THE GLOBE WEB SITE AS A TOOL FOR EDUCATION AND STUDENT

RESEARCH

David H. BrownGLOBE Chief Technologist

e-LSEE ConferenceTartu, Estonia

October 3, 2003

HistoryModest early efforts

Not much student data for use in school projectsNo clear vision on how data might be usedFew tools for accessing data

GLOBE Education GoalsHands-on measurementsMeasurement related learning activitiesGrowing focus on analysis of data and use of data in student research and inquiryAnalysis and use of GLOBE data is a strong motivator of data collection

Student Research ToolsData Access

Maps and GraphsRaw Data (Tabular, Excel Ready, .shape Files)

CollaborationSchool Search and School Contact Info (from lots of places)GLOBEMailSchool CollaborationEducator's Corner

Publications and Examples/Ideas for student researchStudent Journal

Background MaterialsTeacher's Guide - Print and CD-ROMScientist's CornerResource Room

An Illustrative ExampleThis hypothetical example shows how a class could use the GLOBE web site to conceive and execute a student research projectAfter reviewing the Implementation section of the GLOBE Teacher’s Guide, our imaginary teacher, Mr. Wizard, decides to use the GLOBE protocols and database to help his students better understand the hydrology measurements they are taking in their stream.

Exploring the LocalThe students in Mr. Wizard’s science class have been collecting hydrology measurements on weekly basis for several years.The new students this year have studied the meaning of the hydrology measurements and the factors that influence these measurements.The students have been to the study site to take the measurements.The teacher asks the students to make a hypothesis about what they think one years worth of data alkalinity will look like.

Prediction

Comparing to Historical Record

Once the students have made their predictions, the teacher asks the students to share them with the class and they talk about what reasoning they used to develop their predictions.Then the students go to the GLOBE database and compare the data collected by that school with their prediction.

GLOBE Visualization

Data DownloadStudents can download GLOBE data for local analysisDownload in ascii (text) format can be directly imported by Excel or other spreadsheet or analysis softwareDownload of spatial (map) data in .shape file format can be downloaded directly into ESRI GIS packages (ARCView, ARCInfo, ARCVoyager, etc).

Local Graph using Excel

Elk Creek Alkalinity Measurements

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Jan-98 Jan-99 Jan-00 Jan-01 Jan-02

mg

/L a

s C

aCO

3

Exploring the RegionMake a map of California showing all schools that have reported alkalinity dataSelect school another school with many measurementsGraph their data and compare to Mr. Wizard’s class

Exploring the GlobeGlobal Search for other schools with lots of alkalinity dataMr. Wizard does a data access search for schools with alkalinity values between 40 and 100 mg/L CaCO3The students discover good schools with lots of data in Poland and Germany They plot and compare dataThey use the contact information to follow up with Polish school

Other Collaboration Mechanisms

Student Collaborations feature of web siteEducators CornerMr. Wizard’s students exchange e-mails with the GLOBE hydrology PI Dr. Martha Conklin. She helps them understand their measurements and suggests additional places to look for more information.

The school involves the Community in their projectParentsLocal Experts

• Universities• Nation government agencies (Forest Service, EPA, etc)• Local agencies (water, agriculture, planning, etc)

Local Government and civic groups

PublicationA vital step in the research processAt the end of their unit on water chemistry, Mr. Wizard’s students co-author a paper with the students from XI Liceum St. Konarskiego on what they have learned about the chemistry of Elk Creek and Opatowicki RiverMr. Wizard’s shares their project with the local media (TV and newspaper) and makes a presentation to monthly town meetingThe two schools jointly publish their paper in the GLOBE Student Investigations JournalSharing results and ideas spurs future projects

Looking to the FutureIt is a challenge to produce classroom ready projects that are relevant and applicable across the entire GLOBE communityWe have tried to provide the raw materials and tools for the successful creation of e-Learning projects We need to capture the results of projects like eLSEE and other partner and individual teacher e-Learning developments

We are also looking to realize benefits of information technology enhanced learning through

Better design and organization of the GLOBE websiteMore modeling of classroom data use in trainingGIS and other geo-spatial data access and analysis toolsDistance Learning