson ideas |
| Format | Web page |
| Core and overarching concepts | Data interpretation, Data acquisition |
| Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies code(s) |
AC9TDI8P12
Select and use a range of digital tools efficiently and responsibly to share content online, and plan and manage individual and collaborative agile projects
AC9TDI8P04
Define and decompose real-world problems with design criteria and by creating user stories |
| Keywords | Cross age, Robots, Unplugged, Programming, Instructions, Design, Think like an inventor |
| Integrated, cross-curriculum, special needs | Science, STEM, Digital Literacy |
| Organisation | ESA |
| Copyright | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, unless otherwise indicated. |
Related resources
-
Home/School communications
In this lesson sequence, students use big data sets and school surveys, to design (and as an extension activity, make) a new digital communication solution for the school.
-
Data Science STEM resources
Here are some authentic datasets collected by research scientists studying marine and coastal animal populations.
-
Protecting dugongs
The Western Australian Marine Science Institution has been collecting data about dugongs off the coast of the Kimberley in Northern WA.
-
Turtles: impact of climate change on Flatback turtle populations
The lesson follows an inquiry process in which students use a dataset to answer relevant questions about the turtle population.
-
Turtles: exploring data tracking turtle movements
By gathering data on marine turtles, scientists have evidence that helps them work out where turtles migrate and the journeys they take.
-
Turtles: exploring data in turtle population dynamics
The number of eggs a female turtle lays in her lifetime influences the health of that species population.
-
Humpback whales: what the data reveals
The lesson follows an inquiry process where students use the dataset to answer relevant questions about the whale population.
-
Saltwater crocs: resourceful or a resource?
This lesson focuses on the analysis of a dataset that records scientific data collected about the crocodile population in the Kimberley region during 2015.