OpenSciEd Unit 6.3 · Lesson 02 · 2.A
Look for: Hail isn’t seen in the winter months
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
2.A.3 Analyze and interpret data using graphical displays (e.g., maps, charts, graphs, tables) of large data sets to identify temporal and spatial patterns in the range of weather conditions that lead to the formation of precipitation (hail).
What to look / listen for
Ideas about patterns for where hailstorms occur:
- Hail isn’t seen in the winter months.
- Hail happens later in the day.
- The temperature is relatively warm (above 50℉) on days when it hails.
- Hailstorms are relatively short.
- Hailstorms appear in “lines”.
- Humidity is relatively high when it hails.
Note
Students may often notice the general trends listed below, though they are difficult ones to find in the data due to the relatively brief nature of the hailstorm vs. where weather stations are located and how often they are sampling the weather conditions:
The humidity often goes up and the temperature often goes down and there are often changes in the wind around the time of a hailstorm.
What to do
If students struggle to identify patterns, prompt them with questions such as, What time of day do hailstorms seem to happen? What time of year? How would you characterize the duration (length of time) of hailstorms? How would you characterize the temperature during a hailstorm? How did that compare across sites? If students struggle with the variability in the data (e.g., the temperatures differ from site to site), help them look for the broader pattern using a visual representation of the class data.
SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN MAKING CONNECTIONS IN MATH
It is also helpful to discuss the outliers in the data, an important skill in both math and science. Students develop the concept of outliers and quantitative measures of central tendency for what is typical in a data set in their work in CCS in math in 6th grade. Help students recognize that one way to look for patterns is to start by identifying the “typical” conditions for a phenomenon (e.g., what the weather conditions are like on most days when hailstorms occur, how each weather condition changes from before to after the hailstorm in most cases). Identifying outliers can be a second useful step in looking for patterns, because they can help us see when a case doesn’t match the general patterns–such case(s) are relatively rare. Patterns in weather data can be very complex; most weather phenomena have more than one cause, and identifying outliers can help support this argument. Suggest to students that the general patterns we find in what is typical on most days will help us figure out the primary mechanisms causing the phenomenon in most cases.
Problematize the idea that it was warm out but hail is frozen. Say, These temperature data are really strange and hard to explain. Water freezes from a liquid to a solid when its temperature drops below 32℉ (0℃). This is the freezing and melting point of water, because above this temperature, frozen water starts to melt. So, if the temperature near Earth’s surface is well above this point all day, how is it possible that frozen water can be falling from the sky?
Suggested prompt
Sample student response
Based on the patterns in the data you analyzed, was the air temperature ever that cold when it hailed?
No, it was usually in the 60s and 70s.
What new questions does this raise for you?
What’s it like in the air up high to be able to make ice?