The Study of the Atmosphere in Science and Science Education

Brian Fisher

On this web site you will find a dissertation on the above title. At the end of this index page you will also find links to other papers by Brian Fisher on related issues, including those of students' developing understanding of the greenhouse effect and ozone hole.

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Abstract

This inquiry is primarily a review of the status of meteorology vis a vis science education. It constitutes an apology for that association, combining issues of the philosophy of science and curriculum design. The immediately available domain of the atmosphere impinges on the human senses daily and this study seeks to point out that it is amenable to scientific study at all stages of development, whilst concentrating on the secondary/high school phase. 

Firstly, the nature and scope of meteorology are defined. The study of the atmosphere is presented as a scientific enterprise, which then paves the way for examining the place of meteorology within science curricula. This situation is discussed with reference to 'Hirstian' forms of knowledge, perceptions of relevance and constructivist ideas. The place of atmospheric science is considered within “vulgar” and integrated science curricula. Six themes of meteorology are presented, tailored to appropriate age ranges, with due regard for a ‘content of learning’ and ‘learning readiness’. The question then addressed is“ Has meteorology gained credence within science curricula world-wide?” The way that the scientific study of the atmosphere has fared in science curricula in the U.K. and in recent developments in the U.S. - Earth System Science - is considered. The particular relevance of the atmosphere to investigative work is examined looking at what has been achieved in schools in this area. Then, children’s developing powers of explanation, within atmospheric science, are examined via a small-scale research project, considering 'why the winds blow', ' greenhouse effect' and 'ozone hole' explanations. Finally, by way of a concluding remark, the role of meteorology is considered as part of a drive towards scientific literacy.

Site Contents

0. Introduction

1. The Nature and Scope of Meteorology

2. Meteorology and the Nature of Science

2.1. Criteria for science

2.2. The social nature of science

2.3. Philosophy of Method

2.4. The exploratory nature of science

2.5. Conclusions

3. The curriculum and meteorology, a consideration of principles

3.1. The value of meteorology in the curriculum

3.1.1. Meteorology 

3.1.2. Perceptions of relevance

3.1.3. Relevance linked to constructivist insights

3.2. Building meteorology into science curricula

3.2.1. Inclusion in a 'vulgar' science curriculum

3.2.2. Integration and Earth Systems Science

3.3. The Meteorological Content of a School Science Curriculum

3.3.1. Principles to guide construction

3.3.2. An outline meteorological curriculum

4. The curriculum and meteorology in practice

4.1. The world-wide pattern of meteorological involvement in the science curriculum

4.2. Meteorology in recent U.K. science curricula - the baby and the bath water

4.3. Developments in U.S. science curricula

4.3.1. AAAS Project 2061

4.3.2. National Science Educational Standards

4.3.3. The involvement of meteorology in science syllabi in New York State

4.4. Practical investigations involving the atmosphere

4.4.1. Temperature above the surface

4.4.2. More atmospheric investigations

5. Students' performance in 'atmospheric problems'

5.1. Explanations in atmospheric science

5.2. Searching in atmospheric science

5.3. Ill-defined problems and their prototypical explanations

5.4. Why the winds blow

5.4.1. Background and initial categorisation

5.4.2. Analysis of students responses - an amended system of categories

5.4.3. Results

5.4.4. Concluding remarks of students' appreciation of 'why the winds blow'

5.5. "The heating up of the earth's atmosphere caused by a hole in the ozone layer."

5.5.1. The questionnaires

5.5.2. Initial categorisations

5.5.3. Revised categorisations

5.5.4. Results

6. Meteorological Education and Scientific Literacy

Other Publications

The links below lead to pdf copies of the papers.

Other science education papers related to the atmosphere: 

Title: The Study of the Atmosphere in the Science Curriculum

The study of the atmosphere is largely a scientific venture, requiring a lot of physics and some chemistry and biology.  Meteorology is the science of the atmosphere.  Reflecting upon the nature of science and some current issues in science education, this paper seeks to justify the inclusion of meteorology within the science curriculum.  The reality of its inclusion, or not, within worldwide science curricula is then examined.

IJSEpaper.PDF

(Published in the International Journal for Science Education, Vol. 20 No. 1, Jan.  1998)

Title: Australian students’ appreciation of the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole

Students’ explanations of the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole are examined using a life-world and scientific dichotomy.  This illuminates the ideas we familiarly hear expressed in the classroom.  It aids us in seeing progression in their developing powers of explanation, and gives us clues as to how we might focus and channel thoughts.  Recently developing science curricula in Australia encourage a scientific consideration of the two phenomena.

AUSGROZ paper

(Published in the Australian Science Teachers’ Journal Vol. 44 Number 3, Aug. 1998)

Title: New Zealand students’ appreciation of the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole

The greenhouse effect and the ozone hole are two phenomena that increasingly obtain media attention and a place in school science curricula.  How well are students faring in giving explanations in these two regards?  A visit to New Zealand in August 1997, gave this British science teacher a chance to investigate this.

NZGROZ paper

(Unpublished) 

Title: Modelling the Atmosphere

This is a contribution is designed to support the recently introduced ‘Advancing Physics’ (Cambridge Board) A’ level syllabus.  It contributes to the ‘Independent study option 1: Modelling in Physics’ being part of Advancing Physics  A2, module ‘Rise and Fall of the Clockwork Universe’.  It also has resonance with Advancing Physics AS ‘Designer Matter’, concerning itself with macroscopic outcomes, and with AS ‘Space and Time’, in relation to Newtonian determinism.  The models dealt with are numerical, physical and schematic.  Schematic models, sometimes using diagrams, could perhaps receive more attention than they do in traditional Physics education.  Visualisations of the results of numerical models are often needed to make them more tangible.  More direct pictures of phenomena - especially the flows of a dynamic atmosphere - can be powerful eye-openers to enable greater understanding of real mechanisms.

Modellingatmos.PDF

Recent publication on work at St. Mary's College: 

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