Georgia Goes Global:

Monitoring the Global

Environment through

Authentic Science relates the

experiences of five in-service

teachers who participated in the

GLOBE training workshop. Each

teacher implemented a specific

GLOBE protocol in his or her respective educational setting. The concept

was to illustrate how implementing the

protocols provides a venue for students to

engage in authentic science as active

participants in the learning process and

become self-directed researchers. These

experiences also convey how the GLOBE

curriculum enhances students’ ability to

think scientifically through “contextual

learning.” The concluding chapter discusses the

impact of the GLOBE Program and how it precipitated other projects as an outcome of the GLOBE

experience.

“True science teaches us to doubt and to abstain

from ignorance. Man can learn nothing unless he

proceeds from the known to the unknown.”

—Anonymous
Georgia Goes Global!

Monitoring the Global Environment through Authentic Science

Edited by:

Terrie Kielborn, Ph.D.,

University of West Georgia

Frank Orr, Ph.D.,

University of West Georgia

Michael Childs,

Graduate Research Assistant, University of West Georgia
Associated with the School of Education

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

This document was produced in association with Florida State

University and the Southest Eisenhower Regional Consortium for

Mathematics and Science Education @ SERVE.

First Printing 2002

Kielborn, T., Orr, F., & Childs, M. (2002). Georgia goes global! Monitoring the global environment through authentic science. Tallahassee, FL:

SERVE.

Dr. Francena D. Cummings

Director of the Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium

for Mathematics and Science Education @ SERVE

Dr. Donna B. Nalley

Director of Publications, SERVE

Richard Emond

Senior Graphic Designer, SERVE

This document was produced with funding from the Dwight D.

Eisenhower National Programs for Mathematics and Science

Regional Consortia Program, Office of Educational Research

and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract

no. R319A000011A.

The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the

views or policies of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of trade

names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement

by the U.S. Government.

Citation:

Program Support:

Book and Cover

Design:

Funding:
The Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium for

Mathematics and Science Education @ SERVE

The Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education @

SERVE is one of ten regional consortia created by Congress to improve mathematics and

science education throughout the nation. The Consortium has three objectives:

 Coordinating mathematics and science resources

 Disseminating exemplary mathematics and science educational instructional

materials

 Providing technical assistance for the implementation of teaching methods and

assessment tools for use by elementary and secondary school students, staff, and

administrators

The Consortium frames its work through the following focus areas:

 Collaboration and Communication. Joining forces with other mathematics and

science education organizations at the national, state, and local levels

 Programs and Curricula. Identifying and disseminating exemplary mathematics

and science materials with and through the Eisenhower National Center and other

educational agencies

 Professional Development. Providing for the training of teachers, administrators,

and other trainers in the use of exemplary mathematics and science materials,

methods, and assessments

 Curriculum Frameworks. Assisting in the development and implementation of

standards-based state curriculum frameworks

 Technology. Facilitating the use of telecommunications technology as a tool for

mathematics and science instruction

 Equity. Supporting programs and activities that meet the needs of underserved

groups in mathematics and science

 Informal Education Agencies. Supporting the use of informal mathematics and

science agencies through disseminating information and encouraging collaboration

 Community Outreach. Promoting dialogue with community groups to engage them

in meaningful ways to support mathematics and science

We offer the following services to promote our objectives:

Networks

 Collaborating with existing networks of mathematics and science educators

 Building and supporting new networks

 Providing opportunities for educators to share ideas and observations about what

works in mathematics and science education

 Sponsoring conferences, teleconferences, meetings, and symposia

Access to Promising Practices in Mathematics and Science

 Identifying successful mathematics and science programs

 Publishing information on effective programs

Technical Assistance

 Helping schools and districts adapt and use new programs, policies, equipment,

and resources

 Identifying the training needs of mathematics and science educators

 Developing effective training to meet identified needs through a Technical

Assistance Academy for Mathematics and Science Services (TAAMSS)

Resources

 Providing access to SERVE products and services

 Helping educators gain access to local, state, regional, and national resources

Free and Low-Cost Materials

 Developing practical resources schools can use, including publications, video

tapes, resource lists, and policy briefs that address concerns from schools,

districts, and state education agencies

For more information

about the Consortium,

contact the main office:

Southeast Eisenhower

Regional Consortium for

Mathematics and Science

Education @ SERVE

1203 Governor’s Square

Boulevard, Suite 400

Tallahassee, FL 32301

800.854.0476

850.671.6033

Fax 850.671.6010

www.serve.org/

Eisenhower

Field Offices:

Georgia

800.659.3204
About SERVE

SERVE, directed by Dr. John R. Sanders, is an education organization with the mission to

promote and support the continuous improvement of educational opportunities for all

learners in the Southeast. The organization’s commitment to continuous improvement is

manifest in an applied research-to-practice model that drives all of its work. Building on

theory and craft knowledge, SERVE staff members develop tools and processes designed to

assist practitioners and policymakers with their work, ultimately, to raise the level of student

achievement in the region. Evaluation of the impact of these activities combined with input

from affected stakeholders expands SERVE’s knowledge base and informs future research.

This vigorous and practical approach to research and development is supported by an

experienced staff strategically located throughout the region. This staff is highly skilled in

providing needs assessment services, conducting applied research in schools, and developing processes, products, and programs that inform educators and increase student achievement. In the last three years, in addition to its basic research and development work with

over 170 southeastern schools, SERVE staff provided technical assistance and training to

more than 18,000 teachers and administrators across the region.

SERVE is governed by a board of directors that includes the governors, chief state school

officers, educators, legislators, and private sector leaders from Alabama, Florida, Georgia,

Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

At the core of SERVE’s business is the operation of the Regional Educational Laboratory.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the Regional Educational Laboratory for the Southeast is one of ten programs providing

research-based information and services to all 50 states and territories. These Laboratories

form a nationwide education knowledge network, building a bank of information and

resources shared nationally and disseminated regionally to improve student achievement

locally. SERVE’s National Leadership Area, Expanded Learning Opportunities, focuses on

improving student outcomes through the use of exemplary pre-K and extended-day programs.

In addition to the Lab, SERVE operates the Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium for

Mathematics and Science Education and the SouthEast Initiatives Regional Technology in

Education Consortium (SEIRTEC). SERVE also administers a subcontract for the Region IV

Comprehensive Center and has additional funding from the Department to provide services

in migrant education and to operate the National Center for Homeless Education and the

Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Homeless Education.

Together, these various elements of SERVE’s portfolio provide resources, services, and

products for responding to regional and national needs. Program areas include Assessment,

Accountability, and Standards; Children, Families, and Communities; Education Leadership;

Education Policy; Improvement of Science and Mathematics Education; School Development

and Reform; and Technology in Learning.

In addition to the program areas, the SERVE Evaluation Unit supports the evaluation activities

of the major grants and contracts and provides contracted evaluation services to state and

local education agencies in the region. The Technology Support Group provides SERVE staff

and their constituents with IT support, technical assistance, and software applications.

Through its Publications Unit, SERVE publishes a variety of studies, training materials, policy

briefs, and program products. Among the many products developed at SERVE, two receiving

national recognition include Achieving Your Vision of Professional Development, honored by

the National Staff Development Council, and Study Guide for Classroom Assessment: Linking

Instruction and Assessment, honored by Division H of AERA. Through its programmatic,

technology, evaluation, and publishing activities, SERVE provides contracted staff development and technical assistance in specialized areas to assist education agencies in achieving

their school improvement goals.

SERVE’s main office is at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with major staff

groups located in Tallahassee, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as satellite offices in

Durham, North Carolina, and Shelby, Mississippi. Unique among the ten Regional Educational

Laboratories, SERVE employs a full-time policy analyst to assist the chief state school officer

at the state education agencies in each of the states in the SERVE region. These analysts act

as SERVE’s primary liaisons to the state departments of education, providing research-based

policy services to state-level education policymakers and informing SERVE about key state

education issues and legislation.

SERVE Main Office

P.O. Box 5367

Greensboro, NC 27435

336.315.7400

800.755.3277

Fax 336.315.7457

John R. Sanders, Ed.D.

Executive Director

www.serve.org
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

By Francena Cummings, Ph.D.

Chapter One

The GLOBE as a Constructivist Learning Environment

By Frank Orr, Ph.D., Nancy Davis, M.A., and Michael Childs

Chapter Two

If the Sky Were Falling, We Would Know It!

By Rhonda Baldwin, Ed.S., with Gail Marshall, Ed.D.

Chapter Three

If I Were a Fish, Would I Swim Here?

By Staci Nash, M.Ed., with Rebecca Dodge, Ph.D.

Chapter Four

Exceptional Environmental Scientists

By Carla Pollard, Ed.S., and Terrie Kielborn, Ph.D.

Chapter Five

Seedlings Sometimes Grow into Very Big Trees

By Ted Wansley, Ph.D.

Chapter Six

Looking for El Dorado

By David Todd, M.Ed., and Rebecca Dodge, Ph.D.

Chapter Seven

Impacts of GLOBE Lead to Gatekeepers of the Future

By Terrie Kielborn, Ph.D.

2

3

5

13

21

25

33

37

47
2

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the teachers who have shared their

implementation of the GLOBE protocols with us: Rhonda Baldwin,

Staci Nash, Carla Pollard, David Todd, and Ted Wansley. We have

developed a learning community and learned from each other. The

research facilitators were an invaluable source of inspiration and

knowledge, and we acknowledge each of them below. Without them,

this endeavor would not have been possible.

The Georgia Eisenhower Higher Education Program for Professional

Development provided monetary support for conducting the

GLOBE workshop, which allowed each of the above teachers to be

trained in all of the GLOBE protocols.

This was a collaborative effort among the College of Education at

the University of West Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s

Center for Education Integrating Science, Math, and Computing

(CEISMC), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

The Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at SERVE funded us to write and edit this monograph.

 -—Terrie Kielborn, Frank Orr, and Michael Childs

Research Facilitators: Bill Ainslie Melinda Higgins

EPA Region IV Georgia Tech/GTRI

Vicki Ainslie O.C. Lam

Georgia Tech/GTRI Georgia Tech/CEISMC

Nancy Davis Dara O’Neil

Georgia Tech/GTRI Georgia Tech/GTRI

Jim Demmers Paul Schlumper

Georgia Tech/GTRI Georgia Tech/GTRI

Rebecca Dodge Roc Tschirhart

University of West Georgia, Georgia Tech/GTRI

Geosciences

Nick Faust Jim Walsh

Georgia Tech/GTRI Georgia Tech/GTRI

Pam Gould

Georgia Tech/CEISMC
3

Foreword

By Francena Cummings, Ph.D.

“Professional curriculum and instructional standards in mathematics and

science reflect a research-based understanding that learning is a process in

which youngsters are active participants in the acquisition and construction of

knowledge” (National Science Foundation, (NSF) July 1998, p.9). This quote

illustrates the thinking that drives current science reform, which focuses on

standards-based teaching, including inquiry, project-based activities, problem

solving and other activities designed to engage students. While there are

many teachers who embrace inquiry-based teaching, there is still the need to

offer teachers opportunities to engage in inquiry-based experiences so as to

raise their level of expertise with implementing dynamic tasks that engage

students in learning about scientific phenomena

In this Monograph, Georgia Goes Global (Global Learning and Observations to

Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), the co-authors offer a glimpse of students and

teachers engaged in inquiry around environmental topics that are focused on the

earth’s system as a whole. Why is this kind of learning important to our students? What are the advantages of involving students in these experiences?

Moreover, what lessons do teachers learn from teaching the Georgia Goes Global?

GLOBE is a great example of a partnership among federal programs, universities and local school systems to improve science education for K–12 students.

GLOBE brings together scientists, science teachers and students for the

purpose of advancing scientific understanding of the earth. This worldwide

hands-on science program provides students with realistic experiences that

connect to questions that they may have on the nature of intriguing environmental phenomena. From water quality to soil study, students engage in

activities that allow them to learn by doing. They are able to do science

through answering their own questions of interests; they used the processes of

science to draw conclusions about scientific phenomena. Further they are

able to use technology to access similar problems that other students discovered across the country as well as internationally.

Professional development for teachers must be a central part of the agenda for

teacher change and the GLOBE project provides valuable learning opportunities that promote inquiry around arelevant issues in science education.

Teachers who are involved in the GLOBE Project have experiential learning as

they become familiar with the GLOBE protocols for the various topics. As one

of the authors pointed out, the GLOBE training served as a scaffolding mechanism for extending or developing topics related to topics of the GLOBE protocols. Besides, they experience firsthand some of the new equipment that must

be utilized in the protocols.

In this monograph, teachers offer artifacts from their learning and teaching

experiences. These shared experiences remind us that learning is a personal journey; however, teachers continue to make a difference by setting

the directions for the journey. Congratulations to the teachers and science

educators who shared their stories. In the final chapter, the co-author delineates some of the impact that the project has had on the teachers and students. The one benefit is doing and talking science, important dimensions of

helping students appreciate and value science.
4

“The Woes of Nature”

Written by Dennis V. Casey

Dennis Casey is a fifth-grade mathematics teacher at Chestnut Log

Elementary School in Douglasville, Georgia. He has been teaching

for seven years and holds an Education Specialist degree from the

University of West Georgia.

I am Nature.

I am the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, the

exosphere, and the biosphere.

I am the skies above

and the rocks and waters below.

I am the environcentric position that says that all things need

to center around and adapt to me.

I am a serial killer lurking in the rainforest.

I am a magician and an assassin.

I am Ebola.

I am now surfacing in the hearts of the cites

that once were the jaws of the jungles.

I am Global Warming.

My temperatures are ripe for the spread of disease.

Centuryly (Cent-chur-ree-lee),

my temperatures continue to rise degree by degree.

The summers are much warmer than they once used to be!

“I am barley breathing,”

I heard a human say to me.

Coughing and gasping,

just for a few,

precious morsels and breaths

of my O2.

But can I help it if there are more of thee,

than there are trees like me?

‘Cuz, I am Deforestation:

the depletion of forests for human consumption,

the destruction of habitats for lions and bats,

the loss of food for bears and emus,

and, the decreased support for the ground,

to which I’m bound.

I am Soil Erosion.

I watch flood waters roll past the former locales of absorbable

trees.

I am the washing away of dirt by the wind and the rain.

I am the rapid and continual change of the earth’s terrain.

I am Acid Rain.

I am sulfur and nitrogen emissions from

burned fossil fuels like oil and coal.

I am the exhaust of automobiles that

combine with water vapor in the clouds

to return to the earth as rain.

I lower the pH of lakes.

I corrode bridges, buildings,

and coaxial cable coils.

I help harm the soil.

My name is Ozone.

Which means,

Mother Nature’s “sunscreen.”

UV-B seeps through my CFC created hole,

to wreak havoc and cause turmoil.

The legacies I helped borne:

skin cancers, cataracts, genetic mutations, and attacks,

damages to several species of worms,

plus a host of other plant and marine life-forms,

have all caused me to be torn with scorn.

I am the honking of a horn,

the vroom and the zoom,

the pitter and the splatter,

and the boon and the doom.

Yes, you’ve probably guessed,

that I am the affliction,

properly known as Noise Pollution.

I am now playing in select areas,

but am spreading quickly to a town near you.

I am the Greenhouse Effect.

My gases,

like CO2,

allow light simply to pass right through.

So that it can change to heat as it strikes the ground.

But when it tries to rebound,

it gets knocked back down.

Causing the earth to feel too hot to trot.

I house cryptosporidium

and a host of other bacterium.

I am Water Pollution:

a major problem seeking a major solution.

I must be corrected,

or all will be infected.

Clean H2O,

is extremely valuable.

I am Over Population.

I am Malnutrition too!

I am Starvation and Limitation.

I am crowded on the top of Macchu Picchu.

I am Nuclear Waste.

I am Global Cooling.

I am Landfills at their capacity levels.

I am Recycling.

I am...

I am Nature.

Wouldn’t it be swell,

If we could all begin again?

Escape to the heavens,

and give manifest destiny a spin?

Will leaving the earth be a cure,

from the ever prevalent threat of nuclear war?

Our last effort pitch

may be to find a new niche

in the skies above.

The beginning.
5

Chapter One

The GLOBE as a Constructivist Learning Environment

By Frank Orr, Ph.D., Nancy Davis, and Michael Childs

Talking Science means observing, describing, comparing,

classifying, analyzing, discussing, hypothesizing, theorizing,

questioning, challenging, arguing, designing experiments,

following procedures, judging, evaluating, deciding, concluding, generalizing, reporting, writing, lecturing, and teaching

in and through the language of science. (Lemke, 1990)

Evolutionary changes that occur do so over spans of time or eras

and are virtually unnoticed. Geological and anthropological studies

have revealed artifacts verifying the existence and extinction of

species, which may be attributed to many factors or conditions.

Dramatic evolutionary changes are usually associated with cataclysmic events that occurred prior to the existence of the human

species. Environmentalists profess that contemporary issues pertaining to global sustainability have occurred very subtly due to the

homocentric behavior of the human species creating an imbalance

in nature. If the current trends continue, common sense dictates

that these trends are on a collision course that will not only jeopardize basic human needs, but also the fundamental systems required

to maintain global sustainability.

A new worldview will require a paradigm shift from a homocentric

position to an environcentric position that perceives nature as the

center, with humans needing to learn to adapt or accommodate to

it. Based on this paradigm shift, GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) represents an excellent venue

for K–12 students to perform authentic science and be instrumental

in effecting change.

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment

(GLOBE) Program is a unique hands-on international environmental

science and education program designed for use in schools in

kindergarten through grade 12. It brings together students, teachers, and scientists from around the world to

 Enhance environmental awareness.

 Increase scientific understanding of the earth.

 Support improved student achievement in science and

mathematics (Finarelli, 1998).

Prologue

The GLOBE Program

If the current trends

continue, common sense

dictates that these

trends are on a collision

course that will not only

jeopardize basic human

needs, but also the

fundamental systems

required to maintain

global sustainability.
6

Currently, participants in more than 10,000 schools in 96 countries

take environmental measurements selected by the world science

community to provide data useful for research into the dynamics of

the earth’s environment. Learning activities have been developed

through data collection protocols designed by environmental scientists in the areas of Atmosphere/Climate, Hydrology, Land Cover/

Biology, Soil, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS)/Remote Sensing.

Globe Students:

 Make environmental measurements utilizing the GLOBE

protocols and calibrated measurement equipment providing

a core set of environmental observations at or near their

geographical region.

 Report their data through the Internet/World Wide Web to a

GLOBE data processing facility.

 Receive global environmental images created from worldwide

data.

 Interact with scientists and contribute their data to actual

research.

 Study the environment by relating their observations and the

resulting images to broader environmental topics (Finarelli, 1998).

Former Vice President Al Gore commissioned the program from an

original concept first introduced in his 1992 book, earth in the Balance.

This concept embodies the idea that today’s young people will, as

adults, greatly influence what life on earth will be like in the future. Being

literate in science is a condition for doing so responsibly, as well as for

living a full and meaningful life (AAAS, 1993). GLOBE, therefore, is an

international program in which school children, through hands-on

measurements of their local environments, contribute to helping scientists better understand the earth as a “holistic” ecosystem.

The premise is if students are exposed to real-life problems involving the

environment, it serves to arouse their interest and to motivate them

toward full participation as citizens in our technologically dependent

society (Zinn, Gnut, & Zafkafi, 1999). Science teachers are being challenged to present science as it “really is,” rather than promote a mythic,

textbook science (Martin, Kass, & Brouwer, 1990). Increasingly, there is a

call for developing scientific literacy or teaching real or authentic science,

and this is seen in a widening number of documents. The National Standards established for teaching mathematics and science advocate that

using inquiry as a cornerstone for effective instruction through the use of

instructional technology will produce the following beneficial results:

 Mathematics and science become more meaningful, better

understood, and hence more useful when applied in real-world

applications of interest to students.

The Georgia Initiative

GLOBE, therefore, is an

international program in

which school children,

through hands-on

measurements of their

local environments,

contribute to helping

scientists better

understand the earth as

a “holistic” ecosystem.
7

 The extent to which science is studied and understood is

substantially increased with a significant economy of time

when mathematics and science are linked through technology.

 The quality of learning and retention improves dramatically

when activities are made meaningful and relevant through

authentic science.

 Motivation increases dramatically when students investigate

real-world situations and participate actively in the hands-on

process.

 Student attitudes toward mathematics and science improve

when students

(a) Feel ownership in the process of learning gained through

the use of technology.

(b) Engage in hands-on tasks with reasonable assurance

of success.

 Student understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts (with a focus on problem-solving strategies, reasoning,

patterns, and relationships) will be enhanced by integrating

technology.

The GLOBE Program fosters coordination among the multiple

agencies responsible for science education, as evidenced by the

funding and non-funding federal partners involved. These include

the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States

Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and the Department of

Education and State, as well as a variety of partners participating at

the local level. Some $15 million per year in federal funds is invested

in GLOBE—an investment that need not be duplicated on the local

level for schools to be able to use the tools and infrastructure

GLOBE has developed. Instead, funding at the local level can be

used to train teachers and improve the quality of science education

in K–12 schools.

The University of West Georgia, in collaboration with the Georgia

Institute of Technology, developed a statewide initiative project

known as Georgia Goes Global! The initiative was a partnership with

the GLOBE Program. In the fall of 1999, the universities co-hosted a

GLOBE teacher training session funded by an Eisenhower High

Education Grant. The workshop trained 48 K–12 in-service science

and mathematics teachers from 15 counties in Georgia and was

conducted by faculty from both institutions. Each participant

became a certified GLOBE teacher and their institution a designated

GLOBE school. Participants were trained to implement the protocols for each learning activity utilizing the appropriate data collecting methodology, instrumentation, and reporting of data via

the Internet.

In the fall of 1999, the

universities co-hosted a

GLOBE teacher training

session funded by an

Eisenhower High

Education Grant. The

workshop trained 48 K–

12 in-service science

and mathematics

teachers from 15

counties in Georgia and

was conducted by

faculty from both

institutions. Each

participant became a

certified GLOBE teacher

and their institution a

designated GLOBE

school.
8

The goals of the Georgia Goes Global! Initiative may serve as a model

for implementation for the GLOBE Program. These goals are to

 Train teachers throughout Georgia to be GLOBE teachers.

 Mentor new and existing GLOBE teachers, helping to assure

that they are successful in implementing the program.

 Build partnerships with school systems and with other higher

education units in order to enhance our ability to meet the

geographic and temporal constraints of teachers.

Implementing the GLOBE Program in schools achieved several

objectives by

 Providing professional development opportunities for inservice teachers.

 Reaching thousands of school children and their families,

helping them to understand the environment, the scientific

process, and how computers and computer-based information

resources function in our global society.

 Reinvigorating the curriculum in multiple disciplines by providing proven technology-based learning tools as well as

research data on their use and impact.

 Improving students’ test scores in mathematics and science.

 Encouraging students to pursue careers in science and technology.

The GLOBE Program is grounded in the tenets of a constructivist

learning environment. The students are the thespians and the whole

world is their stage, providing the students with real-world experiences in scientific research. It is a learning environment that emphasizes the student as an active participant in the learning process,

the importance of collaboration, and the need for authentic or

meaningful contexts for problem-based learning.

A complex environmental problem or scenario in an authentic

context that reflects the interests and abilities of the learners

provides the “student-as-scientist” an opportunity to co-construct

new knowledge in a collaborative format. This helps to promote the

science process as “true” inquiry-based and open-ended, rather

than the traditional “cookbook” laboratory experiments with previously known answers. Prior knowledge built on experiences of the

learner profoundly affects how the learner interprets new ideas and

concepts to become an independent learner.

In the GLOBE Program, the students are engaged as active participants in the learning process, vis-à-vis meaningful dialogue with

peers, instructors, and scientists. The student becomes a selfdirected learner, and the role of the instructor becomes that of a

facilitator. This student-centered approach empowers the student

Project Goals and

Objectives

Theoretical Framework

A complex

environmental problem

or scenario in an

authentic context that

reflects the interests and

abilities of the learners

provides the “student-asscientist”

an opportunity to

co-construct new

knowledge in a

collaborative format.
9

to communicate with the authority of a scientist as a part of a community of learners to move purposefully together toward an inclusive

kind of “talking science” (Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1998).

The primary criterion for selecting a GLOBE environmental measurement is its potential benefit to the world science community in

understanding the earth’s environment (Finarelli, 1998). The GLOBE

protocols should also have educational value as a scientific methodology and as an interdisciplinary approach embodied in the learning activities facilitated by the students’ development of problemsolving and critical-thinking skills (Finarelli, 1998).

The GLOBE protocols encompass the areas of environmental study

that focus on understanding the earth’s systems as a whole, on the

dynamics of environmental change, and on connecting that knowledge to societal needs (National Science and Technology Council,

2000). The protocols were developed by scientist/educator teams

with a Scientist Principal Investigator and an Educator Co-Principal

Investigator. The number of protocols continue to evolve; however,

the areas of atmosphere/climate, hydrology, soils, global positioning

(GPS)/remote sensing, and land cover/biology are the primary

focus. This is consistent with the U.S. Global Change Research

Program’s interdisciplinary elements:

 Understanding the earth’s Climate System, with a focus on

improving our understanding of the climate system as a whole.

 Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems, with a focus on

improving understanding of the relationship between a changing biosphere and a changing climate and the impacts of

global change on managed and natural ecosystems.

 Composition and Atmospheric Chemistry, with a focus on

improving our understanding of the global impacts of natural

and human processes on the atmosphere by determining the

effect of such changes on air quality and human health.

 Paleoenvironment and Paleoclimate, with a focus on providing

a quantitative understanding of the envelope of natural environmental variability.

 Human Dimensions of Global Change, with a focus on explaining how humans intervene in the earth system and are themselves affected by the interactions between natural and social

processes.

 The Global Water Cycle, with a focus on improving our understanding of water availability and water quality (NSTC, 2000).

These protocols conducted by participants all over the world to monitor the global environment will produce data sets that have a

broad geographical coverage that will serve as an invaluable

contribution to understanding the earth’s environment.

A Science and

Education Partnership

In the GLOBE Program,

the students are

engaged as active

participants in the

learning process, vis-àvis meaningful dialogue

with peers, instructors,

and scientists.
10

The GLOBE Program is one of the most beneficial curricula developed to effect reform in science education. The collaborative partnership between the University of West Georgia and the Georgia

Institute of Technology as a statewide initiative has impacted

innumerable students in school districts across the state. The

implementation of the program has placed the concepts of authentic learning, student-scientist partnership, and inquiry-based pedagogy into a pragmatic context.

If we are to succeed in effecting reform in science education and

fulfill the goals of Project 2061, science literacy for all Americans,

we must develop curricula that provide the venue for students to

become self-directed researchers and actively engaged in the learning process. We must also provide the professional development for

in-service and pre-service teachers for implementing standardsbased teaching and learning.

Subsequent chapters are written by in-service teachers who were

participants in the GLOBE training program. Chapters two through

six are first-hand accounts of a specific protocol implemented in

their respective educational settings. Each chapter was also coauthored by a science educator or scientist in their respective field

or discipline. In some cases, the accounts include how the GLOBE

training acted as scaffolding for extending or developing related

projects or course offerings.

The concluding chapter summarizes the impact of the GLOBE

Program:

 Illustrating how teachers and students learned to understand

science and appreciate what it means to be a scientist

 Acquiring life skills such as observing their world

 Understanding the importance of accuracy, consistency, and

persistence

 Acquiring and managing responsibility

 Appreciating how the world’s climates and cultures interconnect

This chapter will also make note of how GLOBE engages all students, regardless of modality preference, learning style, ethnicity,

race, culture, learning disability, or special need. The international

nature of GLOBE adds the potential for social science, foreign

language, and cross-cultural dimensions to the program. GLOBE

students communicate (usually over the Internet) to conduct joint

research, but also to learn more about each other’s countries,

languages, and cultures.

A scientifically informed citizenry is a prerequisite for effective functioning of a democratic society in an era dominated by scientific and

technological advancement. To quote Frederick Antczak (1985):

A Personal Perspective

If we are to succeed in

effecting reform in

science education and

fulfill the goals of Project

2061, science literacy for

all Americans, we must

develop curricula that

provide the venue for

students to become selfdirected researchers and

actively engaged in the

learning process.
11

In democracy, the people rule—that is, they rule insofar as

they make their own decisions. Life in an increasingly

technologized society imposes increasing demands on

society’s decision makers. If, in such an era, democracy’s

decisions are to be made intelligently and effectively, the

public must somehow be reconstituted intellectually.

The alternative would be to abandon the fight and admit defeat.

However, the authors concur with Isaac Asimov, who stated, “Never!

As for myself, I may be defeated at last, but I intend to struggle to

the end. I will not surrender, embrace ignorance, and kiss its hideous face” (Asimov, 1983).

American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993).

Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Baker, T. R. (December 2001). Success with GPS. The Science

Teacher. 68(9), 38–41.

Damian, C. (2001). It’s about relevancy. Eisenhower National Clearing

House Focus, 8(3), 25.

Finarelli, M. G. (1998). GLOBE: A worldwide environmental science

and education partnership. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 7(1), 77-84.

Goldfarb, T. D. (2001). Taking Sides (9th ed.). Guilford, CT: McGrawHill/Dushkin.

Gore, A. (1993). earth in the balance: Ecology and the human spirit.

New York, NY: Plume.

Lemke, J. (1990). Talking science: Language, learning and values.

New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Co.

Marlowe, B. A., & Page, M. L. (1998). Creating and sustaining the

constructivist classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Martin, B., Kass, H., & Brouwer, W. (1990). Authentic science: A

diversity of meanings. Science Education, 74(5), 541–554.

Mintzes, J. J., Wandersee, J. H., & Novak, J. D. (1998). Teaching

science for understanding: A human constructivist view. New York, NY:

Academic Press.

National Science and Technology Council (2000). Our

changing planet. Washington, DC: Office of Science and

Technology Policy.

References
12

Nelson, G. D. (2001). Project 2061 update 2001–2002. Washington, DC:

American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ridgway, J. (2001). Debating the science curriculum of the future.

Eisenhower National Clearing House Focus, 8(4), 18–22.

Rubin, C. S., & Wilson, S. (October, 2001). Inquiry by design. The

Science Teacher, 68(7), 38–43.

Sutman, F. X. (2001). Mathematics and science literacy for all Americans. Eisenhower National Clearing House Focus, 8(3), 20–23.

Windschitl, M. (June 1999). The challenges of sustaining a

constructivist classroom culture. Phi Delta Kappa, 751–755.

Wright, A. W. (October 2001). The ABCs of assessment. The Science

Teacher, 68(7), 60–64.

Zinn, B., Grut, S., & Kafkafi. (Winter 1999). First-rate crops from

second-rate water. Science Activities, 35(4), 27.

Name: Frank Orr

Teaching Experience: 27 years

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Secondary Science

Education, University of West Georgia, Recipient of the Georgia

Board of Regents’ Distinguished Professors’ Grant

Former Positions/Duties: Science Department Chair, A.P.

Chemistry/Physics/A.P. Biology, Quantico Dependents School

System, Marine Corps Development & Education Command

Degree: Ph.D., Secondary Science Education & Bioethics, The

University of Tennessee

Name: Nancy Davis

Teaching Experience: 15 years

Former Positions/Duties: Senior Research Associate, Georgia

Institute of Technology, Director, GLOBE Program, and Head,

Communications and Training Technology Branch, GTRI

Degree: M.A., Communications, Georgia State University

Name: Michael Childs

Teaching Experience: 1 year

Current Position: Graduate Research Assistant, University of

West Georgia

Former Positions/Duties: Math Teacher at Lithia Springs High

School, Douglas County, Georgia

Degree: B.S., Secondary Math Education, Mississippi State

University

Demographic

Information
13

Chapter Two

If the Sky Were Falling, We Would Know It!

By Rhonda Baldwin, Ed.S., with Gail Marshall, Ed.D.

Sharing the GLOBE Program with my students has been a

personal and professional pleasure. When my students

enjoy learning, I feel wonderful! Every student who participates in the GLOBE Program learns.

In the fall of 1999, Fairplay Middle School went GLOBAL! The Douglas

County School System gave teachers from each school an opportunity

to attend a training session at the State University of West Georgia. I was

eager to take advantage of the opportunity and explore what the GLOBE

Program had to offer my students and our school. The training sessions

were spread out over four days: two in September and two in November.

I arrived for our first training session with much anticipation. We

were given our GLOBE Program teacher manuals and became familiar

with the organization of our materials. We made several instruments

that would be used throughout the training session to collect data,

and we were introduced to the GLOBE protocols. I was very impressed with the protocols and realized how this would stress constants in an experiment for students—authentic science at its best!

We looked over the GLOBE learning activities that are designed to

help students understand concepts of the program. The activities

teach concepts and protocols, which are followed within a constructivist learning environment. We worked in cooperative groups

and did several of the activities in the training session. Each of us

commented on the value of the activities with regard to the state

curriculum objectives in science.

On our second day of training, we covered GPS/remote sensing,

hydrology, soil, and land cover/biology protocols. We also were

introduced to the GLOBE website and began learning how to send

data collected by the website. We had a very productive, learningfilled day, and I looked forward to sharing what I had learned with

my students. Although I would not be certified by GLOBE until I

completed my training in November, I could not wait to get started.

We were studying light waves in my class at that time, and I used

the remote sensing video as enrichment to our unit. I explained

what I knew about the GLOBE Program and asked my students if

they would like to participate. I know my enthusiasm had a strong

impact because every class got excited, too!

We needed some materials for data collection, and we needed to learn the protocols. My students and I decided to seek

Wow, What an

Informative First Day!

I was very impressed

with the protocols and

realized how this would

stress constants in an

experiment for

students—authentic

science at its best!
14

help from our community. I drafted a letter to parents detailing what

we wanted to do and how the activities would help us meet our

learning objectives. I also drafted a letter, which the students

showed to community businesses, to request financial support in

purchasing the materials we needed. We did not want to take a long

time to try to collect our money, so we set a one-week collection

goal. I knew we could make several of the instruments we would

use; however, the students wanted to purchase laboratory-quality

materials. I let the students participate, as they felt comfortable. We

began establishing our GLOBE groups for training during that week

period also. I found my students working together to reach our

goals, financially and academically. They checked with each other

daily about the money donated, and they discussed the protocols in

class and after school in their neighborhoods and on the phone.

This added to my excitement. We were working together, and I knew

they would enjoy our GLOBE experience.

At the end of that whirlwind week, we had raised enough money to

purchase all of the materials needed to participate in the GLOBE

protocols. This led to the most difficult part of our experience:

waiting for the materials to arrive. I called the recommended distributor on Friday afternoon at the end of our fundraising week and

placed our order with a request for a “rush” order. The distributor

was very cooperative, and we had most of our materials within two

weeks; however, our instrument shelter was on back order, and we

needed it to begin our atmosphere protocols.

One of my students stayed after class one day and asked me about the

shelter. She had seen the one being used on the GLOBE introduction

video. I gave her the plans in the teacher’s manual on a Friday, and she

took them home to show her grandfather. Monday morning, we had

our instrument shelter built to perfection. I was so proud that this

young lady thought of her grandfather and his woodworking skills. I

sent a thank you note that same day to her grandfather. The following

week, I received a note from the young lady’s mother, who thanked me

for providing her daughter with an activity where she shared knowledge and time with her grandfather. I began to realize how much our

activities impacted our community and parents. I had parents ask me

at football games and school events about our experiments. I was

proud to share our progress and let them know that we could not have

participated without their financial and motivational support.

By November, the students were looking forward to when I finished

because they knew our data collection would officially begin. I chose

to implement the GLOBE atmosphere protocols first. Data is collected

daily, and the protocols only take about 10–15 minutes. The students

agreed that the atmosphere protocols were the best to begin with, so

that’s what we did. Even though we were concentrating on the atmosphere, we continued studying and reviewing the other protocols.

I found my students

working together to

reach our goals,

financially and

academically.
15

When students go outside to collect atmospheric data, they first

record the Universal Time for data collection that day; data is always

collected close to Solar Noon. Then they follow the cloud cover and

cloud type protocols. Students use a cloud chart to identify the type of

clouds in the sky, and they use their learned knowledge to determine

the amount of cloud cover. Students then look at the rain gauge and

determine the amount of rainfall since the previous data collection and

record their findings following the solid precipitation protocol. If rain

was collected in the gauge, the students use a pH pen to determine the

pH level of the rain collected and empty the gauge for the next rainfall

collection. Students then read the thermometer and identify the

maximum, minimum, and current temperatures (following the correct

protocol when collecting this data); then, they reset the thermometer

for the next day’s data collection.

The daily data collection is a group effort. Students work in small

groups of two to three people. This helps confirm the accuracy of

data collected. Students find groups are most useful with cloud

identification and cloud coverage identification.

Once the data is collected, students bring in their notes and send in

their data to the GLOBE network. Students enjoy collecting the data;

however, they also enjoy the data entry. The network is easy to

maneuver through, and helpful hints and reminders are always

given when data is posted. Once students have entered their data a

few times, they become experts with the program!

During our first year of participation, I had so many students who

were excited about participating. I know this is directly linked to

their ownership of the implementation of the program. Each student

participated in data collection.

We participated in the GLOBE Learning Activities to prepare us for

data collection. We learned how to observe, describe, and identify

cloud types with Observing, Describing, and Identifying Clouds; we

learned how to estimate cloud cover with Estimating Cloud Cover:

A Simulation. I always start my class with a short science warm-up,

and observing clouds was perfect for this one. Students immediately went outside at the beginning of class and made cloud observations with their group. My classes function in learning groups on

a daily basis, which is ideal for GLOBE activities. They took three to

four minutes for observation and came back into class to record

their group findings. This was an excellent protocol-training process. We compared our observations and fine-tuned our understanding of the cloud type and cloud cover protocols.

Training on the instrument shelter was fun. One group from

each of my five classes volunteered to help determine the

Atmosphere Protocols:

“A Day of Data

Collection”

Fairplay Goes GLOBAL

When students go

outside to collect

atmospheric data, they

first record the Universal

Time for data collection

that day; data is always

collected close to

Solar Noon.
16

best location for our shelter based on protocols. These groups met

after school one day to discuss their findings and agree on the best

site. In my situation, the best site happened to be right in between

our two practice football fields; however, I was concerned that the

coach would not allow us to place the shelter where we wanted.

Several of the students who helped determine the best location

were on the football team, and they volunteered to talk with the

coach about what we wanted to do.

The coach approached me the next day smiling. He was so impressed

with the way our request was presented by his football players that

he agreed to let us put up our shelter. He explained that the boys had

taken him out with the measuring tape and clinometer to explain why

we had to put our shelter in the middle of his two fields. I was concerned about whether other players and students might knock the

shelter accidentally; however, my students and the coach assured me

this was not a concern, and it hasn’t been yet! The students have

ownership of our materials, and they take care of them.

After the instrument shelter was in place, we learned how to collect

data for temperature and rainfall. I would send each group out of

class for about five minutes to collect their data; at the end of the

class, we would compare our data and continue our fine-tuning. The

Land, Water, and Air Learning Activity was also used to help us understand our instrument shelter. We discussed and reviewed the Solid

Precipitation Protocols, and the students joked about the slim-to-none

chances of observing snow worth measuring in Georgia; needless to

say, we did not purchase a snowboard. We did receive some snow

over the winter holidays that first year, and some of the die-hard

GLOBE students wanted to send in some of the observations they

had made at home about snow accumulation. We did not record the

information in the data bank because the data was not collected at

school with the correct protocols; however, we did note our information at the end of a report upon our return from the break.

Authentic science best describes the incorporation of this program.

In Georgia, we follow a Quality Core Curriculum. Several curriculum

topics are explored through GLOBE. Students use the Scientific

Inquiry Process as they collect and review all of the data for the

specific GLOBE protocols; standards of measurement are a daily

part of our atmosphere investigation. I have always tried to improve

our understanding of standards of measurement. The GLOBE protocols are excellent in helping students with this concept. I smile

because I watch my students measure and record data accurately

without even thinking about it. I know this is much better than

handouts, discussions, and in-class experiments. As we collect rain

and determine the pH level, students question any variation, and

we discuss the possible impact of humans on the rain pH level.

Weather phenomena become real to the students; they are more

The daily data collection

is a group effort.

Students work in small

groups of two to three

people. This helps

confirm the accuracy of

data collected.

The coach approached

me the next day smiling.

He was so impressed

with the way our request

was presented by his

football players that he

agreed to let us put up

our shelter. He explained

that the boys had taken

him out with the

measuring tape and

clinometer to explain

why we had to put our

shelter in the middle of

his two fields.
17

attentive to changes in the weather around them, and they have a

better understanding of weather forecasting as they collect data

over several weeks.

My first-year GLOBE students matured and went on to high school.

Watching them go, I knew the GLOBE program experience would

make a difference in their future endeavors. As I greeted my 2000–

2001 students, I began discussing GLOBE with my classes. They did

not have the excitement we experienced our first year; however,

several of my students had heard about what the previous class

had been doing, and they were eager to participate. We are still

GLOBEing and reaping the benefits of its learning power. My students often give up lunchtime to collect data and will even send the

data to GLOBE from their home when our system is down at school.

I asked several of my second-year GLOBE students to write about

their GLOBE experiences. The following are excerpts from the

students’ essays in original text:

I like GLOBE. It has been an interesting experience for me. I have

learned a lot. I believe my experience in GLOBE could help me in

future weather experiences.

Our teacher told us what to do. After a while, she put us in groups

and alternated my classmates and me. On the days we went out and

collected our data, we would use a GPS system and find the Universal Time. Then we would go out to the Instrument Shelter and

determine the maximum, minimum, and current temperature of that

day. If it rained one day, the people that collected data for that day

would get the water and then test the water with a pH pen.

My eighth-grade class did a science project. I found my topic to be a

lot easier since I was a part of GLOBE. For my project, I found the

silt level and pH of one of my friend’s creek. I used a turbidity tube

to find the silt level, then a pool pH tester to test the water for pH.

GLOBE was really fun, and I learned a lot. I would recommend

anyone to join GLOBE.

I think that the GLOBE Program is a very good program. I like studying about the atmosphere. Learning about the clouds is neat. I

learned how to use a GPS unit.

The rain gauge holds water, and when we go out to take the measurements (data), we measure it in millimeters. Then we take

it in and we test the pH level of the water. We use a pH pen.

I like to study water.

My GLOBE Experience

By Ryan Anderson

My GLOBE Experience

By Greg Mitchell

My students often give

up lunchtime to collect

data and will even send

the data to GLOBE from

their home when our

system is down at

school.
18

Earlier in the year, I did a project on the pH and the silt of the creek in

front of my house. I took data every other day. I did this for a month

or two and then made a project board to enter into the science fair.

I hope they have something like this in high school because it puts

you ahead in class. It helps you understand everything we do in

class as well. I think everyone needs to be in the GLOBE Program.

I enjoy GLOBE. It has been fun. I would get out of lunch about

halfway through twice a week and go outside. We collected data on

cloud cover, cloud type, temperature, and rain amounts. If it had

rained, we would go inside and test the rain for the pH level; I liked

it when it rained. I even liked going out into the rain to collect data.

After collecting the data, we would put all of our information in the

computer and send it to GLOBE. I liked learning the cloud types.

What we learned will probably be good to know for science classes

in the future.

The GLOBE Program is a great thing to get into if you like studying

the atmosphere. I am in eighth grade and most people in the eighth

grade know how to read a rain gauge; I did not start learning to read

one until I got in the program. I also learned how to use the pH pen;

I did not even know what it was until I got involved with the program. The program teaches you how to read instruments and take

measurements.

I had a science project I had to do, and I could pick the topic. Well, I

chose to do mine on clouds because in the GLOBE Program I had been

studying the clouds and keeping data on the clouds. This made my

project easy to do, and I already had data on the clouds so I finished

my project a week before it was due. The GLOBE Program puts you

ahead of the class, because the stuff you do in the program helps you

understand it better than when the teacher teaches it in class.

My GLOBE Experience

By Christina Morgan

My GLOBE Experience

By David Whitehead

Universal

Time

Cloud

Type

Cloud

Cover

Rainfall Current

Air Temp

Maximum

Air Temp

Minimum

Air Temp

16:40 Stratus/

Cirrocumulus

Broken * 38 C 48 C 4 C

* No rainfall had occurred; thus, no pH-level reading was necessary.

Data Collected: May 11, 2001

School Name: Fairplay Middle School

Observer Names: Christina Morgan and David Whitehead

Chart 1
19

My GLOBE Experience

By Jordan Phillips

I believe all eighth-grade students should get into the program

because it teaches a lot, and it is a fun activity.

Now, I don’t know about the others, but for me it has been an exciting and hardworking experience. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was

expected to do in the program, but it is fun to go and find out what

is going on in the world outside us. Also, I have enjoyed learning

about the environment outside of work and school. While in GLOBE,

although being fun, I have had to work hard, along with my other

classmates, to give the correct observations. After I finish in the

GLOBE Program at Fairplay, I am hoping to again start studying the

environment later in my school career. This GLOBE Program has

really broadened my outlook on the world.

Name: Rhonda Ann Baldwin

Teaching Experience: 12 years

Current Position: Administrative Assistant, Fairplay Middle School

Former Positions/Duties: Eighth-grade science teacher, middle

school science coordinator, Douglas County School System

Degree: Ed.S., Middle Grades Science/Math, University of West

Georgia

Name: Gail Marshall

Teaching Experience: 28 years

Current Position: K–12 Science Coordinator, Douglas County

School System, District III Director, Georgia Science Teachers

Association

Former Positions/Duties: Science Department Chair, Biology/

Physical Science, Alexander High School

Degree: Ed.D., Science Education, University of Florida

Demographic

Information
20
21

Chapter Three

If I Were a Fish, Would I Swim Here?

By Staci Nash, M.Ed., with Rebecca Dodge, Ph.D.

The value of GLOBE for a diverse set of subjects is its

flexibility and adaptability for multiple skill levels and

subjects.

The GLOBE hydrology protocols focus on water quality as it affects

the environment. Water quality measurements made by GLOBE

teachers and students include transparency, water temperature,

dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, salinity, alkalinity, and

nitrate. These measurements can be incorporated into classes,

laboratories, and field trips in multiple subjects because water

quality has physical, biological, and sociological impacts. For

example, performance of the chemical water testing requires an

understanding of chemical reactions and how temperature affects

such reactions (chemistry focus). Water transparency, especially

changes in transparency following rainfall events, is related to soil

type (earth science focus) and to land cover (biology focus).

Clearly, water quality affects human society in a myriad of ways

(sociology/geography focus).

All of the parameters measured for GLOBE hydrology protocols can

strongly affect organisms living in and around water. Transparency

is a measure of penetration of sunlight into water. Since sunlight

provides energy for photosynthesis, its presence or absence controls how effectively plants can grow by taking up nutrients and

how effectively they can give off oxygen. Transparency decreases as

turbidity increases, usually because of suspended sediments or

pollutants from sources such as sewage treatment plants, agriculture, development, and logging. Light penetration depths control

the depth to which algae and other plants grow. These plants are

the foundation for the food chain, including microorganisms, fish,

amphibians, and water birds.

Water temperature strongly affects the amount and diversity of life

forms that can live in a body of water. Water temperature—and,

therefore, living organisms—typically change as the seasons

change. Water temperature can be adversely impacted by development, as when trees are cut and shade is lost. Industrial processes

can produce warm water that, when released into the natural

environment, can cause adverse effects on both plants and animals.

Dissolved oxygen content is also critical for aquatic animals, and

warm water holds less oxygen. Decaying organic matter also

consumes oxygen and is often increased when sewage treatment plants put effluent into water bodies. This reduces

Hydrology Protocols

All of the parameters

measured for GLOBE

hydrology protocols can

strongly affect

organisms living in and

around water.

Water temperature can

be adversely impacted

by development, as

when trees are cut and

shade is lost.
22

dissolved oxygen, often to critical or fatal levels. Sewage discharges

can also affect nitrate levels in water bodies. Some nitrate is critical

for plant growth, but an excess amount associated with sewer

discharge can cause excess plant growth that adversely impacts

fish and other aquatic animals.

As a measure of the acid content of water, pH strongly controls aquatic

plants and animals because they are usually sensitive to low or acidic

pH levels. Air pollution can increase the pH of rainfall and, consequently, increase the pH of runoff into streams. Alkalinity is a measure

of a water body’s resistance to such change when acidic runoff or

pollution is added. Alkalinity at appropriate levels can protect aquatic

organisms. Electrical conductivity is a measure of dissolved impurities

in a water body. Such impurities adversely influence plant and animal

growth and make water unsuitable for domestic and agricultural use

as well. Salinity, or salt content of water, determines the type of plants

and animals able to live in water bodies. Water with high levels of

salinity is unsuitable for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses.

When investigating the water quality of a lake or a pond, the

interconnectedness of the hydrology protocols emphasizes the

systemic nature of the watershed. These variables have a strong

effect on plants and animals, making the hydrology protocols fit

quite well into the high school biology classroom.

I have been a high school biology teacher for seven years, and I am

a firm believer that children learn through many different avenues

(visual, auditory, etc.). Although I vary instruction to include all

learning styles, I believe the most successful mode of instruction,

the one enabling the most students to grasp the information, is

hands-on activities—whether a student experiment, the building of

a model, or even role playing.

During the fall, I teach a unit on ecology. We spend a great deal of

time outside observing and manipulating nature. One of the major

concepts covered in ecology is the result abiotic factors of an

environment—such as temperature, gas content, and pH—have on

biotic factors, such as the plants, animals, and protozoa. The unit

culminates with a half-day field trip to a medium-sized pond within

walking distance of our campus. For years, I have searched for lab

instructions that included not only the chemical tests, like pH and

dissolved oxygen, discussed in class but also the collecting of live

specimens and a comparison of those specimens present to the

quality of the environment. In the past I have taken many different

laboratory exercises from many different sources and created a

series of test procedures. The students were also given written

instructions to observe certain features of the area, such as slope,

sun versus shade, and turbidity, as well as collect animal, plant, and

GLOBE in the High

School Biology

Classroom

When investigating the

water quality of a lake or

a pond, the interconnectedness of the

hydrology protocols

emphasizes the

systemic nature of the

watershed.
23

protozoan specimens from the area. The preparation for the field trip

was quite cumbersome. Procedures from many different sources are

not only at times confusing for the students but also require numerous and varied pieces of equipment, chemicals, and paperwork.

In the summer of 2001, I took a GLOBE course as part of my

master’s degree at the University of West Georgia under Professor

Rebecca Dodge. The course was intended to certify the participants

as GLOBE teachers and enable them to involve their classes in the

collection of GLOBE data. We discussed soil protocols, hydrology

protocols, etc., as well as investigating the different aspects and

information available on the GLOBE website. I was most interested

in the hydrology portion of the course. I was delighted to see the

same tests I performed with my classes on the pond study field trip,

but in clear, concise packages of information. For example, in the

past, in order to determine the turbidity of the water, my class

captured a sample of water in a clear glass container and judged the

sample as cloudy, clear, etc. The results from this method were as

varied as the students themselves because it requires a judgment

call. GLOBE suggests the use of a turbidity tube or Seechi disc,

which enables the students to conclude a definite measurement

value for turbidity. Each hydrology test is accompanied by a short

set of instructions, a data worksheet, an instructional video, and

even laboratory exercises to be performed in the classroom to give

the students background knowledge. For example, the GLOBE

Program provides an exercise to test the pH of household products

to be performed in the classroom prior to entering the field, giving

the students a reference point in which they can compare their

pond water readings. Instead of drawing the sun vs. shade, I could

now simply give my students the cloud cover chart for comparison.

The GLOBE Program also provides a set of procedures for collecting

living specimens. The GLOBE kit contains illustrations for comparison and identification and explanations of the water quality of an

area according to the specimens captured.

I began by introducing my students to the basic purpose of the

GLOBE Program. I discussed its use worldwide and the different

areas from which schools collect data. I then explained that we

would be using only the hydrology protocols. The protocols that we

performed at the pond were transparency, water temperature,

dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and alkalinity. The students also

used the appropriate protocols to collect living specimens. After

reviewing the protocols with the students, viewing the instructional

video, and calibrating the appropriate equipment, the students

were prepared for the field study.

I decided to allow only one of my five biology classes to use

the GLOBE protocols. I was interested in comparing the two

The Perfection of the

GLOBE Protocol

I was most interested in

the hydrology portion of

the course. I was

delighted to see the

same tests I performed

with my classes on the

pond study field trip, but

in clear, concise

packages of information.
24

groups to determine which group of students remained on task,

worked independently, and accomplished the most. The class using

the GLOBE protocol worked the entire four hours virtually without

my help. The protocols prepared by GLOBE are so detailed and

specific that the students had little if any questions or difficulties.

The class was separated into four groups of five students each. The

groups had to compile their data at the end of the day and come up

with averages for the pond (an average pH, an average dissolved

oxygen, etc.). The next day in class we discussed the data. If one

group’s dissolved oxygen reading, for example, seemed much

different compared to the others, we discussed reasons for this,

such as the temperature or time of day in which they conducted the

test. We discussed the impact each one of our readings has on the

body of water. For example, a high water temperature lowers the

oxygen levels and detrimentally affects the flora and fauna. We

determined that our body of water actually had healthy readings,

and this was supported by the varied and abundant amounts of life

we found around the pond.

Overall, using the GLOBE protocols yielded much better results

than any previous procedures I have ever used. Not only did GLOBE

decrease my workload, but also the students seemed to understand

more of the concepts I was trying to convey.

Name: Staci Nash

Teaching Experience: 7 years

Current Position: Biology, Starrs Mill High School

Degree: M.Ed., Secondary Science Education, University of

West Georgia

Name: Rebecca Dodge

Teaching Experience: 5 years

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Geosciences, University of

West Georgia, Director, GLOBE Partner, University of West Georgia

Former Positions/Duties: Director of GLOBE Partner, University of

Texas, El Paso

Degree: Ph.D., Geology, Colorado School of Mines

We determined that our

body of water actually

had healthy readings,

and this was supported

by the varied and

abundant amounts of

life we found around

the pond.

Demographic

Information
25

Chapter Four

Exceptional Environmental Scientists

By Carla Pollard, Ed.S., with Terrie Kielborn, Ph.D.

I think that the most important aspect of this class is the

interest level it generates for students. They love to come to

this class and can’t wait to go outside to study or work in

the laboratory. They even generate questions about their

environment and develop ways to get the answers. Students

that do not necessarily excel in other classes can take the

lead in their groups and be the expert. Attendance levels

are up, and discipline problems are down.

When I first learned of the GLOBE training at West Georgia, I was not

really interested because my concentration areas in teaching are

mainly chemistry and math, and this training sounded more like

biology. But I thought that I might be able to apply some of the

hands-on laboratory activities in my chemistry classes. I knew that

some of the people I had attended graduate classes with were

planning to attend, so I thought that we might be able to collaborate

in some science experiences in our area.

I found the trainers to be very knowledgeable and enthusiastic

about implementation of the GLOBE protocols. They answered

questions in detail and offered many ways to adapt lessons to fit

into our curriculum. I learned that I did not have to totally restructure my teaching and discovered that by including GLOBE protocols

in regular instruction, my curriculum would be enhanced.

To learn all of the GLOBE procedures, we worked in groups and actually conducted the protocols in the field. Learning to properly use the

equipment was a high priority, and as a final learning experience, each

group presented a class activity to show the ease of application of the

areas included in GLOBE. Working in the field to learn about the local

environment was not only fun but also interesting in that I learned

more about the area in which I had grown up and attended college.

After completing the GLOBE training, I was asked to teach the

GLOBE protocols as a separate class to be taught at my school

rather than partially implemented in one subject area. Fortunately,

my school was in the process of changing to the 4x4 block schedule,

enabling students to take more classes during the year. As the

science department chairperson, GLOBE seemed like a “natural”

selection for a new science elective to offer our students.

Since the length of a block class is 90 minutes, there was

ample time for completion of the activity, discussion of

GLOBE Beginnings

Implementing GLOBE

through an

Environmental Science

Course
26

labs, and going outside. My administrators could sense how much I

had enjoyed the GLOBE training, and we discussed the possibility of

offering an environmental science class using the GLOBE protocols

as the basis for instruction.

Many of the protocols for GLOBE require specific equipment for

implementation. My assistant superintendent approached me

about a PT3 grant available for purchase of scientific supplies. As

it turned out, the amount of the grant was just enough to cover

the cost of most of the equipment needed to implement the four

main GLOBE protocols. The PT3 grant required a partner at the

university for the grant, so I contacted Dr. Terrie Kielborn, a

professor of science education that I had met during GLOBE

training at UWG. She agreed to partner our school and work with

me in the implementation of GLOBE protocols through an environmental science class.

With my background in math and chemistry and my training in

GLOBE protocols, I still felt somewhat deficient in my skills in the

environmental science area. In the summer of 2000, the geology

department of UWG offered a class involving field study of the Buffalo

Creek Watershed. I took this class to help me incorporate environmental issues that would be specific to the West Georgia area.

In the fall of 2000, 20 students in grades 9–12 signed up for this new

environmental science course. My administration was very supportive of the “outdoor” nature of the class. The students enjoyed the

mixture of learning both in and out of the classroom, especially at

the secondary level.

Student comments included the following:

 One of the things I enjoy most about this class is going outside. I love exploring the nature of the campus and all of the

possibilities we have to experiment on.

 I seem to learn more, and I know I enjoy working outside of

the classroom.

 I have always been one to like the outdoors, and we spend

about 50% of our time outside.

 This class is a lot more fun because we go outside almost as

much as physical education does.

The Alabama Department of Education (1996) considers the classroom “any place where scientific inquiry is occurring, whether that

is a classroom, beach, park, or museum” (p. 7). Activities were

conducted inside to learn the GLOBE protocols before going outside

to practice and later to implement.

Our Collaboration

My administration was

very supportive of the

“outdoor” nature of the

class. The students

enjoyed the mixture of

learning both in and

out of the classroom,

especially at the

secondary level.
27

The students scoped out the campus to choose sites for our atmosphere station, land cover area, soil study area, and hydrology

study. Our school had an outdoor classroom that made a great land

cover and soil site, while a stream just a few hundred feet down the

road, made the perfect hydrology site.

We decided that one of the best ways to understand our area was to

collect articles from local newspapers related to environmental

issues. Each student brought in an article each week for discussion.

The class generated a current event book of environmental issues,

and students kept summaries in their notebooks so we could concentrate on the main problems in our area. Students commented:

 I like when we discuss newspaper articles. We all get a say in

what we think is wrong or right.

 I like doing the articles. It helps to keep everyone up-to-date

about the news and the environment. Most teenagers do not

watch the news, so it helps keep everyone informed.

 Since people have been bringing in articles and explaining

them to the class, I have learned a lot about what is going on

in the environment.

With my still-limited background in biology, I appreciated Dr.

Kielborn’s frequent visits to Bremen to help us with background

information for conducting our tests. Another professor from UWG,

Dr. Rebecca Dodge, accompanied her one day, and the students

received a lesson on remote sensing. The students learned to use

computers and the image of the Bremen area to understand land

use and types of land cover in our immediate area.

Dr. Kielborn also provided resources for our class. She loaned us

posters of cloud types, tree identification books, water test kits,

compasses, a sling psychrometer, and even gave us a hygrometer

for our atmosphere station to report relative humidity. She helped

to supervise and answer questions for students when we worked in

the laboratory after collecting soil and water samples. She even

walked through our outdoor classroom area with us and helped us

identify trees and ground cover.

Community resources can be obtained through other avenues. Our

Haralson County Extension agency gave me the name of a resident

expert on local environmental issues. Bud Jones, an author, taxidermist, and local environmental expert, runs a taxidermy service and

owns and operates a local wildlife museum. Arrangements were

made for my students to take a field trip to tour the museum and

meet Mr. Jones. Dr. Kielborn joined us for the tour and lecture

on Haralson County. We learned that clear-cutting of pine

trees has had a major impact on our local land as well as

New Learning

Experiences

We learned that clearcutting of pine trees has

had a major impact on

our local land as well as

the Tallapoosa River.
28

the Tallapoosa River. We also learned about the different types of

animals native to our area and the impact of changes in our area to

their habitat. The students were able to ask questions and see local

wildlife displays in the museum.

Dr. Kielborn arranged a different learning experience for us. Our

environmental science class made a trip to Bay Springs Middle

School, where they shared what they had learned about soil

studies to two classes of sixth-graders. Using some of the instruments, such as augers, soil thermometers, and infiltration rings,

the high school students conducted the GLOBE soil protocols with

the younger students. The UWG geology department loaned an

extra auger so that the sixth-graders could learn about their

school’s soil through a hands-on approach. The sixth-graders

rotated through various stations on soil studies, each set up and

taught by a team of high school students. The high school students worked patiently with the younger students, explaining the

purpose of each soil test and what the results of these tests tell us

about soil. It was a very positive experience for both the high

school and middle school students. The sixth-graders learned

about soil, while the high school students shared information and

procedures that they had previously learned through the environmental science class. Students commented:

 I feel that I helped the children in my soil characterization

group have fun and learn a little about soil.

 The kids, I think, were surprised to see how much of a difference there was in each layer.

The middle school students were impressed by the knowledge and

presentations by the high school students. One sixth-grade girl

commented that she hoped she would be in a science class that

would work with younger students. These high school students had

the rare opportunity to share what they had learned with others.

Involvement in learning, involvement with other students,

and involvement with faculty are factors that make an

overwhelming difference in student retention and success

in college. By its very nature, collaborative learning is

socially and intellectually involving. (Smith & MacGregor,

1992, p.11)

The soil protocol is probably the most difficult of the four GLOBE

areas but the most enjoyable for students once they are comfortable

with the procedures. Another professor at the university, who is also

a GLOBE trainer, said that many schools elect to avoid the soil protocols because they are much more challenging and difficult to conduct. Our soil study began by conducting the field measurements

protocol on an exposed bank near an unpaved road near our outThe high school

students worked

patiently with the

younger students,

explaining the purpose

of each soil test and

what the results of

these tests tell us

about soil.

Studying Soil Is

Challenging Yet Fun
29

door classroom. Each group had a copy of the field measurements

protocol from the GLOBE notebook in hand. First, we exposed the

soil by removing an outer layer of dried soil from the surface. We

then used our color chart to identify as many colors as we could in

the area. We learned quickly that having the soil charts laminated

was a worthy investment because holding the moist soil next to the

color charts was messy.

Each group took a sample and began to determine the structure of

the soil (blocky, columnar, granular, platy, or prismatic). Most of

our soil was granular in this area. Wearing plastic gloves, each

student then took a sample of soil and studied its consistency,

classifying each as loose, friable, firm, or extremely firm. We then

wet the soil to form a ribbon in order to classify it as clay, clay

loam, or loam. Working the soil between the fingers helped the

students identify whether the soil contained silt or sand. We

looked for the presence of roots and rocks and then tested for

carbonates by squirting vinegar from a spray bottle and observing

bubbling action.

Once we had completed this practice, students were more comfortable with soil classification and were ready to perform the

protocol in our soil-testing area in the outdoor classroom. We

chose an area near a platform so that we could sit down and also

have a flat surface on which to lay out the soil for analysis. We

used a plastic picnic tablecloth to lay out the soil, and students

took turns using the auger and measuring the depth of the hole we

were digging. The soil was laid out on the tablecloth as the auger

was removed from the hole. Working as one large group, the

students were able to lay out one meter of soil on the plastic,

representing each level or soil horizon. The students used golf

tees to separate the horizons that were visible by a distinct color

and texture. Each group was assigned one of the six horizons and

collected two samples of soil in soil cans for their horizon. Then

the students conducted the field measurements protocol using

their horizon sample.

Once we returned to the lab, the students weighed their soil cans

and placed them in an incubator (our lab oven did not work) to dry.

Each group then reported their field measurement results to the

class for comparison. This allowed each group to practice following

the protocol procedures yet learn about the results from others.

The students then began conducting the lab analysis and soil

moisture protocols once the soil had dried. Each group weighed

their dry soil and then used a sieve and a mortar and pestle to

prepare the soil for testing. Using copies of the lab analysis

and soil moisture protocols, they conducted the following

tests on the soil from their horizon:

The soil protocol is

probably the most

difficult of the four

GLOBE areas but the

most enjoyable for

students once they are

comfortable with the

procedures.
30

 Soil moisture

 Bulk density

 Particle size distribution

 pH

 Soil fertility (NPK)

GLOBE provides step-by-step instructions for each of the protocols

through a teacher’s edition, as well as online (www.globe.gov). The

high school students were able to work independently on their tests

using the printed version for each of these protocols. Dr. Kielborn

was instrumental in helping students with testing techniques. We

had some initial difficulty with the particle size distribution test

because we only had two 1000 milliliter graduated cylinders. We

had to share these, and then upon completing the calculations, we

found that our results were incorrect. Once I ordered 500 milliliter

graduated cylinders, we were later able to repeat the tests with

better results. We found the learning activity “Making Sense of the

Particle Size Distribution Measurements” to be very helpful in

making the somewhat difficult calculations.

The students really enjoyed working in the lab. One student commented, “In all my other classes, all I do is sit and listen to a teacher

lecture. But in Environmental Science, I get to do things and learn

by hands-on experience.” The students showed initiative as they

worked with soil that they had collected, as each group worked at

their own pace. They shared equipment and helped each other with

techniques as they mastered them. As the groups reported results

to each other in the classroom, discussions were sparked by the

differences in data that were found.

The infiltration protocol for determining the rate at which water

soaks into the ground was difficult for us. The ground was very

hard due to the drought we were experiencing, and we had trouble

getting the infiltration rings far enough into the ground to prevent

seepage. We also had some trouble getting the soil thermometer

very far into the ground to test the temperature. The drought

remains a major problem for our area as well as our state. However,

we were able to go outside more often as we experienced more

clear weather.

Anytime something is done for the first time, there is room for

improvement. Most of the improvement is in the level of teacher

confidence and knowledge of the “little” things that seem to make

activities run smoother the second time around. The students were

very complimentary of the course:

 I have always liked science, and now I really get to see what I

have learned to do through experiments.

One student commented,

“In all my other classes,

all I do is sit and listen to

a teacher lecture. But in

Environmental Science, I

get to do things and

learn by hands-on

experience.”

As the groups reported

results to each other in

the classroom,

discussions were

sparked by the

differences in data that

were found.
31

 I have never liked science much before, but this class has

changed the way that I feel about science.

 Classes like this are what make school even more fun. I look

forward to going to this class every day when I wake up.

 The thing that would make this class better would be going

outside every day, a couple of shovels, and enough compasses

for everyone so that everyone can learn to use one.

We had no trouble recruiting students to sign up for the following

year’s environmental science course. In fact, one student from the

first class volunteered to be an assistant for the second year. He has

proven instrumental in teaching protocols to the class and in entering protocol data onto the website. From a teaching perspective, it

allowed the course to begin with the knowledge and expertise from

the past year and with a higher degree of confidence. The success

of this environmental course is deeply indebted to GLOBE, with its

hands-on learning activities, real-life application, and integration of

other disciplines, including technology. Because this class was

offered to 9–12 grade level students, a wide range of interests and

abilities were accessible. This was beneficial to the students because they learned to help one other, as well as how to work with

each other. They were also able to capitalize upon each other’s

strengths. Some of the protocols, especially in soils, required quite

a large percentage of mathematical ability, while other protocols

were easier if the student had some background in chemistry or a

laboratory science class. Overall, this experience allowed a group of

students to not only learn about their local environment or about

various laboratory procedures, but it also provided the conditions

to learn them as real scientists.

Alabama Department of Education (1996). The Alabama Course of

Study: Science. Montgomery, AL.

GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), www.globe.gov.

Smith, B. L., & MacGregor, J. T. (1992). What is collaborative learning? In A. S. Goodsell, M. R. Maher, V. Tinto, B. L. Smith, & J. T.

MacGregor’s Collaborative learning: A sourcebook for higher education (1992), pp. 9–22. University Park, PA: NCPTLA (National Center

on Post-secondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment).

Environmental Science

Course, Part II

The success of this

environmental course is

deeply indebted to

GLOBE, with its handson learning activities,

real-life application, and

integration of other

disciplines, including

technology.

Overall, this experience

allowed a group of

students to not only

learn about their local

environment or about

various laboratory

procedures, but it also

provided the conditions

to learn them as real

scientists.

References
32

Name: Carla Jewell Pollard

Teaching Experience: 24 years (math and science)

Current Position: Science Department Chairman, Chemistry, Calculus, Environmental Science, and Statistics, Bremen High School

Former Positions/Duties: Randolph County High School, Wedowee,

Alabama

Degree: Ed.S., Mathematics Education, University of West Georgia

Name: Terrie Kielborn

Teaching Experience: 23 years

Current Position: Physical Science, Stewart Middle School, Adjunct

Professor, University of West Georgia, College Representative,

Georgia Science Teachers Association

Former Positions/Duties: Assistant Professor, Middle Grades

Science, University of West Georgia

Degree: Ph.D., Science Education, Florida State University

Demographic

Information
33

Chapter Five

Seedlings Sometimes Grow into Very Big Trees

By Ted Wansley, Ph.D.

Quote from one of my biology students after we did the Quantitative Land Cover Sample Site Protocol: “I think this is a

good idea. A lot of people don’t know how fast we’re using up

the land and destroying trees. Reporting this (data) might help

scientists get a perspective on how fast it is going away.”

I received training on the GLOBE land cover protocols during the

fall 1999 training session at the State University of West Georgia.

Of the protocols I learned, I saw one that I could definitely use:

the Quantitative Land Cover Sample Site Protocol. It would be a good

activity to use during the plant unit of my biology classes, and I

thought my environmental/science club, the Explorers, might want

to try it.

My first opportunity to use the protocol came during a scheduled

Explorers field trip, two weekends after the GLOBE workshop. Eighteen Explorers accompanied me on a two-day mountain stream study

in the North Georgia mountains. Our chief purpose had originally

been to compare the aquatic biology of mountain and piedmont

streams. However, now that I had the GLOBE protocol available, it

made sense for us to also compare land cover in both regions.

On the afternoon prior to our field trip, I gathered the club members together and introduced the protocols. I started off the session

by asking them how they felt land cover might vary across the

state. I pointed to different regions of the Georgia map and asked

them to suggest what types of trees might predominate. I then

asked if they would like to compare our land cover profile with that

of the mountain valleys.

They seemed interested, so I introduced the Quantitative Land Cover

Sample Site Protocol. Using handouts to illustrate the pacing, site

set-up, and densiometer construction, I detailed each step. I then

broke them into groups, gave them the necessary materials, pointed

to the woods, and moved out of their way. They eagerly attacked

the protocols and had a complete data set in one-and-one-half

hours. During the process, only a few asked questions, mostly

details about keeping their paces even and straight or regarding

“border” disputes when one group’s sample site touched or

overlapped another. It was very clear that they had a good

time. Kids love to laugh at others when they run into spider

webs, fall in holes, and run into briars, and they particularly

The Land Cover

Protocol

A Backwoods Escapade

Using handouts to

illustrate the pacing, site

set-up, and densiometer

construction, I detailed

each step.

Kids love to laugh at

others when they run

into spider webs, fall in

holes, and run into

briars, and they

particularly enjoy

competition-style

teaming.
34

enjoy competition-style teaming. For some reason (I didn’t suggest

it), the groups started competing to make the “squarest” sample site

and to finish first. Two groups were actually running to bring me their

data at the end. After the sampling was completed, we compiled the

data on a chart so we could take it with us on the field trip.

The next day, we repeated this same process near an Appalachian

stream. The results and the fun were about the same, except that two

sample sites included a creek (which they sloshed in frequently). As

we looked over the compiled data tables from the mountains and

Douglasville samplings, the kids immediately noticed that the canopy

density was greater in the mountains, and there were proportionally

more hardwoods. Afterward, when I asked students why they liked

the protocol, several said that they enjoyed building the densiometers and they liked setting up their sample site in the woods.

Another club member told me later that it was more interesting than

she expected. She also said, “I never paid much attention to trees,

but I’ve started noticing them a lot more since [the field trip].”

During spring semester, I used the Quantitative Land Cover Sample

Site Protocol as a lab activity with my biology classes during a plant

unit. My students were already required to produce a Tree Identification Notebook (for native species), so the protocol seemed to be

a natural extension. In addition to using the densiometer to analyze

land coverage, I required them to also identify the species that

dominated each reading. From this information, my class determined that the wooded area behind our campus consists mostly of

oak and tulip poplar. Several interesting comments came from

students about the activity. Several commented on the extent of the

canopy cover, and some simply said that they liked doing things

outdoors. However, one student made a particularly significant

suggestion, “Our campus needs help with trees,” he said. “I think

that it looks like a prison. Maybe we could plant some.”

Could we improve the tree coverage on our campus? I decided to

ask that question at the Explorers club’s next meeting. They jumped

on the idea immediately and soon had a plan for a massive treeplanting project for the campus. Over the next three months, they

invited a master gardener to the campus for advice, they got quotes

from nurseries on available tree species, and they mapped out a

plan for where the trees should be planted. They then raised money

by “selling” trees and their plots to the students, faculty, and community. They even won the principal’s approval for a one-half day

dismissal so all those involved could plant their own tree! They

called it Treescaping Day, and, on that day, 120 trees were planted

on our campus. The trees were very small, but everyone agreed that

it looked much better. It would never have happened if the student

that suggested it had not done the land cover protocol.

...the kids immediately

noticed that the canopy

density was greater in

the mountains, and there

were proportionally more

hardwoods.

Campus Tree Planting

Project

Our campus needs help

with trees. I think that it

looks like a prison.

Maybe we could

plant some.
35

They called it

Treescaping Day, and, on

that day, 120 trees were

planted on our campus.

Over the next year, I continued to use the protocol as part of my

biology class, and the Explorers worked hard to maintain the trees

that were planted on Treescaping Day. Unfortunately, many trees died

during the brutal summer, and approximately 30 were destroyed by

the school system’s maintenance staff as they trimmed the weeds and

grass around them. We also received some negative comments from

the county maintenance manager because we failed to solicit their

approval of our plan before we began planting. This was discouraging,

but the Explorers continued to water and mulch. They even purchased

and planted four replacement trees and over 20 shrubs.

During this time, our Treescaping project caught the attention of a

non-profit environmental organization called Rolling Hills. I showed

them our biology curriculum and activities, including, of course, the

land cover protocols, and I explained the Treescaping project to them.

They were impressed with our school’s environmental initiative and

offered to help us obtain a grant so we could set our campus up as an

urban forestry demonstration site. The grant would enable us to

obtain, plant, and maintain at least 30 more trees. It would also pay for

urban forestry speakers and related classroom materials to augment

our classes. It would pay for training for our school system’s ground

maintenance department (to teach them how to be friendlier to our

trees). The grant would also bring in a landscape architect to work

with our students as they made up a landscaping plan to submit to

maintenance management for approval. A field trip to several successful urban forestry projects would also be funded by this project.

In summary, we received an Urban Forestry grant for $5,000 and

have just finished a week-long series of visits from forestry-related

speakers to our Biology classes. We are almost finished with a

professional landscaping plan that we will submit to the maintenance managers. When this proposal is accepted, we will order the

trees that our campus needs.

One day, representatives from institutions such as businesses and

schools will tour our campus as they plan their own urban forestry

projects. If I’m there, I can tell them that it all started with one

student’s suggestion—one inspired by a GLOBE protocol.

Name: Ted S. Wansley

Teaching Experience: 13 years

Current Position: Biology, Physics, and Statistics, Chapel Hill

High School

Former Positions/Duties: Biology, Alexander High School,

National Board Certified, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Teacher of the Year

Degree: Ph.D., Science Education, Georgia State University

Treescaping Project

Evolves

Demographic

Information

 If I’m there, I can tell

them that it all started

with one student’s

suggestion—one

inspired by a GLOBE

protocol.
36
37

Chapter Six

Looking for El Dorado

By David Todd, M.Ed., with Rebecca Dodge, Ph.D.

“Hands-on science” and “learning-by-doing” have been popular

phrases in the field of science education for longer than one

“teacher” lifetime. They have risen or descended in their importance, depending on the public and political pressures of the moment. The GLOBE project is one implementation of these educational ideas that students and teachers both can embrace and get

excited about.

GLOBE is hands-on learning by doing! GLOBE encourages students

to make their own instruments as often as possible, then to use

those instruments to make measurements of tree height, water

clarity, and overhead canopy cover, to name but a few, and to pass

their measurements along to others. This promotes “acting locally

and thinking globally” in a very concrete way.

GLOBE student measurements are submitted to a student data

archive from which maps can be generated through the GLOBE

“Visualizations” function on the GLOBE webpage. Accurate locations for all data points are a key element in producing accurate

maps that become useful scientific documents. In addition, an

accurate location for each site is required so that students can

return to the same location for repeated measurements.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) protocol is different. There is

no practical way to create your own GPS receiver. The GPS receiver

must be borrowed or bought, and the receiver is more expensive

than most other GLOBE equipment. Unlike other protocols, the GPS

protocol is one that need only be done one time at each measurement site. It isn’t necessary to repeat it periodically, since the study

location would only move with the geological plate upon which it is

located, and that movement is slow enough to be ignored for

GLOBE purposes.

Because the GPS protocol involves only one measurement for a

study location and only the one GPS receiver, teachers and students

typically work closely to make the protocol position measurements.

This student-teacher teamwork can be the opening for continued

cooperative learning throughout the GLOBE experience and,

it is to be hoped, throughout the student’s school/science

experience. Student teams are one of the most fundamental

elements of the GLOBE experience. Student team members

Making Instruments

for Measuring Height,

Water Clarity,

Overhead Cover

GLOBE student

measurements are

submitted to a student

data archive from which

maps can be generated

through the GLOBE

“Visualizations”

function on the

GLOBE webpage.

You Can’t Build a GPS

Receiver

Cooperative Learning

and Student-Teacher

Teamwork

The GPS receiver must

be borrowed or bought,

and the receiver is more

expensive than most

other GLOBE equipment.
38

learn important skills about cooperation and teamwork. These

skills assist them in every phase of their school experience and,

later, in life.

At Alexander High School, our required GPS location measurements

were made several years ago by Dr. Gail Marshall and Mrs. Peggy

Baugh and their original group of GLOBE students. And our annual

influx of new ninth-grade students have already been introduced to

GLOBE by Mrs. Rhonda Baldwin at Fairplay Middle School, our

single largest feeder school. Mrs. Baldwin’s very active and enthusiastic GLOBE Program enables these students to bring good GLOBE

experiences and excitement about science and GLOBE with them.

At Alexander High School, we view this multiple-year involvement in

GLOBE as being a very powerful tool to promote science literacy

and community involvement in the educational process.

Knowing exactly where you are on the globe of the earth, closer

than some number of tens of miles is a somewhat modern ability.

Since the time of the Greeks, at least, people in the northern hemisphere have known how to measure the angle of Polaris, the North

Star, above the horizon, to get a pretty good idea of their latitude.

And knowledgeable travellers can always tell their latitude, well

enough, by the length of the day, the height of the sun, or any

known guide star above the horizon. But that information alone,

without knowing longitude, puts one on a circle, so many degrees

south of the North Pole or north of the equator that completely

circles the earth!

Christopher Columbus was able to navigate westward along one

such latitude line, or “parallel,” knowing he was not straying too far

north or south of his desired course, but his ability to determine

how far west he had gone was very suspect. One way of attempting

to determine the distance travelled was to toss a floating log overboard and measure the time it took for a given number of equally

spaced knots that were tied in the log’s tether to be drawn through

a sailor’s hands. Hence the modern naval speed unit of “knots,” or

nautical miles per hour. Keeping a running calculation of speed in

knots and hours or days of sailing time allowed the captain or the

navigator to determine the distance travelled. The effects of drifting

due to currents or cross winds could only be guessed—hence, the

term “dead reckoning.” Reckon well or be dead!

The knotty problem of determining longitude, or east-west movement around the globe from some fixed point, has plagued men at

sea for most of human history. Even in the age of Greek mythology,

any travel west of the gates of Hercules, beyond modern Gibraltar,

into the Atlantic Ocean was a virtual sentence of death because of

GLOBE Students

Coming to Alexander

At Alexander High

School, we view

this multiple-year

involvement in GLOBE

as being a very powerful

tool to promote science

literacy and community

involvement in the

educational process.

Historical Problems with

Finding Latitude and

Longitude

Knowing exactly where

you are on the globe of

the earth, closer than

some number of tens of

miles is a somewhat

modern ability.
39

the difficulty of navigation anytime the sailor was beyond sight of

land. Dava Sobel explains the problem and its eventual solution by a

watchmaker in her book Longitude. Sobel points out that determining longitude at sea requires that a sailor know his local time,

determined by the sun and the earth’s rotation, and the time at his

home port, simultaneously. One hour’s time difference corresponds

to 1

⁄24 of a day, or 1⁄24 of the circumference of the earth, or 15° longitude.

No clock aboard a moving ship was capable of the necessary accuracy for a reliable longitude fix until 1773. This had become a very

important problem of national security to the major powers in the

early 1700s. Such a large problem that several kings, England and

France in particular, established large monetary prizes, to be

awarded to the person who could solve the “problem of determining the longitude at sea.”

For example, on October 22, 1707, Admiral Clowdisley Shovell and a

fleet of five British warships, returning from patrol in the Bay of

Biscay, ran aground on the Scilly Isles, off the southwest tip of

England with the loss of four ships and 2,000 souls because of a

mistake in determining their longitude. Sobel’s book is a treasure

trove of such adventure and stories like the struggles of John

Harrison, self-educated clockmaker and the inventor of the first

“chronometer” accurate enough for navigation. Harrison’s chronometer was described by Captain James Cook, aboard H. M. S. Resolution in 1776, on his return from the south Pacific, as “...our faithful

guide through all vicissitudes of climates.”

During the 1790s, the Harrison chronometer was the equivalent of a

commercial secret weapon, just one of the underpinnings for the

naval prowess of the British navy in the 18th century. That’s why

Andrew Ellicott, the surveyor of Washington, D.C., had to use different methods when he surveyed the Mississippi River in February,

1797, to establish the borders of the new United States of America

for President George Washington. As already mentioned, determining longitude is a matter of comparing times between the unknown

place and some known place. Ellicott brought with him to the

Louisiana frontier a pendulum clock, a telescope, and some numbers from a book. He was able to set his pendulum clock to local

time using a guide star.

Philip Morrison, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, and his wife Phylis Morrison re-enact this adventure in

their video essay and book, The Ring of Truth: An Inquiry into

How We Know What We Know. The Morrison team travels to

Ellicott Hill, near Natchez, Mississippi, and uses the star

Admiral Clowdisley

Shovell

Andrew Ellicott and

the Louisiana Purchase
40

Spica, in the constellation Virgo, to set their clock to the correct

local star time. Wherever you are on earth, when you see Spica at

the top of its arc, your local star time is 13:24 hours. Determining

when the star is at the peak of its broad, gentle arc is a big part of

the challenge. The observation of Spica gives the local star time,

which is used to set the pendulum clock. Now they need the time at

some other, well-known location.

One of Mr. Harrison’s chronometers, set to the time in Greenwich,

New York, or Washington, D.C., would do the trick nicely at this

point. But the United States in 1797 was small and poor, and the

British were still treating the new chronometer like a secret weapon.

Ellicott did not have one.

The Italian scientist, Galileo had provided the solution to Ellicott’s

problem of time more than 200 years earlier. He had used his telescope to observe the moons of Jupiter: Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and

Europa, now referred to as the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Galileo

kept careful notes and sketches of the moons as they moved to and

from one side of the planet to the other. He explained this side-toside motion as being circular orbits of the moons around Jupiter as

seen from the side. That explanation and Galileo’s hard-headed

belief caused some serious problems between Galileo and Pope

Urban VIII, but that is another story. Galileo soon realized that the

positions of the moons could be used like a clock by a trained and

dedicated observer. In 1676, Danish astronomer Olaus “Ole”

Roemer, making those observations, noticed a 22-minute discrepancy in the time that Io takes to orbit Jupiter. Christian Huygens, a

Dutchman, explained Roemer’s observed time delay in Io’s orbit as

being due to differences in the distance between earth and Io.

Huygens calculated the speed of light from the observation, being

one of the first to attempt the measurement. Huygens also patented

the pendulum clock.

Galileo had the idea that the moons of Jupiter could be used as a

great navigational clock in the sky, but it fell to another Italian, JeanDominique Cassini, at the Observatoire de Paris, to make it a practical reality. Cassini and the observatory staff observed, timed, and

recorded the movements of the Galilean moons well enough to

predict their movements and times a year or more in advance. Anyone with a good telescope and a stable place to mount it for observation could determine their local star time and using Cassini’s tables,

could know the star time in Paris, from anywhere on earth.

So the numbers Ellicott brought with him to the borderland between the United States and Spanish territory in 1797 were extracts

of Cassini’s tables for the moons of Jupiter. These tables allowed

Ellicott to make the comparison between his local time, determined

by Spica, and the time in Paris, determined by the Galilean moons
41

and Cassini’s tables and, therefore, to place himself so many hours

and minutes west of Paris and within a mile or two of his exact

location in longitude. A pretty involved process but effective in the

hands of an expert like Andrew Ellicott. Just a few years later, the

explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark carried with them on

their explorations of President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase a

chronometer, copied from John Harrison’s design, that allowed

them to determine their distance traveled west. (Ellicott trained the

explorers in the use of the chronometer and how to reset it on

those occasions when they forgot to wind it, and it stopped.)

Latitude and longitude have always been important to people who

need to know where they are. Until the invention of Harrison’s

chronometer, the longitude half of the “where am I?” question was

difficult to determine. Since the mid-1980s, however, the Global

Positioning System (GPS) has transformed this once life-or-death,

tedious problem into electronic simplicity, even recreation. The

chronometer carried by Lewis and Clark cost more than all of their

“mathematical instruments” combined. The modern GPS receiver is

as small as a cell phone (or even smaller) and costs as little as $100.

The GPS is a navigational system that depends on timing signals

produced by a network of 24 satellites placed in orbit by the U. S.

Department of Defense. Originally designed for a variety of military

purposes, it was made available in the mid-1980s for civilian use.

A GPS unit receives signals from several satellites simultaneously. Each

satellite contains three atomic clocks for very accurate timekeeping.

The GPS unit is able to calculate its distance from the signal source

based on time of travel of the signal compared to time stored in the

receiver. (This makes a GPS receiver the best source of accurate time

in most locations.) Signals received from three different satellites allow

the unit to calculate two-dimensional positions, latitude and longitude,

by triangulation (see Figure 1 on the following page). The single point

where the three radio signals overlap is the receiver’s location. Signals

received from four or more satellites allow three-dimensional positioning, latitude, longitude, and altitude. When originally made available

for civilian use, the signal was artificially degraded, a technique called

selective availability, to deny the most accurate data to potential

enemy military forces. Selective availability was ended on May 1, 2000,

automatically improving the accuracy of existing GPS receivers about

ten times. The user of consumer-grade receivers can expect accuracy

of 7–15 meters (21–45 feet) in ground position and +/- 35 meters in

altitude. Some environmental factors can interfere with accuracy.

This puts the GPS receiver well within the 30x30 meter pixel

size of Landsat satellites images used in the GLOBE Program.

What is GPS?

GPS Technology Today

The GPS is a

navigational system

that depends on timing

signals produced by a

network of 24 satellites

placed in orbit by the

U.S. Department

of Defense.

How It Works

A GPS unit receives

signals from several

satellites simultaneously.
42

The GPS protocol is the only “one-time-only” protocol. Students

have to determine the latitude, longitude, and altitude of their

school entrance, which is the center of their GLOBE Study Site.

Then the position of the atmosphere study site rain gauge and

instrument enclosure is determined. As they are added, the hydrology, biology, land cover, soil characteristics, and soil moisture site

centers are located using the GPS.

The GPS section in the GLOBE manual lists several learning activities that can be very useful in several different science class situations. The following is a brief look at each activity and some possible uses in class.

This activity calls for comparing the time indicated on a variety of

clocks and watches simultaneously. It can be very useful in a

physics or an astronomy classroom to introduce the concept of

uncertainty. The worst reputation of the physics classroom is that

it is a place of impossible mathematical detail, unreasonable

concentration on answers, and the most careful measurement of

the most unreasonably small differences. Of course, that is not

what physics is about, but all too often that is what the student

expects. This is a good activity to show that there are a variety of

possible answers to a question, and the activity can be a good

exercise in how to come to agreement on the best of several

possible answers.

This activity deals with distinguishing between and describing

relative and absolute directions. It works well for helping physics

students understand parallax, and it is one of the fundamental skills

that an astronomy student needs. It is a good way to learn to understand about differences in measurements based on different points

of observation in orbital frames of reference.

GLOBE Use—One

Time for Study Sites

Classroom Learning

Activities

What is the Right

Answer?

It can be very useful

in a physics or an

astronomy classroom to

introduce the concept

of uncertainty.

Relative and Absolute

Directions

Satellite

Satellite Satellite

Satellite

Satellite transmits a signal that moves outward in

concentric circles at the speed of light.

GPS receiver triangulates its position to the place where

the signals from three or more satellite signals overlap.

The satellite positions are “known.”

Figure1
43

This activity is a beginning class in observational astronomy and the

history of astronomy. Lots of mathematical skills are learned or honed.

In this activity, the students make a modern recreation of Eratosthenes’ famous experiment to measure the diameter of the spherical earth (more than 1500 years before Columbus’ peers were

supposed to have thought that the earth was flat). They make

contact with and communicate with students from another school,

at least 500 kilometers away, and compare their locations. It’s a

great exercise for kids of all ages. My high school senior students

even get excited about this one!

The activities in the GLOBE GPS protocol, like all of the GLOBE

activities, are engaging and very concrete. They emphasize the

connections between science and math, social studies and global

involvement. And the skills used in the GLOBE protocols transfer

into lots of other areas.

The GPS system has even begun to be made a part of a large-scale

recreational activity. For years, the Boy Scouts of America and many

different recreational-fitness-sports organizations in Europe have

promoted orienteering as an educational and fitness activity for

individuals and families. It involves taking a map, a magnetic compass,

and a set of written instructions and moving from some starting point

to checkpoints inside forests and parks to find specific locations.

Usually the location is identified by a small marker that can only be

seen when one comes near. Also, the location often has code words,

further instructions, a speciality hole punch, or a logbook to use as

proof that one has successfully found the location. Awards, often only

“bragging rights,” are given to those who find the locations.

There is a new variation of this activity that centers on the GPS capability of finding a single, narrow point in unfamiliar places. This new

recreation is called geocaching. Volunteers establish “cache” (think of

the Arctic explorers’ practice of establishing stored food, fuel, and

equipment for later use during a trek) locations in forests or parks that

they enjoy and that they would like to share with others. They hide the

cache in a weatherproof container (Tupperware container or Army

surplus ammo box) containing a logbook and sometimes trinkets.

Then they post cryptic hints/clues about the location, along with its

latitude and longitude, on dedicated websites. Finally, interested

people seek and find these locations and post their impressions on the

website. They sign the logbook and take one of the trinkets, leaving

one of their own for the next finder. It is a good excuse to get out

of the house on weekends and into some of the more interesting places in the area.

Working with Angles

Celestial Navigation

Other Activities

GPS Orienteering and

Geocaching

Volunteers establish

“cache” (think of

the Arctic explorers’

practice of establishing

stored food, fuel, and

equipment for later use

during a trek) locations

in forests or parks

that they enjoy and

that they would like

to share with others.

The activities in the

GLOBE GPS protocol,

like all of the GLOBE

activities, are engaging

and very concrete.
44

The GPS protocol is a great introduction for teachers and students

to GLOBE. It ties in to some of the most up-to-date technology in use

today. It provides tie-ins to scientific, educational, and recreational

activities that are of interest to teachers, students, and families.

Check out the GLOBE GPS protocol and start looking for El Dorado!

Asimov, I. (1972). Asimov’s biographical encyclopedia of science &

technology. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Geocaching. (2001, July 6). ABC Evening News [Television Broadcast]. New York: Public Broadcasting Service.

Gundersen, P. E. (1999). The handy physics answer book. New York:

Visible Ink Press.

Kuhn, K. F. (1994). In quest of the universe. New York: West Publishing Company.

Klinkenborg, V. (December, 1999). No place to hide. Discover

Magazine.

Morrison, P., & Morrison P. (1989). The ring of truth. New York:

Vintage Books.

Sobel, D. (1995). Longitude: The true story of a lone genius who

solved the greatest scientific problem of his time. New York: Walker

Publishing Company, Inc.

Sobel, D. (1999). Galileo’s daughter: A historical memoir of science,

faith, and love. New York: Walker Publishing Company, Inc.

http://128.143.22.23/exhibits/lewis_clark/ch4-28.html

Information about Andrew Ellicott and his connection to the Lewis

and Clark expedition.

www.geocaching.com

One website with many links to other geocaching sites.

www.garmin.com

One of the manufacturers of consumer GPS products with basic

information/background.

www.GLOBE.gov

The place for everything about the GLOBE Program.

Conclusion

Sources and Resources

Websites
45

Name: David Todd

Teaching Experience: 11 years

Current Position: Physics, Physical Science, Astronomy, Robert S.

Alexander Comprehensive High School

Degree: M.Ed., Secondary Science, University of West Georgia

Name: Rebecca Dodge

Teaching Experience: 5 years

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Geosciences, University of

West Georgia, Director, GLOBE Partner, University of West Georgia

Former Positions/Duties: Director of GLOBE Partner, University of

Texas, El Paso

Degree: Ph.D., Geology, Colorado School of Mines

Demographic

Information
46
47

Chapter Seven

Impacts of GLOBE Lead to Gatekeepers of the Future

By Terrie Kielborn, Ph.D.

The world looks so different after learning science. For

example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are

burned, they go back to air, and in the flaming heat is

released the flaming heat of the sun, which was bound in to

convert the air into the tree. [A]nd in the ash is the small

remnant of the part which did not come from the air, that

came from the solid earth, instead.

These are beautiful things, and the content of science is

wonderfully full of them. They are very inspiring, and they

can be used to inspire others. (Feynman, 1996, p. viii)

Often impacts are not known immediately. Our first GLOBE training

at the University of West Georgia (UWG) has witnessed a number of

outcomes and will most likely host more in the future. The following

is a partial list of some of the major impacts from our first GLOBE

Training experience:

 Curriculum changes in the Early Childhood Program of Study

at UWG

 Distinguished Professor Grant between College of Education

and College of Arts and Sciences, UWG

 Environmental Techniques Course, Summer 2000, team-taught

by College of Education and College of Arts and Sciences, UWG

 Collaboration with local schools using GLOBE

 West Georgia as a GLOBE Partner

 Environmental Observations for Teachers Course, Spring 2001,

team-taught by College of Education and College of Arts and

Sciences, UWG (one of two universities to teach GLOBE as a

course for pre-service teachers for the first time)

 Students and Teachers Are Revitalizing Teaching through

Technology) START Conference

 Project ROW (Restoring Our Waters)

One of the initial impacts from our first GLOBE training held with Georgia TECH was the award of the Distinguished Professor Grant to a group

of faculty representing the College of Education and the College of Arts

and Sciences at UWG. This grant provided funding for a new course, A

Problem-Based Approach to Teaching Environmental Science, offered at

the undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate course

targeted science majors (biology, chemistry, geology, geography,

and environmental science), while the graduate course focused

on in-service K–12 teachers. For this course, students performed

Impacts From Our First

GLOBE Training

Experience
48

a preliminary assessment of a local watershed and developed and

conducted research on a topic related to water quality over the summer.

Students obtained their data through the use of graphing calculators,

probes, and sensors in combination of some of the GLOBE protocols.

My interest in GLOBE and involvement with the collaboration at

Bremen High School’s environmental science course prompted me

to submit a proposal for a small grant to attend a GLOBE Train-theTrainer workshop where I would become a certified GLOBE trainer.

It is important to note that in order to be a Certified GLOBE Trainer,

you must attend and receive certification for GLOBE training. In

addition, teachers can only become GLOBE-certified by participating in a GLOBE workshop facilitated by GLOBE trainers.

A colleague from the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of

Geosciences, Rebecca Dodge, had previously been trained as a GLOBE

trainer as well as directed a GLOBE partnership in EL Paso prior to her

position at UWG. Since I shared Rebecca’s desire for UWG to be a

GLOBE partner, we had a few meetings and decided to make a presentation to the programs/funding director at UWG regarding possible

monies to be allocated for the GLOBE program under the auspice of

UWG as a GLOBE partner. The meeting was favorable; Rebecca submitted the paperwork for our GLOBE partnership; and within a month,

UWG became an official GLOBE partner. Georgia currently has three

GLOBE partners: Georgia Institute of Technology, FernBank Museum,

and UWG. FernBank’s primary focus is the DeKalb School System since

they have listed the GLOBE curriculum as matching the requirements

of their county curriculum as well as the state standards. Georgia

TECH has a considerable number of trainers, but since it does not

offer programs of study for education majors, it requires the assistance of other institutions with educational programs in order to train

in-service or pre-service teachers in GLOBE. Currently within the

Department of Geosciences at UWG, more faculty are being GLOBEtrained and students and teachers are becoming GLOBE-certified

through both undergraduate and graduate-level courses.

Due to the success of the courses provided by the Distinguished Professor Grant, continued interest, and training of additional faculty, a curriculum change in the program of study for early childhood education majors

took place a year later. The change required GLOBE to be taken as part of

their program of study to satisfy science hours in the freshman or sophomore year. The course was offered through the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Geosciences, and students received three hours of

undergraduate credit. The Spring 2001 semester was the first time for the

course to be taught at UWG. Students attended a one-hour lecture twice a

week to learn about geosystems and then attended a two-hour laboratory

once a week to be trained in all of the GLOBE protocols.

UWG Becomes a

GLOBE Partner

...within a month, UWG

became an official

GLOBE partner.

Teaching GLOBE as a

Course
49

Rebecca Dodge of Geosciences presented the lecture-series of the

course. Rebecca and I team-taught the two-hour laboratory sections

using the GLOBE learning activities and protocols as our curriculum. We had two sections of laboratory because we wanted to keep

the ratio of teacher-to-student low for practicing and conducting the

GLOBE protocols. Students worked in small groups of three or four

to conduct various learning activities in the laboratory or outside.

After students learned the procedures for a particular protocol,

they were able to apply what they had learned outside. It is amazing

to witness college students conducting authentic science for the

first time. This particular group was also able to work with a group

of middle school students from Sewell Middle School, approximately 15 miles northeast of UWG. This experience allowed middle

school students to actually collect scientific data alongside college

students and to get a first-hand glimpse of what college is like. It

also provided the opportunity for this group of education majors

to work with middle school students.

Project ROW (Restoring Our Waters) was developed as a result of

UWG faculty from the College of Education and the College of Arts

and Sciences at UWG participating in the Student Teachers are

Revitalizing Teaching through Technology (START) Conference in

the fall of 2001. The focus of this conference was for each team to

develop a program utilizing instructional technology.

Project ROW is a collaborative effort of the University System of

Georgia, private institutions, professional organizations, state and

government environmental agencies, and corporate sponsors. It is a

statewide initiative to train in-service teachers and students to use

technology for conducting water quality research on Georgia’s

major rivers and tributaries. The project consists of three stages:

training, implementation, and assessment/evaluation. The training

phase will prepare teachers to use technology and protocols for

conducting water quality studies. During the implementation phase,

teachers will apply what they learned in the training phase and

conduct an action research project at specific point sources. To

fulfill the assessment phase, the teachers will present findings of

their research at an Environmental Summit in Atlanta.

This monograph was devoted to the idea of using GLOBE as a

method of enabling students to learn about their environment by

conducting their own authentic science investigations. “Students

are empowered and motivated by involvement in GLOBE” (Butler

& Coppola, 1997, pp. 69–70). GLOBE is designed to motivate

learners of varying abilities and of any ethnic or cultural

background. Georgia has a large diverse student population

This experience allowed

middle school students

to actually collect

scientific data alongside

college students and to

get a first-hand glimpse

of what college is like. It

also provided the

opportunity for this

group of education

majors to work with

middle school students.

Project ROW

[Project ROW] is a

statewide initiative to train

in-service teachers and

students to use

technology for

conducting water quality

research on Georgia’s

major rivers and

tributaries.

GLOBE is designed to

motivate learners of

varying abilities and of

any ethnic or cultural

background.

Gatekeepers of the

Future
50

particularly throughout the metro-Atlanta area. Therefore, a curriculum must address a variety of cultures and languages if it is to be

appealing to school systems. “GLOBE educational materials are

provided in the six United Nations languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish” (Finarelli, 1998, p. 83). GLOBE

students from around the world enter their data daily on the GLOBE

website [www.globe.gov], allowing students to learn about GLOBE

data from other countries.

The Teacher Research Education Council (TERC) and the Concord

Consortium (1997) recommend these types of science experiences

because they give students “the scientist’s sense of wonder, the

scientist’s sense of hope, the scientist’s sense of accomplishment, the

scientist’s sense of how we explain our universe” (Pennypacker, 1997,

p. 50). Students begin to think of science the way scientists do.

The chapters in this monograph reflect just a portion of the impact

GLOBE has had on the students in Georgia. Rhonda’s excitement led

to a student’s grandfather constructing the instrument shelter to

“perfection” and her students raising enough money in a week’s

time to receive most of their GLOBE supplies. In her chapter, she

states, “I found my students working together to reach our goals—

financially and academically.” She observed her students working

enthusiastically and cooperatively to collect data. One student even

commented, “Once the GLOBE Program is over, I plan to still keep

collecting data over the summer.”

Staci found that GLOBE provided “clear and concise packages of

information” to allow her ecology students one set of instructions

versus the compiled version she had been using prior to her GLOBE

training. In fact, the class using the GLOBE protocols for instructions

“worked and accomplished the most.” Staci attributes the success of

her students to the GLOBE protocols that were detailed and specific

so “the students had little, if any, questions or difficulties.”

Carla was able to convince her administration to begin offering an

environmental science course at her high school. She began by

seeking assistance from UWG to co-write a grant that she received

to purchase her equipment and supplies for GLOBE. I spent as

much as three days a week co-facilitating the use of GLOBE protocols with her students. Her students enjoyed carrying out GLOBE

protocols because it allowed them to spend time outside the class- room as well as in the laboratory. In addition, the students learned

how to relate what they learned using GLOBE with their own local

environment by sharing weekly articles on environmental issues

from their local newspaper. Finally, her students demonstrated

many of the soil protocols with sixth-grade students at a nearby

middle school. Carla comments, “It was a very positive experience

for both....The sixth-graders learned about soil, while the high
51

school students shared information and procedures that they had

previously learned through the environmental science class.”

Ted began using GLOBE with his environmental/science club, the

Explorers, in the North Georgia mountains. His students enjoyed

building densiometers and walking through spider webs. One of

his students commented, “I never paid much attention to trees,

but I’ve started noticing them a lot more since [the field trip].” For

Ted and his Explorers, this was a new beginning. After raising

money, seeking advice from master gardeners, and mapping out a

plan, the group planted a variety of trees on their school campus.

It was even given a name, Treescaping Day! No doubt, since they

planted 120 trees. This success bred a new project involving

various community partners and a $5,000 Urban Forestry grant.

Ted remarks, “It all started with one student’s suggestion, one

inspired by a GLOBE protocol!”

David has the luxury of inheriting students already exposed to

GLOBE protocols because many of his students come from

Rhonda’s school. David’s protocol is unusual in that it involves a

piece of equipment that cannot be made but must be purchased

and requires a once-a-year collection. He comments in his chapter

that the GPS protocol “ties in to some of the most up-to-date technology in use today.” He also discusses how using the GPS has

become a recreational activity—especially for groups such as the

Boy Scouts. He encourages all of us to check out the GLOBE protocols and begin looking for El Dorado.

Even though these five teachers represent a micro-fraction of the

16,000 GLOBE-trained teachers throughout 96 countries, the impact

that they have already made on students is astounding. It is safe to

assume that the impact we have witnessed in Georgia is taking

place worldwide, and that the teachers who become GLOBE-trained

in the future potentially will have that much more impact.

Through GLOBE, students can experience the excitement of doing

authentic science using a hands-on and field-experience approach.

GLOBE provides “the linkage of school learning with the real world”

(Barstow, 1997). When students learn about their environment, they

learn about what affects the water they drink and the food they eat.

As educators, we know first-hand that the students we teach today

will be the leaders of our country tomorrow. As scientists or science

educators, we know how important it is for these “prospective

leaders” to make decisions that will provide protection and

sustainability for future generations to come. Before decisions can

be made, there must first be an awareness that will allow the

problem to be recognized. Once the problem is identified

and accepted as a dilemma, various perspectives are

As educators, we know

first-hand that the

students we teach today

will be the leaders of our

country tomorrow. As

scientists or science

educators, we know how

important it is for these

“prospective leaders” to

make decisions that will

provide protection and

sustainability for future

generations to come.

Today’s students are our

gatekeepers of the

future.
52

needed to develop sound, feasible, and reasonable solutions. All of

this responsibility for the future rests on the students of today. The

time to begin their training is now in classrooms around the world.

Today’s students are our gatekeepers of the future.

Barstow, D. (1997). The richness of two cultures. In TERC & The

Concord Consortium, Student and Scientist Partnerships (SSP) Conference (pp. 33–37). Cambridge, MA: TERC & SSP Conference.

Butler, D., & Coppola, R. K. (1997). GLOBE. In TERC & The Concord

Consortium, Student and Scientist Partnerships (SSP) Conference (pp.

69–70). Cambridge, MA: TERC & SSP Conference.

Feynman, R. Quotation. In National Research Council (NRC). (1996).

National science education standards. Washington, DC: National

Academy Press.

Finarelli, M. C. (1998). GLOBE: A worldwide environmental science

and education partnership. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 77–83.

GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), www.globe.gov.

Pennypacker, C. (1997). Why do scientists want teachers and students to do real research? In TERC & The Concord Consortium,

Student and Scientist Partnerships (SSP) Conference, (pp. 48–52).

Cambridge, MA: TERC & SSP Conference.

Name: Terrie Kielborn

Teaching Experience: 23 years

Current Position: Physical Science, Stewart Middle School, Adjunct

Professor, University of West Georgia, College Representative,

Georgia Science Teachers Association

Former Positions/Duties: Assistant Professor, Middle Grades

Science, University of West Georgia

Degree: Ph.D., Science Education, Florida State University

References

Demographic

Information
53

Frank Orr,

Ph.D.

Staci Nash,

M.Ed.

Terrie Kielborn,

Ph.D.

Nancy Davis,

M.A.

David Todd,

M.Ed.

Carla Pollard,

Ed.S.

Michael Childs Gail Marshall,

Ed.D.

Rhonda Baldwin,

Ed.S.

Ted Wansley,

Ph.D.

Rebecca Dodge,

Ph.D.

Francena Cummings,

Ph.D.

Authors and Editors



Georgia Goes Global:

Monitoring the Global

Environment through

Authentic Science relates the

experiences of five in-service

teachers who participated in the

GLOBE training workshop. Each

teacher implemented a specific

GLOBE protocol in his or her respective educational setting. The concept

was to illustrate how implementing the

protocols provides a venue for students to

engage in authentic science as active

participants in the learning process and

become self-directed researchers. These

experiences also convey how the GLOBE

curriculum enhances students’ ability to

think scientifically through “contextual

learning.” The concluding chapter discusses the

impact of the GLOBE Program and how it precipitated other projects as an outcome of the GLOBE

experience.

“True science teaches us to doubt and to abstain

from ignorance. Man can learn nothing unless he

proceeds from the known to the unknown.”

—Anonymous