Student Impact and Feedback

Students in both the AHS and STEM Ed programs responded to informal questionnaires / prompts asking them to summarize their reactions to the MARVELOUS project and experiences relating to it. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, largely due to the fact that students not only had the opportunity to go out into the field during inclement weather, but also because they were able to participate in a wide array of outreach events as well as operations/data collection events. Several representative undergraduate student responses appear below, separated by intended major:

AHS majors:

“It was great having the DOW here. It tied in really nicely with the items we’ve talked about in class, and it was so cool to be able to program in our own scanning elevations, rotation rates and the like. It really made me excited to know that the data I was analyzing came from a project in which I participated.”

“Thanks so much for having the DOW and PODs here! Working in a group was challenging, but it forced us to work together to plan out how we were going to deploy the instruments, and we really had to think about a lot of different factors that we hadn’t thought of before. It encouraged us to think outside of the box, and that was really beneficial.”

“Being in this field, we don’t get a chance to go out to other schools all that much, and really not at all at the elementary level. It was so neat to see kids getting psyched about science! I loved going to the schools with the DOW and the PODs!”

“This was a great opportunity for us; thanks so much for having the instruments here! I learned a lot!”

“Using the DOW and the PODs really got me thinking about how it’s not all about one type of data or another. It’s often important to think about multiple levels of data and each one is interesting.”

“I never thought I would get a chance to operate a DOW; that was a dream come true! I enjoyed looking at the data and trying to make sense of it as well, even with SOLOII crashing as often as it did.”

 

STEM Ed majors:

“What a cool way to get out into the field and see 2nd graders really excited about science! I loved being able to answer their questions and ask them; they knew a lot. I really enjoyed this opportunity.”

“I found the opportunity to go out into the schools with the DOW and the PODs really enlightening as to how kids respond to cool gadgets. It makes me think about how important it is to have multiple ways of getting information across. Having something they can climb into or twirl around made them ask more questions, which they may not have gotten just from looking at pictures in a book or on a website. I really enjoyed interacting with them – they’re so smart! It really helped me see what it’s like to have a classful of smart, engaged students!”

“I liked the fact that the students and the teachers were able to see ‘science up close’, like we’ve talked about in class. It helps to have the methodologies we’re learning about in our classrooms play out in front of our eyes. I learned a lot about how to manage large groups of (sometimes very excited) kids in a variety of ways.” 

 

Feedback from the local K-12 teachers and students was overwhelmingly (though perhaps unsurprisingly) positive, as well:

“The Doppler truck was really cool! I liked seeing the videos and pictures up close.” (AW, 2nd grade student)

“I got to deploy a POD, and I didn’t put it on my foot. It was really neat, though. I want to study weather when I am a grown-up.” (SW, 4th grade student)

“Science is awesome! I love weather! The truck was loud and the fumes were bad, but I want to go on it and look at snow and tornadoes when I get older.” (TK, 2nd grade student)

“The students and I really appreciated you all taking the time to come and teach us some things about the radar. We all thought it was very cool and appreciated the opportunity to go and look inside it. It’s nice to know more about how our weather is detected, since it’s so crucial and important.” (JD, 9th grade teacher)

“Thank you so much for coming; the kids and I loved it!” (JP, 4th grade teacher)