STEM Network Blog Intro

GISN & STEM Professionals' Blog

The GLOBE International STEM Network (GISN) and STEM Professional's Blog is an online collaborative effort where scientists associated with GLOBE post their thoughts, comments, and philosophies about a variety of science topics.

GLOBE strongly encourages positive and productive discussions to further advance the scientific understanding of all involved with The GLOBE Program.
 


 

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Learning science involves learning important concepts, conducting experiments to see first-hand how researchers discovered and confirmed some elements of science concepts, and learning how to think scientifically. With this complete approach to learning science, students are well-prepared to deal with the natural world around them and to make wise decisions when confronted with various choices. The ability to think scientifically is a valuable skill in almost all aspects of life and doing science teaches scientific habits of mind. Students can do science through research projects ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS GENERAL SCIENCE BACKYARD SCIENCE   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE EARTH AS A SYSTEM HYDROSPHERE PEDOSPHERE (SOIL) BIOSPHERE   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR COMPETITIONS   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Gathering data Once you have determined what protocols to use for your project, you will need to develop a plan for gathering the data. It might consist of using automated data collection or making your own measurements. Also, it may include finding data taken by others, such as when you compare your observations with those of another GLOBE school. Automated Data Collection If you are using an automated data collection device or devices, verify that the data are being recorded properly before your official testing timeframe. You will want to monitor that the data are being ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM EDUCATION RESEARCH SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS MEETINGS/CONFERENCES   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: SECONDARY: 9-12 MIDDLE: 6-8


Exciting new VR and AR applications of Geovisualizations are be developed at the Institute for Earth Observations at Palmyra Cove. You can check a quick demo on our Partnership's website www.palmyracove.org or take a look at the Mission Earth webinar @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCgntUpqcFg


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The Urban Heat Island field campaign October version turned out to be a great success. Many schools took observations and entered them onto the GLOBE website. Remember, we are looking at the urban heat island in the seasons, October, December and March. Forty-three schools entered data in the month of October. If you haven't entered your data yet, please do soon. You can see on the map below that there were observations taken across the world. The size of the dot represents the total number of observations taken at  the site. There has been great participation from Saudi Arabia, ...


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Having students collaborate on projects has been a great potential of the GLOBE Program. Through GLOBE Mission EARTH, students in Detroit, Michigan and Shageluk, Alaska interacted over the Internet. Their teachers worked together with GLOBE Mission EARTH to plan the exchange. Students from Randy Smith Middle School, Fairbanks, Alaska, Carol Scott. Thirkell Elementary School 5th grade, Detroit Michigan - Teacher Connie Atkisson Students were asked to generate questions to ask each other before the web meeting. They found that their houses were very similar. The ...


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Authors: Claudia Caro and Olawale Oluwafemi (Femi) Our participation in the International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS) as judges has allowed us  to learn more about  the scientific experiences of students involved in the GLOBE Program. As members of the GLOBE Science Working Group with backgrounds in Geography and Biology, we would like to share our findings about the importance of the IVSS in the GLOBE community and give you some advice to empower your participation in this extraordinary yearly event. Why an International Virtual Science Symposium? Knowledge ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: SECONDARY: 9-12 MIDDLE: 6-8 GRADE LEVELS


When you start writing your GLOBE report for IVSS, it might be difficult because you might not sure where to start. We tend to start writing the Methods section first because it is something you did it yourselves and it should be relatively easy and straight forward to write. Second, you should write the Results section, do graphs, tables and texts (think of a best way to present your cool data to the whole world). Third, you should start writing the Introduction stating your hypotheses and predictions. The next step would be the Discussion section. It is funny to say but as scientists, ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM EDUCATION RESEARCH SCIENCE AND MATH TECHNOLOGY   Event Topics: MEETINGS SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   GLOBE Science Topics: SCIENTIST SKILLS MEETINGS/CONFERENCES   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   News Topics: VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS   Teacher's Guide: GRADE LEVELS SECONDARY: 9-12 MIDDLE: 6-8


https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=52.02687,-9.54373,10.654,latLng&t=3.20  


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Observations of daily precipitation have been a part of GLOBE from the beginning. At the start, GLOBE’s participation model was that schools would take measurement following all of the original 17 protocols. Atmosphere temperature, precipitation, cloud, and soil moisture measurements were to be collected daily at a site easily accessible to the school. A permanent installation of an instrument shelter containing a max/min thermometer mounted to a post along with a rain gauge was the expected norm with other measurements taken nearby. Daily temperature and precipitation measurements were ...


Posted in: Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: GLOBE PROTOCOLS   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP EDUCATION WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TRAINERS TEACHERS STUDENTS PARTNERS COUNTRY COORDINATORS   Teacher's Guide: DOCUMENT TYPES


From the start, the measurement of daily maximum and minimum air temperature within one hour of local solar noon has been a key GLOBE protocol. The low cost approach was to use a U-tube thermometer housed in a wooden instrument shelter facing away from the equator. The U-shaped tube contained mercury with pins on either side of the mercury. As the air temperature warmed the pin on one side would move while the other pin stayed in place; when the air cooled, the pin on the other side would be pushed up. The pins were held in place by magnetized strips behind the thermometer tube so that ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM TECHNOLOGY   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS TRAINERS STUDENTS PARTNERS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


As Earth science has a single uncontrolled object of study, the first rule is to take today’s data today. While ice and sediment cores and fossils can reveal past conditions, the observations that can be made right now cannot be replaced by ones taken later. This goes well with the Native American adage, “You can’t step in the same river twice.” The environment is constantly changing and doing so on a wide range of time and space scales. In a recent video post, Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “One of the great things about science is that it is an entire exercise finding what is true. You ...


Posted in: Curriculum: SCIENCE AND MATH   Event Topics: CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC) GLOBE LEARNING EXPEDITIONS SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO SMAP   GLOBE Science Topics: EARTH AS A SYSTEM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE GENERAL SCIENCE CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE   Investigation Areas: EARTH AS A SYSTEM   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS ALUMNI


In the fall of 2016, the students in my Weather and Climate class, GEPL 4490/5490, at the University of Toledo developed projects based on El Nino. The students in class were give the task to look at GLOBE data from a part of the world in which El Nino has an effect. The students were also tasked to do research on El Nino and La Nina to see what it is.   The students looked at the following locations: Taiwan 2015 – Nicole Jablonski, Bailey Hafner, Cortnee Halpin Japan 1998 – Sean Smith, Australia 1998 – Madhusanka Jayawardhana, Josh Coll, and Justin Maluchnik ...


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Consider the rain gauge used in GLOBE, CoCoRaHS, and other citizen science programs. Just four pieces plus 2 mounting screws – an inner graduated cylinder, an outer cylinder, a cap/funnel, and a mounting bracket. The area of the outer tube is exactly 10 times the areas of the inner tube and the cap/funnel, so the graduations on the inner cylinder can be spaced ten times further apart. Thus, 0.2 mm of rain fills the inner tube to a depth of 2.0 mm, which one can read. In addition, if heavy rainfall fills the inner cylinder, the rest of the rainfall overflows into the outer cylinder, ...


Posted in: Curriculum: STEM   Field Campaigns: EL NIÑO GPM   GLOBE Science Topics: BACKYARD SCIENCE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: ATMOSPHERE   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS ALUMNI


Hello GLOBE friends! The Evaluation Working Group has recently shared with you the results of the 2015 survey that was sent to the GLOBE teachers. The results from this survey, along with the results from the Annual Partner Survey provided us  with useful information as to how to better support  GLOBE in the classroom. Among other things,. the feedback we had from the teachers was that they are asking for evaluation tools they can use in their classrooms and for guidance on how to use these  tools. During our discussions in the Working Group we thought about this ...


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This time was my first visit to Trinidad and Tobago and to the LAC region. The visit was first of its kinds, knowing vividly that Africans and the People of Trinidad and Tobago have so many things in common in terms of Geography and Historical antecedent.  The motivation for my visit to Trinidad and Tobago started during the 17 th GLOBE Annual meeting at Maryland. Initially, it was just a brief discussion with Henry Saunders (Country Coordinator, GLOBE Trinidad and Tobago). However, after a year, I met Mr. Michael at GLOBE Expedition in New Delhi, India where we had in-depth ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: MEETINGS/CONFERENCES   GLOBE Working Groups: SCIENCE WORKING GROUP   Investigation Areas: PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS SCIENTISTS ALUMNI COUNTRY COORDINATORS


Concerns regarding the impact of global warming on vector-borne diseases have intensified interest in the relationship between atmospheric factors and dengue fever incidence. Global climate change poses the threat of serious social upheaval, population displacement, economic hardships, and environmental degradation. Changes in temperature, rainfall and relative humidity have potential to enhance vector development, reproductive and biting rates, shorten pathogen incubation period and encourage adult longevity. In addition, changes in wind direction, velocity and frequency will have an ...


Posted in: GLOBE Science Topics: CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBE PROTOCOLS   Investigation Areas: HYDROSPHERE   Learning Activities: HYDROLOGY   Primary Audience: TEACHERS STUDENTS


Hi All, The Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Research Campaign was very successful this year. There were a total of 1306 surface temperature observations from 59 schools during the Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Research Campaign. Schools that have participated so far (I put the country the schools are in and the state for the schools in the United States): 21CCLC Newport Community School - 12 Al Fisaliah Gifted School at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – 10 Al-Anjal Intermediate Schoo at Rejal Alma’a, Saudi Arabia - 2 Al-Fahd Secondary School at Rejal Alma'a, Saudi ...


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It was great to see the GLOBE presence at the AMS Annual Meeting in Seattle last week. Monday, the Symposium on Education is focused on K12 initiatives. The morning sessions all focused on GLOBE related activities and projects that included the NASA Mission Earth Project, GOES-R/16, the new Elementary GLOBE Climate book, and the International Virtual Science Fair. The new GLOBE Cloud app was presented in the afternoon. There were several projects presented in the Education Poster session as well. It would be great to see even more presentations of all the innovative and ...


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Hi All, We are well into the Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Student Research Campaign. Data are coming into the GLOBE website from schools from around the world. To date there have been 43 schools that have uploaded data to the GLOBE website. As I am writing this, there are a total of 596 surface temperature observations taken and entered on the website from December 1 to December 14, 2016. That’s a whole lot of data. The most observations have come in from Rick Sharpe’s students at Huntington High School in West Virginia with a total of 202. Kim Clark’s students from John ...


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Hi All, It is exciting that we started a new Urban Heat Island/Surface Temperature Student Research Campaign that was formally knows as the Surface Temperature Field Campaign. I wanted to get an email out before the campaign started, but I came down with a bad cold. 27 schools have taken observations and entered them on the GLOBE website. I know that many more of you have taken observations or are planning to take observations. If you can, please enter your observations on the GLOBE website sooner than later. I will take a look at the observations. This research campaign is a chance ...


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