Levels of Student Understanding and Reasoning Associated with Televised Weather Information

Forty-two randomly selected students in grades three through ten from two school districts in western New York State were randomly assigned to view a selected videotaped television weather segment to determine if a developmental model for weather information processing could be established. Three ordinal stages of weather information processing in this model were established to be compatible with each of the Piagetian stages of development. Content understanding and causal reasoning in each stage were specified. In the preoperational stage, understanding was associated with weather phenomena and mental reasoning was associated with pseudonatural causal agents. In the concrete operational stage, understanding was associated with valid, natural atmospheric processes, while reasoning focused on logical event sequences. Formal operational stage content was associated with the understanding of valid atmospheric mechanisms and reasoning that was associated with propositional thought. The results of this study suggest that weather information processing (content understanding and causal reasoning) is significantly related (p < 0.01) to age and developmental stage. These findings support a multivariate developmental model for the communication of weather concepts and have implications for operational forecasters, broadcast meteorologists, science teachers, and all who have the job of presenting weather information to the public.