Assessing the use of real-time DataStreme weather data in an introductory physical geography course

The online data from the American Meteorological Society's DataStreme cours e have been used successfully in a traditional undergraduate college weathe r and climate class. DataStreme,vas designed to train K-12 teachers to tran sform weather data into exciting learning experiences. Adaptation of these materials so that some of this excitement could be infused in a traditional college setting was the goal of this pedagogical experiment. These delta a nd associated learning materials have been adapted specifically for use in undergraduate weather and climate courses and are now being made available by AMS as Online Weather Studies. This paper describes and assesses the use of online data. The assessment involved a comparison of student self-repor ts of factual knowledge mastery, skills acquisition and satisfaction with t he methods used in two sections of the same course, one offered with the re al-time weather dam and one without.