Teacher Site

Hurricane Alert
Teacher Site

Below is a list of teacher tips to help you make your Hurricane Alert! mission a rewarding and enjoyable experience for both you and your students.

A minimum of five class periods are recommended for completing a successful Hurricane Alert! mission (need for review of hurricane curriculum or plotting latitude and longitude points may differ depending on material already covered in class, but lesson plans and mission skills should still be reviewed prior to mission day)
Students familiar with the background material and their roles in the mission perform better during the mission and have a richer educational experience.

Use the Overview of Teams to present each role to your class. Assign your students to specific roles on each regional team or let them apply for positions they find most interesting. Stress that all members of the team will be working on tracking the hurricane and predicting its path and the effects of severe weather.
Have the students do the activity "Tracking a Hurricane". This activity provides the practice they will need plotting latitude and longitude - a skill all students need for the mission. The activity will allow your students to become more proficient at tracking a hurricane and predicting its area of impact.
The instruction sheets for each specialty within each team are purposely detail to help with the specific tasks. Make sure the students have reviewed their instructions prior to their mission.
Do a test connection with the Challenger Learning Center prior to mission day. The technology specialist will help you have the best possible connection for your mission.

Make sure you have all required materials printed and ready for students before they arrive in the classroom.
Set up the classroom before the students arrive for the mission.
Make sure you are connected to the Challenger Learning Center at least 15 minutes prior to the start of your mission.

Lead Forecast Specialists - these students work in pairs, but one highly achieving student in the seventh or six grade may be able to work alone on these tasks. Lead Forecast Specialist plot tropical storms on gridded maps, convert wind speeds from knots to miles per hour, categorize storms, report severe weather effects and analyze pressure and wind speed data.
ETA Advisors will plot tropical storms on tracking maps and measure the distance to the breakpoint areas. They will calculate the estimated time of arrival to each breakpoint area, issue weather watches, warnings and advisories to the lead meteorologist within their team. They will analyze possible storm surge strength and its consequences.
Lead Meteorologists are responsible for updating and maintaining the data worksheet for each storm. They will prepare a NOAA weather report form for each advisory and relay information from the team to the live Chief Meteorologist at the Challenger Learning Center. Other responsibilities include analyzing and reporting possible severe weather affects to the National Hurricane Center at the Challenger Learning Center.
Zone Predictors will plot tropical storms on tracking maps and calculate the directional speed of the storms. They will use the cone of uncertainty tool to determine probable areas of tropical storm landfall and identify three breakpoint areas, informing ETA advisors which breakpoint areas have been determined.