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

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   My NASA Langley Summer Experience    Wow, what an experience! This summer, I was selected among a few talented educators to serve as an intern for the Science Directorate at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Upon entering Langley, I was consumed with excitement and apprehension of what would be expected of me as an intern. The feelings of uncertainty were subsided as I conversed with my NASA mentor, Tina Hart, regarding what I aspired to learn and experience. As a science educator and GLOBE teacher, I felt compelled to learn more about GLOBE ...


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What an amazing GLE! Thanks to all of the GLOBE folks for their hard work in organizing and planning this event, it was an extraordinary week of learning, science, and sharing for everyone involved. The opening ceremony at Killarney House set a high bar for best exhibit venue and it was great to see so many people fired up for the week ahead.    For the next several day's I was out in the field with equipment at two field sites to collect water quality data on the Owengarrif River. Sampling took place at the Upper Torc above the falls and the Lower Torc at the ...


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Wow....what an experience the 2018 GLOBE Learning Expedition (GLE) in Killarney was!  GLOBE meetings are always intense and GLEs are even more so.  Such was the case at my first GLE in India in 2014 and 2018 in Ireland proved no exception.  However, this particular GLE was very special to me on many levels.  This was the second GLE that I attended and marked over 5 years in my time as director of the GLOBE Office at UCAR.  However, and more important, the location was my home town, and the Killarney National Park that was the backdrop for the GLE and that we used ...


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Since 2011, Public Lab community  members around the world  have been building and using modified consumer cameras to take multispectral photographs, enabling thousands of people around the world to explore the world around them using vegetation analysis tools such as  #NDVI . As illustrated above, comparing infrared and visible light can offer clues to plant health, and DIY cameras like Public Lab's can make this kind of analysis possible on a very small budget. (this post was cross-posted on the Public Lab blog ) You can see just a few of these on  ...


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I've been working with a fantastic group from New Hampshire to provide professional development for educators for years. This year, we've spent a considerable amount of time on the pedosphere, from wetland soils to forest and grassland soils. We've talked about why trees go where they do and all the critters, both macro and micro, that spend time in soil. I've listed some of my favorite resources below but please add your own and let's grow the list: NRCS posters, guides, lesson plans and games Training materials from NRCS Traveling Soil Tent: ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: WORKSHOPS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   News Topics: TRAINING   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS


As you may know, the NASA Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will launch on September 15, 2018 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, USA. The ICESat-2 satellite will use an on-board laser altimeter system to measure the height of Earth. Measurements of ice sheets, sea ice, bodies of water, mountains are all part of what ICESat-2 will measure. For our collaboration with The GLOBE Program, we want to focus on one exciting variable that the ICESat-2 satellite will measure, TREE HEIGHT! GLOBE has several ways to measure tree height. You can find them ...


Posted in: GLOBE Working Groups: TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP EVALUATION WORKING GROUP SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: BIOSPHERE   Learning Activities: ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE   News Topics: IOPS   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


The South Dakota Discovery Center is issuing a call for water transparency data from lakes, streams, rivers, ponds in South Dakota using a turbidity (or transparency) tube,  often referred to as a t-tube since both transparency and turbidity start with the letter t.   The t-tube is a simple instrument. It is a tall, transparent tube of at least 120 centimeters that is marked off in centimeters on the side. On the bottom is a quadrant pattern of alternating black and white sections. You can measure the clarity of the water by measuring the depth of the water in the ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Investigation Areas: WATER TRANSPARENCY   Primary Audience: TEACHERS


The GLOBE Observer app (available for iPhones and Android devices) is a new, step-by-step way to submit cloud observations to NASA. Use your GLOBE sign-in information to sync your observations with your GLOBE data entry.  Here are some simple tips and tricks on how to better identify clouds while using the app. Your latitude, longitude, and time of day with be filled in automatically by the app!   1. What does your sky look like? Is your sky completely clear with no contrails? Are there clouds or is the sky obscured that it makes it difficult to make any ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE   Investigation Areas: CLOUDS   Learning Activities: OBSERVING, DESCRIBING, AND IDENTIFYING CLOUDS OBSERVING VISIBILITY AND SKY COLOR ESTIMATING CLOUD COVER   Teacher's Guide: UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5 SECONDARY: 9-12 MIDDLE: 6-8 LOWER PRIMARY: K-2


Every year, I offer a field based professional learning opportunity (PLO) for educators. This year's PLO was Exploring Badlands National Park through Science and Storytelling  held June 18-21 in South Dakota. Nine educators spent one day in class and three days and two nights in Badlands National Park doing hydrology field studies using GLOBE protocols (water temperature, water clarity, conductivity and pH) in addition to other opportunities. As part of my own professional learning, I set myself a challenge of trying to tell the story of the field studies in ways other than ...


Posted in: Event Topics: WORKSHOPS   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Teacher's Guide: PROTOCOL INSTRUCTIONS


Hi, every one, you remember that fall where Tony got rescued long ago in his youth? Well we were there and the place is so beautiful and inviting. No wonder the lad had to take a risk and climb it without ropes. It was nice place and the student field task there was exciting. But please take note if you are going to be at the Lower Toc, getting wet is very normal, and not shorts for your sake. Francis


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I'm at the GLE now - working with lots of folks!


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On June 4-7, 2018, I participated in the Annual Country Representative meeting and Strategic Planning for Sustainability and Participation workshop in Lome, Togo. The meeting was followed by Teacher training in the GLOBE Observer Apps and a Mosquito/Zika training workshop.  The Training was rewarding and the need for Liberia to begin immediate action is now.  The Liberia office will be conducting 6 GLOBE Observers Apps and Mosquito/Zika Virus training Workshop soon.  Participants will be selected from Public Health Workers, Scientists, teachers and Community Leaders ...


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Did you know that NASA is closely using satellites to monitor trees around the world. There is so much trees can tell us, from Earth's biomass to area of mass tree blight to where our forests are healthy and flourishing. NASA researchers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland have teamed up to use current Landsat satellite data to study the changes in Northern forest extent. By looking at forest patterns and sparse and open canopy forests, what is happening to the trees can help us monitor change on a warming planet. On September 12, 2018, NASA ...


Posted in: Investigation Areas: BIOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Hello, Welcome the Blog tutorial! The Blog Tutorial is available, along with several other new GLOBE Website Tutorials, in the FAQs https://www.globe.gov/support/faqs/globe-website-tutorials The creation of this blog post was actually part of the tutorial. I've since updated it to include links back to the FAQs. Mountain We hope to see you blogging about your GLOBE activities and sharing your stories with the GLOBE community. If you have any questions, be sure to contact the GLOBE Help Desk. Phone: 1-800-858-9947 Email: help@globe.gov


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I am hearing more and more conversations center around "bundling," particularly when it comes to NGSS ( Next Generation Science Standards ). Sometimes, in my GLOBE world, it is a conversation around bundling the protocols together. I know that some teachers already do this when they take students outside for field investigations. In my email clean-out, I found this little gem that I thought I'd share. In 2012, the GLOBE Annual Meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota included two investigation questions for fieldwork. To answer the questions, the participants used several protocols to collect ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY STEM   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS


In an earlier blog, I referred to Elaine Reese, a child psychologist who measured emerging narrative identities of 40 month old children. The validity of her study is corroborated by other researchers and I am satisfied. I therefore direct my task to compiling best practices of ERE and to suggest settings that can lead to ERE events with GLOBE content. My hope is that parents will imagine the applicability of one or more of these settings, make them happen, and share their success stories for other parents to emulate. This blog shall serve to chronicle community action in ...


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Before the L.A. GLOBE Conference in 2015, I sent a request to Gwynne Shotwell for a mini-learning expedition to the Space X HQ in Hawthorne. The HQ could only take a small group and it included the GLOBE Africa Coordinator, a GLOBE Japan Partner and Trainer, a GLOBE Japan teacher, GLOBE students from San Diego and their parents.  Since then GLOBE training in Okinawa focused on Integrated One Day Atmospheric Measurements and the Cloud Cover Protocol, using the app GLOBE Observer. Trainees are introduced to the satellites that measure clouds from above and that we ...


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Are you taking GLOBE water quality measurements as part of the ENSO Student Research Campaign? If so, please consider joining the new GLOBE Water Quality Collaboration Group (GWQCG) . Led by Bob Connick, GLOBE schools from across the world are taking water quality measurements that help explore one of the ENSO Campaign's Guiding Investigative Questions, "What is the quality of water in our environment?" By learning all about the water quality measurements in a local setting, one can learn just how these local measurements helps us understand the global picture of water ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS TRAINERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS COUNTRY COORDINATORS ALUMNI


I've been digging through my Inbox, trying to clear out some of the large files from the past. I'm at a critical point as these files are triggering invitations to buy more space for storage. Rather than doing that, I'm deleting instead! But during this process, I've come across some resources and discussions that I always seem to forget exist already on the GLOBE website. I thought that perhaps I'd write a couple blog posts and point out some of these for anyone following my blog. This first one is a training agenda from 2003! A group of us were invited to Washington, D.C. to work ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   GLOBE Science Topics: GENERAL SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS SCIENTIST SKILLS   Investigation Areas: BIOMETRY (INCLUDING TREE HEIGHT) BIOSPHERE LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION


We had a fabulous webinar this afternoon in which students in both North America and South America shared their work on using GLOBE protocols to learn more about water in their environment. Meriam Kalloe, the GLOBE Assistant Country Coordinator for Suriname, brought together many students from Anton Resida Middle School who shared information on their use of several GLOBE hydrology protocols to study the quality of water in three locations near their school. They plan to continue to monitor the quality of the water in those three sites. Then Jeff Bouwman's middle school students ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO SMAP GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE @ES CLIMATE CHANGE DATA INCLUDED BACKYARD SCIENCE MEETINGS/CONFERENCES 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 SCRC RESEARCH   Primary Audience: PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS