Procedures

• SET UP

  This lesson offers several options for you to use with your students whether you are teaching in class, using a hybrid model, or engaging through distance learning. It can be completed in steps as a class or students can move at their own pace and complete the activities independently.

  You can post links to the videos in the lesson along with the related handout and engage in discussion to share responses on a discussion board or learning management system.

  You can also save and share the following Google resource for students to use with this lesson.

  Handout: Graphic Organizer (Google Doc).

  In Google, choose "File" then "Make a Copy" to get your own copy. You can make any needed adjustments in the instructions such as which activities students need to complete, when it is due, etc. and then make it available to them via Google.

• WARM UP

  Pose the following brainstorming questions to your students, directing them to record their responses in their graphic organizer, share with a partner, and then with the class if they choose.

  • Describe the weather where you are right now.
  • How might the current weather conditions influence what you could or would do outside?

• INTRODUCTION

  Play the following two introductory video clips of battlefield guide Jeffrey Harding and Penn State University professor Jon Nese providing opening remarks for the lesson about how weather impacted the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Direct your students to answer the related questions on their graphic organizer and share their findings with a partner, small group, or the class when finished.

• Clip #1: Introductory Comments (4:46).

  • Based on the clip, who was professor Michael Jacobs and what work did he do?
  • What example of Jacobs’ work “speaks volumes?” Why?
  • According to Jeffrey Harding, what source have historians typically used when discussing the weather during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg? What additional information is present in Jacobs’ original records?
  • Based on the clip, where are temperatures measured?
  • Who was David Ludlum and what did he write about the “humidity” during the Battle?

• Clip #2: Quantifying Humidity (2:28).

  • According to Jeffrey Harding, how have historians described weather during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg?
  • What were these historians not “drilling down” to get?
  • What did Harding want to know, and who did he reach out to for assistance?

• VOCABULARY

  Direct your students to their graphic organizers to view and define the vocabulary terms that will appear in the lesson in the chart in their graphic organizer handout. The vocabulary words are also listed to the right on this webpage.

  We recommend having your students complete the activity in a jigsaw format to save time. Or, depending on time and resources, you may consider having your students engage in a Frayer's Model activity, where each student is responsible for completing one or two items. Students can then post their models around the room for reference throughout the lesson.

  Note: this is not an all-encompassing list of terms included in each video. We recommend you preview the video clips to determine any necessary additions/subtractions to this list for your specific students.

• BACKGROUND

  Direct students to the background section of their graphic organizers. Instruct your students to view the following three video clips that provide background information on the history of the collection of weather data and what weather data was collected during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Direct your students to answer the related questions on their graphic organizer and share their findings with a partner, small group, or the class when finished.

• Clip #3: Historical Background (2:05).

  • What was needed to “drill down” on the weather?
  • Based on the clip, what is a barometer?
  • According to Jon Nese, what was the Smithsonian Meteorological Project and what did it contribute?
  • Review the map shown in the clip. What trends do you see?
  • Who “paused” recording weather? Why?

• Clip #4: What Was Observed (2:49).

  • Where are the “primary source” documents currently housed?
  • What “interesting discovery” was made during the project?
  • Describe the two documents shown in the clip. What is different between the two?
  • According to Jeffrey Harding, what mistakes were made in H.E. Jacobs’ article?
  • What is the “biggest point” about the primary source documents?

• Clip #5: What Was Not Observed (2:25).

  • What question did Jeffrey Harding have about the primary source documents?
  • Based on the clip, what was missing on Michael Jacobs’ documents?
  • According to Harding, who did observe and detail the data that was missing from Jacobs’ records?
  • Summarize Harding’s comments about needing an expert when conducting a research project.

• ENGAGEMENT

  Direct students to the engagement section of their graphic organizers. Instruct your students to view the following three video clips that detail how to analyze weather data and how the heat index was calculated for each day of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Direct your students to answer the related questions on their graphic organizer and share their findings with a partner, small group, or the class when finished.

• Clip #6: Analysis of Weather (7:15).

  • What is a “psychrometer,” and what does the dew point allow us to make “very strong conclusions” about?
  • How did the Smithsonian Meteorological Project observers “quantify humidity?” Describe the process.
  • What is the “bottom line” of the process?
  • Summarize the “moist thermodynamic” process of calculating the heat index from the wet bulb temperature.
  • What does the heat index “combine?”

• Clip #7: Weather Calculations (4:31).

  • What two climates are “generally similar?” Why? Summarize what the team had proposed.
  • Based on the clip, what did John Heisely and William Hickok measure that Michael Jacobs did not?
  • Why couldn’t the team “translate” weather data from one city to another, and how did they “get around this?”
  • According to Jon Nese, what also supported their assertion? Why?
  • What limits the use of data from Washington DC, Annapolis, MD, and Philadelphia, PA as “direct proxies?”

• Clip #8: Three Maps (8:52).

  • Based on the clip, describe what will be shown in each of the maps for each of the three days of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
  • According to Jeffrey Harding, how did the soldiers describe the weather during the Battle in their written accounts?
  • Why did the dew point go down on Day 2 of the Battle, according to Jon Nese? What was the heat index on this day?
  • Summarize the weather data for Day 3 of the Battle, as shown in the clip.
  • Describe what is meant by “time of maximum discomfort.” What might have been the heat index for this time on Day 3?
  • What do all of these figures not take into account, according to Nese?

• REFLECTION

  Direct students to the reflection section of their graphic organizers. Instruct your students to view the following two final video clips that summarize the overall conclusions for the lesson. Direct your students to answer the related questions on their graphic organizer and share their findings with a partner, small group, or the class when finished.

• Clip #9: Overall Conclusions (3:57).

  • What is the current study the “first” to do?
  • What do we now “know” about the period during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg?
  • What “stands out” about Day 3 of the Battle?
  • According to Jeffrey Harding, what challenges did the soldiers face due to the heat and humidity?
  • Were the soldiers’ accounts of the Battle “embellished?” Why or why not?

• Clip #10: Other Effects (2:32).

  • Summarize the question from the audience member.
  • What would have made the weather conditions more “unbearable” than they were during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg?
  • According to Jon Nese, would the large number of troops have impacted the heat or humidity? Why or why not?
  • Based on the clip, what else may have had an impact on the heat or humidity?

• OPTIONAL EXTENSION CLIP

  To further support your students' learning, consider having them watch the following extension clip that provides additional information related to the lesson and battlefield guide Jeffrey Harding and Penn State University professor Jon Nese's study and calculations.

  Clip #11: More Information (7:23).

  • What does the heat index “attempt to quantify?”
  • What does the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) take into account? Why is it “another level” beyond the heat index?
  • According to Jon Nese, who typically uses the WBGT?
  • Summarize the steps that Nese took to calculate the WBGT for Day 3 of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. What was the result?
  • Why might WBGT never “catch on?”
  • Based on the clip, what is the idea behind the WBGT? How does this impact the analysis of data from during the Battle?

• CLOSURE

  After your students are finished sharing their findings from the lesson, direct them to complete the final culminating writing prompt in their graphic organizers, and have students share their responses, comparing their perspectives with their classmates' perspectives: Having learned about Jeffrey Harding and Jon Nese’s project studying the weather during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, summarize and assess the implications of their findings. Be sure to include evidence from the video clips in the lesson to support your response.