Community Blogs
Open social media sharing options menu
Community Blogs
Discover how the GLOBE community is engaging in all things GLOBE through the community blog posts below.
Learn how to create a GLOBE community blog post.
Filter By:
Blogs List
It turns out that we are most likely entering another mild La Niña winter across the globe. This article, “ La Nina Makes a Quiet Return ”, describes how scientists are able to use data on sea surface temperatures from were made by altimeters on the Jason-2 and Jason-3 satellites, and show averaged sea surface height anomalies. Climatologists are predicting that this La Niña should last through the 2017-2018 winter period in the northern hemisphere, and then should change back to neutral conditions by late spring.
Be sure to become a ...
Read More »
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
News Topics:
SCRC RESEARCH
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
Too much water can have devastating consequences when it falls too quickly on Earth's surface. On January 9th, the " Water in Our Environment " webinar will spotlight the experiences of our GLOBE community in Asia and the Pacific.
Earlier this week in the Philippines, tropical cyclone Kai-Tak wrecked havoc on this region as it caused extreme flooding and landslides .
On December 4th and 5th, tropical cyclone Ockhi was the strongest cyclone to develop in the Arabian Sea since 2015, and it brought intense rainfall to the western part of India.
A recent CNN report stated ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
Field Campaigns:
WATERSHEDS
EL NIÑO
SMAP
GPM
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
GENERAL SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
HYDROLOGY
SOIL
News Topics:
CALENDAR
TRAINING
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
Teacher's Guide:
INVESTIGATION AREA DOCUMENTS
We are in the middle of our December observations for the Urban Heat Island Effect/Surface Temperature Field Campaign. 69 schools have entered 1323 observations. As developer of the surface temperature protocol I wanted to thank everyone who has taken observations . It is your data that will allow other students to create interesting research projects as well as providing a database for me and my students to conduct research. We have schools all over the world taking surface temperature observations to contribute to the campaign. I want to talk about problems some schools are having ...
Posted in:
The GLOBE Clouds team loves coming up with ways to help students and teachers identify clouds. I've been blessed to visit a number of 4th grade full inclusion classrooms and want to share my quick cloud ID and data collection activity outline!
Anchor question: Do all clouds look the same, even from space?
Goal: Students identify, collect and submit cloud observations by using their own notes and clues for each possible cloud type.
Objectives: Students will,
(A) Recognize that clouds are part of the water cycle.
(B) Investigate cloud types ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
GLOBE Science Topics:
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
Teacher's Guide:
UPPER PRIMARY: 3-5
RESOURCES
The GLOBE Clouds team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA would like to highlight the top observers of 2017! Thank you to all observers for submitting your observations and using the satellite matching of data.
Top 10 cloud observers for 2017
Observer
School
Country
Total Observations
Valentina Langiene
Zemynos pro-gimnazium
Lithuania
1201
Ahmad Alhefzi
As-Siddiq Secondary School at ...
Posted in:
At the Annual Meeting in Connecticut this summer, I asked the United States GLOBE partners and teachers to write down one GLOBE-related accomplishment on an index card. It could be either professional or personal, something that was time-consuming or one that took minutes. Whatever it was, it had to have made them proud or excited about their year in GLOBE. The responses are below:
One of the 21CCLC (after school) student groups that I worked with attended and received a Science Research Award at the SRS in New Jersey.
Wrote an article on Education Outreach - various ...
Posted in:
Event Topics:
MEETINGS
News Topics:
MEETINGS
REGIONS
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a hearing entitled " Gravity Never Sleeps: Landslide Risk Across the Country "at the Rayburn House Office Building that was intended to inform our lawmakers and government officials about the impacts of landslides in many parts of the United States. As the topic is related to our guiding investigative question for the ENSO Student Research Campaign - " What impacts does water, above and below ground, have on our environment? ", I thought I would share some of the things that I learned.
Jonathan Godt, the Landslide Hazard Programs Coordinator ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
HYDROLOGY
SOIL
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
REGIONS
TRAINING
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
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
Sometimes, actually most of the time, I forget to be grateful for the fact that I have easy access to clean freshwater. When Thanksgiving rolls around each year, I try to step back and consider the many things I have to be thankful for. Day after day I work with the amazing science team behind the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, and I never cease to be completely amazed at how technology has enabled us to monitor our home planet.
During our last ENSO Phase III webinar, we learned about water quality in Europe from several GLOBE scientists, teachers, and students ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
SCIENCE AND MATH
TECHNOLOGY
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
WATERSHEDS
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
CLIMATE
GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
BIOSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
LAND COVER/BIOLOGY
HYDROLOGY
Primary Audience:
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
SCIENTISTS
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, ...
Posted in:
By Claudia Caro and Erika Podest
Curiosity is a natural characteristic of all people, especially the young. It is the first step for a child to build knowledge, and I am sure we can all remember as children asking what?, why?, where?, and numerous other questions as we tried to learn new things.
Unfortunately, as children grow up, this natural curiosity slowly fades. Why is this? We don’t exactly know, but it might be that as children grow older they think they know all the answers or because most school systems are structured to teach by providing answers rather than ...
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
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 ...
Posted in:
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
Currently, Science education has transitioned away from textbooks to more hands on learning. This is an amazing opportunity for teachers to move away from the normal lecturing and explaining in class to reshaping the process of learning.
I think that the GLOBE Program is a fantastic organization and empowered program that promises to give an essential change in education. One example is teaching and learning from directs activities in the field.
An excellent activity is to share data from school to school through collaboration. Students can share what they are ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
Event Topics:
OTHER
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
Primary Audience:
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
PARTNERS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
In anticipation of another CERES instrument launched onboard JPSS-1 (now scheduled for 4:47 am EST on November 15), I thought I’d share a little about CERES and why it’s so important to understanding our Earth – and how GLOBE observations fit into this science.
NASA’s CERES instrument, which stands for Cloud and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System , measures reflected sunlight and thermal infrared radiation emitted by the Earth. It measures the amount of energy leaving the Earth so we can compare this to the amount of energy entering the Earth . You may have ...
Posted in:
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
Many of us are so used to having clean freshwater that is easily accessible that we don't often stop to marvel at the fact that we are incredibly fortunate. The majority of our freshwater comes from our water cycle, and precipitation is unevenly distributed across the globe. You can learn more about the importance of clean freshwater resources in this "one-pager" entitled " Precious Freshness ".
During our ENSO Phase III Webinar #3, we will be focusing on water quality in Europe and Eurasia. We will host this webinar at 18:30 UCT, and hope we will have many of you from ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
SCIENCE AND MATH
LANGUAGE CULTURE AND ARTS
STEM
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
Field Campaigns:
WATERSHEDS
EL NIÑO
GLOBE Science Topics:
GENERAL SCIENCE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
SCIENTIST SKILLS
GLOBE PROTOCOLS
GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
SCIENCE WORKING GROUP
Investigation Areas:
HYDROSPHERE
Learning Activities:
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
HYDROLOGY
News Topics:
VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR
SCRC RESEARCH
Primary Audience:
PARTNERS
SCIENTISTS
ALUMNI
COUNTRY COORDINATORS
TRAINERS
TEACHERS
STUDENTS
What are the impacts of extreme events, like Hurricane Harvey, on the water quality? This article from the Smithsonian magazine describes multiple ways in which public health officials are responding to several threats facing residents of Houston and surrounding locations. These threats include the impact of mold, the potential of an increase in vector-borne diseases such as Zika and West Nile virus, and the problems of contaminants left behind in the public water supply.
Have you experienced severe flooding in your region that resulted in problems with water quality? ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
WATERSHEDS
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
CLIMATE CHANGE
BACKYARD SCIENCE
CLIMATE
Investigation Areas:
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
PEDOSPHERE (SOIL)
BIOSPHERE
News Topics:
SCRC RESEARCH
One way to teach students about water quality and/or how scientists go about their work is to share articles with them. Here is a great article entitled " Study Maps Hidden Water Pollution in U.S. Coastal Areas ". This research shows a great example of the use of both NASA satellite data and ground-based data. In this study, the researchers used U.S. topographic data as well as NASA climate models to "identify key inland regions that contribute groundwater and contaminants to the coast. They examined rainfall, evaporation rates and the amount of known surface runoff to ...
Posted in:
Curriculum:
STEM
SCIENCE AND MATH
Event Topics:
CAMPAIGNS AND PROJECTS (IOPS, ETC)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIA AND FAIRS
Field Campaigns:
EL NIÑO
GLOBE Science Topics:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
SCIENTIST SKILLS
CLIMATE CHANGE
DATA INCLUDED
CLIMATE
Investigation Areas:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
HYDROSPHERE
Learning Activities:
EARTH AS A SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE
HYDROLOGY
Croatian GLOBE community has been organizing Science Fairs for the past 18 years, with the goal to encourage and promote students' research projects. Each year the judges select 30 - 40 school projects for the presentation at the GLOBE fair and for publishing on Croatian GLOBE website http://globe.pomsk.hr/smotra2017/zadar_17_projekti.htm . Among the projects at the fair, there are always several joint school projects. Usually, collaborating schools are from the same region, which gives them the opportunity to meet face to face and organize joint fieldwork or working sessions. ...
Posted in:
GLOBE Working Groups:
EDUCATION WORKING GROUP
This week's blog is written by Bonnie Banyas , a teacher at Memorial School in Newton, NH . The New Hampshire Education and Environment Team (NHEET) , funded through a state Math Science Partnership grant , was able to support the purchase and installation of a weather shelter at Memorial School (and the other participating schools) and the associated supplies for collecting environmental data. These materials were used to implement field investigation units in several grade levels, centered around the theme for 2016-2017, " Atmosphere, Weather and Climate ." Bonnie generously ...
Posted in:
—
20 Items per Page