Reach Cyber Charter School
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Reach Cyber Charter School is the first cyber school to have WeatherSTEM. Cyber schools are a growing trend throughout the U.S. and abroad. These schools are set up so that students can learn from their homes in a cyber setting. A lot of time, cyber schools can offer improved learning opportunities for all different types of students.
Reach Cyber Charter School's goal is actually to become the premier STEM cyber school in the state of Pennsylvania. WeatherSTEM is helping them reach this goal. In their first year of operation, the school has already increased enrollment to 1,000 students. Students throughout the state of Pennsylvania can attend tuition-free. The school is currently teaching grades kindergarten through 9th grade. However, they plan on extending the grades in the next two years to provide education through 12th grade.
Now they have "a cool new way to learn about the weather." WeatherSTEM helps their students explore the "S" in STEM. Science teacher Melissa Stanalonis uses the WeatherSTEM software in the classroom regularly. "I'm trying to get them into the habit of using WEatheRSTEM for their own purposes, even outside of the classroom," said Mrs. Stanalonis.
WeatherSTEM Lessons
WeatherSTEM provides carefully crafted meteorology lessons for students K-12. These lessons plans are crafted to be both educational and exciting for students. First students learn about the basics. For example, they learn about the different parts of a weather station. Lessons progress into more complex issues like climates, trends, and even severe weather. There are also lessons for students who want to learn how to predict the weather.
As the STEM coordinator pointed out in the video above, WeatherSTEM isn't just for "weather junkies." Plenty of other departments including athletics can take advantage of the current weather information, archived data, lessons and cameras. In fact, a social studies teacher at the school is planning on using this year's La Nina data in an upcoming economics lesson.
Now, WeatherSTEM stations connect to the world's largest weather network: Earth Networks. Earth Networks powers WeatherSTEM schools to gather the most accurate, real-time weather data from over 12,000 worldwide sensors. It also provides safety from storms. Advanced warnings of storms hit as well as all-clear signals after the storms move away are two features that athletic directors especially like.
