Community Blogs

Community Blogs

Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.

Learn how to create a GLOBE community blog post

 


 

Asset Publisher


Blogs List


Too much water can have devastating consequences when it falls too quickly on Earth's surface. On January 9th, the " Water in Our Environment " webinar will spotlight the experiences of our GLOBE community in Asia and the Pacific.  Earlier this week in the Philippines, tropical cyclone Kai-Tak wrecked havoc on this region as it caused extreme flooding and landslides . On December 4th and 5th, tropical cyclone Ockhi was the strongest cyclone to develop in the Arabian Sea since 2015, and it brought intense rainfall to the western part of India. A recent CNN report stated ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)   Field Campaigns: WATERSHEDS EL NIÑO SMAP GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE CLIMATE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   Learning Activities: EARTH AS A SYSTEM ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE LAND COVER/BIOLOGY HYDROLOGY SOIL   News Topics: CALENDAR TRAINING   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS


The GLOBE Clouds team loves coming up with ways to help students and teachers identify clouds. I've been blessed to visit a number of 4th grade full inclusion classrooms and want to share my quick cloud ID and data collection activity outline! Anchor question: Do all clouds look the same, even from space? Goal: Students identify, collect and submit cloud observations by using their own notes and clues for each possible cloud type. Objectives:  Students will, (A) Recognize that clouds are part of the water cycle. (B) Investigate cloud types ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS   Teacher's Guide: UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5 RESOURCES


Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a hearing entitled " Gravity Never Sleeps: Landslide Risk Across the Country "at the Rayburn House Office Building that was intended to inform our lawmakers and government officials about the impacts of landslides in many parts of the United States. As the topic is related to our guiding investigative question for the ENSO Student Research Campaign - " What impacts does water, above and below ground, have on our environment? ", I thought I would share some of the things that I learned. Jonathan Godt, the Landslide Hazard Programs Coordinator ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE CLIMATE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   Learning Activities: EARTH AS A SYSTEM ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE LAND COVER/BIOLOGY HYDROLOGY SOIL   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR REGIONS TRAINING   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


Currently, Science education has transitioned away from textbooks to more hands on learning. This is an amazing opportunity for teachers to move away from the normal lecturing and explaining in class to reshaping the process of learning. I think that the GLOBE Program is a fantastic organization and empowered program that promises to give an essential change in education.  One example is teaching and learning from directs activities in the field. An excellent activity is to share data from school to school through collaboration.  Students can share what  they are ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Event Topics: OTHER SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Over the past few years I have been asked how to run a successful international collaboration from school to school. After much thought and reflection I have decided to blog about my experiences and the knowledge I have gained. As an experienced teacher who has had success with multiple International Collaborations, I would advise you and your GLOBE students to start by getting involved in an existing GLOBE campaign online, rather than trying to start a project of your own. This is a great way to get your feet wet before you dive in. Participating in other campaign projects is ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Event Topics: GLOBE LEARNING EXPEDITIONS SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: SMAP GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP EVALUATION WORKING GROUP SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Many of us are so used to having clean freshwater that is easily accessible that we don't often stop to marvel at the fact that we are incredibly fortunate. The majority of our freshwater comes from our water cycle, and precipitation is unevenly distributed across the globe. You can learn more about the importance of clean freshwater resources in this "one-pager" entitled " Precious Freshness ".   During our ENSO Phase III Webinar #3, we will be focusing on water quality in Europe and Eurasia. We will host this webinar at 18:30 UCT, and hope we will have many of you from ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS STEM   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: WATERSHEDS EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE HYDROLOGY   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR SCRC RESEARCH   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


The journal Scientific American just published a blog about GLOBE. The post, titled " The GLOBE Program: Making the Case for K–12 Citizen Scientists " discusses several aspects of GLOBE, including our contributions and campaigns. As well, it helps explain our mission of providing the resources for students across the world to become citizen scientists. "Contributing to global datasets not only gives students a chance to collect data that scientists can actually use, but allows them to compare their experiences and findings with other students around the world." To read more ...


Posted in: Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) OTHER   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO SURFACE TEMPERATURE   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS BACKYARD SCIENCE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


It is pretty neat when you can get two for the price of one- as most teachers can attest to with regard to trying to get everything into their curriculum. Did you know that this year, the FIRST LEGO League's challenge is focused on water. And what could be better, as that water is also the theme of this year's ENSO Student Research Campaign !  The LEGO Challenge Project states: "People use water every day, but they don’t think much about how and why they use water. Whether it’s directly (drinking or washing) or indirectly (manufacturing the products they use or producing food ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS COMPETITIONS   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO WATERSHEDS GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Learning Activities: EARTH AS A SYSTEM ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE   News Topics: COMPETITIONS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS


Observations of daily precipitation have been a part of GLOBE from the beginning. At the start, GLOBE’s participation model was that schools would take measurement following all of the original 17 protocols. Atmosphere temperature, precipitation, cloud, and soil moisture measurements were to be collected daily at a site easily accessible to the school. A permanent installation of an instrument shelter containing a max/min thermometer mounted to a post along with a rain gauge was the expected norm with other measurements taken nearby. Daily temperature and precipitation measurements were ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: DOCUMENT TYPES


From the start, the measurement of daily maximum and minimum air temperature within one hour of local solar noon has been a key GLOBE protocol. The low cost approach was to use a U-tube thermometer housed in a wooden instrument shelter facing away from the equator. The U-shaped tube contained mercury with pins on either side of the mercury. As the air temperature warmed the pin on one side would move while the other pin stayed in place; when the air cooled, the pin on the other side would be pushed up. The pins were held in place by magnetized strips behind the thermometer tube so that ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM TECHNOLOGY   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS TRAINERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


One of the things I do as a GLOBE partner is facilitate workshops for educators. When I facilitate a workshop for credit, I always require a short reflection. I use reflection because when teachers, like all of us, stop and think about what they learned the learning is deeper and more relevant. And, candidly, they are more likely to implement GLOBE into their classrooms. To give participants direction in their reflecting, I use the 4 R model of reflection: review, relate, remark, revise. - Review. Participants review and summarize one salient aspect of the workshop . ...


Posted in: Curriculum: ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: WORKSHOPS   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: CLOUDS   Learning Activities: CLOUD WATCH OBSERVING, DESCRIBING, AND IDENTIFYING CLOUDS ESTIMATING CLOUD COVER   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5


 I was selected as a National Geographic  2017 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow  which is a professional development opportunity that provides educators a rich, immersive experience exploring the world to bring back to their teaching and communities. I and two other educators traveled with Lindblad Expeditions around Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland on the ship the National Geographic Explorer, making stops for excursions along the way. I decided to do field work on my Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship because 1) that is what one does on an expedition according ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


These are the results from my surface temperature experiment that I discussed in my previous blog post (same title, part 1). Results and Conclusion : Figure 2: Graph of average surface temperatures of the three surfaces over three days including air temperature data lines. My results show that my hypothesis was half right (remember, it’s ok if your data results do not match your hypothesis!). During the day, asphalt was the hottest, concrete was in the middle, and grass was the coolest. The surface temperatures of all three dropped at night, however, I was ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE DATA INCLUDED GLOBE PROTOCOLS EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE SCIENTIST SKILLS   Investigation Areas: SURFACE TEMPERATURE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR


In case you missed it, last month, was all about the 2017 International Virtual Science Symposium . There were over 140 entries from all 6 GLOBE regions. Students submitted reports about their research on all of the “spheres” (hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, and earth as a system) and they were reviewed by a panel of scientists, teachers, and science enthusiasts to be rewarded with stars and badges. I had the wonderful privilege of being able to read through and review several projects. I was blown away with the thought and hard work that went into these ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE DATA INCLUDED EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: SURFACE TEMPERATURE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR


Just when you think that perhaps the weather systems are settling down- our amazing scientific instruments are able to detect a potential change! I never cease to be amazed at what we are able to learn about Earth's systems- both from the ground and from space!  This article from the New York Times just came across my newsfeed- " It's Like it Never Left: Another El Nino May be on the Way ". In the article, it states that " Among the potential effects are wetter conditions across the southern United States, including Southern California; a drier Midwest; and drought in ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM EDUCATION RESEARCH SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE BACKYARD SCIENCE CLIMATE EARTH AS A SYSTEM SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS


Consider the rain gauge used in GLOBE, CoCoRaHS, and other citizen science programs. Just four pieces plus 2 mounting screws – an inner graduated cylinder, an outer cylinder, a cap/funnel, and a mounting bracket. The area of the outer tube is exactly 10 times the areas of the inner tube and the cap/funnel, so the graduations on the inner cylinder can be spaced ten times further apart. Thus, 0.2 mm of rain fills the inner tube to a depth of 2.0 mm, which one can read. In addition, if heavy rainfall fills the inner cylinder, the rest of the rainfall overflows into the outer cylinder, ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS ALUMNI


Please welcome Guest Blogger Shona Emery , a GLOBE 5th/6th Grade STEAM Teacher from Ellis School in Fremont, New Hampshire. This blog is the fourth in a series of posts by GLOBE teachers sharing classroom experiences to support the student research process. The series is supported by NSF funding for the United States Regional Student Research Symposia . If you are a teacher interested in contributing, please contact Haley Wicklein for more information. Specifically, we would love to hear from teachers who can share challenges and advice around the topic of student data ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS GENERAL SCIENCE   Investigation Areas: DISSOLVED OXYGEN FRESHWATER MACROINVERTEBRATES HYDROSPHERE WATER TEMPERATURE WATER TRANSPARENCY PH   Learning Activities: PRACTICING YOUR PROTOCOLS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS   Teacher's Guide: DATA SHEETS UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5 MIDDLE: 6-8 SITE DEFINITION SHEETS PROTOCOL INSTRUCTIONS FIELD GUIDES


Concerns regarding the impact of global warming on vector-borne diseases have intensified interest in the relationship between atmospheric factors and dengue fever incidence. Global climate change poses the threat of serious social upheaval, population displacement, economic hardships, and environmental degradation. Changes in temperature, rainfall and relative humidity have potential to enhance vector development, reproductive and biting rates, shorten pathogen incubation period and encourage adult longevity. In addition, changes in wind direction, velocity and frequency will have an ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Learning Activities: HYDROLOGY   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS


Please welcome Guest Blogger Jayme Margolin-Sneider , a GLOBE 6-8 grade science teacher and STEM Advisor from Westview Middle School in Longmont, Colorado.   This is the second in a series of posts by GLOBE teachers sharing classroom experiences to support the student research process. The series is supported by NSF funding for the United States Regional Student Research Symposia . If you are a teacher interested in contributing, please contact Haley Wicklein for more information. Thank you to Jayme for sharing this! Last year, I had two different groups of ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: MEETINGS COMPETITIONS SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS GENERAL SCIENCE DATA INCLUDED MEETINGS/CONFERENCES   News Topics: COMPETITIONS MEETINGS REGIONS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS