|
DON'T MISS |
|
SEA Secretary
Director, Urban Learning
Program |
What our M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Team Does Greetings Satellite Educators, Students at La Puente High School in La Puente, California, use satellite data to examine the layers of clouds in a hurricane and estimate the rainfall it will produce. Students at Burlington County Institute of Technology (a high school) in Medford, New Jersey, use satellite data to detect tropical depressions and predict hurricanes on the east coast. Students at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami, Florida, record ground data during a hurricane. Students at Astor College (a high school) in Dover, England, study the geography of Africa and use satellite data to follow dust storms from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean eventually becoming hurricanes. Students at W.F. West High School in Chehalis, Washington, use satellite data to explore the balance of the water cycle on continents. Students at Hubin High School in Xiamen, China, use satellite data to explore atmospheric chemistry. What do they all have in common? In August, they come together at the Satellites & Education Conference. Like a cooperative learning jigsaw, they each bring a piece of the puzzle and in less than three days they meet each other, form a team, plan, prepare and present a report to the conference at Cal. State L.A. They are the M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. team. This team, which has existed since 2002, is the Multinational Youth Studying Practical Applications of Climatic Events. And this is the report they presented at the 2006 conference: Global Warming and Hurricanes. At the end, they warned the conference attendees that orange juice and tomato prices would be going up. Their predictions were right on target.
While newspapers are complaining that “teachers are using outdated information and models” and “teachers are teaching factoids not connected to real world problems” these teachers in the M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. team get their students excited about science with real world events and applications using satellite data. The students meet people from around the world, gain multiple perspectives of their issue, and demonstrate critical thinking. At the same time, they connect with members of the aerospace industry who give them tours of labs and provide special gadgets to take back home. These industry representatives are looking for future scientists, mathematicians and engineers for their companies. They give special attention to the students who can show such leadership skills as team formation, collaboration, and public speaking. And these students are not privileged; they come from low- to middle-income communities and for most this is their first trip away from home. Their communities are all urban and coastal. Their schools struggle to meet the pressures from so many arenas, as do most schools today. The M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. teachers meet at the conference each year and plan the next year’s theme. They use strategies and data they gain from the NOAA, NASA, industry, and teacher presentations at the conference. Back in their classrooms, they continue to communicate with each other and share ideas. The 2006-2007 Team chose “Watching Earth Breathe: Earth’s Energy Distribution” as a theme that could be used by all teachers in their various fields (earth science, biology, physics, satellite communications – integrated science, technology and geography). Several grants provided funds for travel, field trips, and a hand-held computer with GPS. About the Satellites & Education Conference: The Satellites & Education Conference, hosted by Cal State L.A. (this year on August 9 – 11, 2007), is prized by NOAA, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Aerospace, and many others as a true collaboration among educators, government representatives, and space industry leaders in support of K-12 teachers. This unique conference effectively connects teachers with their students’ future employers – the space industry and government – to better prepare the students for today’s most promising careers. It provides a myriad of strategy and skill ideas and training for using satellite data in classrooms ranging from third grade through high school and even includes some presentations by college students on their research using satellite data. Visit www.SatED.org for more information. __________________________________________________________________
Scientists
Track Impact of Asian Dust and Pollution on Clouds, Climate Change Scientists using one of the nation's newest and most capable research aircraft are launching a far-reaching field project this month to study plumes of airborne dust and pollutants that originate in Asia and journey to North America. The plumes are among the largest such events on Earth, so great in scope that scientists believe they might affect clouds and weather across thousands of miles while interacting with the Sun's radiation and playing a role in global climate. Known as PACDEX (Pacific Dust Experiment), the project will be led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. NCAR's main sponsor, the National Science Foundation (NSF), will provide most of the funding. The first mission will be launched in late April, depending on weather patterns in Asia. It will continue for two months. Click here to read the full story.
NASA FACTS
In 1803, a man named Luke Howard used Latin words to categorize clouds.
Cirrus, which means "curl of hair," is used to describe high, wispy
clouds that look like locks of hair. |
|
A Letter From Lis
Elisabeth Cohen Dear Satellite Educators, When was the last time you had your students act out a weather frontal passage? Have your students spun around in circles representing a low pressure system? Has your class listened to music about weather or heard weather sounds? Has art been used to understand science? To engage an audience, we need to think outside the computer box. The Utah Museum of Natural History is building a sky dome in their new museum. As a consultant for this project, they asked me what exhibits I’d like to see in this space. I want the exhibit space to have components that are exciting and that will teach many kinds of learners. How do we get visitors interested in a topic? The first step is to tell them why they should care. They need motivation to learn. The museum visitor and the student need a problem to solve or information that will help improve their lives. Each topic that we teach in the “Severe and Unusual Weather” course at the University of Utah will be relevant and interesting to the students to hook them in. Because we often get thunderstorms and many of our students will hike in the summer, we will start our course with thunderstorms. We’ll play movies of thunderstorms, show comics about lightning, listen to music about storms and from storms, use the lightning detection network, shock each other with the Van de Graff generator, and learn about lightning safety tips. Throughout these topics, we will teach them the basics of meteorology and how they can predict storms. Why isn’t teaching to many different learning types comfortable? I will use myself as an example. As a meteorology researcher, I receive numbers that come from satellite and ground instruments. The data vary in both space and time. To visualize this data, I use graphs, charts, maps, and plots. Because my data is three dimensional in space and moves in time, I need a computer to learn. Because I learn from a computer screen all day, shouldn’t everyone learn the way I do? No, we need a variety of tools to teach a broad audience. The challenge in using computers is that they cater mostly to visual learners. In an exhibit, computer monitors can be helpful, but computer screens are often not as captivating as a “hands-on” activity. The “wow” factor is not always there for computer images. Compared to the enhanced animations in movies and high-definition monitors, the satellite data we show needs a big boost before it is really exciting by itself. Our topics need a hook to get our audience interested and we need to teach them in a variety of styles. When we are successful, our students will be motivated to do their math and science homework and will think outside the box. Lis |
|
The Satellite Educators Association and MY SPACE for Students
Weather has come a long way since the days of hand drawn
maps. Today, satellites are a key tool in the production of weather
forecasts and news. Since 1988, educators across the country have been
able to share their uses of satellite technology in the classroom through
an innovative society called SEA or the Satellite Educators Association.
According to SEA, satellite education is the use of satellites and related technologies as a vehicle for helping students appreciate and understand the complex interrelationships among science, technology, individuals, societies and the environment, while developing and applying inquiry and technology skills to study authentic questions and problems. Satellites can be natural, artificial, environmental or astronomical. The purpose of the Satellite Educators Association is to create a location where teachers across the world can learn to use satellites in the classroom to meet objectives on topics including weather, space, and geography. Teacher resources are available including hands-on activities, lesson plans, and research materials that follow the National Education Standards. As part of the Annual Satellite Educators Conference, teachers can register to be participants or conference presenters. Financial aid is also available for participating teachers to help pay for travel and substitute teacher expenses. The conference is hosted at California State University, Los Angeles and is sponsored by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Some of the offering of the program include:
In addition, students can become a part of the MY SPACE program or Multinational Youth Studying Practical Applications of Climatic Events. In this program, students and teachers are brought together to brainstorm and create materials at a conference event. Lesson plans are then published on the website. Students present materials to teachers, pre-service teachers, scientists, and other students from around the world. By Heather R.
Smith NASA welcomed 25 new NASA Explorer
School teams on May 11, 2007, in a partnership to inspire students in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Selected schools are eligible to receive
up to $17,500 during the three-year partnership to help buy technology
tools. The project also provides educators and students with
content-specific activities that can be used in many local and state
curricula to excite students about science and math. Click here for more information about the NASA Explorer Schools Program.
GIS Systems Spread Through
Classrooms Across the Nation Whether out in the field or in the classroom, students are using mapping technologies to develop an awareness of where data comes from and what it means.
Digital mapping for educational purposes begins in the field with a global positioning system, which is used to receive information from several dozen GPS satellites orbiting the earth. Students can use GPS devices to pinpoint various locations with remarkable accuracy. Recently, prices have dropped on GPS devices, making them much more affordable for schools. For example, a basic system from Garmin International that is common in K-12 use retails for around $100. Back in the classroom, a “geographic information system” is used to collect the map points into a database for further manipulation. The information entered into the GIS can be collected in the field on a GPS device, or can come from elsewhere—the internet is a rich source of location-specific data. Students import that data to a GIS database and can create tables and maps, overlaying and comparing layers of information such as weather, land boundaries, historic locations, and scientific data.
Along with growing public appreciation of the value of visual mapping, and drops in equipment and software prices, there’s another reason mapping technologies are gaining in popularity in education: The software has become much easier to use. Whereas GIS packages were once expensive and difficult to use, new software has recently appeared that is simple, designed for non-scientific users—including K-12 students—and best of all, often free or very inexpensive. “We’re trying to make sure that teachers don’t have huge technical issues to overcome,” says Mike Bridge, vice president of marketing and product management at PASCO (Paul A. Stokstad Co.) Scientific, which offers several tools that can be used for GPS and GIS purposes. “The usability bar is continuing to drop.” According to professor Marsha Alibrandi, students worldwide are conducting original research in the field as part of GPS and GIS projects. Alibrandi works in social studies education in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions at Fairfield University in Connecticut. She is the author of the book GIS in the Classroom: Using Geographic Information Systems in Social Studies and Environmental Science. Click here to read the full article.
Discovery Classroom - A Lesson Plan Library for Educators
NSTA President
Testifies on Capitol Hill On May 15, NSTA President Linda Froschauer and four other leaders in science education provided their perspectives on federal agency programs for STEM educators when they testified before the House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education. During the hearing Chairman Brian Baird (D-WA) asked for input from science teachers nationwide on their experience with federal agency programs. Tell Congress what you think about federal programs for science educators. We invite you to view the hearing’s webcast. At this site you can read the testimony from witnesses (lower left-hand corner) and provide your comments at the Contact Us section (right-hand side).
Rocket Science en Español
"A lot of it was pointing at instructions, because I don't
speak Spanish," Murphy said. Student teams design and build a model rocket to carry a payload of one large, Grade-A egg for a precise flight duration of 45 seconds, and to an altitude of exactly 850 feet. The egg must land without breaking. Teams qualify for the national competition by launching their rocket for regional judges who certify the score. Scores equal the number of feet over or under 850 feet plus the number of seconds over or under 45 seconds. Thus, the lower the score, the better the rocket performed. The 100 best scores across the U.S. are invited to the national competition. Click here to read the full story. __________________________________________________________________
NOAA Presentations at Satellites
in Education Conference XX This presentation will ask the question, "What is Space Weather". It will present information on the Sun and its effects on us, tell you who the NOAA Space Environment Center is and what they do, discuss various satellites used for Space Weather Forecasting, and talk about the dependence on space-based technology. There will also be an emphasis on Outreach and Education provided by SEC. Focus: 6-12 (and adult education) |
|
||||||||
FEATURES FROM Designing thrilling, but safe, roller coasters requires a healthy respect for the laws of physics combined with a visionary's attitude that "the sky is the limit." Running time 2:00 minutes. Lesson Guides:The Drop - Roller Coasters Require a Serious
Respect for Physics
Click here to view the movie Click here to gain access to the Futures Channel Lesson Plan Library
A 1000-day mission and six crew members, each needing four
pounds of nutritious and tasty food per day. Variety is a must. That's what
Dr. Michele Perchonok and the other food science specialists and dieticians
at NASA's Johnson Space Center are up against, as they develop food for a
mission to Mars. Real World Connection:
|
|||||||||
|
Get the latest news from the
M.Y. S.P.A.C.E.
M.Y. S.P.A.C.E.
Be a M.Y.
S.P.A.C.E. Teacher
Another Thought
"If all the
rich and all of the church people should send their children to the public
schools they would feel bound to concentrate their money on improving these
schools until they met the highest ideals." |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
June
ALTHOUGH
DIGITAL MAPPING DEVICES are growing in use in
the society at large—from sports enthusiasts and census takers, to cars and
boats—the technologies are just starting to gain traction in K-12. Advocates
of digital mapping in the field and classroom say that it encourages skills
like critical thinking and decision-making, and can serve as an excellent
way for students to learn where data comes from and how to collect it, along
with learning about their local area’s history, geography, topography,
animal and plant populations, and much more.
Three
teenagers and their mentor didn't let a little thing like a language barrier
interfere with designing and building a rocket for the Team America Rocketry
Challenge. The students -- Jose, Jose Luis and Oliester -- speak Spanish
with some English, while their mentor Mike Murphy speaks only English.
