Elementary and middle school students and teachers from across the state of Texas were taken on live virtual field trips of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. On March 2, 2011. Discovery Education and Education Service Center Region XI sponsored the presentation called “Extreme Weather.”
Teachers from more than 700 schools pre-registered for the event and received lesson plans and activities to prepare students for the virtual field trip conducted via teleconference. Students engaged in a variety of science lessons using the latest educational technologies and digital content. Scientists from the National Weather Center, including NSSL, answered questions from the students in between a weather balloon launch and tours of field research vehicles.
The National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., is a 250,000 square-foot facility with more than 550 scientists, meteorologists, climatologists, engineers, students and staff from NOAA, the University of Oklahoma, and multiple state agencies.