Day: September 12, 2017

Learning about hurricanes

by dougpete, posted in application, Computational Thinking, computer science, Computers, Education, learning, Teaching

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for hurricanes.  It’s been the lead story for so many news programs and the pictures have been non-stop showing us the worst of what can happen.

These things can be the lead to some terrific learning opportunities in the classroom.  You won’t find the real details about what makes for a bad hurricane on the news through.  You have to dig a little deeper.  Here are a couple of sources.

Create-a-Cane

From the National Hurricane centre, a tool that lets you investigate the conditions that are necessary to create such a storm.  Inside the simulator, click on the various controls to customize your hurricane.  Can you make an 80?

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Atlantic Hurricane Simulator

This, I really like – for a number of reasons.

First of all, it is very graphic in nature as you would expect in any project of this type.

Secondly, like any simulator, you can adjust the controls to see where your hurricane will go.

Thirdly, it’s written in Scratch.  That demonstrates that you can do serious stuff with Scratch.  And, of course, since it’s open, you can “Look inside” to see what makes it tick.  There’s so much to learn from reading code.  And, of course(2), you can remix the original to make your own simulator.

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In the big computer technology deal, here’s a chance to “do different things”, enabled by your helpful technology.

And, even if you or your students don’t have a Florida connection, don’t forget that it can happen here.  Hurricane Hazel

OTR Links 09/12/2017

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.