Stars and STEM Stories
Atmosphere Training in Finland Increases GLOBE Student Involvement
On 11 October 2012, a one day GLOBE training workshop was held in Helsinki, Finland. The workshop, which covered basic GLOBE atmosphere protocols including clouds and contrails, precipitation, water vapor, air temperature, and surface temperature, aimed to build capacity in Finland for the benefit of GLOBE students. Teachers from three primary schools and six secondary schools were trained, resulting in nine newly GLOBE certified teachers from the following schools: Jyväskylän luontokoulu, Mahnalan ympäristökoulu, Lauttasaaren ala-asteen koulu, Lumon lukio, Muonion yhtenäiskoulu, Utajärven yläkoulu, Kotkan lyseon lukio/Ympäristölukio, Lahden Rudolf Steiner-koulu, and Espoo International School. Six new GLOBE trainers were also certified, including Sami Haapanala, Ella-Maria Kyrö, Laura Riuttanen, and Taina Ruuskanen from University of Helsinki, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Physics; Pekka Tikkanen from Viitaniemi school; and Achim Drebs from Finnish Meteorological Institute. In addition, GLOBE Country Coordinator Ms. Liisa Virta became a certified Master Trainer through this event.
The workshop explored topics such as how to best teach students about climate, the measurements involved, and what constitutes a good research question. Teachers learned how GLOBE data can be used to benefit students, scientists and educators all over the world, and how to best convey the importance of this data to their students. They also learned the proper use of various scientific instruments including a basic thermometer, infrared thermometer, soil thermometer, sling psychrometer, and rain gauge. Read a description of these instruments and others on the GLOBE Toolkit page.
According to Ms. Virta, "The number of participants in this training event reflected a very positive response toward GLOBE in Finland. The furthest participant came from the north side of the Arctic Circle, 1000 km away from the capital city. We had a full variety of teachers of all grades represented." This training was the beginning of the first cooperation between GLOBE teachers, meteorologists at the University of Helsinki, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The GLOBE Finland community is delighted to have such high level experts as partners.
The GLOBE atmosphere workshop was funded by the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki and was led by GLOBE U.S. Partner and Master Trainer Dr. Kevin Czajkowski. Dr. Czajkowski has been lead of the University of Toledo GLOBE partnership since 2001. He developed the GLOBE surface temperature protocol so that students can investigate how land use where they live affects the energy budget. Each year he organizes the Surface Temperature Field Campaign.
GLOBE Finland and the GLOBE Program Office would like to extend our thanks to all the participants for a very motivated and inspiring workshop! According to Ms. Virta, "This event truly demonstrated that when there is a common interest and people are working together it is possible to make things happen. We hope that this event was a launch for new era in GLOBE Finland!"
Read more GLOBE Stars from Finland:
Finland Students Observe Oxygen Levels in Lakes Palokkajärvi and Tuomiojärvi
GLOBE Students and Teachers from Seven Countries Attend SciFest 2008 Finland
GLOBE Teacher's Conference in Helsinki
4 December 2012