Children in grades K-12 represent a very technologically savvy group of individuals. For these students reading material in a book is not always enough to capture their interest. Students today crave interactive, hands-on approaches to teaching material, especially when instruction focuses upon science. Administrators from the Department of Education to the local school boards, all recognize the need for technology infused content. To meet this need, the “Mentoring and inquiry using NASA Data on Atmospheric and Earth science for Teachers and Amateurs” (MY NASA DATA) project was established to systematically support educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education through the use of web-based educational tools and teacher development.

At the core of MY NASA DATA is the reduction of NASA's large Earth science data holdings to microsets. These microsets are small enough to be easily portable and useable by students, teachers and citizen scientists. The microsets are taken primarily from data housed at NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC's) e.g. Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley Research Center and Physical Oceanography DAAC at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To increase the usability of the data, the microsets are part of an integrated website (http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov), which allows users to browse through data information pages, a science glossary, suggested computer tools and lesson plans for use with different microsets. A key component of MY NASA DATA is the Live Access Server (LAS) tool that allows users to explore the data, create custom microsets and visualize the data. Through the LAS and website users can access data covering a broad array of weather and climate topic areas such as: radiation budget, clouds, leaf area index, precipitation, aerosols, sea surface temperature, sea surface height and tropospheric chemistry e.g. ozone and nitrous oxide (NOx). The LAS is a scalable to meet different needs. There are three separate versions of the LAS available on the website to target beginners to advanced users. Through the LAS users can choose from a variety of parameters from many satellite missions, such as the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), the Multi-Angle SprectroRadiometer (MISR), and the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), just to name a few. Additionally, users can download custom microsets in formats usable in spreadsheet programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel) and GIS software (i.e., ESRI's Arc View).

A major hurdle in using authentic data is the size of the data and data documentation. Many people outside of a specific discipline have difficulty understanding the jargon-heavy language of science. MY NASA DATA seeks to ease those difficulties by providing teacher- and student- friendly data documentation. The science glossary provides pictures and background information on most of the parameters and other key concepts on the MY NASA DATA website. Additionally, MY NASA DATA supports a FAQ page where users can ask questions and get responses from top scientists in their field, which further connects users to those actually doing Earth science research. The MY NASA DATA project conducts mini-workshops and brief presentations at various conferences throughout the year to reach different user communities. To further strides in informal education, MY NASA DATA also has on its website a webpage devoted strictly to science project ideas. This page serves as a guide to amateur scientists who want to explore various topics e.g. precipitation and clouds in atmospheric science. MY NASA DATA also supports many formal education initiatives by having complete lesson plans and teacher workshops. MY NASA DATA teacher workshops draw people nationwide to the NASA Langley Research Center for an intensely interactive, week-long experience. During the week, teachers meet scientists, familiarize themselves with the website, learn techniques for working with the data, and build personal networks with teachers who share the same interests. The lesson plans cover a broad variety of topics such as radiation, ozone, clouds, aerosols, and sea surface temperature. Lessons contained on the website are from MY NASA DATA team members and most importantly, from teachers who have used MY NASA DATA in their classrooms. Lesson plans, brochures and fliers on MY NASA DATA go through a formal review by NASA's Earth Science Education program to insure that all materials are of high quality and meet rigorous standards.