Unique weather stations added to Leon County schools

Leon County Schools is expanding its offering of the unique WeatherSTEM educational component to 28 schools with the help of a grant from The Foundation for Leon County Schools.

The foundation announced Monday the contribution of $40,000 towards installing the WeatherSTEM system at 10 elementary schools and one middle school during a news conference at Hartsfield Elementary.

Leon County is the first district in the state to incorporate the WeatherSTEM system which was created by Ed Mansouri, CEO of the company. The system brings a complete weather monitoring operation to schools, but it also can be accessed by anyone through the Internet. (It can be accessed through http://leon.weatherstem.com or through the Leon County Schools website at www.leonschools.net).

"It makes data available for the whole community, the whole world," Mansouri said. "You could have a kid in China and you could come online and study various local trends in weather in Leon County," he said.

Mansouri introduced the system to the Leon County Virtual School more than a year ago and the first station was installed at Hawk's Rise Elementary School. Mansouri also is CEO of Ucompass.com, which created the technology used by the Leon County Virtual School. He has since reached out to other school districts and his goal is to have WeatherSTEM in one location in each school district in the state by the end of next year.

Mansouri said he also is working with Leon County Virtual School to develop a class on weather and climate for high school students.

"WeatherSTEM is an integration of weather station instruments enabling students to collect, distribute and apply atmospheric and garden data, and STEM-based curriculum for grades K-12," Leon County Virtual School Principal Jessica Lowe said.

WeatherSTEM provides complete updated weather information. It also contains information on moisture and other readings that are valuable in giving students access to information helpful in areas from school-based gardening and growing projects to assisting athletic programs by showing field conditions and weather-specific data.

The Leon County Virtual School already has built online curriculum that students in middle and high schools can utilize to collect and distribute the data. On Monday, Lowe said the school worked with KANO to purchase 20 KANO kits that will allow elementary schools to build their own computers and learn computer coding to work with the WeatherSTEM station. The kits also will teach elementary students how to create games, choreograph music and animate characters while learning computer coding.

"It goes hand in hand with the weather station," Lowe said.

The installation of WeatherSTEM and the KANO kits is another step in the district's advancement of promoting and teaching students about science, technology, engineering and math. The hands-on systems also provide a system where students feel more connected, Leon County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons said.

"We want to be a leader in the state in exposing our kids to technology," Pons said at Hartsfield. "The more hands-on experience we can give them the better they perform in the long run. We've got to create new ways to get them excited."