Download Atmosphere investigation tests in either Microsoft Word or Adobe pdf formats for elementary school:

Grade Level	Student Version (formatted to hand out to students)	Teacher Version (includes sample answers)
Elementary

Check out the Templates section to see how to design your own investigation problems	Check out the Rubrics section to see how investigation scoring rubrics are developed

You can also view the teacher version of the assessment here:

(Given data from the GLOBE data archives)

(Present problem requiring use of GLOBE data archives) The students in your classroom are GLOBEpals with students at another school. You like to print out the pictures and data measurements taken from your GLOBEpal school. It helps you imagine what is happening at their school so that you can write more interesting notes to them. In this activity you will look at some pictures and data measurements made by your GLOBEpals.

1) (Take GLOBE Measurements: Make cloud observations that are accurate and appropriate) Look at the 3 pictures taken from your GLOBEpal school. Tell what type of clouds you see in each picture and estimate the amount of cloud cover on each of the days.

The clouds on April 3rd look like they are altostratus clouds.
The clouds on April 23rd look like they are cirrostratus clouds.
The clouds on May 14th look like they are cumulus clouds.

2) (Interpret GLOBE data: Infer patterns / trends; Explain the relationship between cloud type and precipitation) Look again at the type of clouds in each picture. Do you think that any of these clouds produced rain or snow later in the day? How can you tell?

Cirrostratus and cumulus clouds (April 23rd and May 14th) usually do not produce rain or snow. If the cumulus clouds turn into cumulonimbus clouds later in the day, they could produce rain, but probably not snow because by May 14th it usually doesn't snow (where we live). The altostratus clouds look dark which is the water inside them, so it might rain or snow on April 23rd. There is already snow on the ground, so the temperature that day is probably cool enough that it would snow rather than rain.

3) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Infer patterns & trends) Your GLOBEpals sent a picture of their school site every three weeks. Can you predict the cloud type and cloud cover for June 4th, three weeks from when the last photo was taken? Tell how you made your prediction or tell why you cannot make a prediction.

You cannot predict the cloud type for three weeks into the future. That amount of time is too long for accurate predictions. You can predict cloud type and cloud cover for smaller amounts of time because you find out which way the wind is blowing and what type of clouds are there and how fast these clouds will get to your location.

4) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Infer patterns & trends) Table 1 shows the air temperatures from your GLOBEpal school site during the time period when the pictures were taken. The current temperatures from this table are plotted on Graph 1. Look carefully at the graph. It is difficult to find a pattern that tells you how the air temperature changed during this time. Write a GLOBEmail to your GLOBEpals and suggest 2 ways to change their GLOBE data collection so that the data would be more useful.

Table 1: Air Temperature Information

	DATE	Current Temperature
*Day 42	May 13	24.0êC
Day 38	May 10	13.0êC
Day 37	May 9	11.0êC
Day 36	May 8	20.0êC
Day 34	May 6	15.0êC
Day 33	May 5	22.0êC
Day 31	May 3	5.0êC
Day 30	May 2	10.0êC
*Day 21	April 23	11.0êC
Day 20	April 22	0.0êC
Day 16	April 17	21.0êC
Day 14	April 16	15.0êC
Day 13	April 15	15.0êC
Day 11	April 13	-4.0êC
Day 6	April 8	10.0êC
*Day 1	April 3	0.0êC

Answers will vary. Possible suggestions may include: more frequent temperature readings, daily temperature readings, averaging the temperatures on some basis (every couple of days, every week etc.), recording high and low temperatures rather than just one temperature.

5) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Create multiple formats to represent data) Sometimes it is easier to find a pattern when you look at the data in a different way. In this next activity you will see what happens when you draw a graph that shows how the average temperature changed each week between April 3rd and May 14th. First draw a box around the days in the data table that stand for week 1, week 2 etc. (HINT: all data is missing from week four.) Next find the average temperature for each of these weeks. Record the information in the data table below. The calculations for the first week has been done for you.

6) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Create multiple formats to represent data) Use the data in Table 2 to make a bar graph of the average weekly temperature on the graph below. Data from the first week has been graphed to show you what to do.

Figure 2: Air Temperatures & Weekly Averages for April 3 to May 14

7) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Explain data & relationships) Look at the bar graph that you just completed. Tell what is happening to the temperature from April 3rd until May 14th.

From April 3rd until May 14th, the temperature is slowly getting warmer. There was one week (April 17 - 24) when the temperature went down, but overall it is getting warmer.

8) (Interpret GLOBE Data: Explain data & relationships) Predict the air temperature at this school on June 4th, three weeks from when the last photo was taken. Tell how you made the prediction.

Answers will vary. The prediction should be based on an extrapolation of the temperature information in the graph. Students may draw three more bars on the bar graph, each one slowly increasing in temperature. OR they may find a numerical relationship among the temperature readings and add that amount to the May 23rd reading.

9) (Communicate: Compose reports to explain or persuade) Write a GLOBEmail to your GLOBEpals. Tell them about your air temperature predictions and how you made them. Ask them to write back and tell you about the temperatures that they measured on June 4th.

Answers will vary. Students should incorporate information from question 8 into their letter.