Teachers who will be teaching 6th grade earth science under the new science standards can get a head start with this FREE event organized by Dr. Amy Lilienfeld, Founder and President of Circle of Illumination Science Education, and hosted by the National Weather Service (NWS) station in Chanhassen on Saturday April 18, 2:30 – 6:15 p.m. Participants will get a tour of the NWS facilities and watch the launch of a “radiosonde” (weather balloon) which is used to collect data at different altitudes. Such data can be obtained on a daily basis and can be used in teaching, including making plots in EXCEL. The visualization of the data will enable students to identify days on which atmospheric inversions exist which are common in the Twin Cities and can be correlated with students’ perceptions of air pollution as well as exacerbation of asthma.

Presentations will be given by Dr. Lilienfeld and Ms. Emily Kalkbrenner who is a 6th grade teacher at Global Arts Plus in St. Paul but also taught 8th grade Earth Science there for several years. Emily has gone through PD courses offered by the American Meteorological Society and also had a weather station installed at her school. For more details and updates go to: http://circleofillumination.com. Deadline for registration April 12th.