Given the continued need to educate the public on both themeteorological and engineering hazards
posed by the severe winds of a tornado, an interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
module designed by the faculty from the Oceanography and Mechanical Engineering Departments at the United States
Naval Academy (USNA) was developed to engage students ages 12 to 16 in the fields of meteorology and engineering.
Interdisciplinary educational modules such as this one are becoming increasingly common components of academic
outreach programs, but to our knowledge, this is one of the first to combine the fields of meteorology and engineering.
While many studies have examined changes in student engagement and interest in the STEM fields as a result of
participating in interdisciplinary activities such as this one, relatively fewer have focused on quantifying changes
in student content knowledge. The primary purposes of this paper are to (1) describe our interdisciplinary STEM
module in detail and (2) report immediate changes in students' knowledge on basic meteorological and engineering
content as a result of their participation in the module.