Stars and STEM Stories
Quito, Ecuador Students Study Climate and Trees Using GLOBE Protocols and Observer App
PYP Exhibition projects created by 6th-graders in the Colegio Británico Internacional school (Quito, Ecuador) show the community the inquiry skills students developed about the many topics global warming involves. The students learned about The GLOBE Program and GLOBE Observer App in preparation for their exhibitions.
Yi Hsien Wu Lin, a 6th grade student, says “It is very easy to use the app in our tablets and very easy to measure temperature, and I am very happy I can send data to The GLOBE Program and also NASA. I researched a lot about NASA and the things they do to help us improve knowledge about the environment."
The Colegio Británico Internacional GLOBE Team and students think it is important to communicate to all of their community and the world about the things that they have been connecting through their school experiences with The GLOBE Program. They started by creating a GLOBE Team with high school students that volunteered to be part of this year's campaign, “Trees Within LAC,” which they named "Our Trees at Britanico School." The students started observing the trees on campus, registering data about height, species, phenology and other data. This research process was shared to the community later during the Environmental Week organized by the school, in which Claudia Caro (virtually) shared an overview of the Program with the high school students. At that same event, the GLOBE Team from 8th and 10th grade (Victoria Molina, María Fernanda Contreras, Nikolas Faicán, Sara Terreros and Marina Chávez) showed the step-by-step process to send tree observations in the app, showing some examples of their own observations and explaining their project objectives as part of the Campaign during this year. Other students from primary school supported their work together by adding other protocols to these observations, such as surface temperature and cloud observations -- but more importantly, how they felt involved in these activities and will later support other investigations in the school, locally, and for the rest of the world.
Parents, teachers and friends were amazed by the information gathered, the project exhibitions and the students' expositions. Yi Hsien Wu Lin, explained to the public about NASA and The GLOBE Program. He taught everyone how to use the GLOBE Observer App and send in data. Other students also collected data about surface temperature during the research.
Yi Hsien Wu Lin said, “I love learning about what NASA does, I feel very excited thinking about scientists reading our data. I am proud of my friends and myself because we are really contributing to find solutions to problems of global warming.”
Camila Coronel, a 6th grade student, continues, “Now I understand that trees not only give us free clean air but also help us reduce temperature in the surface of the places we live.”
Gabriela Paredes, the class teacher added, “I find it very interesting that the program allows the students to be an active member of taking care of the planet and keep them involved in a dynamic way with their learning process and what is happening around them in nature.”
Ana Sofía Miranda, school GLOBE Promotor/teacher, says “The 6th grade students were able to bring to real life and reinforce their research about Global Warming through the Surface temperature protocol."
GLOBE allows people to obtain more detailed information about the microecosystems existing around their cities; students noted that there is very little information being updated around their communities, but now scientists can compare to past registers with their data. They are hopeful to find out answers that allow citizens to find solutions to environmental problems.
Images courtesy Ana Sofía Miranda, GLOBE Ecuador.