Stars and STEM Stories
Jones Valley Elementary School
Jones Valley Elementary, Huntsville, AL
Williams Elementary School, Huntsville, AL
In Huntsville, Alabama, second and fifth graders are learning about how sophisticated satellite imagery and hands-on GLOBE measurements work together to provide a better understanding of local and global environmental features. On Earth Day 1999, students from Jones Valley Elementary and Williams Elementary School joined researchers from the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) for a day of learning and fun.
Under the leadership of GLOBE in Alabama Coordinator Greg Cox, scientists at the GHCC have been mentoring the Jones Valley Elementary students in the basics of Earth science. The students have learned how to use a handheld "heat spy," an infrared viewer that shows temperatures of objects, and GPS satellite receivers that locate your position by satellite timing signals. The GLOBE students have used these lessons to match their GLOBE temperature readings with visible light and thermal images of Huntsville taken by a NASA jet carrying the ATLAS sensor.
On Earth Day, second graders from Jones Valley Elementary shared their new knowledge with a fifth-grade classroom from Williams Elementary School. The students launched a balloon to suspend an infrared camera and a still camera, providing an idea of how the familiar looks completely different when viewed from above. Read more about the day's events by visiting the GHCC website at: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd21apr99_2.htm