Let's involve school kids in data collection efforts

School teachers are extremely receptive to new ideas that provide a 'hands-on' learning experience for kids. Climate data, so vital to our everyday lives, is a natural for the science classroom environment. Kids are fascinated by the relationships of everchanging weather to the historical normals and extremes. The teachers like to use the current data collected in practical applications of local interest and as real-life projects to apply to computer training. In Alaska, schools throughout the state are collecting daily precipitation, snow depth, snow water content, and temperature data for the entire schoolyear for their own uses and submitting these data to the Soil Conservation Service for publication and entry into the Central Forecast System data base. The kids, with a little supervision, don't take a back seat to anybody when it comes to collecting consistent accurate data. Alaska's 'Schoolyards' climate data collection program has application to any rural school in the nation.