News - NASA Langley Research Center

NASA educators taught teachers from across the country how to make cloud observations and surface temperature measurements during the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) training workshop Nov. 1-2 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The workshop was part of an interagency agreement between NASA and the Department of Education to provide NASA content to teachers and the US Department of Education’s afterschool program, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). In years past, the Department of Education has offered NASA content for the 21st CCLC program through NASA’s engineering design challenge at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The program is still offering engineering but wanted to offer a science focus through the GLOBE training workshop at NASA Langley. Educators at NASA Langley developed a curriculum for the GLOBE training that focused on collecting cloud and surface temperature measurements to better understand how clouds impact Earth’s energy budget. During the workshop, teachers learned activities that show children how materials heat up and cool down, how to identify visual opacity, and how to recognize a cloudy sky versus a clear sky. “The teachers are very receptive and excited about what they are bringing back to students,” said Tina Harte, science education team lead for Science Systems and Applications at NASA’s Langley Research Center. When they go back to their schools, teachers will participate in an eight-week 21st CCLC GLOBE atmosphere investigation. Tailored for a middle school audience, the 21st CCLC GLOBE atmosphere investigation teaches students hands-on learning activities developed in a sequence, so that students may actually develop content to ask questions and conduct investigations. “It’s a wonderful learning opportunity for the kids that basically falls in line with what the 21st century is about — non-traditional, hands-on, kinesthetic learning,” said Anthony Tyler, program administrator for 21st CCLC federal programs for Newport News Public Schools. Kinesthetic learning is a type of learning in which students carry out physical activities instead of idly listening. Teachers will return to their classrooms GLOBE certified and ready to teach a new wave of citizen scientists. MaryAnn Jackson NASA Langley Research Center Last Updated: Nov. 15, 2016 Editor: Joe Atkinson  >>

On Friday, September 30, 2016 over 100 home schooled students and their families attended Homeschool Day at Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, VA. Tina Rogerson and teacher intern Gay Reilly, from the Langley Science Directorate, attended and shared science resources with the homeschool families. In the TEMPO ozone garden, students had the opportunity to pick two type of bioindicator snap beans, one sensitive and one tolerant. Students measured the length, the mass and recorded their data. The students had a chance to develop their science observation and measuring skills. Also outside, students and parents practiced cloud observations and learned how to join other citizen scientists in collecting cloud data for NASA through the new GLOBE Observer App. Interested parents received information on how to become GLOBE Certified through GLOBE eTraining. Parents of elementary age students received copies of the Elementary GLOBE book, What’s Up in the Atmosphere? Exploring Colors in the Sky. Staff helped families practice making observations of sky color and they learned about how the presence of aerosols can impact sky color.  >>

At the end of the past school year, while many teachers and students were easing into a summer break, Chris Marentette and Robert Bujosa were packing up to head to their summer internships at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.  >>

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On August 2nd, 2016, NASA Langley hosted a Youth Day event, inviting employees to bring their children and families to the NASA campus. A diversity of activity centers were organized, offering youth an exciting insight into space technologies, flight innovations, and Earth science research at NASA Langley. GLOBE was visible and active at the event, attracting 825 visitors to the activity booths for the GLOBE Observer app, S’COOL-CERES, CALIPSO, and GLOBE elementary programs. Youth were particularly interested in the CALIPSO demonstration. CALIPSO is a GLOBE Partner Satellite Mission that observes the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols and their role in the heating and cooling of Earth using Lidar technology. Families could observe how lasers, held atop a terrarium, interacted with the aerosols (sand and dirt) that were blown into the air. Families were also encouraged to make their own observations of the sky by submitting cloud observations to NASA using the new GLOBE Observer app. Next year, Langley plans to offer a community youth day, open to the public in celebration of their 100th anniversary.  >>

Southwest Virginia has new GLOBE Trainers! NASA Langley Research Center held a Train the Trainer in Abingdon, VA in July 2016. Six GLOBE members participated in the event to become GLOBE trainers in Atmosphere and Hydrology. This was a hybrid model of a TTT with participants completing all of the atmosphere and hydrology eTraining modules, conducting several planning and implementation telecoms, and completing a two-day train the trainer workshop focused on data collection, data entry, and training implementation. Congratulations to the following Trainers: Ruthanne Cole, Terry Vencil, Shanda Sinnett, Cinnamon Couch, Alan Webb, and Rachelle Rasco.  >>

In the summer of 2016, Mark Kaufman interned at NASA Langley Research Center. He worked with the Science Directorate's education team with the Cloud Observation team. He shared his previous experiences as an Interpreter with the National Park Service and helped the team think about how the NASA's new GLOBE Observer, citizen science app can be utilized in a park setting. Mark was invited by the Earth to Sky program to share his views on a Webinar. Webinar Abstract: NASA’s GLOBE Observer app, which encourages participants to observe, question, and examine their natural environments, will be introduced this year. Participant contributions directly benefit a variety of NASA missions. National Parks, Wildlife Refuges and similar settings would provide an ideal platform to introduce millions of curious minds to an app that promotes an ongoing effort to better understand our planet and natural surroundings. Additionally, GLOBE Observer can benefit interpreters and environmental educators: it is a novel interpretive tool that can be realistically applied in parks, refuges and similar settings. GLOBE Observer is an application inviting citizens to make environmental observations that complement NASA satellite observations to help scientists studying Earth. Version 1.0 includes GLOBE Clouds, which allows viewers to photograph clouds and record sky observations and compare them with NASA satellite images. GLOBE is now the major source of human observations of clouds, which provide more information than automated systems. View the full webinar at: http://www.earthtosky.org/professional-development/climate-change/earth-to-sky-climate-change-webinar-archive/details/23/198.html  >>

On Thursday July 7th, GLOBE Master Trainer and Physical Scientist Jessica Taylor visited the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the site of over 2,500 research rocket launches. Here, Taylor introduced a group of 11 area teachers to Elementary GLOBE activities. The 6 science-based storybooks are designed to introduce students to key concepts in water, soil, clouds, seasons, aerosols, and Earth system studies. By making observations about the sky and soil, the teachers engaged in the very GLOBE activities they will be guiding in school settings.  >>

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary GLOBE and Clouds Training NASA Physical Scientist Jessica Taylor, Educational Specialist Tina Harte, and two intrigued interns visited Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary school to train and certify teachers in the cloud observation protocol. Each day clouds are present over 70 percent of Earth’s surface, so they are a readily available resource for students to observe. This activity encourages students to think about why clouds are an important element of our changing Earth system. Teachers were also introduced to GLOBE’s latest book on aerosols called Exploring Colors in the Sky, which is designed to relate the color of the sky to what is currently in it – dust, pollutants, volcanic ash, and more.  >>