iSTEM
Using weather
to teach graphing
◗
By observing and collecting data on
natural scientific phenomena, students
can know the sources of their data, discuss
them in relation to real contexts, craft a device
to measure the scientific phenomena, and cre-
ate graphs using graph paper and technology
for further discussion. The Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI
2010) emphasize finding appropriate contexts
from which to draw meaningful data. Also, the
Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in
Statistics Education (GAISE) recommend that
students experience the processes of data col-
lection, organization, and display (Franklin et al.
2005). Accordingly, in this article, I describe the
following activities for grade 4 science lessons
that are merged with mathematics, engineering,
and technology. Through these activities, stu-
dents can (1) clearly understand precipitation,
temperature, clouds, wind, and how they affect
weather; and (2) make evidence-based claims
using their own observations, charts, and graphs.
Teaching weather in
a grade 4 science classroom
The entire unit consisted of four lessons. The
first lesson covered the concept of precipitation
and types of precipitation (e.g., rain, snow, hail,
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Mi Ye o n L e e
and sleet) along with the concept of tempera-
ture and how to measure Celsius or Fahrenheit
degrees using a thermometer. This lesson was
taught through observation, pictures, and
activity sheets.
The second lesson covered the concept of
wind. Students learned how to measure wind
direction and strength by making their own
wind vane. (See the sidebar on p. 252 for steps to
make a wind vane.) After completing their wind
vanes, students took them outside to a place
where the wind was not highly blocked and, with
the teacher’s help, found north, south, east, and
west on a compass. Then, to find the direction
and strength of the wind, students aligned the
directions written on their wind vanes with the
real directions from the compass and observed
where the arrows of their wind vanes pointed
and how fast they moved.
The third lesson covered the definition and
types of clouds: cumulus (puffy clouds similar
to pieces of floating cotton), stratus (low clouds
that resemble a fog), cirrus (high, thin, wispy
clouds blown by high winds), and nimbus
(clouds from which precipitation is already
falling) (AAAS Public Science Day 2000). The
content taught at the end of the third lesson
included how the four weather elements work
Vol. 21, No. 4 | teaching children mathematics • November 2014 249
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iSTEM

together—for example, the water cycle of

For two weeks, fourth graders went outside during their
FIGU R E 1

evaporation, condensation, and precipitation;

lunch period to record data for a class weather chart. how air temperature affects water evaporation
or condensation and cloud formation; how
accumulation of water in clouds results in pre-
cipitation; and how the wind distributes water
by moving water vapor and clouds across areas.
Also, during the two weeks of learning about
the four weather components, students went
outside during lunch time, used a thermometer
to chart the temperature, and used their own
wind vanes to measure wind strength. They
also recorded types of precipitation and clouds
(see fig. 1).
After recording their weather components,
students tackled the fourth lesson:

1. Creating graphs to show one weather

element during a two-week time period,
using both graph paper and technology
2. Discussing patterns they found within one
or across several weather components

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3. Making claims about future weather on the
basis of their data
Graphing data using
graph paper and pencil
Building on the scientific knowledge they
had gained so far, students constructed bar
and line graphs, which helped them interpret
their data and recognize weather trends. After
being shown a line graph representing tem-
perature changes and a bar graph representing
how often a specific weather phenomenon
occurred, students learned to draw an x-axis
and a y-axis, label them, plot and join points
on a line graph, and draw a bar on a bar graph.
Then students were assigned to one of four
groups. Each group represented one of four
weather components: temperature, precipita-
tion, wind, or clouds. Student groups were
asked to use paper to graph changes in tem-
perature, the number of days with each type
of precipitation, the number of days with each
type of cloud, or the number of days with each
strength level of wind (see fig. 2).
The graph type depended on the data that
students were to represent. For example, tem-
perature is continuous data, so students in the
temperature group drew a line graph. The other
groups drew a bar graph, because precipitation
(rain, snow, hail, and sleet); wind (strong wind,
light wind, and no wind); and clouds (cumulus,
stratus, cirrus, nimbus, and no clouds) were
managed as categorical data as shown in the
parentheses.

Depending on their data, students made bar graphs or line graphs to represent
FIGURE 2

four weather components. Below are screen shots from the online application.

(a) Using a bar graph, students graphed the number of days for each cloud type.

(b) Using a line graph, students graphed the change in temperature during the
same period.

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iSTEM
How to make a wind vane
Gather materials ahead of time and have them available as one set
per student.
Materials
• A round, plastic drinking cup with a lid
• Sand
• A sharpened pencil
• A drinking straw
• A straight pin
• Card stock
1. Put the lid on the plastic container, and turn the container upside down.
2. Draw a circle two inches from the circumference of the lid, and divide
the circle into four equal parts labeled North, East, South, and West,
moving clockwise from the top.
3. Open the container, fill it with sand, and replace the lid.
4. Poke the sharpened pencil through the center of the container’s lid.
5. From the card stock, cut a triangle and a square, both about three
inches. Affix the triangle onto one end of the straw and the square
onto the other.
6. Push the pin through the center of the straw, and attach it to the
top of the pencil eraser. (Refer to detailed instructions at
http://www.education.com/activity/article/wind_vane_first/.)
Graphing data using technology
Depending only on technology to graph data
could be less than meaningful for students who
might have difficulty associating physical paper-
and-pencil actions—labeling axes, drawing bars,
and joining points—to a digital environment. In
a digital environment, students click icons to
graph, which may make graphing with technol-
ogy seem like magic. For this reason, knowing
how to use technology might not guarantee
that students also know the mathematical skills
needed to draw graphs. Thus, before introduc-
ing graphing technology, students’ engagement
in hands-on graphing will help them make sense
of what they experience in the online apps. For
example, a hands-on activity making different
representations using sticky notes was shown
to be effective in helping students understand
TinkerPlots®, a dynamic data software program
(Hudson et al. 2012).
Only after drawing graphs on paper did stu-
dents use an online app that allowed them to
enter and graph data (see http://illuminations
252 November 2014 • teaching children mathematics | Vol. 21, No. 4
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.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4098). Introducing
technology in this way provides the opportunity
to review drawing graphs in a paper-and-pencil
environment and the chance to think about
which graph is the most appropriate. Students
can easily compare various types of graphs,
such as bar graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, and
pictographs, by clicking on icons in a virtual
world (see fig. 2). Furthermore, introducing
technology can be useful for managing large sets
of data when the period of observing weather is
extended to more than four weeks.
Discussing graphs
All completed graphs were then displayed so
that every student could observe and discuss
patterns. To let students describe the data in
their own ways (Whitin and Whitin 2003), the
whole-class discussion began with open ques-
tions (e.g., What did you notice from these
graphs?), followed by probing questions that
encouraged students to consider the reasons
for weather phenomena (e.g., Why do you think
it snowed on this day?); for tendencies within a
weather component (e.g., Looking at your graph
of temperature, what patterns do you see?); and
for relationships between weather components
(e.g., How are temperature and precipitation
related?). Also, specific questions were posed to
check the facts from the graphs (e.g., How many
days was it very windy?).
Predicting weather
Following a whole-class discussion, students
returned to their groups to explore relationships
among the four weather components and to pre-
dict weather. Each group received a set of signs:
1. The temperature group: Hot (over 85 F°),
Warm (70–85 F°), Cool (50–69 F°), Cold
(30–49 F°), Very Cold (10–29 F°)
2. The precipitation group: Rain, Snow, Hail,
Sleet, No Precipitation
3. The wind group: Strong Wind, Light Wind,
No Wind
4. The cloud group: Cumulus, Stratus, Cirrus,
Nimbus, No Clouds
When a group presented a scenario, its mem-
bers held up the relevant sign. For example, for
“Today is rainy,” the rain group held up RAIN,
and the other groups made claims about
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conditions that would be occurring in their
respective elements. These claims had to be
supported by evidence from the graphs and
charts. For example, if the day was rainy, the
cloud group held up the CLOUDY sign based
on their observation that many clouds accom-
panied rain on the charts. Thus, students could
easily use their data to explain the relationships
among weather components and to predict
other components from the one given. After
this group prediction activity, each student
wrote in a weather journal to predict the next
week’s weather, supporting the prediction with
real data from the charts and graphs. To avoid
the potential issue of students predicting the
weather from their feelings or imaginations
rather than from reasonable data, during these
activities, teachers must emphasize that claims
about weather should be logically derived from
reading graphs and charts and from recogniz-
MI YEON LEE

ing patterns.

Reinforcing scientific
weather concepts
In summary, in this article I described an activ-
ity that can be used for STEM education with
elementary school students to reinforce scien-
tific concepts of such weather components as
temperature, precipitation, clouds, and wind
by integrating manipulation of online apps
(technology), learning about graphing and data
analysis (mathematics), and creating a wind
vane (engineering). Through these activities,
students have an opportunity to observe and
collect data on natural phenomena, to analyze
data and find patterns, and to make claims
based on reasonable evidence, all of which
are important skills that should be cultivated
through STEM education.
R EFER E N CE S
AAAS Public Science Day. 2000. “Web Weather
for Kids.” http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/
Common Core State Standards Initiative.
2010. Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics. Washington, DC: National
Governors Association Center for Best
Practices and the Council of Chief State
School Officers. http://www.corestandards
.org/wp-content/uploads/Math_Standards.pdf
Franklin, Christine, Gary Kader, Denise Mewborn,
Jerry Moreno, Roxy Peck, Mike Perry, and
Richard Scheaffer. 2005. Guidelines for Students were
assigned to a group
Assessment and Instruction in Statistics
and asked to graph
Education (GAISE) Report: A Pre-K–12 on paper one of four
Curriculum Framework. http://www.amstat weather components:
.org/education/gaise/GAISEPreK12_Intro.pdf temperature changes
Hudson, Rick, Dionne Cross, Mi Yeon Lee, or number of days
with each type of
and Lauren Rapacki. 2012. “Learning to
precipitation, cloud,
Tinker.” Teaching Children Mathematics 18 and wind strength.
(September): 508–13.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
2014. “Resources for Teaching Math.”
Illuminations. http://illuminations.nctm.org
/Activity.aspx?id=4098
Whitin, David, and Phyllis Whitin. 2003. “Talk
Counts: Discussing Graphs with Young
Children.” Teaching Children Mathematics 10
(October): 142–49.
Mi Yeon Lee, mlee115@asu.edu, is an assistant
professor of mathematics education at Arizona State
University. She teaches math content and elementary
math methods courses. She is interested in preservice
elementary teacher education, algebraic reasoning,
project-based learning, and the use of technology in
math education. Edited by Terri Kurz, terri.kurz@
asu.edu, who teaches mathematics and mathematics
methodology at Arizona State University, Polytechnic in
Mesa; and Jorge Garcia, Jorge.garcia@csuci.edu, who
teaches at California State University Channel Islands.

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