Year 8
Geography Project
A comparison of
local weather
conditions
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1.
Introduction to the year 8
Fieldwork
In the British Isles we are always talking and complaining about the
weather. It is either too hot, too cold, too dry, too grey or just too
the same. The weather effects our lives every day.
One of the reasons why we complain about the weather is that it
seems to change so much. Whenever we are on holiday it always
seems to rain and when we are at school it is always lovely and hot!
Despite the British Isles being only quite small the weather varies a
lot from place to place and from day to day. You may even find that
the weather is different between school and home
In geography recently you have been studying how to record the
weather. This fieldwork will show you how to make your own
measurements. We will also try to compare the weather at home and
at school and see if there are any differences.
Your job in this fieldwork is to be like a meteorologists!! (Watch
the weather on the TV to get hints! ) As a meteorologist you must try
to collect as much information about the weather as you can. You will
then need to report back to your teacher with all the things that you
found out.
This booklet should help you complete your project.
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2.
What you need to do
To get started with your fieldwork it is important that you
carefully read the information below. Use it as a checklist.
Things you need to do at home
1. Chose a time when you can record the weather at home.
Make sure that it is the same time each day (For example
7pm)
2. Collect all the data about the weather. Chapter 3 explains
how you do this.
3. Carefully put this information into the ‘Weather Diary’ (see
page4). Remember to include as much detail as possible.
Things you need to do at school
1. Agree with your class a time that you can record the
weather (the same time each day)
2. Take turns to record the weather and to fill in the class
‘Weather Diary’ (page 5)
What do I do when I have finished the weather diaries?
You now need to write about your results. Chapter 4 will
explain how you do this.
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Weather diary – Home
Monday
Tuesday
Name……………..
Wednesday
Thursday
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind Speed
Wind
direction
Cloud type
Cloud Cover
General
description
5
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Weather diary – School
Monday
Tuesday
Name……………..
Wednesday
Thursday
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind Speed
Wind
direction
Cloud type
Cloud Cover
General
description
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Friday
Saturday
Sunday
3.
How to collect the data
(Data Collection)
To complete this project, you will need to record and measure 6
features of the weather at home and at school. The 6 features you
will be measuring are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind Speed
Wind Direction
Cloud Type
Cloud Cover
It is important that you collect the data at the same time
from the same place every day. This is how you will collect this
data.
Temperature
Measure this by:
 Using a thermometer, remember to measure in ºC
 Or Looking carefully at the clothes people are wearing ( use the pictures
below to help you describe the temperature )
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Precipitation
Measure this by:
 Using a rain gauge, measure the amount of precipitation in mm
 Or explain in words the amount of precipitation from the list below.
Snow
Sleet
Hail
Drizzle
Showers
Continuous
rain
Light
Rain
Heavy
Rain
Thunder
storms
Wind speed
 Using the beaufort scale describe the strength of the wind.
Wind direction
Measure this by:
 Using a wind vane
 Or throwing grass/ feather into the air and seeing which direction it blows
Measure the wind direction using the points of the compass
Hint: You measure the
wind by the direction
it is going.
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Cloud type
Measure this by:
 Looking at the clouds and trying to match them up with the pictures shown
below (or the pictures on page 16)
Cumulonimbus
Cumulus
Stratus
Cirrus
Cloud Cover
 Look into the sky and try to judge how much of it is covered by cloud, use the
oktars scale shown below
General description
 Try to explain what the weather has been like in words. Write about how the
weather has affected you
e.g. Today I got sunburn, today my cricket was cancelled because of the
rain, today I walked to school because it was hot weather.
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3.
How to write a fieldwork report
Your fieldwork report should consist of the following sections, make sure that
your final report has all 7 sections.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Title page
Introduction
Aims (Hypothesis)
Data Collection
Data Presentation (graphs, tables)
Writing
Conclusions
1. Title page
On a plain page write the title for the project, your name and your class. If
you want, you can include a picture or relevant photographs. Your title is:
‘A comparison of local weather conditions’
Hints: Make it colourful, and striking to the eye.
2. Introduction
This should introduce what you are doing and what the fieldwork is about.
Make it really interesting and as short as possible. The introduction should be
about 1 A4 page long. Use the following sentences to help you:
 Weather is……
 The different features of the weather, that we recorder
were……
 Weather is important to people because……
 In this project we will be looking at……….
 We did this project …… (when) ………
 The things I enjoyed about the project were……
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You should also include a location map. This should show where the school is
and where your house is.
Hints: Always include some location maps, keep your writing it short and
interesting
3. Aims
The aims of the project tell you what you are trying to do during the
fieldwork. It is important to keep reading the aims of the project when you
come to write it up. Your aims are:
a) To collect and record weather information from home and at
school
b) To compare the similarities and differences between the two
places
Hints: Clearly copy out the aims of the project.
4. Data Collection
In this section you will write about how you collected your results or data. Use
the questions below to help you. Don’t just answer these questions but try to
write them in easy to read paragraphs.
Paragraph 1
 When did you collect your results?
 Where did you collect your results?
 Who was in your group?
Paragraph 2
 How did you measure temperature?
 What equipment did you use?
Paragraph 3
 How did you measure precipitation?
 What equipment did you use?
Paragraph 4
 How did you measure wind speed?
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 What equipment did you use?
Paragraph 5
 How did you measure wind direction?
 What equipment did you use?
Paragraph 6
 How did you record cloud type?
 What are the different types?
Paragraph 7
 How did you measure cloud type?
Paragraph 8
 What things did you write about in the general description?
Hint: Use a different sub-title for each of the paragraphs
5. Data Presentation (graphs/ tables)
This is the section where you will present the results from your fieldwork. Your
data presentation must included the following things (extra marks will be
awarded for including other interesting and useful graphs, maps, tables)
You must show your weather recordings for home and school
a) Table of results
Make a neat copy of your weather diaries; include all the information
that you recorded during the week.
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b) Line graph of the Temperature
This should look like this:
c) A Bar Chart / Histogram of Rainfall
This should look like this:
d) A Bar Chart / Histogram of Wind Speed
This should look like this:
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e) A Wind Rose
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Hint: Make sure all your graphs have titles, the axes are labelled, and they are
draw in pencil and that they are carefully shaded in.
6. Writing
This is a one of the toughest parts of any coursework. You must try to explain to
the reader what you have leant. In this section look at each of the weather
features you recorded and comment on what you found out. Try to explain:

What similarities were there between your school results and home
results?

What differences were there?

Which results were surprising?

What did you learn about the weather?

How did the weather affect you?
7. Conclusion
In about half a page, summarise the project and explain what you have learnt.
Try to explain:

What have you learnt about the weather?

What were the main differences between the weather at school and at
home?

Why do you think there were differences?

What was difficult about collecting the data?
Hint: Look back to the project aims, did you achieve your aims?
You’ve finished, well done!
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