NOTICE and WONDER……

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Photo Sheared Mammatus Cloud. Stillwater, Minnesota. October 2019. Copyright Amy Lilienfeld/Circle of Illumination Science Education.

One cannot help but notice and wonder about something like this unusual “sheared mammatus cloud”. But like all clouds it is a phenomenon indicating the incredible things that are going on in our atmosphere.

What secrets do YOU think this cloud is trying to tell us?

But all clouds, in general, are just one element of the highly complex phenomena called “Weather” and “Climate”. Although they operate at vastly different spatial and temporal scales weather and climate are comprised of many of the same elements: air temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind direction and speed, and atmospheric pressure. Each of these elements is constantly changing but also often interacts with some of the other variables in a highly complex system. One of the major goals of Circle of Illumination Science Education is to help unpack some of this complexity while emphasizing the big ideas in a way that all teachers, regardless of prior knowledge, will be able to comprehend.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS: Please see workshop pages for ongoing workshop offerings (which is constantly being expanded) including information about a brand NEW workshop being offered in Spring 2026 for middle-school teachers:

“‘ Tornadoes in February? It’s Michigan!’ The Role of Air Masses on Weather in Michigan and Elsewhere”

In addition Circle of Illumination is pleased to announce its trainings cover other important subjects in earth science such as SOILS!! It will be giving a webinar on April 1st from 4-5 pm ET as part of the Michigan Science Teachers’ Association 2026 Professional Development series entitled:

Place-Based Teaching About Soils with the U.S.D.A./N.R.C.S.’s “Web Soil Survey”

Map Showing the Percent Clay Content on Farmland East of Shepherd, Michigan.

Source: Soil Survey Staff, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Web Soil Survey. Available online at the following link: http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/. Accessed [3/18/2026].

Although historically the properties of soils have been of greatest interest to farmers as land gets converted from agricultural production to residential subdivisions and other uses around the country knowledge about the types of soils that exist in a particular place and their properties are of increasing importance.

In this hands-on workshop participants will learn how to use a very user-friendly, but sophisticated, web-based geographic information system (GIS) called the “Web Soil Survey”. With this tool participants will be able to see the types of soils at specific locations and to obtain detailed information about their characteristics and their suitability for different types of land use ranging from houses with basements to septic tank absorption fields.

CIRCLE of ILLUMINATION SCIENCE EDUCATION, owned and operated by Dr. Amy Lilienfeld, a geographer who has taught earth science for over 20 years at the college-level, is dedicated to promoting excellence in the instruction of weather, climate and other aspects of earth science and geography thru the provision of teaching training and high quality instructional materials. The grade focus is primarily on elementary and middle school grades. Almost all of the training and related products involve the use of data provided by agencies of the Federal government such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.