Earth Science through Food, Games, and Art:

Library Programming Ideas for Tweens and Teens

Presenters: Eve Halligan, Keliann LaConte, and Stephanie Shipp Technical Support: Ramiro Padilla

HANDS-ON SCIENCE ACTIVITIES

Connect to STAR_Net project resources!

• Join the online community! Get access to resources, discussions and related opportunities.

Contact: Anne Holland aholland@spacescience.org

• Visit the project website at www.STARNetLibraries.org

Resources

Explore Program

• Create and distribute hands-on activities that • Are designed for the library • Rely on inexpensive materials • Can be flexibly implemented • Highlight Earth and space science and engineering

concepts through investigations, demos, crafts, and facilitated conversations

• Provide training to children's and youth librarians and other community educators

• Funded by NSF and NASA

Activity 7: Celebrate Your Region! Activity 8: Polar Bears or Penguins?

Activity 9: Polar Bears Go with the Floes Activity 10: Earth: Artistically Balanced

Activity 1: A Century of Change Display Activity 4: I Belong to Earth

HANDS-ON SCIENCE ACTIVITIES

Each Region Is Unique Changes to distant oceans, air moving freely around our

globe, and all living things have an influence on our regional environment, now and in the past and future.

Activity 7: Celebrate Your Region!

Activity 8: Polar Bears or Penguins?

Your Home Is Changing Earth’s water, ice, air, and life will continue to interact over long-term

scales, shaping the particular features of that place we each call home.

Activity 9: Polar Bears Go with the Floes Activity 10: Earth: Artistically Balanced

We Belong to Earth

Activity 1: A Century of Change Display Activity 4: I Belong to Earth

HANDS-ON SCIENCE ACTIVITIES

Our Home Is Changing…

…we’d love to have you join us for a respectful conversation about the science of

global climate change!

Our Home Is Changing…

…explore the science of climate change even more deeply through:

Three projects: • Part A. Climate Postcard • Part B. Recipe for a Region • Part C. Changes to Come

Key Points • “Weather” vs. “Climate” • Climate makes your region special • Pen pal exchange — show how tweens living in

another region have different experiences!

Activity 7: Celebrate Your Region! Ages 10-13

Part A. Climate Postcard Celebrate Your Region’s Unique…

Common Clothing and Gear

Pika. Credit: National Park Service.

Saguaro Cactus. Credit: Fish and Wildlife Service.

Weather

Hurricane. Credit: U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Rain. Credit: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Wild Plants or Animals

Part A. Climate Postcard

What would you draw on your postcard?

Part B. Recipe for a Region Your Region’s “Secret Ingredient” is…?

Part B. Recipe for a Region Your Region’s “Secret Ingredient” Is…?

Example: Fiddlehead Ferns from the forests of the Northwest and New England/Mid-Atlantic See the salad recipe in the

THE MITSITAM CAFÉ COOKBOOK Richard Hetzler, Fulcrum Publishing, 2010, ISBN: 155591747X

Activity 10: Earth: Artistically Balanced

Hands-on way to visualize the science of the climate’s complexities… through art! • Flexible – May be created on a large scale or small • For Teens (14-18 years) • Several factors influence global temperatures (both natural and

human-based) • Choose scale for models • Needs: Area to display artwork, art supplies (appropriate scale),

Earth Climate Cards (Nature’s Balance & Human Influences)

What factors do you think we should keep in mind when developing a model of Earth’s climate? • Please use the chat box now to share your thoughts!

PARTNERSHIP DISCUSSION

--THE INTERACTIVE PART!

Global climate is changing • Scientists predict that the average temperature will continue

to rise over the next 100 years, perhaps as much as 3-10°F.

• …how will that change the tweens’ postcards and recipes?

Change is normal…but not at this rate! • The changes are happening faster than during the last 10,000

years.

Activity 7: Celebrate Your Region! Part C. Changes to Come

Activity 8: Polar Bears or Penguins?

Know Your Poles... Take our Polls! • Do you know the difference between the Arctic

and Antarctic?

• Does your audience?

• Divide into 2 Teams

• Match each card to the Polar Region • Arctic (N. Pole) • Antarctic (S. Pole) • Both

• Play the Game!

Fastest team wins!

Human actions impact the global environment • As a team, tweens determine whether or not to save a polar bear

on an Arctic sea ice floe. Everyone wins or everyone loses!

We have choices… …Some choices require us to make changes in the way we live:

• Take shorter showers • Replace incandescent bulbs with new, energy-efficient types • Walk or bicycle instead of asking for a ride • As a family, lower the heat in the winter and raise the

temperature a bit in the summer

Tweens (ages 11-13) – and their families – can be global stewards!

• Just like in the game, we all have to work together to make a difference!

Activity 9: Polar Bears Go with the Floes

Activity 1: A Century of Change Display

Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National

Park – 1900 to 1998.

Connecting your community to environmental changes

• Invite community to submit photos • Historical (taken a century or more ago) • Contemporary (current)

• Organize the photos into a display

• Collect their feedback!

• Hold an opening night!

• Optional: Collect stories or archive the photographs collected

Past

Present

Reading Game: Ages 10-13

Reading Log: Teens

“Read Me” Bookmarks

IDEAS FOR MAKING THIS YOUR OWN!

Further Resources

PLAYFUL BUILDING

…and 9 other modules to explore other areas of science and engineering! Lunar exploration

The planets Earth, Jupiter, and Mars Rockets

Health in space … and more coming soon!

www.lpi.usra.edu/explore

www.starnetlibraries.org/resources.html

Other Ideas…

National Girls Collaborative Project www.ngcproject.org • Reach girl-serving organizations across the U.S.

NOAA Climate Stewards Education Project http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/climate-stewards/ • Find a NOAA Climate Steward near you • Download educational resources

IMPLEMENTATION DISCUSSION

--THE INTERACTIVE PART!

Thank you! Keep in Touch!

Feedback: http://erasurvey.org/survey3/SSTNT5.htm

STAR_Net Project www.starnetlibraries.org

http://www.facebook.com/STARLibraries https://twitter.com/STARNet_Project

Explore

Department of Education and Public Outreach Lunar and Planetary Institute

3600 Bay Area Boulevard Houston TX 77058

explore@lpi.usra.edu