A collaboration between faculty and students at six universities in a project called Weather in a Tank is described, in which ways of teaching atmosphere, ocean, and climate dynamics are explored that bring students into contact with real fluids and fundamental ideas. Exploiting the use of classic rotating laboratory experiments, real-time meteorological data and associated theory, teaching tools, curricular, and evaluation materials have been developed that focus on fundamental aspects of atmospheric and oceanographic dynamics for use in undergraduate teaching. The intent of the project is to help students learn how to move between phenomena in the real world, theory, and models.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
Monona Grove High School, Monona, Wisconsin
Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Stratham, New Hampshire
University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Massachusetts
