HR: 0800h
AN: ED51A-0128    [Abstracts]
TI: The History of Winter Thermochron Mission: Utilizing An Innovative Technology to Promote Science Research in the Classroom.
AU: * Bender, K J
EM: kbender@pop400.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, Inc, 7700 Greenbelt Rd Suite 400, Greenbelt, MD 20770, United States
AU: * Bender, K J
EM: kbender@pop400.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA GSFC, Code 130, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AB: The goal of the Thermochron Mission, an embedded strand of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center History of Winter (HOW) Program, is to engage participants actively in research methods while focusing on the observation and analysis of changes in ambient temperature. Through experiential learning opportunities, peer coaching, and expert instruction sessions, participants including in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, and ultimately their K-12 students, enhance their understanding of the processes and methods of science research. The initial engagement and exploration training has been provided to participants in the History of Winter (HOW) workshop since 2004. Supportive web-based multimedia resources utilized through modeling within the training program are available to participants online for continued later use within a classroom setting. The Thermochron Mission echoes the learning cycle embedded within the History of Winter Program. Emphasized are critical aspects of inquiry investigation including active and immersive experiences, opportunities for comparison and analysis of data, application of findings to new situations, and the communication of information in an appropriate forum. As a result, past HOW participants have utilized the Thermochron in settings as different as environmental studies through an outdoor education center and the study of acid mine drainage and its effect on local stream. In 2007, we collaborated with the FINNMARK 2007 and the GO NORTH expeditions, providing snow collection information and Thermochrons to gather a continual temperature record during these remote expeditions to the Arctic region. Both FINNMARK2007 and the POLAR Husky GoNorth 2007 dog sled expeditions took a complement of Thermochrons with multimedia instructions and the tools and protocols of the Global Snowflake Network (GSN), an International Polar Year project of the History of Winter Program, to measure temperature and the shape and characteristics of snow falling to the ground. The thermochron enables continuous temperature measurement for the record and for information to accompany the snowflake data acquisition. Professor Svein Mathiesen of EALÁT (Reindeer Herders Vulnerability Network Study), and reindeer herder and Ph.D. student, Inger Marie G. Eira, are incorporating the HOW and GSN thermochrons, snow pit observations, and snowflake identification protocols into Inger Marie's work for her Ph.D. dissertation on snow changes and reindeer pastures in Northern Norway. The HOW program introduced the Global Snowflake Network and Thermochrons to them as a part of the Indigenous Peoples" Opening Ceremonies for the International Polar Year. Now launching is a new opportunity for teachers to engage in the Thermochron Mission, an online collaborative environment to develop and refine solid science research projects based on temperature studies prior to launching them in the classroom. The goal is to enhance the quality of science research projects for the secondary school classroom and to increase the comfort level of teachers in facilitating research opportunities for students. Interested teachers are invited to participate by submitting a proposal for a research project employing Thermochrons. Select entrants will receive a set of Thermochrons and participate in a peer-coached and scientifically reviewed online forum to guide the implementation of the research project and its refinement prior to classroom use. All projects will then be made available through the History of Winter web site.
UR: http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/how
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 0830 Teacher training
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 1694 Instruments and techniques
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting