|
 For this and all subsequent reports, I requirestudents to
follow specifications exactly. The specifications are modi-
fied from Robert Day'sHow to Writeand Publisha Scientific
Paper(1994),supplemented by specifications forthePro-
ceedingsof the Eastern Snow Conference(1996), an annual
publication of reports by leading snow scientists. I provide
a system of paragraph numbers to help the students follow
the form.
Specifications forReport 1 are given in Figure 1.
PHASE 2:STUDYING SNOW SCIENCE
Learning the fundamentals of snow science
Afterthe firstfield observations and the first report,stu-
dentsspendaboutaweek learningaboutsnowscience
through lectures,visuals,and reading theField Guide to
Snowpack Study. They learnbasic concepts of snow phys-
icssuchas temperaturegradients,sublimationandcon-
densation,sintering, and latent heat. Formany students,
these are newconcepts, but when presentedappropriately,
they find mostofthem easy to learn and apply. Thisin-
struction is followed by a brief explanation of snow forma-
tionanddepositionandthecharacteristicsofnewly-
deposited snow.
Students next learnhow a snowpack is affected by vari-
ous agents of change: mechanical changethrough gravity
and compaction, wind, solarradiation, warm air,and liq-
uid water; andmetamorphic changethroughangular-grain
metamorphism,round-grainmetamorphism,andmelt-
freeze metamorphism.Both the agents and the processes
of changeare explainedin detailand keptin focus through-
out the remainder of the study unit.
Armed with knowledge of basic concepts of snow phys-
ics and snow metamorphism, andaidedby a guideto types
of snow, students learn how to identify various snow par-
ticles such as settled snow, wind crust, sun crust, sintered
snow, ice lenses, melt-freezeparticles, angulatedparticles,
and rounded particles.
Learning aboutweather history
Afterlearning abouttheforcesand processesofchange
and their various products, students work in small groups
tostudylocalweather historyindetail.Usingdata sup-
plied byCharles Durgin of Plymouth,a New Hampshire
weather observer,they convert the information fromBrit-
ish units to metric units. From the data, theydesign agraph
thatshowssnowaccumulationandchanging snowpack
depths throughout recent weeks. Then they describe sig-
nificant recentweather events in ordinary prose.
These exercises help students become aware of scien-
tific usage,become familiarwith thedata,and learn to
expressdatainseveralforms(numerical,graphic,and
narrative description).
PHASE 3:HYPOTHESIZING PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE
Report2:Hypothesizing conditions in the snowpack
Drawing on their newly-acquired knowledge of snow sci-
ence and understanding of weather history,students then
hypothesizehowrecent weatherhas affectedthe snow-
|
pack. Research Question 2 guides their hypothesizing:
Considering the influenceson the snowpack since your
first field observations,a) What characteristics would re-
mainunchanged? b)What changes would youexpect to
find?
Students present theirhypotheses in Report 2--which
prepares them forthe second field trip.
Studentsbecome awareofthe fact thatalthough they
will not be tested on this material--there are no examina-
tions about snow science in this course--when they con-
duct a second round of field tests,they will need to apply
what they have learned. In this way they come to under-
stand what aworking knowledgeof a topic entails.
PHASE 4.VERIFYING ANDCORRECTING HYPOTHESES
Report3 on the second field trip:Observing persistence and
change
Students then returnto the snowpack to make a second set
of observations.They again dig a snow pit,examine and
measure the layers, andrecordthe physical characteristics
of snow. This time they are guided by Research Question
3:
Which characteristics ofthe snowpack have persisted
and whichhave changedduring theinterval between your
first and yoursecond field observations?
This re-examination ofthe snowpack reveals how the
layers of snow particles have persisted orchangedduring
the weeks since the initial field observations.
Report4:Accounting for persistence and change in the
snowpack
In Report 4,students explain how the changes they have
observed correspond to the weather history at the site, and
theycorrelatetheirhypothesesaboutpersistenceand
change with the actual conditionsthey observe.This re-
portrequiresstudentstoapplytheprinciplesofsnow
physics tofield observations.In writing thisreport,they
are guided by Research Question 4:
Howdoesthesnowpackreflect theinfluences ofme-
chanical changeand metamorphism?
Increasing complexity in the four technicalreports
Eachofthefirstfourreportsrequiresstudents toapply
appropriate techniques to gatherand record information
about various aspects of the snowpack, then to synthesize
and interpret this information fora variety of audiences.
Thecomplexityofthesynthesisincreaseswith each re-
port, so that by the time they write Report 4, students have
to synthesize five bodies of information:
1.Initial observations as described in Report 1
2.Snow science as described in Chapters 3-5 of theField
Guide
3.Weather information from the local weather station
4.Their hypotheses about persistence and change
5.Observations ofthe snowpack during the second field
trip
Report4thuscallsfora goodbitofintegration.Having
begunwiththe concreteexperience ofthesnowpackin
Field Trip 1, they now interpret the data collected in Field
|
|
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
