News - NASA Langley Research Center

Over 250 youth engaged in hands-on NASA activities prior to the ISS Downlink Event at the Slover Library in Norfolk, VA.  >>

NASA Langley's GLOBE Team Celebrated Earth Day by observing clouds with the 4th and 5th grade students at Samuel P. Langley Elementary School on April 22nd. Each of the 165 students were provided with their own cloud charts, observation forms and sky viewers, which they used while rotating through a series of stations guiding them through the process of making a cloud observation. Their observations were submitted and the corresponding satellite matches will be shared with the teachers. Students, teachers and the team enjoyed a morning full of cloudy skies and science process skills in action.  >>

The NASA Langley GLOBE Partnership hosted seven GLOBE teacher interns for 10 weeks this summer in Hampton, Virginia. The interns participated in a variety of learning experiences that included connecting with NASA scientists, engineers and educators, daily GLOBE data collection and protocol exploration.  >>

Joining other GLOBE Partners and GLOBE Teachers from across the U.S. Tina Harte had the opportunity to participate in the GLOBE Diversity Bootcamp in Boulder, CO.  >>

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.  >>

This is how we all connect!  >>

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.  >>