Wednesday, review of the Weather Channel app (Science)

          I have chosen to review the Weather Channel app because I plan to teach in a lower elementary classroom, and I firmly believe that these young learners need to develop an awareness of the natural world. So much of our classroom instruction happens inside classroom walls, and while this instruction is immensely valuable, I believe that some of the most valuable learning can happen straight from God's beautiful world outside. I am a combination of three learning styles: visual, tactile, and naturalistic. I think that there are lots more students out there who are naturalistic learners, like myself, but have not had the opportunity to discover and experience that gift. I am a huge advocate of naturalistic learning, and the Weather Channel app seems to be a great springboard into such awareness and appreciation.
          To begin, the app asks for your location. Students would need to type in their city and state. For the city and state applied, two options are given: Now or Forecast. Under the Now option, the app lists the current temperature, wind pressure, dew point, humidity, visibility, pressure, UV index, and time of sunrise and sunset. Of course, not all these would be relevant to a young audience, but they would be a great introduction to concepts to be explored in later elementary grades. Under the Forecast option, students get to explore what the projected weather conditions of the following days will be. This presents a great opportunity to let students make weather predictions based on the forecast, and see what actually happens. This option also shows the hourly forecast for the remainder of the current day.
          The Weather Channel app provides additional features such as Radar, News, Video and Health. Under Radar, students are able to explore an interactive map representing the geographic area and the weather conditions represented by different colors. Young learners may not know what a radar is, but this app is an awesome way to let them explore the concept by zooming in and out using simple finger movements. The radar also allows the user to hit a "Play" button that will play the radar like a short video, showing the weather movement throughout the day.
          For the youngest students, the News option may need to be screened before allowing viewing. However, with a teacher guidance it would be a good way to teach students about current events going on the the community and in the country. Under the Video option students can watch recent weather reports, not just from the area but from all over the nation. Students would love getting to watch tornado warnings, tropical storms, and other exciting weather happenings. The app presents the options of Editor picks, Local, or Latest Weather as a way to filter video content.
          The Health option has two main screens: Pollen and Flu. This would present a great opportunity to teach students how the weather affects our health.