ALASKA GLOBE PROGRAM

History of the Alaska GLOBE Program

Background Information

In 1994, the first U.S. Global Change Education conference sponsored by various federal agencies and private non-profit organizations, brought together scientists and educators from all over the United States. The purpose was to discuss how to educate everybody regarding the critical and significant subject of global change and to share expertise in launching global change curricula across the country.

Global change is defined as changes in the global environment that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life.

Kindergarten through junior college students and the general public were identified as highest priority audiences for education and outreach efforts. A team consisting of science teachers, a scientist, an educator from the Alaska State Department of Education, and a community science educator from Alaska participated at the conference.

In response to this nationwide initiative, Alaska began an action plan to provide a state program in global change education. Through the efforts of a nine-member volunteer Alaska Global Change Education executive team (including the five original Alaska team members who attended the 1994 conference), funding for a global change education planning grant was obtained from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a 50-member team representing different federal and state agencies was organized, surveys were conducted. and education materials were researched as to availability and suitability for use in Alaska.

Among the materials and programs reviewed and favorably considered, was the GLOBE Program. Since then members of the Alaska Global Change Education team have participated in the GLOBE Program as trainees and trainers.

University of Alaska Fairbanks GLOBE Franchise Report 2000

The University of Alaska (UAF) GLOBE Franchise was established in November 1996 through the Center for Global Change and Arctic Systems Research. Since then, the Alaska GLOBE program has grown to include 88 classroom teachers in 62 schools, three education specialists, four environmental specialists, two administrators, 7 scientists in Akutan, Anchorage, Anderson, Cantwell, Fairbanks, Galena, Glenallen, Haines, Homer, Juneau, King Cove, McGrath, Minchumina, Nanwalek, Nome, North Pole, Palmer, Port Graham, Sand Point, Shageluk, Shaktoolik, St. George Island, and White Mountain. GLOBE implementation activities include data gathering and reporting on the GLOBE data server, piloting new GLOBE plant phenology protocols, using GLOBE to teach environmental science, and, use of GLOBE to support science concept development, technology use and student inquiry in classrooms.

Activities

Training

The third Alaska GLOBE Teacher Training Workshop was conducted on August 2-6, 1999 in Fairbanks, AK. Fifteen teachers from thirteen schools (West Valley High School, Glenallen Junior High School, Joy Elementary, Hanshew Middle School, Ticasuk Brown Elementary, Minchumina Community School, North Pole Elementary, Guided Independent Study, Haines High School, White Mountain School, Badger Elementary, Nordale Elementary and King Cove School) and four environmental specialists from three tribal councils (Louden, Port Graham Village Council and Nanwalek IRA Council) were trained. Eighty-seven percent of the newly trained teachers have implemented GLOBE in their classrooms.

The Alaska GLOBE Franchise recently hosted a GLOBE Training for Trainers at the International Arctic Research Center and Geophysical Institute of the UAF campus on June 26-July 1, 2000, which began with a reception hosted by UAF Chancellor Marshall Lind. Fifty-five enthusiastic and active participants came from Alaska and twelve other states.

Workshops

The Alaska GLOBE Franchise organized and facilitated a one-day workshop on "Climate Change, Traditional Knowledge and Education" sponsored by the UAF Center for Global Change and Arctic Systems Research, and the Department of Interior Program on Regional Assessment of Climate Change Impacts. The goal of the workshop was to discuss ways of gathering climate change data and information and increasing public awareness of climate change and its impact on communities.

The Franchise also provided logistical support for the Introductory Air Quality Training Workshop sponsored by the Northern Arizona University Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals, held at Fairbanks, Alaska.

Student Symposium

The Alaska GLOBE Franchise and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Partners in Science Project co-hosted a one-day symposium on "Celebration of Learning". Two hundred fifty K-8th grade Fairbanks Area Schools students gave group presentations on their science projects and participated in various hands-on science activities in research laboratories at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and in the biotechnology classroom of West Valley High School. High school students assisted with registration and laboratory science activities.

Teacher support

Mentoring activities to support GLOBE implementation included phone calls, emails, classroom visits, and, working with teachers on science units and lesson plans. Replacements for GLOBE equipment such as weather instrument shelters, max/min thermometers, rain gauges and pH meters were provided.

Student support

To help provide students the opportunity to learn and do science, math and technology , the franchise coordinator worked with an undergraduate student on her senior thesis research, mentored 3 high school students on their science projects, coordinated local elementary and middle school science fair, was science fair judge for district and statewide science fairs and organized panel of judges for the Association for Women in Science- AK Chapter and the American Society for Microbiology- AK Branch to choose outstanding science projects and recognize students' science achievement.

Collaborative Efforts

Ongoing partnerships with the GLOBE program in Alaska include two National Science Foundation (NSF) funded projects:

1) Partners in Science (PIS) and
2) the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Schoolyard,
3) the Alaska Environmental Education Outreach Program funded by the Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
4) the Alaska Boreal Forest Council School Project, and,
5) the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

Partner goals are similar to GLOBE's. Teachers are trained to teach process- and inquiry-based science, math and technology skills using hands-on methods aligned with state and nationally set standards for education. Also, classrooms are partnered with science, engineering and math professionals in the university, community, private business and government agencies.

Presentations

Presentations about the GLOBE Program were given at the

1) Chugach Regional Resources Commission in Anchorage,
2) Gulf Environmental Monitoring Program Audioconference,
3) People of the Forest Trade Show of Ideas sponsored by the Northern Forest Network and by UAF,
4) Arctic Council Meeting,
5) Rotary Club Meeting,
6) Academy for Alaska Rural Teachers, and
7) UAF Education course on Native Ways of Knowing.

Other presentations given by the Alaska Franchise Coordinator were:

1) "Globe: A Multidisciplinary Cross-curricular Science Research and Education Program" at the 50th Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Arctic Science Conference,
2) "Long Term Ecological Research and K-12 science Education Programs: Schoolyard LTER, GLOBE, and Partners in Science" at the Alaska Long Term Ecological Research Symposium,
3) "Involving K-12 Students in Climate Change Research" at the Climate Change, Traditional Knowledge and Education Workshop,
4) "Involving K-12 Students in Environmental Monitoring" at a seminar sponsored by the UAF School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management and,
5) "Involving K-12 Students in Environmental Research and Education" at the Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials' Meeting.

In addition to this poster presentation, a couple of high school students orally shared their GLOBE experience and research during the Arctic Council Meeting. The Arctic Council is a high level intergovernmental forum to address environmental protection and sustainable development issues in the Arctic region. Member states of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.

University Level Courses

Graduate, undergraduate and teacher accreditation courses based on the GLOBE program have been offered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in the School of Education and also in the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management.

Awards

Several GLOBE teachers received awards and honors. Joy Hamilton got the Milken National Educator Award, Sandy Walsh was awarded $10,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency for a recyling project. Linda Schandelmeir, Don Peterson and Ron Reihl were Alaska state winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, Jacqueline D'Auria the British Petroleum Alaska Teacher of the Year, and Nancy Johnston, National Teacher Certification. Leslie Gordon, who similarly obtained these prestigious teacher awards in the past, recently obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Idaho. Her dissertation included data on how teachers and students benefited from GLOBE.

Alaska GLOBE coordinator Elena Sparrow, and Alaska GLOBE trainers Leslie Gordon and Sidney Stephens, were awarded close to a million dollars by the National Science Foundation, for a grant on "Global Change Education Using Western Science and Native Observations". The GLOBE program is a major component of this three-year project to enhance and support original global environmental change research in K-12 classrooms in Alaska.

Badger Elementary School was named a GLOBE Star school and the Kodiak High School was on the GLOBE Chief Scientist Honor Roll for outstanding weather related data reporting.

Future Plans

As part of the newly funded "Global Change Education Using Western Science and Native Observations" Program, a two-week summer institute "Observing Locally, Connecting Globally" for Alaska teachers is planned for August 2000. Teachers will receive training in GLOBE research methods, current best practices in science education, and the integration of local/traditional knowledge into environmental studies. From students' locally relevant investigations in classrooms, understanding and learning will be extended to the global environment. These research studies will be supported by the integration of Native and locally relevant knowledge, as well as by community experts and university scientists.

Plans are underway for teaching a graduate level course based on GLOBE, for teachers with a baccalaureate degree who are in the Elementary Teacher Education Program in the UAF School of Education, and for an environmental science course in the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management.

There is a proposal for a new program "Weathernet" in Alaska where students who are collecting GLOBE weather data in rural sites will have the opportunity to be part of the weather news on television through the Anchorage ABC Superstation. Traditional Native Knowledge related to weather will also be featured.

There is also a new project being initiated called Arctic GLOBE: POPs in the Arctic, in partnership with Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, one of the Arctic Council's working group. The Alaska GLOBE Franchise has offered to host the first training for teachers on this Arctic GLOBE project.

University of Alaska Fairbanks GLOBE Franchise Report 1999

Activities

The University of Alaska Fairbanks conducted our second GLOBE Teacher Training Workshop on Aug.10-13, 1998, with two follow-up training days, one in September and another in November 1998, for twenty-seven participants (two scientists, one graduate student, three high schoolteachers, three middle school teachers and eighteen elementary school teachers). The 24 teachers came from 9 school districts: Aleutians East Borough, Bering Strait, Denali Borough, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Haines Borough, Iditarod Area, Juneau Borough, Matanuska Susitna Borough and Pribilof School District, and 18 schools: Akutan School, Anderson Elementary, Anderson School, Anne Wien Elementary, Barnette Elementary, Cantwell School, Colony Middle, Denali Elementary, Haines High School, Harborview Elementary, Innoko River School, Joy Elementary, Ladd Elementary, North Pole Middle, Pearl Creek Elementary, Saint George School, Shaktoolik School, and West Valley High School.

Since late 1996 when the University of Alaska Fairbanks GLOBE Franchise was established, the program has grown to include 49 classroom teachers, two education specialists, two administrators, and six scientists in Fairbanks, North Pole, Anderson, Cantwell, Akutan, Haines, Shageluk, Shaktoolik, Homer, Kenai, McGrath, Palmer, Juneau, and St. George Island. There are a total of 67 registered Alaska GLOBE schools (49 franchise-trained), 24 have reported data and 9 have collected data but not reported these on the GLOBE server.

The Alaska Franchise Coordinator was active in the successful efforts of recruiting the Philippines as a GLOBE Partner. She was one of the GLOBE trainers at the first Southeast Asian Regional GLOBE Training for Trainers held in the Philippines, April 12-16, 1999. She also did presentations on GLOBE and global environmental change at the Alaska Science Consortium Teachers Annual Meeting in October, at the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative Athabascan Elders Regional Meeting and at the Native Peoples/Native Homelands USGCRP Climate Change Conference in Albuquerque, in November 1998. One of the other GLOBE trainers also did GLOBE presentations at one of the schools in Fairbanks and also to the teachers at the Iditarod Area School District.

Public awareness of the GLOBE Program was enhanced. One school involved in GLOBE plant phenology measurements was featured in the September15, 1998, issue while another school was featured for their GLOBE nature trail/biology site Spring 1999 in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Also, an article on GLOBE and Global Change Education in Alaska was published (Agroborealis Vol.31, No.1:16-18 ). GLOBE was among the projects featured in CDs distributed by the NSF Partners in Science (PIS) Project and in the end of the year PIS district wide celebration. Additionally, two middle school teachers set up a web site (http:// www.cms.matsu.k12.ak.us/teams/Voltas) highlighting their students' involvement in GLOBE.

Two science units, one on Local Ecosystem- Boreal Forest and the other on Local Ecosystem- Subarctic Slough and seven other standards-based science units incorporating GLOBE protocols and learning activities were developed. Another unit on Global Systems and Connectedness (also based on GLOBE) which integrated Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and Math subject areas for 6th grade students was developed jointly by a science teacher and a language arts teacher. A GLOBE teacher was successful in obtaining funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for her class to monitor air pollution in their school. A student of one of the GLOBE teachers drew Alaska birds to add to the set of bird pictures in the learning activity "How Accurate is it? Introducing the Difference/Error Matrix."

One high school teacher taught an environmental science course based on GLOBE. Here are some quotes from her Alaska Native students: from an 11th grader "The things I like best about the GLOBE Program was things we had to use our hands on such as measuring trees, testing the oxygen of water and digging the soil pit. After GLOBE, I wanted to clean up our town and benefit from the program because this town needs a cleaning"; from an 8th grader "It wasn't just like any other science class. We actually go around and do research"; from a 7th grader " I liked to log on the weather observations and looking up weather on the Internet"; from a 10th grader "During the GLOBE program, I learned the layers of the earth. I like the way the earth looked when our class dug a hole. I like this program a lot. There are lots of hands-on projects. I would recommend this class to any grade. It's a fun program learning about the environment." And, lastly from a 9th grader "The thing I liked about the GLOBE Program was doing the cloud observations and the soil chapter the best because I learned a lot about the soil. Yeah, I would recommend this program to other people. It made me look at my environment differently; also think about recycling."

Teachers from fourteen schools piloted the GLOBE Seasons: Global Plant Waves or plant phenology protocols and learning activities (http://www.lter.alaska.edu/~dverbyla/globe/). Here are some comments teachers have given. "Bringing out the creative and analytical thinking of this class, as well as spontaneous group cooperation, has been the best result of getting involved with the GLOBE Program" from a second grade teacher. "The children have learned a lot about math and metric measurement as a direct result of the GLOBE studies." "Conducting GLOBE research made it easy for my students to think metric. They started out using inches but discovered on their own that centimeters and millimeters work better," according to a fifth grade teacher.

Collaborative Efforts

The Alaska GLOBE Franchise has partnered with other ongoing science and education projects also funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The first one is the Partners in Science (PIS) Project (http://www3.northstar.k12.ak.us/NSFPIS/vsm.html ) whose goals are:1) to train K-12 teachers to teach process-based math and science using hands-on methods aligned with state and nationally set standards for education, 2) to train teachers how to use technology as a research and communication tool to support the curriculum, and 3) to partner classrooms with science, engineering, and math professionals in the university community, private business and government agencies.

The second partnership is the Bonanza School Yard Long Term Ecological Research Project (http://www.lter.alaska.edu/~jirons/schoolyard_lter/schoolyard.htm). The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program was established in 1980 by NSF to support research on long-term ecological phenomena in the United States. The program now is a collaborative effort involving more than 1110 scientists and students studying ecological processes operating at long time scales and over broad spatial scales in 21 sites. The research at Bonanza/Poker-Caribou Creeks Experimental Forest LTER (BNZ LTER) program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks includes forest succession processes associated with wild fire and flood plains, changes in resource and energy availability for decomposers, herbivore control of plant species composition, and, hydrologic regime and stream ecology. LTER has begun the Schoolyard LTER (SYLTER), a broad-scale, long-term effort to combine scientific research and science education (http://www.lternet.edu/oppts/education/). The GLOBE Program was used to jumpstart the Bonanza SYLTER project which in turn provides some financial support to the Alaska GLOBE Franchise.

Two SYLTER teachers and eight PIS teachers and their students are actively participating in GLOBE. Two of our Franchise GLOBE trainers are education specialists in the PIS project. Additionally, parents have gotten involved in GLOBE. During the 1998 summer while school was out, a parent and her children collected weather data daily. Also, parents have come to help GLOBE teachers and students collect data on GLOBE plant phenology protocols.

Future Activities/Plans

Another GLOBE Teacher Training Workshop (again offered as a 2-credit University course) is scheduled in Fairbanks, Alaska, on August 2-6, 1999, with a follow-up day during the school year.

A research proposal on "The Alaska Transect: A Dispersed Observatory for Long-Term Observations of the Alaskan Arctic" which includes an education component involving GLOBE and Native observations and knowledge, has been submitted to NSF.

Collaboration with PIS and SYLTER will be continued and other partnerships developed, e.g., the Alaska Regional Global Change Impacts Assessments Project funded by the US Department of Interior and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Environmental Education Outreach Program at Northern Arizona University.

Recruitment of more educators, scientists and community members to be actively involved in GLOBE activities will be kept up. Efforts to obtain funding for the Alaska GLOBE Franchise coordination, teacher training, and school/teacher implementation support will similarly be continued.

Plans are underway for sponsoring a GLOBE Training for Trainers in Alaska and a student symposium in 2000.

University of Alaska Fairbanks GLOBE Franchise Report 1998

Activities

The Alaska GLOBE Franchise conducted a teacher training workshop Oct. 7-9, 1997 with one follow-up training day in April 1998, for a total of 31 people (25 classroom teachers, two education specialists, two administrators and two scientists) from three Alaska School districts and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

One school participated in the on-line GLOBE chat on El Nino.

Four schools participated in the initial pilot of the green-up protocol and learning activity of the Seasons: Global Plant Waves , a new GLOBE area of investigation.

Cindy Williams, one of our Franchise trainers, went to China as one of the GLOBE trainers.

Several presentations regarding the GLOBE program were done.

Alaska Schools Participating in the GLOBE Program

Registered schools: 41
Schools trained by the Franchise: 15
Schools reporting data: 29
Schools that have collected data but have not reported: 3

Funding for the GLOBE Training workshops and GLOBE Kits and Franchise work

Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research at UAF
Alaska Space Grant Program at UAF
International Arctic Research Center
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Iditarod Area School District
Kenai Peninsula School District
Partners in Science, a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded program
Environmental Protection Agency grant
Personal time and effort donated by volunteers

Web Site: http://www.cgc.uaf.edu/GLOBE

GLOBE Connections

Partners in Science Program
Regional Global Change Impacts Assessments and Native Ways of Knowing
Long-term Ecological Research Schoolyard Program

Presentations about GLOBE

Alaska Science Consortium Basic Institute
Alaska Math Consortium Summer Institute
UAF course on Human Dimensions of Global Change

Problems encountered by GLOBE trained teachers

Lack of internet connection
Thermometer breaking at colder than 40 Celsius
Difficulty in finding an adequate site for the weather station

Future Activities/Plans

Another training workshop is scheduled in Fairbanks , Alaska on August 10-13, 1998, with two follow-up days during the school year for those taking the course for two credits.

A training workshop has been requested for Anchorage by a teacher from there who will write grant proposals to fund the training.

Several teachers from schools all over Alaska will be piloting the Seasons: Global Plant Waves this fall. Four schools did an intial pilot this past spring.

Partnership with Regional Global Change Impacts Assessments and Native Ways of Knowing efforts and with the Long-term Ecological Research Schoolyard Program will be further developed.

Proposal on Global Change Education and Native Ways of Knowing Program (with a major focus on GLOBE) will be resubmitted to NSF.

Recruitment of more scientists, educators, administrators and community members to be involved in GLOBE activities and efforts to secure funds for GLOBE training and implementation will continue.

Joining GLOBE training efforts in other countries in the circumpolar north will be pursued depending on availability of funding and personnel.

GLOBE trainers in the Alaska UAF Franchise

Elena Sparrow, soil microbiologist, science educator
Leslie Gordon, education specialist
Bill McKee, education specialist
Cindy Williams, plant ecologist
John Lingaas, meteorologist, guest trainer

University of Alaska Fairbanks GLOBE Franchise Report 1997

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) GLOBE Franchise was established on November 20, 1996. It is led by the Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research at UAF which will work cooperatively within the University of Alaska Statewide System to undertake responsibility for recruiting GLOBE Schools, training GLOBE teachers, and mentoring GLOBE students throughout Alaska.

Activities

1. Two teachers and a scientist completed GLOBE training for trainers in Arizona, December 1996, through funding from UAF Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research.
   

2. K-12 Teachers were introduced to GLOBE during a training course on Earth System/Global Environmental Changes delivered by 2-way interactive video technology to three sites in Alaska. The course funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, consisted of a content portion given by scientists and an activity/implementation portion given by master teachers. Some GLOBE learning activities were used in the implementation portion of the course.
   

3. Presentations about the GLOBE Program were done at the Arctic Science Education Workshop (sponsored by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S.) in April 1997 and at the Alaska Water and Wastewater Management Association Conference in May 1997 and discussed at the Workshop on the Impacts of Global Change in the Alaska/Western Arctic/Bering Sea Region as part of a series of regional workshops sponsored by the U.S. Global Change Research Program
   

Implementation Plans

1. A GLOBE teacher training workshop is scheduled for Oct. 7,8,9, 1997 in Fairbanks, AK. Funding is through the Alaska Space Grant Program, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Iditarod and Kenai Peninsula School Districts, and Partners in Science Program funded by National Science Foundation (NSF).
   

2. Another GLOBE teacher training workshop in Fairbanks, AK is scheduled for 1998 with funding from the Alaska Space Grant Program and Partners in Science Program.
   

3. A preliminary proposal on Global Change Education (combining western and native ways of knowing) in which the GLOBE program is the major component, was submitted to NSF's Teacher Enhancement Program and favorably received. A full proposal will be submitted this September.
   

4. Additional sources of support (educators, scientists, technologists, community members and funding) for the Alaska GLOBE Program are being sought to bring GLOBE to and implement in schools and communities.