The technical staff of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) has consistently collaborated with schools, organizations, and associations to expand knowledge related to meteorology and climatology. A group of volunteer technicians carried out educational tasks spontaneously, lacking clear organization, structure, or standardized content.

To improve this situation, the SMC developed an Educational Program in 2021. The main goals of the Educational Program of the SMC are to enhance the public's knowledge of meteorology and climatology, to create a ‘learning space’ focused on the acquisition of ideas and values (inclusive material, avoid gender bias, etc.), to form a critical, committed, and active citizenry to develop a better society.

The development of this Educational Program has resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of educational activities. It promotes the definition of objectives, fosters the development of specific pedagogical resources for each age group, clarifies pedagogical goals, defines final assessments, and facilitates the pedagogical task and the dedication of volunteer staff. It also allows for the comprehensive planning of educational activities and engagement with the external public.

Once the Educational Program was defined, voluntary pedagogical training sessions were conducted -open to all technical staff of the SMC- to facilitate the transmission of concepts and values following current pedagogical parameters (importance of emotions, social learning, connectivity between different knowledge, existence of different learning rhythms and styles, evaluation as a tool for constant improvement).

The activities of the Educational Program are structured into three axes: Meteorology, Climate, and Climate Change. In 2022, a public competition was held to find a support company that would facilitate the development of educational activities. Throughout 2023, the deployment of the Educational Program began with the development of twenty-one new educational activities.

Current educational activities cater to all types of audiences, from kindergarten to high school, including the general public. Some activities are designed to be developed by SMC technical staff, while others have been designed to be carried out autonomously by teachers. There is a wide range of activities: experiments, learning scenarios, ‘weather walks’ through Barcelona, games (severe weather phenomena), videos (prevention in dangerous weather situations), etc.

How to cite: Busto, M. and del Amo, X.: Upgrade of the educational and outreach activities of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia , EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-284, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-284, 2024.

Following broad consultation, and a pilot  in summer 2023, the Met Office introduced a two-phase work experience programme for 13-18-year-olds, designed to:  

• Maximise the number and diversity of young people undertaking work experience, supporting development of a larger, more diverse pool of future talent, feeding into our Early Careers pipeline. 
• Focus capacity to host in-person placements on those most interested in pursuing a career within the Met Office, broader STEM sector or Civil Service.

Phase 1: Online work experience - UK-based 13-18-year-olds guaranteed a place. 

Designed in partnership with and hosted by Springpod, the online programme increases understanding of the Met Office’s work, develops employability skills, and broadens ideas of available career pathways.  It allows live interactions with staff via an integrated chat facility (as though emailing with colleagues), and assigns work-based projects, giving a flavour of how it feels to work remotely as an employee.  Additionally, it provides a ‘bridge’ for students who are more anxious about in-person placements, building confidence and raising aspirations.  

Phase 2: In-person work experience - Places limited. Open to 14-18-year-olds who have completed the online programme.  

The online programme provides a stand-alone work experience and also allows students to determine if they would like to apply for a subsequent in-person placement. Consequently, capacity to host in-person placements is directed towards those informed about the organisation and keenest to apply. Students who evidence the greatest interest and effort, through their application and online work experience assignments, are offered in-person placements.   

The online programme has enabled in-person placements to be reduced from 5 to 2-3 days, releasing capacity to host more students. Shorter placements are also more accessible for those experiencing financial barriers to travel and subsistence, and students with additional commitments (e.g. young carers). 

Developed with our recruitment team, the application process mirrors that for Met Office job vacancies. Guidance and support are offered to ensure a fair and transparent application process, and feedback is provided, thereby strengthening application skills. 

Results and impact 

At end-March 2024, 604 young people had undertaken the online work experience (51% female; 43% minority ethnic backgrounds, 11%+ on Free School Meals). 

As a result of participation: 

• 71% reported strengthened awareness of STEM sector careers, from poor/somewhat aware to good/excellent.  
• The proportion of students who felt they would be confident speaking to an industry professional increased from 36% to 76%.  
• The proportion likely to consider a STEM career increased from 45% to 67%.  
• The proportion reporting that they trusted Met Office advice ‘very much’ increased from 40% to 63%.

How to cite: Tomkins, L., Liggins, F., and Bishop, J.: Evolving the Met Office’s work experience for young people – maximising our reach and impact , EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-440, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-440, 2024.

Weather and weather forecasting are closely related to our daily lives. TV weather forecasting programs are common worldwide. Producing such a program requires a team with various skills, including not only the meteorologist who provides commentary but also the host, camera operators, video editors, script writers, etc. In Japan, researchers are exploring automation technologies for weather programs. Therefore, we thought that simulating the production of a TV weather forecasting program would be an excellent exercise for enhancing computational thinking skills.

LEGO SPIKE Prime can access real-time weather forecasting for major locations worldwide using weather blocks.  By specifying the desired location, weather blocks provide 240-hour weather forecasts from Yr.no, delivered by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and NRK.  LEGO Education offers several lesson plans, but they merely utilize the forecasted values such as temperature and wind speed. On the internet, there is an enhanced version of LEGO's lesson plan where a weather-caster robot vocalizes the city and temperature. This report presents a more sophisticated lesson plan that we designed and implemented.

Our lesson plan has three main features. First, students learn data processing. For data processing, students will learn arrays, comparison operations, regression analysis, conditional branching, loops, etc. Then, students are tasked with programming to determine the daily maximum and minimum temperatures for ten days and analyze the temperature trend, such as warming or cooling. Additionally, by examining the atmospheric pressure trend, students can infer whether the weather is stable, improving, or deteriorating.

Second, students design and build a mobile weather caster robot. The original LEGO weather-caster robot can move its hands but cannot move around. TV meteorologists typically move around the studio to present weather charts, satellite imagery, and other visuals. In our lesson, the weather-caster robot is designed to be mobile. Additionally, we prepared a script for a brief weather forecast program. The script includes main segments such as "The weather forecast for tomorrow is," and complementary phrases like "sunny," "rainy," and so on. Using a sound block, we can make the weather-caster robot vocalize the forecast. Students will modify the script and create their own weather forecast scenarios.

Third, we prepare a small studio set for each group, including a web camera and a computer installed with OBS software. Students are tasked with moving the weather-caster robot based on their scenario. Students will experience the chroma key technique, a visual effects method that layers two video streams together based on color hues. This technique allows for compositing the robot footage with weather graphics, simulating a professional weather broadcast.

Students are expected to develop their computational thinking skills through delivering weather forecasts. Additionally, students will realize the importance of STEM in our society through this purposefully designed lesson plan.

How to cite: Tsubota, Y.: A Lesson Plan for Teaching Computational Thinking Using a Weather Forecaster Robot, EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-1000, 2024.

In 2023 a small team at MET Norway - the Sandbox - started working on ideas of communicating more directly with kids about weather forecasts and warnings in a changing climate. We want kids growing up, knowing where to find weather forecasts and information about the weather and climate. And that they know and trust the source. With AI and the vast amount of information and weather services there are, it is essential for us that they know us as a reliable source the day they need us.

At MET Norway we have been developing weather services for a broad audience since 2007 (Yr). We learned that digital services should be developed according to user needs and not our needs. All users benefit from good communication. Plain language and simplification is a good start. Therefore we have started looking at how we communicate with kids.

Kids in Norway learn some basics about weather and climate in school. We have conducted four surveys since 2020, mapping how kids and young people use weather forecasts. We also have a very popular online encyclopedia in Norway that schools use, but the majority does not know that MET Norway is the source of the content related to weather and climate. The surveys and our experience show us that we need to be more visible and active in how we communicate.

MET Norway has been successful in communicating weather forecasts in Social Media. An interdisciplinary Social Media team, led by a communications expert and a meteorologist, makes content in different formats and answers questions from the public. The overall reach is good, except in the youngest user groups. But do you have to be the next big hit on TikTok to do that? We don't think so.

Kids need help to learn the basics. How to get dressed for everyday activities and what they need to know to be happy and safe doing them. They would also like to know what they can do for the climate and the environment. They need an honest, useful and reliable source of information. Our goal is to give them that.

In 2023 we had meetings with organizations and companies that communicate great with kids, to get inspiration and advice. In 2024 we started working on our language and got financial support to work on a design profile. We have made two ready made assignments for teachers to use. And together with an amusement park we are launching a digital board game that will be used in communicating weather, climate change and clean energy.

Addressing this theme at the EMS, we hope to inspire others to work on communicating better with kids and young people.

How to cite: Svehagen, M.-L. F., Vågane, J. S., Sivle, A. D., and Gislefoss, K.: Do you have to be great at TikTok to reach kids?, EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-837, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-837, 2024.

We believe that laboratory work deepens students' understanding and makes meteorology theory more directly relevant to the real world. In meteorology, the hydrostatic equation relates the pressure difference between two altitudes to the weight of the air column between those altitudes, which is determined by air density, gravitational acceleration, and the change in altitude. Therefore, we can compute the pressure difference based on the air density (1.293 g/m³ at STP), gravitational acceleration, and the known altitude difference.

We incorporate laboratory activities using an iPhone, as modern smartphones have various applications that can indicate altitude and atmospheric pressure. Since our laboratory is located in a five-story building with a fire exit staircase and an open-air atrium, students are asked to measure the atmospheric pressure and altitude on each floor of both locations.

First, the students plot the measured altitude versus the corresponding atmospheric pressures. The results should show a linear relationship between altitudes and pressures for all data. This is because a smartphone's application computes the altitude based on the measured pressure value, assuming a constant temperature.

As we know the actual altitude of each floor in our building from the building's blueprints, students are asked to plot the known altitude of each floor versus the measured pressures. This time, they will find a linear relationship for both the fire exit staircase and the open-air atrium, but they will notice differences in the slopes of the linear regression lines for each location. The difference in slope is due to the temperature difference, as inferred from the hydrostatic equation and ideal gas law. As an extension, students may take data in the morning and afternoon and then compare the results to observe any potential temperature effects.

Using the air density at STP and the known altitude difference, students can compute the expected pressure difference and then compare it with the measured value. The measured pressure difference should be smaller than the computed value. Asking why the measured value was smaller than expected will provide a good opportunity to confirm the students' understanding of the meaning of STP and the inverse relationship between air density and temperature.

While pressure sensors in smartphones can accurately measure pressure differences, they cannot obtain absolute pressure values. Based on our experience, the accuracy of pressure difference measurements is generally quite good, but some phones may show strange results. Therefore, it is recommended that students work in groups, compare their data within the group, and collaborate on writing a report.

Our experiment was initially designed for in-person laboratory activities in regular classes. However, the experiment can also be adapted for students working remotely in an online course setting. The designed activity can be implemented in a high-rise apartment building and/or a large shopping mall.

How to cite: Tsubota, Y.: Atmospheric Pressure Measurement Using a Smartphone, EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-1001, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-1001, 2024.

Italy has played a significant role in the birth and development of modern meteorology, and it owns a heritage of ancient meteorological data of exceptional value; however, despite many developed activities, a substantial number of data remains available only on paper, which unfortunately is deteriorating over time, risking the loss of data and information of inestimable worth for scientific research in the field of meteorology and climate change. Among the many data still to be recovered, there is a very significant fraction of those collected in territories belonging to Italy (Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Libya, Dodecanese, Albania, Dalmatia, Istria) between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. In this context, the present project aims to conduct a detailed reconnaissance of meteorological information available for these areas during the period of the Italian control.

Regarding data and volumes, the main source will be the National Meteorological Archive of the CREA (Council for Research in Agricultural and the analysis of Agricultural Economy) in Rome, specifically the Historical Central Library of Italian Meteorology. Once the most relevant data and other information have been identified, activities will proceed with photographic scanning aimed at publishing online images of the data sheets and volumes; the overall number of pages expected to be scanned is approximately 40,000.

The project of digitizing climatological data from former Italian colonies represents a significant step towards understanding climate of the past in areas that still lack a dense monitoring network for detecting meteorological phenomena. The availability and accessibility of data in international databases will allow for a full utilization of these recovered values, which will be relevant for a better understanding of climate change in the territories covered by the project.

The investigation will be complemented by case studies aimed at evaluating possible implementations of citizen science activities aimed at extracting numerical series from digitized data sheets available for climatological research, in line with other works led by AISAM (Italian Association of Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology), such as the Cli-DaRe@School project, which involves the participation of many Italian schools and hundreds of students. A feasibility study will also be conducted to assess how these activities can be supported by the latest Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.

How to cite: Ceppi, A., Baldi, M., Beltrano, M. C., Brunetti, M., Giampietro, S., Iafrate, L., Manara, V., Pisani, S., Stefanini, F., Sudati, F., Zardi, D., and Maugeri, M.: Dieci e Lode: Climate data of Former Italian Colonies and their Digitalization, EMS Annual Meeting 2024, Barcelona, Spain, 1–6 Sep 2024, EMS2024-912, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2024-912, 2024.