CIRCLE of ILLUMINATION SCIENCE EDUCATION

  • a woman-owned, teacher-owned company

  • high quality curricular materials and professional development in earth and environmental science in packages available at the school district-level targetting upper elementary and middle school teachers.

  • specialization in data literacy*, especially in atmospheric science (weather and climate).

  • special cross-curricular materials integrating math with earth science

  • special programming and materials for parents and families.

    *Almost all of the training and related products involve the use of data provided by agencies of the Federal government such as the U.S.D.A./N.R.C.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.

NOTICE and WONDER……

Photo Sheared Mammatus Cloud. Stillwater, Minnesota. October 2019. Copyright Amy Lilienfeld/Circle of Illumination Science Education.

But all clouds, in general, are just one element of the highly complex phenomena called “Weather” and “Climate”. Although they operate at vastly different spatial and temporal scales weather and climate are comprised of many of the same elements: air temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind direction and speed, and atmospheric pressure. Each of these elements is constantly changing but also often interacts with some of the other variables in a highly complex system. One of the major goals of Circle of Illumination Science Education is to help unpack some of this complexity while emphasizing the big ideas in a way that all teachers, regardless of prior knowledge, will be able to comprehend.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFERINGS: Please see webinar/workshop offerings below for the start of the new school year 2026 that all focus on training and materials which are geared towards the development of weather data literacy. Please note that dates and other details will be announced in mid-late August so stay tuned!

One cannot help but notice and wonder about something like this unusual “sheared mammatus cloud”. But like all clouds it is a phenomenon indicating the incredible things going on in our atmosphere.

What secrets do YOU think this cloud is trying to tell us?

WEBINAR/WORKSHOP: INTRODUCING THIRD GRADERS TO REAL-TIME WEATHER DATA and DATA VISUALIZATION

(Meets NGSS 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season (https://www.nextgenscience.org/topic-arrangement/3weather-and-climate)).

PHOTO BELOW of WEATHER BALLOON, or RADIOSONDE, ABOUT TO BE LAUNCHED BY STAFF MEMBER at NWS WEATHER STATION, CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA. Used with permission.

Although many people are aware that weather data is collected at weather stations across the U.S. fewer people know that data is also collected in the upper atmosphere by weather balloons, or “radiosondes”, as shown in photo above. Such data provides an important cross-section of our atmosphere at a particular point in time. It is pretty amazing that, with the press of a few keys on a keyboard, one can see what the air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and wind direction and speed – among other variables-- are at several different altitudes going up as high as over 16,000 feet!!!

Such data helps scientists to identify things such as “wind shear” that can contribute to the development of severe weather such as tornadoes as well as help document atmospheric inversions that can contribute to poor air quality at other times of the year.


But what is even more amazing is that this data can be easily downloaded into a form that teachers can understand and make available to their students for the creation of graphs and other data visualization tools!! In this webinar teachers will learn where and how to access this data as well as how to intepret key variables so they can prepare simpler, smaller datasets that their students can use to make graphs. In addition, it will provide a wonderful opportunity for students to learn more about the nature and practice of science including things such as the international scientific notation for time and the metric system.