WX4SEN: Special Weather

Summary

In a partnership between the East Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre and the University of Leeds, we are going to investigate the ways in which people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are affected by the weather, and how they can use weather information. We will make our own measurements of weather conditions, and learn about weather forecasts.

Aims

We have quite a few aims for this project, but hopefully we can achieve these because they are all quite interesting, and we have an enthusiastic group of people working on them. We aim to:

Investigate and document the ways in which weather affects people with SEN.
Make an investigation of the way weather is measured and described
1. And how this relates to the experience of SEN
2. Make this into an investigation kit to be used by other students in future
Look into the way weather information is provided on the TV, radio and internet.
1. How does it relate to what is happening here?
2. How does it tell us what to do?
3. Can information be provided better?

Synopsis

People with SEN sometimes also have a special experience of the weather conditions. For instance, wheelchair users might feel the cold more than other people, or might be more exposed to sunburn. By talking with a number of people and asking questions, we want to collect some useful information on special weather needs and share this information. Hopefully we can use our results to advise people with SEN, as well as organisations providing them with weather information.

We are going to measure weather conditions at school. We will compare measurements with data measured at nearby weather stations.

The way weather information is presented can present particular challenges. Weather information might need to be conveyed differently, or better, to people with special needs.

Some people may have cognitive difficulties in understanding complex information. Symbols may be better to convey the information, as opposed to words or numbers.
It might be particularly important to translate weather information into impact and response information (e.g. "you are going to feel cold", “wrap up warm!”).
Blind or visually impaired people may be using ipads, Alexa, or other media to access their information: are these giving them the information they need?

Weather information can be particularly important for people with special needs. For example

Vulnerability to cold, heat or sunburn (e.g. wheelchair users).
Difficulty with icy surfaces for those with mobility problems or visually impaired.
Choosing appropriate clothing, for those with learning difficulties.
… and things we have not considered yet.

During a visit to the University of Leeds, pupils will design a questionnaire to go out to different people associated with their school (the East SILC), including pupils, teachers, parents and carers.

Investigating the weather is fun. It's a good way to learn observation skills and some useful science. We will put together a kit box of equipment and ideas for other groups in the SILC to explore.

Partners

The project has kindly been supported by a grant from the Royal Society.

Project leader: Katrina Astley, East Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre, Leeds.

Doug Parker, Professor of Meteorology at the University of Leeds.

Last modified: 29 July 2020.