Great citizen science activity

The CERES S'COOL program is intended for elementary school classes, but I could see this as a great addition for a high school Earth Science class. The ability level of freshmen is diverse a... See More

The CERES S'COOL program is intended for elementary school classes, but I could see this as a great addition for a high school Earth Science class. The ability level of freshmen is diverse as some have had a lot of science exposure in elementary or middle school, while others have had little. This program could help all get on equal footing. Since we start our year by learning about how the Earth system is monitored by satellites, it is only natural to also incorporate ground truthing to ensure what the satellites are detecting is actually occurring. By following this mapping unit with a meteorology unit, we could easily participate in this program.

Great connection

What is more exciting for a student than helping NASA conduct research? This article demonstrates an effective way for students to learn about weather, while at the same time, assisting NAS... See More

What is more exciting for a student than helping NASA conduct research? This article demonstrates an effective way for students to learn about weather, while at the same time, assisting NASA in interpreting satellite images. The author, Linda Bryson, has her students pursue a year long investigation on cloud cover and recording surface measurements, such as temperature, humidity, and pressure. This year long project allows students to begin to recognize and understand weather patterns. Bryson also is able to integrate this into other subject areas. She has her students read The Big Storm by B. Hiscock to incorporate language arts. Bryson also includes mathematics by having students convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius; and read measurements. Finally, the students are required to do map reading, which ties into social studies. All in all, the best part of the unit is that it allows students to practice recording meaningful data that is used to assist actual scientist in their discoveries. This is well worth the read and can be incorporated into any grade level.