This page was written for the K-12 teacher and students and it complements the Woodrow Wilson El Nino Research Team Products page, also linked at the bottom of this page. Its purpose is to provide the following:

• The relation of the El Nino Research Team Project to the National Science Standards
• The process used by the El Nino Research Team Project, in a form that will allow replication by any teacher or student;
• Resources for the classroom teacher.

National Science Standards

While the understanding of science content is always a legitimate end in the science classroom, as well as in the scientific community, the science process is of central importance to the K-12 teacher.  Because, with the process, the learner becomes actively engaged as a scientist, adding to their own understanding and to the understanding of those around them.  It was with this spirit of process that the El Nino Research Team engaged in their individual projects.  It is this same spirit that permeates the National Science Standards. Of particular interest to teachers are the following Standards:

• CONTENT STANDARD D: Earth and Space Science: particularly--matter, energy (in the earth's system), geochemical cycles and processes, and global climate;

• CONTENT STANDARD E: Science Technology: particularly--abilities of technological design, and understanding science and technology (identifying the problem, proposing technological designs, implementing designs, evaluating and communicating results);

• CONTENT STANDARD F: Personal and Social Perspective: particularly--environmental qualtity, and science and technology in local, national, and global challenges.

The Process

Classroom teachers (K-12 and beyond) can participate in this same process of inquiry based science, using the Internet, in the following manner:

• Discuss a climatological topic, with the teacher providing a brief framework about the topic, such as El Nino.  Perhaps one could use the movie clips from satellite data (see below), which shows sea surface temperature changes over several months, to provoke curiousity.  Some other topics include (but are not limited to):  global warming; sea level change; disease and climate change; ozone depletion and UV radiation; or water resources and the climate.

• Have students write down questions (lower grade level students could recite questions for the teacher to write on newsprint), with students categorizing them afterwards from simple to complex.

• Rewrite the questions as hypotheses. For example:  Question--Are there more Atlantic Ocean hurricanes because of El Nino?  Hypothesis--There are more hurricanes and they are stronger during El Nino.  This hypothesis can be proven correct or incorrect in the process.  Both incorrect and correct hypotheses allow the scientific community to learn more about El Nino and hurricanes.  The key here is to have some sentence affirmed or denied, if the proper data were available.  An example of a poor hypothesis is:  El Nino will depress the price of beef, in Bolivia, during the next ten years.  It is a bad hypothesis (for the classroom) because there is no possibility of collecting the data needed to prove or disprove the hypothesis.  That is, one may not be able to find beef prices in Bolivia on the Internet, nor could one collect data from some future event (at least not in a one year course).

• Each student will select a hypothesis, so that data can be collected, and so that it will be clear, after the analysis of the data, that the hypothesis is right or wrong.  Perhaps several hypotheses will need to be choosen in the process, but the teacher should discuss how and why some did not work.

• Each student will write their hypothesis, questions, thoughts, notes, and other information in a notebook, where entries are dated.  Scientists use a different notebook for each project, so that systematic records can be kept on the project.  Data can be stored on the computer, but a notebook helps remind students of information away from the computer.

• Use search engines (e.g., Alta Vista, Metacrawler, or Yahoo) to search for data.  For example, search for ENSO and rainfall.

• Collect data in any manner that is convenient and that preserves the integrity of the data.  Students can copy data into spreadsheets (e.g., Excel, Works, Claris Works, etc.), onto word processing programs (e.g., MS Word, Word Perfect, Word Star).  Be sure that the data is recorded correctly.

• Compare and contrast data.  For example list dates with El Nino warming beside the same dates for Iowa corn productivity records.  Correlate data that is to be compared by dates, by common units, etc.  Do not compare "apples and oranges."

• Draw conclusions that affirm or deny the original hypothesis and have the student explain (in writing and orally), what the data mean, how they compare, and why the hypothesis is affirmed or denied.

• Students should report their findings in writing and orally (in front of the class), being able to answer questions from the teacher and from peers.