Weather app puts kids in the pilot seat
Kids growing up in tornado alley are used to bright, splotchy radar patterns moving across a television screen, and most know the difference between a tornado watch and warning. But do they understand how to read and predict the weather based on radar images and forecasts? Students at the University of Oklahoma's College of Engineering wanted to remove the mystery around weather forecasting by speaking to kids in a language they could better understand – gaming. Collaborating with the School of Meteorology, OU students created an app that teaches kids about weather patterns by putting them in the pilot seat to navigate a plane during weather events. The game encourages kids to see meteorology as a problem-solving tool rather than just a segment of the evening news.