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Teaching with Kentucky Data: How AdvanceKentucky is Bringing CAPTIVATE KY into Classrooms
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
For many students, weather data only exists in charts and graphs found in a textbook. Through CAPTIVATE KY, AdvanceKentucky is bringing that data to life with hands-on learning experiences that connect students with real Kentucky climate data.
Those learning experiences are rooted in challenges communities across Kentucky are facing every day. From flooding in Eastern Kentucky to stronger storms, hail and tornadoes throughout the commonwealth, severe weather events continue to affect communities across the state. Preparing for those events requires reliable information and a better understanding of the environmental factors shaping them.
To help Kentucky better understand and prepare for these challenges, CAPTIVATE KY is working to strengthen the commonwealth's ability to collect, share and apply climate and environmental data. Funded through the National Science Foundation's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) E-CORE program, the project is led by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF), an initiative of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC), in collaboration with Kentucky State University and AdvanceKentucky, a fellow KSTC initiative.
As part of that effort, KSEF developed a climate data repository that brings together environmental information from sources including Kentucky Mesonet and the CLIMBS project, a fellow NSF-funded initiative. While much of CAPTIVATE KY focuses on strengthening Kentucky's climate data infrastructure, AdvanceKentucky's role centers on helping students engage with that information in meaningful ways.
Working with Kentucky educators, AdvanceKentucky transformed curated data into classroom lessons that help students explore real-world weather and climate data through mathematics, science and data literacy.
When students can work with information that impacts their own homes and communities, learning becomes about more than completing an assignment. They're able to see how their ideas can contribute to real-world changes. - Dr. Sheri McGuffin, AdvanceKentucky Manager of Innovation and Development
From Data to the Classroom
Those lessons were shaped with the help of Kentucky educators who played a key role in connecting CAPTIVATE KY data to meaningful classroom learning experiences.
Among those educators were Michelle Gross, Kentucky's 2026 Teacher of the Year and a seventh-grade mathematics teacher at Spencer County Middle School, and Joanna Trautman, a biology and engineering teacher at Southwestern High School.
For Gross, becoming involved in CAPTIVATE KY was an easy decision.
This is the exact type of work I like doing: working with real data to engage students across Kentucky in meaningful mathematics. - Michelle Gross, Kentucky 2026 Teacher of the Year & AdvanceKentucky Participant
As part of the curriculum development process, AdvanceKentucky staff and participating educators visited Kentucky Mesonet, one of CAPTIVATE KY's key partners and a major contributor of weather and climate data. The visit gave teachers an opportunity to better understand the scope of the information available and explore how students could interact with that data in meaningful ways.
When we were there, I said, 'There's millions of data points here.' The director told me billions. - Joanna Trautman, Biology and Engineering Educator & AdvanceKentucky Participant
The experience gave educators a firsthand look at the scale of Kentucky's weather data and the possibilities it creates for classroom learning.
Why Local Data Matters
Rather than relying on sample datasets or weather events happening hundreds of miles away, students can work with information collected from communities across Kentucky.
When students can learn about weather events that happened in their community, or communities like theirs, they're naturally more interested. - Monique Rice, AdvanceKentucky program director of Computer Science Initiatives
Kentucky's weather patterns can vary dramatically from one region to another. Whether students are examining flooding in Eastern Kentucky, an ice storm that affected a nearby community or differences in weather conditions across the state, local data helps them connect classroom concepts to places and events they recognize. That connection makes learning more relevant while helping students better understand the communities and regions they call home.
Using CAPTIVATE KY data, Gross and Trautman worked alongside AdvanceKentucky to develop lessons that introduce students to data analysis, statistics and critical thinking through real-world weather information.
In one lesson, students analyze temperature data from different regions of Kentucky, compare conditions across the state and make evidence-based inferences using actual weather data.
"This not only helps students learn math concepts," Gross said. "It helps them learn how to make informed decisions using data. That's critical thinking."
Building Lessons for Kentucky Classrooms
This spring, AdvanceKentucky hosted a professional learning event where educators experienced the CAPTIVATE KY lessons firsthand.
Teachers participated in activities exactly as students would, exploring Kentucky weather data, discussing classroom applications and collaborating with fellow educators. The session also provided an opportunity for teachers to share ideas for adapting the lessons to different grade levels and subject areas.
The response reinforced what AdvanceKentucky already believed: climate data can become a powerful tool for engaging students when it's connected to their own communities. And the possibilities extend far beyond a single lesson.
"This lesson is really a micro-move," Gross said. "It could be a two-day lesson, or it could grow into something much bigger. A teacher could look at it and say, 'Let's talk to the science teacher and get this going.' It could become the basis for an entire unit or a collaboration between math and science departments."
The flexibility allows educators to adapt the material to their students while creating opportunities for deeper exploration of weather, climate, data science and problem-solving.
As CAPTIVATE KY continues to grow, AdvanceKentucky plans to expand access to these learning opportunities and supporting educators interested in incorporating climate and environmental data into their classrooms.
Preparing the Next Generation of Problem Solvers
For AdvanceKentucky, the goal is not simply to teach students how to interpret data, it's to help them understand how that knowledge can shape their futures.
McGuffin believes the CAPTIVATE KY curriculum can inspire students academically, professionally and personally.
"When students see how what they're learning connects to real careers and real challenges, it can change the way they view school," she said. "Maybe it inspires someone to become a meteorologist. Maybe it introduces a career path they hadn't considered before. Maybe it encourages them to take the next step in their education because they see a purpose behind what they're learning."
She also believes students can become powerful voices within their communities.
Sometimes adults get stuck thinking, 'There's nothing we can do about that.' Students don't think that way. They ask questions, they want to get involved and they want to make a difference. They're the voice of the future. - McGuffin, AdvanceKentucky Manager of Innovation and Development
By bringing real Kentucky data into classrooms, CAPTIVATE KY is helping students see that severe weather isn't just something that happens to their communities. It’s a challenge they can study, better understand and ultimately help address.