It has become a requirement worldwide that physics syllabus should contain everyday knowledge as well. One important field that can make the curriculum more colourful and exciting is the field of meteorology. In our presentation a three-lesson-long curriculum for grammar schools will be introduced on how to teach the connection between fog formation and air quality. Mist (visibility between 1 and 5 km) and fog (visibility below 1 km) are frequent weather events in the Carpathian Basin in the winter half year and during mostly anticyclonic weather situations with durations of 500-1000 and 150-300 hours respectively. In these cases often occurs the temperature inversions, the cold air pool events thus the high concentration of pollutants. The international educational experience of this particular topic will be surveyed, mainly in the countries of the Carpathian Basin; moreover the measurement processes and education methods used in the GLOBE programme will also be presented. The curriculum was tried within the framework of physics among 14 to 16-year-old Slovakian secondary school students partially in long-distance education on the Internet. Students’ knowledge on the given subject was tested both before and after the experiment.
The experimental curriculum consists of three parts. In the first part air humidity and the notion of absolute and relative humidity are discussed. Through a few specific exercises the students learn to specify relative humidity and become acquainted with fog formation. It is shown via an experiment that air cooling at a constant humidity is not enough to form fog because condensational cores are needed for the formation of tiny water drops. In the 2nd lesson the concept of temperature inversion and its connection to fog and air pollution are discussed. With the use of Internet websites the students collect information about the formation of smog, its types, occurrence and the conditions announcing smog alert. In the 3rd lesson the methods of analysing air pollution and different air polluting materials are discussed. Websites, where the students can follow the air pollution data of their area, are used. On the grounds of this tasks about interpretation of the data are solved. Pieces of information which are available on the website of the European Environment Agency are also touched on. It was a new realization for them that the inhabitants of poverty-stricken valleys were more vulnerable to the formation of smog.
Other than helping the students better understand the concept of humidity, the experiment helped them better understand changes in consistency. Based on our experience, the experimental curriculum motivated the students to understand processes which take place in their environment regarding environmental protection and to make suggestions about solving these problems.
Last year a new National Curriculum was introduced in Hungary. Its framework not only restructured physics teaching but also have brought some changes in its content. In addition to the traditional chapters some new topics (such as the process of lightning activities, the issues of lightning-protection and the proper behaviour in lightning-hazardous situations) have emerged into the Curriculum. The aim of this study is to create and share teaching resources for secondary school students and their teachers which concern lightning strikes and damages caused by them. Thunderstorms and lightning activities are very complex and exciting phenomena which stimulate the students’ curiosity and consequently may increase their physics engagement and motivation. Furthermore, studying this topic provides students with excellent opportunities to develop their scientific thinking and deepen their science knowledge.
Our method for the investigation was the following: In total, 55 students (16-17-years old) were chosen to participate in this study. They were asked to fill in a pre-questionnaire in order to get an overview about their prior knowledge in lightning process and lightning protection. Several questions concerned misconceptions related to the topic. We were interested in what the students thought about them. Afterwards, we analysed the students’ responses and identified the areas which should be focused on. Some teaching resources and also worksheets were created based on the book An Introduction to Lightning written by Vernon Cooray.
Before starting our discussions about lightning flashes we briefly summarized the stages of thunderstorm build-up, the formation of thunderstorm clouds and their electrification processes. After describing how clouds gain charges we examined the birth and development of lightning bolts and the operation of the global atmospheric electric circuit. Then we focused on the physics of lightning flashes, especially the mechanism of lightning strikes, the electric and magnetic field generated by them and their consequences. It was a great challenge to give the students elementary explanations for these problems as they do not have the necessary mathematical apparatus to accurately describe the electromagnetic field produced by lightning flashes. Particular attention has been paid to the electromagnetic spectrum of the strikes, the electromagnetic radiation in radio-, optic-, and in high-frequency ranges. Finally, students gained a brief insight into the method of lightning localization and lightning protection.
Based on our experience and the students’ feedback the topic could help spark student curiosity and promote their science and critical thinking. Moreover, the results of the students’ pre- and post-tests provide evidence that our teaching resources can also be effective in supporting student independent learning.
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