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.
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Discover the Wonders of the World’s Forests!
Greetings, middle and high school educators! Are you ready to bring
the wonders of forests into your classroom? Dive into this blog series
that bridges the resources of Natural Inquirer and the GLOBE Program,
designed to inspire curiosity, scientific exploration, and
environmental stewardship among your students.
GLOBE and Natural Inquirer Crosswalk
This series is part of the
GLOBE
and Natural Inquirer Crosswalk Project , which connects the
hands-on science of the GLOBE Program with the captivating research
found ...
Read More »
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
PRECIPITATION
AIR TEMPERATURE
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
BIOMETRY (INCLUDING TREE HEIGHT)
LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION
CARBON CYCLE
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Audience
Middle school and high school
Time
Approximately 2 class periods: one for reading the Natural Inquirer
inquiry and reviewing images and charts, and one for using the GLOBE resources.
Day 1 : Dive into The World’s Forests 2 inquiry, exploring
images and data.
Day 2 : Apply your learning with GLOBE resources for hands-on discovery.
Materials
The
World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 1
Earth
System Poster learning activities (pdf)
Analyzing
Global Patterns with the Earth System Satellite Images (see ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
PRECIPITATION
BIOMETRY (INCLUDING TREE HEIGHT)
LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Audience
Middle school and high school
Time
Approximately 2 class periods:
Day 1 : Dive into the fascinating world of biodiversity
through reading, exploring images, and analyzing charts.
Day 2 : Apply what you've learned by engaging with GLOBE
resources and interactive tools.
Materials
The
World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 2
Earth
System Poster learning activities (pdf)
Analyzing
Global Patterns with the Earth System Satellite Images (see
text for instructions)
Optional: GLOBE Protocols ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
BIOMETRY (INCLUDING TREE HEIGHT)
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Exploring the Benefits of Forests: A Dynamic Learning Experience for Middle and High School Students
Audience
Middle school and high school
Time
Approximately 2 class periods:
Day 1 : Dive into readings and analyze charts and images from
The World’s Forests 2.
Day 2 : Use GLOBE resources to bring learning to life through
hands-on exploration.
Materials
The
World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 3
Earth
System Poster learning activities (pdf)
Analyzing
Global Patterns with the Earth System Satellite Images (see
text for instructions)
Optional: GLOBE Protocols
Surface ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Audience
Middle school and high school
Time
Approximately 2 class periods:
Day 1 : Explore the role of forests in the carbon cycle
through reading and analyzing charts and images.
Day 2 : Engage with GLOBE resources and interactive learning
tools for hands-on discovery.
Materials
The
World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 4
Carbon
Travels Game (pdf)
Optional: GLOBE Carbon
Cycle protocols
Optional: My NASA Data pacing guide Trees
and the Carbon Cycle (pdf)
What do the world’s forests have to ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
CARBON CYCLE
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Audience
Middle school and high school
Time
Approximately 2 class periods:
Day 1 : Analyze the Natural Inquirer inquiry, focusing on
charts and text.
Day 2 : Use GLOBE tools to explore real-world data and trends.
Materials
The
World’s Forests 2 (pdf), Inquiry 5
Data
Visualization System
Advanced
Data Access Tool
Steps
in the Scientific Process
How well are we managing our forests worldwide?
Forest managers take many factors into consideration when making
decisions. In recent ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
MIDDLE: 6-8
SECONDARY: 9-12
Background
I received my formal training on GLOBE Atmosphere protocols, particularly cloud observation, in the summer of 2011. In 2016, the GLOBE Program launched the GLOBE Observer (GO) app, designed for volunteer science. The GO app is more user-friendly and focuses on specific observations anyone with a smartphone can make.
The GLOBE Program is structured and education-focused, targeting students and educators, while the GO app is intuitive and accessible to the general public. Both contribute valuable data to the scientific community and enhance public understanding of ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
STEM
GLOBE Mission Earth News:
TEACHER STORIES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
STUDENT RESEARCH & ACTIVITIES
GENERAL ACTIVITIES
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
OBSERVING, DESCRIBING, AND IDENTIFYING CLOUDS
ESTIMATING CLOUD COVER
OBSERVING VISIBILITY AND SKY COLOR
CLOUD WATCH
LEARNING TO USE VISUALIZATIONS
CLOUD FUN
CLOUDSCAPE
TO SPREAD OR NOT TO SPREAD
WE'RE ALL CONNECTED: EARTH SYSTEM INTERACTIONS
RESEARCH: INQUIRE & DISCOVER
DATA COLLECTION: OBSERVE & MEASURE
DATA EXPLORATION: ANALYZE & CHART
SIMULATIONS: PLAY & LEARN
OUTDOOR: EXPLORE & CONNECT
News Topics:
TRAINING
NEWS BRIEFS
TEACHER STORIES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GENERAL ACTIVITIES
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Teacher's Guide:
GRADE LEVELS
MISCELLANEOUS
PROTOCOL INSTRUCTIONS
INTRODUCTION
ATMOSPHERE
SUPPORTING CLOUDS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
The GLOBE Clouds team is delighted to announce this new section that showcases sky and cloud photographs from around the world! We’ve also been receiving some amazing questions from students.
The featured question was asked by students from Corpus Christi Catholic School :
Question: Why can we see clouds but not evaporation?
Answer: Water vapor is invisible. However, the water in clouds is in liquid or solid state, not gas.
Do you have a favorite cloud photo or a question for the team? Use the linked form to cast your vote and ask us any question ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
GENERAL SCIENCE
GENERAL SCIENCE @ES
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
News Topics:
NEWS BRIEFS
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Waleska works with in-service teachers in the teacher training programs of the Galileo University and the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. She is the founder and coordinator of the STEAM program
Question: Where are you from?
Answer: I was born in the city of the eternal Spring, Guatemala City, in Central America, several eclipses, comets, and moons ago.
Question: What inspired you to work in this field?
Answer: Since I was little I had a fascination with natural phenomena, the reason why stars shine led me to be a Physicist, and fireflies and ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
GENERAL SCIENCE @ES
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Brad Hegyi is a research scientist for the NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) project team at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, USA. Brad develops metrics and statistics for POWER from model estimates of future climate to help support planning for future energy use by heating and cooling systems in buildings. Brad also helps create interactive data products to better visualize changes occurring in the climate data.
The energy that comes from the Sun is the basic source of energy for everything on Earth. Solar energy drives Earth’s weather and ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
TECHNOLOGY
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
The Sun drives many processes in Earth’s atmosphere. As the Sun rises and sets, it warms the Earth’s surface at different intensities. These changes in heat lead to changes in the clouds, especially the types of clouds. To study these changes, we need observations at different times over the course of hours, days, weeks, months, and years from around the globe. It can be tricky to capture the extent of these interactions with satellites alone, which is why we need observations from your perspective on the ground as part of the GLOBE Eclipse Challenge: Clouds and Our ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Energy from the Sun warms our planet, and changes in sunlight can also cause changes in temperature, clouds, and wind. Clouds are ever changing and give you clues and information on what is happening in the atmosphere. Eclipses provide a natural experiment, in which the Sun’s light is blocked from Earth for a brief period in time, allowing us to observe the effects of that sudden change. Read the newly released blog post explaining in depth cloud formation and which ones would be impacted by the upcoming total solar eclipse over North America and how the data will be used. ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
A new resource is now available created by GLOBE educator Mr. Roger Rose ( @rrose ) as part of his NASA internship in 2023 titled, GLOBE Atmosphere Clouds and NGSS . This document compares portions of the clouds protocol to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for elementary and middle school with tips and resources to use in the classroom.
The document is available on the resources section of the NASA GLOBE Clouds page.
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
Primary Audience:
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
The urban heat island intensive observation period (IOP) this October yielded about 25% more observations than last year. I only look at surface temperature observations since that is the protocol that I developed (with help from others) and there are many other air temperature and cloud observations in the GLOBE database that are not part of the urban heat island IOP. This October there were a total of 2353 surface temperature observations made by 115 schools. This underscores the commitment of participating schools in contributing valuable insights into surface temperature variations. ...
Posted in:
Field Campaigns:
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
The NASA GLOBE Clouds Quarterly Update is available for December, January, February 2023-2024!
Coming Soon: Cloud Challenge 2024
The team is excited to announce that in 2024 we will have a Cloud Challenge focused on how clouds change throughout the day.
First Long-Duration Lidar Satellite Mission CALIPSO Ends
CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations), a lidar satellite that advanced the world’s understanding of climate, weather, and air quality, ended its scientific mission on August 1, 2023 after 17 years of operation.
Meet an ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
CLOUDS
News Topics:
NEWS BRIEFS
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
The September/October/November 2023 NASA GLOBE Clouds Quarterly Update is now available! Find out how to sign up for NASA GLOBE Clouds communications in Spanish. Join our GLOBE Observer Connect series on October 5 at 8pm ET to learn about changes in the atmosphere and animal behaviors during an eclipse. Learn how to create a family emergency plan in case of extreme weather. Check out our “GLOBE Clouds by the numbers” section to see how many observations were made in the last quarter. Meet our expert, GLOBE Clouds Outreach Coordinator Rosalba Giarratano. Finally, learn about extreme heat ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
Join summer campers from over 30 camps across the United States as they collect air temperature, soil temperature, surface temperature, and water temperature study over the next two months. Campers will explore relationships between each of the GLOBE temperature protocols as they monitor differences across various microclimates found within their camp and community. Each camp will have the opportunity to explore data being collected by other GLOBE Camps and members of the GLOBE community (that's you!), expanding their understanding of data ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
AIR TEMPERATURE
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
WATER TEMPERATURE
SOIL TEMPERATURE
Hello, we are Emily and Lily! We are currently pursuing careers in elementary education at the State University of New York at Fredonia. We are so excited to become educators, and we find that students learn best through inquiry and making discoveries. We chose the Investi-gator (Northern Research Station) issue because we think that the topics like leaf color changing, impacts of the ozone layers on trees, and soil activity in the winter are all very relevant topics to where we live and hope to teach in western New York. We are both very passionate about our environment and think ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Science Topics:
CLIMATE
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5
One of the things that I find the most inspiring about The GLOBE Program , is the rich collaboration that it enables us to have with each other. Speaking for myself, I now have friends literally all around the globe, because of my engagement and interaction with GLOBE. I thought I would take a little time to write about a very inspiring intergenerational collaboration that I have found particularly enriching.
During the virtual GLOBE Annual Meeting in 2021, I was asked by a participant if we could meet up in a virtual room and chat. I was astonished to meet the extremely vibrant ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
EDUCATION RESEARCH
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
STEM
Field Campaigns:
GPM
GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN):
GLOBE INTERNATIONAL STEM NETWORK (GISN)
GLOBE Science Topics:
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
GENERAL SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
MEETINGS/CONFERENCES
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
HYDROSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROLOGY
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
SOIL
Primary Audience:
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
TRAINERS
Hi everyone! Our names are Grace, Olivia, and Logan! We are future elementary school educators looking to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to support our students and be the best educators we can be. When we were tasked with looking at Natural Inquirer and GLOBE resources, we found much information on climate change and how it affects our planet. We wanted to choose a topic that we thought could relate to our lives; climate change continues to be one of the largest issues we face today. As we will be teaching for a long time to come, it is essential we understand this topic in ...
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