Day 1
1.  One of the things you are being evaluated on during this WebQuest is your ability to work collaboratively. You will want to read the Cooperative Learning Rubric before moving to the next task.

2.  Lab partners use the internet to research the following items:
     a.  find a definition for "atmospheric science" and collect atmospheric data
          (e.g. atmospheric layers, temperatures, pressures, wind speeds, wind patterns)

     b.  summarize the scientific principles behind lighter-than-air craft design and operation
          (e.g.  how is lift generated, how is altitude controlled, how is direction controlled)

     c.  summarize how lighter-than-air craft have played a part in history as well as the present
          (e.g. research, war, entertainment)

Use the Evaluating a Web Site Research Rubric to verify that you have located 2 sites that score an 11 or higher on the rubric for each item.  Enter your 2 highest quality websites for each item into the collaborative spreadsheet for the class to refer to on subsequent days.

3.  Lab partners write a blog post discussing what they learned from their research.  The post must contain active links to each of the websites they entered into the spreadsheet. Refer to the Blog Entry Evaluation Rubric to see how blog posts will be evaluated.

Day 2
1.  Lab partners use the Blog Entry Evaluation Rubric to critique and respond to the other Day 1 blog posts.

2.  Lab partners comment, within the collaborative spreadsheet, on the scientific accuracy and significance of the sites listed using the Evaluating a Web Site Research Rubric as a guide.

Day 3
Lab partners work together to complete the online Molecular Workbench gas law activities and submit the program's electronic lab report to the teacher.  An additional reference is the free, online chemistry textbook from CK-12. See Chapter 18, pp. 485-519 to learn about the properties of gases.

Day 4
Within in each lab group, one lab partner takes on the role of design engineer and the other partner takes on the role of atmospheric scientist working to generate a list of mission specifications for the international World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  All the design engineers in the class meet together and all the atmospheric scientists meet together to complete the following tasks:

Design engineers are to work together to create a shared spreadsheet of specifications containing the following information and anything else the group decides is relevant:

•    properties of the materials used to construct the craft
•    propellants used
•    shape and size of the craft
•    instrumentation and energy sources
•    weight
•    altitude control
•    direction control
•    life expectancy of the craft
•    recovery or degradation of the craft
•    public safety in the air and on the ground before, during, and after deployment of the craft
•    environmental and wildlife issues related to the deployment of the craft

Here is a site on radiosondes that can serve as a starting point for craft design and a site for an engineer that designed and tested a weather probe.

Atmospheric scientists are to work together to create a shared spreadsheet of specifications containing the following information and anything else the group decides is relevant:

•    number of craft needed
•    number of launch dates
•    launch locations
•    launch heights
•    type of data that will be collected
•    wind speeds
•    radiation
•    temperature variations
•    pressure variations
•    concerns about condensation, icing, and airborne particulate
•    data collection, transmission, and analysis
•    dissemination of information obtained from the study to interested organizations around the world

Here is the site for the Civilian Weather Observer Program (CWOP) that can serve as a starting point as well as a site for the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

Day 5
Lab partners reconvene and work as separate aerospace contractors submitting proposals for bidding on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) project.  Each lab team must use a collaborative word processing application to write a mission plan that covers the specifications developed on Day 4.  The proposal must include a computer generated concept sketch labeling key features of the craft's design and payload. The Proposal Evaluation Rubric will be used to evaluate team proposals.

Day 6
Lab partners evaluate the merits of other team's proposals using the Proposal Evaluation Rubric. The class brainstorms alternative methods for achieving the same goal of mapping the atmosphere and discusses opportunities for further investigations.