Teacher Notes
Introduction (10-15 minutes) > Print/View All Notes
Students will start to think about how severe weather affects people's lives in this activity. After students watch the featured animation and read the text, introduce them to their Engineering Portfolios. Let them know that they will be using these portfolios to investigate severe weather and its effects on homes. Eventually, they will use what they have learned to develop solutions to protect homes from severe weather.
Make sure students understand the meaning of severe weather: very strong or powerful weather. Allow them to verbally share their experiences with a severe weather event or an instance where weather affected their plans. For students who have never experienced severe weather, ask them to share what they know about severe weather and how they might react if they were to experience a severe weather event. This will help them generate ideas for a writing prompt in the next activity. (For a hands-on extension activity, see Appendix F.)
