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Tracking Ernesto

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(CNN Student News) -- Students will track the movement and intensity of the Ernesto storm during the next few days.

Procedure

Pose the following questions for class discussion:

1. Why do you think that hurricane forecasting is important?
2. What predictions did forecasters make on Sunday about Ernesto?

Write the students' responses to the second question on the board. Then, group students and direct each group to print, television and online resources to monitor Ernesto's movement and intensity during the coming days. Distribute copies of the NOAA Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart to the groups, and have students use it to document their findings. After Ernesto has passed, have students compare and contrast the storm's actual path and intensity to the forecasters' earlier predictions. Wrap up by asking students: Do you think that hurricane forecasting is an exact science? Why or why not?

Correlated Standards

National Science Standards

Grades 5-8

Standard Fe: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities in grades 5-8 all students should develop an understanding of:

The National Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/books/0309053269/html/index.html) are published by the National Academies Press (http://www.nas.edu/).

Geography

Standard 1. Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes, and other geographic tools and technologies

Level III Grade : 6-8

Benchmark 6. Knows how maps help to find patterns of movement in space and time

Standard 2. Knows the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment

Level III Grade : 6-8

Benchmark 3. Knows the relative location of, size of, and distances between places

McREL: Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education (Copyright 2000 McREL) is published online by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks), 2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014.

Places and Regions

Standard 7: Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface

Level III Grade : 6-8

Benchmark 3. Knows the consequences of a specific physical process operating on Earth's surface (e.g., effects of an extreme weather phenomenon such as a hurricane's impact on a coastal ecosystem, effects of heavy rainfall on hill slopes, effects of the continued movement of Earth's tectonic plates)

McREL: Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education (Copyright 2000 McREL) is published online by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks), 2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014.

Keywords

NOAA, hurricane, Tropical Storm Ernesto, forecaster, predictions, tracking, map

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