Engaging Students in Scientific Practices through GLOBE Atmosphere Investigations

NASA's CALIPSO satellite mission is committed to supporting students as scientists. As part of their outreach efforts, they have developed the GLOBE Atmosphere Investigations Programs (AIP). The program encourages students to engage in authentic science through research on our atmosphere. The National Research Council (NRC) has emphasized the importance of teaching scientific inquiry in the National Science Education Standards (1996, 2000) and scientific practice in the recent Framework for K-12 Science Education (2011). In order to encourage student-centered science inquiry, teacher training utilizing GLOBE Atmosphere Investigations and GLOBE's Student Research Process are provided to middle and high school teachers to assist them in incorporating real scientific investigations into their classroom. The program uses NASA's satellites and the collection of atmosphere data by students to provide an effective science learning experience for the students, and teachers. The GLOBE Atmosphere Investigations program offers year-long support to both teachers and students through direct involvement with NASA activities. The program provides teachers with a one-week summer professional development workshop, long-term teacher support through classroom visits, teacher access to GLOBE instrumentation, and research opportunities for students. The first cohort of teachers was trained July 2012. NASA Langley will present a poster summarizing the planning and implementation details of the summer workshop, including GLOBE training materials and a new activity developed on Exploring Microclimates. In addition to these details, we will share our evaluation instrument and survey results highlighting teacher's perceived barriers to implementing GLOBE, GLOBE resources teachers' indicated they would use in the classroom, as well as their future training interests. These results will add to the discussion on effective outreach and teacher training programs.