Extended Abstract (64K)1.7
Global Change and Remote Sensing Summer Teacher Workshop and Observation Program
Kevin P. Czajkowski, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH; and T. Benko and J. Struble
The University of Toledo is working with teachers and students from the Great Lakes Region to validate remote sensing satellite observations. As part of the program, The University of Toledo has hosted a NASA sponsored workshop during the during both the summers of 2000 and 2001 called "Global Change and Remote Sensing Seminar" for teachers in grades 4-12. Thus far, fifty teachers from Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania with Earth Science, Physics and Social Studies backgrounds have participated in the workshops. The teachers learned about the electromagnetic spectrum, solar radiation, energy budget, weather observing techniques and analysis, greenhouse gases and their effects, satellite imagery, Global Warming issues, and human dimensions of global change. The teachers received hands-on curriculum training from Dwight Miller and Diann Brown, teaching consultants from the Ohio Geographic Alliance. The teachers also explored education pedagogical issues, such as the national standards for science and geography, constructivist theory, and the 5 E Learning Cycle (Engage, Explain, Explore, Extension and Evaluation). The second phase of the program has engaged students as scientists through an observation program in which the students took cloud and snow observations from December 4 to 12, 2000 and Jan. 29 to February 9, 2001 to develop a validation data set for cloud/snow distinction. Teachers had their students identify cloud type and percent sky cover, 24 hour snow accumulation and snow water equivalent and total snow depth and snow water equivalent. The data have been imported into ArcView and then displayed with AVHRR and MODIS satellite imagery for each day of the observation period. The results are posted on the university's web site for the students to look at.
Supplementary URL: http://www.utoledogis.org/education/student_obs/index.html
Session 1, K-12 Educational Initiatives
Monday, 14 January 2002, 9:30 AM-12:15 PM
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