GLOBE

Team Members:

Aida Awad, Colleen Buzby, Liz Goehring, Mike Leon, Matt Rossi, Dave Smith

Meeting Room:

Pre-meeting Sharing Space

Please introduce yourself to your team members. Give a brief description of your role in facilitating the use of data in education. You can also post links, files, or images.

Add Pre-Meeting Notes here:

notes_from_our_introductory (Microsoft Word 30kB Apr22 08)

notes_from_our_data (Microsoft Word 30kB Apr22 08)

Session 1 - Thursday Morning
Meet your team members. Learn about the data, tools, and expertise represented on your team. Review DataSheet(s) and explore data and tools.

Team members meet each other and share their experiences and viewpoints on using data in education. Review and discuss DataSheet(s) begun by the data representative(s) for your team. Explore datasets and tools and consider how the expertise on the team can complement them. If you haven't already done so, narrow down the range of datasets the team is considering using to a manageable number.

Add Session 1 Notes here:
So let's talk about the data and the sheet we started filling out earlier.

the chapters want you to take a dataset off the internet, and a tool off the internet, put them together in a storyline so that an educator can use it, but also go beyond the activity to use the tool or the dataset in other ways. The EETs are not developed for student use, but for the teacher. Then it is up to the teacher to create the student "experience."

Lao: What grade are we targeting?

I suggest we go to a server where we can subset a dataset by regions... teacher does a demo then have the students pick the subsets...

Dave: We're using the NARR data. For the EET, we will pick out an analysis to feature. We have to stay very focused on what we want the teacher to be able to do at the end.

Example: one thing we could have them do is a simple budget (the budget concept), looking at three inputs and outputs. Doing an analysis, take one grid, subtract another grid from it, to get the final grid (or balance).

we agree that concepts that are integral to the overall toolkit (eg, budget analysis) should be explained in the chapter.

call it a 'case study'.

Aida: It's important that the case study be linked to other aspects that show relevance, or show how they can apply it locally.

But we need to be careful not to sign off on building too much.

Our goal is to create a chapter for the teacher that will introduce the tool using a dataset to the teacher, and prepare them enough to feel confident going out afterwards to create their own lesson(s) for their students. We are not building the student lessons themselves. THat's up to the teacher. We need the teacher to help make it meaningful...

Aida: I think it's important for all of us to understand the way it works for a teacher... they will sign up for a pre-workshop session, then they will participate in a two hour session for training on this chapter. This is the prep for using the toolkit chapter. They (Carla et al) will train teachers on the toolkit chapter.

team looks through El Nino chapter as an example to see what's appropriate in a chapter for a teacher...

Matt: we should be very clear in the step-by-step what is appropriate for teachers and what is appropriate for students. eg: step 1 in the El Nino chapter should be done by the teacher, and the other two steps could be done by students directly.

Let's use as much as possible from other existing chapters using MyWorld GIS

We're writing for version 5. previous curricula has been written for 4.1. MyWorldGIS 5.0 is being built with GLOBE in mind (eg: 4.1 had tabs, 5.0 is all on one screen, no more concept of modes, new features that we will need for our chapter).

Need to talk about the data more so right now and this afternoon.
We could use NetCDF file, from UCAR file type. MyWorld has the capability to extract the variables, but not the spatial extent of what you want.
Matt: we also clipped the grids' extent.
Lao : maybe this is something I can help with. use DCHART to do the subsetting. use my server to get the data.
Matt: can you also subsample
Lao: yes, you can even view it before. It doesn't give you average, no calculations. We're the data warehouse. my server can give you a chunk of data. I can read directly THREDD server into DCHART. let's demo this afternoon.
Dave: so we did a 10 year average in the past... could we turn this around, and reach in to grab just a couple of months of data...
Lao: there is data (climatology) where they already do the average.
Matt: but the NARR data doesn't do any climatological averaging ... it's the highest resolution.
Dave: we're going to have to do some subsetting to make it manageable.
Matt: but Lao's servers going to be able to clip it and make it manageable.

probably doing precipitation, runoff, map tables, and after that ???
need to do some sort of calculation

Session 2 - Thursday Afternoon
Brainstorm data-use storylines

Brainstorm a set of possible storylines for valid investigations of the dataset(s) you have selected. Come up with at least one compelling scenario that will give users a reason to work through the technological steps necessary to perform an analysis of the data.

The Activity Outline Guide (Microsoft Word 42kB Apr9 08) provides an outline for the minimum information needed for the team's activity outline.

Add Session 2 Notes here:

Dave: need to think about case study and also the data access side. have two different options...
What is the desired NARR data....
What's the most expedient activity?
a water balance analysis. precip - evap - surf runoff... show that they don't add up.
what happens to the precip? where does it go?
assumption is that it goes away into the ground. in the activity, we try to account for that. it turns out that it's not true. there are some surprising results, like that so much evaporates. and then they still don't add up, which is a motivator for the kids to investigate other options, like other sinks. we're using the water budget to motivate the investigation.

Dave: one of the things we want to show is the ability to make these map tables, a new feature in version 5. it's a great new analysis feature.
another thing we could do is to look at seasonality of precipitation. as another option. but this would require some work on putting the data (months) together. the data would have to get to a monthly average, at least.

create a map table of annual precipitation, annual evap and annual runoff
great tool for doing comparison, including using the pointer tool.

two learning goals might be: seasonality, and runoff not corresponding with precip..
Aida: maybe back up a bit first and think about precip patterns in general across the US. think about a typical Earth Science curricula..

colleen: but we are looking at older students. so we can assume they know more.
Aida: still, need to think about what they know first. look at general precip patterns and feature some aspects of 5.0...
remembering the intro activity where kids are supposed to guess about what they had in their local area and my kids had no clue! probably would be a good place to start. also, remember that we are dealing with people who have never seen MyWorldGIS before.
Dave: so let's go through the first activities of our module.

So we could look at the big picture precip pattern and run through the seasonal variation.

first show the categories (very high, high, low, very low) annual precip.
then look at regionality, and look at what's specifically happening in one area.
remember you want the kids to learn to make predictions and apply their knowledge on future things... so add elevation as another piece to help them explain patterns

much discussion leading to..

1) water balance (p - e- sr) and why are each different in different places
vs.
2) looking at patterns of precip first, by amount, then by seasonality and adding in topography

Still need to address the technical issue of getting the NARR averages for climatological data (longer term) rather than weather data.

Sessions 3 and 4 - Friday Morning
Select a data-use scenario and perform a proof-of-concept check

Use the complementary expertise on the team to check that the task you are envisioning can actually be completed in an educational setting. Identify a target grade level for the activity and choose a working title.

Please limit the scope of the activity to tasks that can be accomplished by accessing existing data and tools. Discuss and agree upon the content limits of the activity as well. Consider that the major goal of these activities is to develop user familiarity with the data and tools.

Add Session 3 and 4 Notes here:

Idea #1: Water Balance Question: what are we balancing? Individual pixels of p-e-sr or volumes of water and then doing the calc.? What time frame do we look at? A day, a month, a year?
Look at continent layer.
Look at precip data: Make a selection of the highest precipitation area
Where does this water go? import surface runoff.
Evaporation is also a factor. ...
3 map, map table
pointer tool to explore area of imbalance vs balance.
Look at balance city. (suggested location)
Do the math by hand to see that the grid calcs do match
Calculate subtraction of grids to see how the budget does not balance. +/- map
Then send them loose, find places it doesn't balance OR send them to their own region. Do a ground-truth to your own experiences
Pros: use a variety of my world tools (map tables, making selections, math functions)
Cons: This is long, we think a minimum of a week.

**Idea #2: Water: when where how? Climate throws water around? How does climate affect precipitation?
Water and Climate: Finding the connections between precip, drought, and climate
US precipitation, drought, and climate connections
Is this a drought year?
When is a drought a drought? When there's no water about!
Visualize
Be The Lorax.

What is the seasonal variation of precipitation? What is climate?
Standards? meteorological standards of seasons and precipitation.
Look at annual precip data: Look at the regions of high, med, low, making selections of these
Build a 2x2 (?) map table to compare these regions
Look at seasonality (which will connect to climate change) This will be a new map table, showing 4 dif seasons of precip in 10 yr avg.
Connect now to the current data and make the distinction between climate (30 yr avg) and weather.
This should tie into the drought situation in the Southeast. (what kind of southeast: 1 would be to talk about it in external resources (not grid), 2 would be to look at the current annual avg year and compare it to the 10 yr avg, 3 would be to look at the seasons and compare back to 10 yr avg.
Teacher notes: frame this around what climate means, how we use it in conversation and in science. Get Matt's text about this from other projects!
Could this be a drought case study? Students should learn: What does climate change mean to me in a mid-latitude area? Connect out to farm choices, droughts, transportation costs, other impacts to their lives from climate change. How does a change in precipitation affect you?
Stop with climate zones. (?)
Pros: short, sticks with precip, use gis to make selections and to use map tables

Sessions 5 and 6 - Friday Afternoon
Develop your case study storyline and outline the procedures for data access and analysis Case Study Development

Record ideas, bullet points, or actual text that will become part of the case study to introduce users to the issues and concepts of the activity. Gather links for appropriate images, diagrams, and background text.

Data Access and Analysis Procedures

Record the name and URL of all datasets and access/analysis software tools to be used. List the major tasks users will complete, then perform a deliberate walk-through of each task to capture the full sequence of procedures. Give special attention to the most difficult or least intuitive steps, and note points in the sequence where additional information will be helpful.

Add Session 5 and 6 Notes here:

Case Study ideas:
Looking at the **drought of the Southwest for the past decade and then (teacher note, extension) more recently the Southeast (2007) and how GA wants to move it's state line
Dustbowl: connect nicely to other classes, literature: Grapes of Wrath, Am Hist, http://www.drought.unl.edu/, science article predicting giant drought in the SW, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/search?src=hw&site_area=sci&fulltext=southwest+drought&search_submit.x=0&search_submit.y=0&search_submit=go
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21water-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lake+powell&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Drought should not be the ONLY thing that can happen. we need to make it clear in the teacher notes that climate change could cause other results.
Stats: about human interests, how many people were effected
flickr.com has a lot of resources/images
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=4488
Recent drought in the sw in the late 90's. How do we segway into the analysis??
http://drought.unl.edu/gallery/gallery.htm
A focus on different droughts have different impacts on humans. A breadbasket drought will hurt ag.
Set up the drought. is this a drought year or not? Looking at climate avg vs our current data and solving whether or not we are suffering.
Seasonality is fundamental because the season acts as a proxy for snow vs rain as a form of precip. which is why we look at the dif seasons.
will the cascades get more or less snow in the future? this will be important to the water availability in this area. we see opposite predictions in the models.
Start with the fact that we get these global reports about climate change, from big arm waving down to a specific prediction. We explore a single prediction. How can scientists say that the climate is going to change but not say HOW it will change?
http://drought.unl.edu/risk/economic.htm impacts of droughts on ME. esp social!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://branthansen.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/23/famine.jpg&imgrefurl=http://branthansen.typepad.com/letters_from_kamp_krusty/2007/06/todays-my-day-i.html&h=307&w=400&sz=201&hl=en&start=27&um=1&tbnid=e_m6prOg7mOdnM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddying%2Bgirl%2Bphoto%2Bsudan%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN the photo

Session 7 - Saturday Morning
Enhance your step-by-step procedures by adding "About" sections that provide extra information; List several ideas for "Going Further" with the data or tools

Fill in any gaps in your activity outline and add sections that can help users make meaning of the data. Suggest several ideas for the "Going Further" section that challenge users to work with the data and/or tools in other investigations. These suggestions provide launching points for scientific inquiry which is facilitated by the skills learned in the activity.

Add Session 7 Notes here:

Going further (how could teachers expand from here):
introducing evaporation and surface runoff.
Go do the GLOBE Watershed Dynamics project! Have the project file available with the extra data in it.
human impact: China drought, using windmill technology to pump groundwater http://www.ironmanwindmill.com/
summary_our_project (PowerPoint 3MB May3 08)

Session 8 - Final Team Breakout
Finalize your Activity outline and DataSheet, Generate PowerPoint slides for the report out session, Upload all resources to this page

Create a 2- or 3-slide ppt file for the report out session.

• Slide 1: Team name, names of team members, and a brief phrase to describe each individual's contribution
• Slide 2: Working title for your activity, names of dataset(s) and tool(s) utilized
• Slide 3: Your choice of something to illustrate your team's vision of the completed activity

Attach the file plus any other documents produced by the team to this page. Include final versions of the team's DataSheet.

Add Session 8 Notes here: