GLOBE News
GLOBE Mission EARTH and Aerokats & Rover Educaton Network Collaborate for Second Year
GLOBE Mission EARTH, at the University of Toledo (GME-UT) is extending its collaborative endeavors with the Aerokats & Rover Education Network (AREN) project for the second year.
On 02 August, teachers will be trained to use the AquaROVERs (Remotely Operated Vehicles for Education and Research) to collect water quality data from local waters. Andy Henry (Principal Investigator, NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Education Cooperative Agreement Notice) will train the teachers at the University of Toledo location (onsite); and, at the same time, teachers located at other sites in Michigan, Ohio, and New York (virtually).
The teachers will use GLOBE protocols at the sites to collect water quality data near the shore, and will then compare the data collected by the AquaROVER in the middle of streams. (The AquaROVER measures water temperature, pH, salinity and dissolved oxygen. The AquaROVER systems used in the professional development were assembled by James Moon-Dupree, Wayne RESA, with assistance from Kay Rufty and Ted Miles, from Black Swift Technologies.)
This collaborative effort includes the following: Dr. Kevin Czajkowski (UT; Toledo, Ohio, USA); Dr. Amanda Gilbert (Defiance College; Defiance, Ohio, USA); Dr. Mitchell Klett (Northern Michigan University; Marquette, Michigan, USA); David Bydlowski (The Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency/Wayne RESA); Detroit, Michigan, USA); and Dr. Michael Jabot (State University of New York; Fredonia, New York, USA).
GME-UT has received funding from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund to educate local teachers and their students on environmental issues by visiting Earth Heart Farms (EHF), in Oak Harbor, Ohio, to study the relationship of farm runoff and the algal blooms in Lake Erie. (EHF is 80-acres in Ottawa County Ohio, sitting on the headwaters of the Little Portage River. The farm, which has been out of production for over 30 years, has been restored to a native grassland, and part of the farm will be transformed into wetlands.)
The UT team, is working with Vicki Rae Harder-Thorne, the owner of EHF, and Cynthyny “Bo” Lebo from New Education Options (NEO). Harder-Thorne’s family-owned land will provide opportunities for teachers and their students to learn about conservation and stewardship. Lebo is working with teachers and students on project-based learning linked to conservation and Musical LinguisticsTM (ML).
Local teachers from Perkins High School (Sandusky, Ohio) and Immaculate Conception School (Port Clinton, Ohio), along with H2Ohio naturalists for Ohio Department of Natural Resources, will meet on 16-17 August to collect GLOBE data in different locations on the farm. Two other schools, Aerospace and Natural Science Academy of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio) and Mainstreet Intermediate School (Norwalk, Ohio) will be joining the group in the fall. The Ohio Environmental Education Fund (OEEF) grant funds field trips for students to visit the farm in the fall and spring. In the fall, students will collect GLOBE data and study areas of the farm. In the spring of 2023, students will come to the farm to implement their stewardship projects.
Other collaborators include: Green Creek Wildlife Society (GCWS), Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), The Nature Conservatory (TNC), Hablitzel Trust (HT), and University of Akron Research Foundation (UARF).
To learn more about GLOBE Mission EARTH, click here.
To learn more about AREN, click here.
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office