News - Mission Earth
Student Symposia Hosted or Supported by GLOBE Mission EARTH!
Student Symposia Hosted or Supported by GLOBE Mission EARTH!
Students from across the United States presented their authentic research projects at face-to-face and virtual symposia through our NASA-funded project, GLOBE Mission Earth. For these projects, students developed research questions, collected environmental observations of their local area, analyzed the data to produce results and presented their findings. Students are encouraged to collect GLOBE data, use NASA resources and do environmental research projects.
The GLOBE New Mexico Student Research Symposium was held April 30, 2022, in Mescalero, New Mexico at the Mescalero Apache School hosted by GLOBE teacher, Nate Raynor. Ten 8-12 grade students and four teachers participated: five from Mescalero Apache School and five from the Santa Fe Indian School. Projects related to air quality were presented.
The GLOBE Student Research Symposium for northern California schools was held May 5, 2022, at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA. Six projects were presented by 30 students and viewed by 15 STEM Professionals. All students were participants of an after school environmental program where GLOBE protocols are used for collecting data. The projects included:
- Soil Quality Around East Bay Lakes
- Effects of Cyanobacteria on Water Quality in East Bay Lakes
- Effects of Varying Levels of pH on Plant Growth
- How Litter Changes Water Quality in Pinole Creek
- Stormwater Quality in Antioch Communities
- The Benefits of Mushrooms to Plant Growth
After the STEM Professional review sessions, students gathered in the planetarium where STEM professions provided students with information on how they came into their careers and provided tips for their next steps. The evening concluded with a planetarium show on the Artemis program.
On May 11, 60 students (Grade 3-12) participated in the Midwest Earth System Science Collaborative Virtual Science Symposium. Each participating teacher received an award for equipment from YLACES. You can view the student presentations from Midwest Earth System Science Collaborative Virtual Science Symposium on the YouTube. You will be amazed to see third graders from Defiance Elementary studying clouds and looking at the quality of their water. One third grader stated “I like observing the cloud and going outside and learning the names of the clouds.” The 4th and 5th graders of North Star Montessori Academy studied how to keep the ice on their natural luge track on Lucy Hill in Negaunee, Michigan longer. The students found the ice will stay longer if the boards of the track are painted white. One student commented “We appropriated doing this research for GLOBE and NASA because it was really fun and we were able to help the luge club.” Students from Crestwood High School used a terraROVER (Remotely Operated Vehicles for Education and Research) to collect fine particle matter using Arduino technology. Student comment: “it was a great learning experience just building on our experiences with arduino programming and using that and it’s really cool how we have a real life example of how you can actually use that use the power of programming to help a community.”
On April 25, St. Peter’s Junior High and High School in Mansfield, Ohio held a Student Research Symposium April 25. Teacher, Janene Smith, was awarded funding from YLACES to host the event. Seven students from grades 7 and 8 presented their authentic research projects. Several of the students researched air quality in Ohio and potential causes of bad air quality. They also developed board and video games based on GLOBE that students could play.
Youth Learning As Citizen Environmental Scientists (YLACES), led by Dixon Butler, assists and rewards the implementation of inquiry-based, experiential science education where students do science and contribute to understanding of our environment.
