The Forecast Factory: Page 7

Student Evaluations

I received detailed evaluations of the Forecast Factory from over 80 students in two course sections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Fully 90% of the students involved either "liked" or "loved" this approach. Some narrative comments which illustrate the effectiveness of this approach are listed below:

"I loved performing the forecast as a play because it helped me visualize each step of the weather-forecasting procedure. That helped me to remember the procedure. I now have a much better idea of how raw data becomes my evening forecast." [emphasis in original]

"It helped me because, before, the process just seemed an unintelligible mass of garbage. Now, I understand what goes on, and in the right order."

"The Forecast Factory was much easier to understand when it was performed as a play. A lecture would have put me to sleep."

"I loved it because I love acting and improv is a part of acting so I got to see weather through a perspective [that] never seemed possible."

"It was very entertaining, making me wonder what was next. The room was set up in a perfect way. I saw that the 'computer' was set up in the middle of the room and the continents all the way around."

"[The Forecast Factory] took us through the process step by step, slowly so we could get a close look at each point."

"By associating the process with things relevant to our lives (Beavis and Butt-head) you made it easy to remember how the different parts work."

"It was a way... to mix the class up and talk to other people you didn't know."

"It put me in the shoes of the forecaster/observer/etc. — what are my jobs, tasks, and so forth? It gave me a better idea of how the process works by doing the play."

"it showed just how many different people and steps are involved in forecasting. Sheesh! There's a lot."

"I didn't realize the degree to which the data is manipulated before it can be put into equations."

[Forecasting is so difficult because]: "there are so many variables to contend with. It becomes very difficult to try to incorporate everything into a single model"; "not enough weather stations in some areas — don't know what's occurring [over] oceans for example..."

"This kind of 'spark' really helps when we are all tiring and feeling weighed down from the anticipation of final exams."

One of the few consistent complaints about the play format was that not enough was learned about each step of the forecasting process — which is ironic since the course textbook (Ahrens 1994) omits several of the steps play-acted in the Forecast Factory! The complaints seem to indicate that the play generated interest that would not have been tapped by a traditional lecture.

 

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