Stars and STEM Stories
Cobb Middle School, Tallahassee, FL, United States
"I know who I am, but WHERE am I?"
A Florida Education Foundation grant has been awarded to eighth-grade GLOBE teacher Valerie LaHart at Cobb Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, to buy needed equipment for mapping, GPS, longitude/latitude and other GLOBE activities.
Using their new equipment, including meter rulers, 5-meter tapes, compasses and two G.P.S. units, students measured sections of a huge "bowl" area outside their school. Working in teams of three and four, students marked latitude and longitude, compass points, and distance measurements, then drew maps to scale. After this practice, the students mapped out GLOBE study sites.
In fact, some students were so excited by their GPS activities that they took it upon themselves to map out parts of their neighborhood.
Since the GLOBE Program's inception in 1995, Cobb GLOBE students have had a stellar reporting record. Ms. LaHart attributes this to the structure of her school week, in which she sees different classes at different times and works with teams of students, as well as to the appeal of learning through GLOBE activities.
"I teach science using an integrated approach, so GLOBE fits in very well," Ms. LaHart says. "It's an interdisciplinary, multifaceted program, which allows teachers to incorporate all aspects of curriculums and technology into relevant, hands-on and exciting classwork."
"Florida has benchmarks called 'Sunshine State Standards'," she says. "GLOBE has helped me meet such 'stands' as 'the Nature of Matter,' 'Energy,' and 'Processes that Shape the Earth.' These are only some examples. There are also benchmarks in Language Arts and Mathematics that we meet through GLOBE by keeping journals and taking measurements."