Teaching a Course on Meteorological Instruments.

A meteorological instruments course that provided undergraduate geography students the opportunity to use and/or observe meteorological equipment while also preparing for possible internships with the National Weather Service is evaluated and suggestions for improving it in the future are offered. The paper first provides a general course evaluation. More than three-quarters of the total class time was devoted to using and discussing instruments that make surface measurements. The bulk of the paper, therefore, evaluates instruction regarding radiometers, temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind direction and speed, atmometry, hygrometry, nephometry, and hyetometry. The next time the course is taught, emphasis will be placed on the following three areas. First, the greatest amount of time will be devoted to surface instruments, especially those devices for measuring temperature, pressure, humidity, and precipitation. Second, the addition of a laboratory session will provide more time for the hands-on experience that students want. The final area of improvement involves more effort to combine the theoretical with the practical during lectures. (RM)