Dear Community!
Greetings from ERAD 2026 in Belgrade. Today afternoon is my talk on
An Interactive Radar Meteorology Lab for Active Learning
From Real Radar Data to Real-Time Processing and Interpretation
The whole talk is about the question “How do we want to teach radar meteorology in the future?”.
Nowadays most students are digital natives. They grew up using all new technologies which the older ones like me did not have when we where in school, college or university. Throwing books and lecture scripts at them to process the contents and imprint the theory in their brains might not work out any more. And, we all have already experienced situations that this is more and more an issue.
To unlock the mysteries of Radar Meteorology we have to adapt and provide them with learning material which they actually can digest.
The rough idea I have in mind, and I really like to get your feedback on that, is as follows:
- Radar Lab - Tool to explore weather radar products
- Radar Lecture - Theoretical background on radar, microphysics and retrieval algorithms
- Radar Processor - Real time data processing chain
The above shall be integrated into a framework for interactive learning. It shall enable the students to roam around the weather radar products (like moments, QPE, QVP, HMC etc. etc.) on their own. This is envisioned as a web dashboard of products. Cross-linking shall give them information about the used algorithms and the assumptions and simplifications involved as well as the theoretical background (the boring stuff).
During exploring the dashboard students can change algorithm parameters and immediately see the changes and differences in the final product. While doing this the students are given explanations on the theory which back those algorithms.
Students can work on curated case study data and get deep insights into the specifics of different types of weather in general. They can be given tasks what they should explore and which specific details they should look at.
My idea is that such an interactive framework will spark curiosity and help the students to immerse themselves into radar meteorology. Learning that way will be fun, not boring. We could even introduce some gamification into such system. Lessons could be introduced, where students have to answer questions like:
- What’s the melting layer height?
- What hydrometeor type is most common in that event?
- What’s the rainrate at a specific time and place?
Teaching was a challenge before, it will be a challenge in the future. But we might have to pick the students up in a different way in the future.
I really want to go into discussion on that topic. How do you teach nowadays? What strategies are you using to provide the students with material on the theoretical background of radar meteorology? How do you enable the students to dive into the topic on their own?
How do you teach and test the students in the time of AI and the availability of instant information?
OK, this is already a long elaboration, so I’ll stop. Please share your thoughts on that! Thanks!
Kai