Stimulating Remote Sensing Education through Knowledge Augmentation Services

Effective learning occurs when students are able to make connections between science, technology, and real-word problems.  Once these connections are made and a science problem is identified, students often face a difficult hurdle in understanding how to use the data, what tools are available, and how to employ both in tandem for studying Earth and atmospheric phenomenon.  The Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC), one of NASA’s 12 data centers, has developed innovative documentation and resources, known as knowledge augmentation services, for students and non-traditional data users to facilitate learning and ease of data use. These services include data recipes, which are documents that explain how to use and visualize atmospheric science data; micro articles, which are short, interesting documents that bring together data and key atmospheric science concepts; and virtual collections, which synthesize data and information resources around an atmospheric event or phenomenon.  GHRC’s knowledge augmentation services provide curated resources for students and non-traditional users that are concise and understandable, yet minimize the effort and uncertainties involved in traditional remotely sensed atmospheric science data education and research.