Teachers

Vicky Gorman

03 March 2014 - The American Meteorological Society (AMS) recently honored GLOBE teacher Vicky Gorman, science teacher at Medford Memorial Middle School in Medford, New Jersey, as the Distinguished K12 Educator of 2013.

The story begins in October 2012, when two students approached Ms. Gorman, then untrained in GLOBE, to ask if she would be their faculty mentor to enter a science competition with a very motivating prize of $5000. The three sat down to brainstorm project ideas for the competition. Gorman encouraged the two young women to think BIG. After several meetings, they decided on a Citizen Science Education Program, or as the students dubbed it, CSEP.

At that stage, their plan involved four facets:

• Creating a website containing historical, geographical, geological, hydrological, and meteorological information, site specific to their region;
• Working with their upgraded WeatherBug Station and the Medford Office of Emergency Management to disseminate timely meteorological information to the community;
• Developing a series of lectures and presentations by the students for the community for the purpose of improving citizen scientific literacy; and
• Arranging for experts in the science field to visit the community and speak to both students and community members.

But something was missing. It was the hands-on science aspect; something that would help to create junior scientists; something that would be Science, Technology, Education and Math (STEM) focused. And Ms. Gorman really wasn't sure how they would be able to do it.

Serendipitously, at this time Ms. Gorman attended Philly WeatherFest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she met GLOBE Partner and Master Trainer John Moore.  Moore introduced Gorman to GLOBE and to DataStreme, a K12 teacher enhancement initiative of American Meteorological Society (AMS) focused on training Weather Education Resource for Teachers. She enrolled in Mr. Moore's AMS DataStreme course, was trained in the GLOBE Cloud Protocol and became GLOBE certified. Before long, GLOBE, with its empowerment of students as serious scientists and its hands-on approach to science, seemed to be the missing piece. GLOBE was added as a fifth facet to their Citizen Science Education Program.

The well-conceived proposal of Ms. Gorman's students won the competition in March 2013. They used the prize money to upgrade their school's weather station with the latest in lightning sensor technology and to purchase associated weather and climate educational software. The Citizen Science Education Program was introduced to the school in 2014, with 44 founding members; all 7th and 8th grade students. The students chose the motto "Students Making a Difference… Improving Scientific Literacy Around the Globe."

----

The GLOBE Program is closely allied to the American Meteorological Society (AMS), in particular to its Education Program, and participates in the AMS Annual Meetings and Education Symposium. The AMS Education Program promotes the teaching of atmospheric, oceanographic, and hydrologic sciences through K12 teacher training and instructional resource material development. More than 100,000 teachers have received AMS training and instructional resources, benefitting millions of students. This year's Distinguished Educator Award to Vicky Gorman is a tribute to an individual who is dedicated to creating meaningful science instruction with real-world applications for young students. Her award becomes even more thrilling once you know how she arrived to her current profession. "Teaching public school is my third career!" writes Ms. Gorman. "My first was as a Field Artillery Officer in the U.S. Army. My second was as a riding instructor (US nationally certified Dressage instructor). In fact, we still own the horse farm, and I still teach riding, though my schedule is scaled back considerably because of teaching school."

GLOBE provides a unique and multi-faceted learning experience and GLOBE thrives on the dedicated efforts of multi-talented individuals like Vicky Gorman. She notes three aspects unique to GLOBE, "One … is that students collect data that is actually used by scientists and other students, and not just written in a science journal to be thrown away at the end of the year; two is the possibility of connections with schools and students from around the world; and three is the possibility to create projects tailored to our community, while still using GLOBE protocols."

Our congratulations to Ms. Gorman for her outstanding achievement as AMS Distinguished K12 Educator of 2013 and to the many enthusiastic students who keep her engaged.