Using Data in the Classroom Workshop 2004
Initial Data Services Workshop
Data Services held its first workshop at the University of New Hampshire in May 2004. Fifty-nine participants representing 48 organizations attended. The workshop facilitated interaction among members of technical and educational communities to promote the effective use of Earth science data in education. Presentations, posters, discussion sessions, and small group or "team" working sessions were used to stimulate interactions. Teams were charged with developing an educational module using the NSDL-funded Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET) chapter template. Five new EET chapters from this effort should be complete by April 2005. A report documenting community input on strategies for overcoming obstacles to using data in education will be produced. More information is available on the following pages of the workshop swiki.
DLESE Evaluation Services administered surveys and made observations at the workshop, analyzed the information, and presented it in a report (Microsoft Word 373kB Jan24 07). The evaluation data served as valuable input for the design of the 2005 workshop. Specifically, evaluation data indicated that our technical and educational participants should all attend the workshop on the same three days to maximize interaction among the groups. Also, evaluation data indicated that some of our discussion questions should be reconsidered to draw more thoughtful answers from our participants.
The 2004 workshop generated several instances of extended impact. Participants from NASA documented issues surrounding current access to Landsat data at the workshop and recommended that NASA address these issues prior to providing instructional scaffolding with Landsat data to improve its effectiveness in education. Also, as a result of the workshop, the RODES (RIDGE 2000 Open Data Exchange System) group at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory funded Data Services to facilitate a smaller scale Data Services workshop, focused solely on RIDGE 2000 data at their workshop in July 2004. Participants from the RODES Workshop are now working on completing data-rich educational modules. Finally, to encourage further collaboration among groups, participants were introduced to the Using Data in the Classroom portal as a place to examine current work and find inspiration for further development.
2004 Needs Assessments
Twenty-two data providers, educators, and data access and analysis tool developers responded to the Phase I Needs Assessment developed and administered by Data Services. Results indicate that though data are generally easy to obtain, their formats generally require expert level knowledge and research level software to analyze them. Also, though many data providers believe that they are making useful data products available, the educational community is not clear on how to use them. The full Phase I Needs Assessment report is available online.
A Phase II pilot survey (concluded in December 2004) was developed with input from a focus group of 27 high school educators and undergraduate faculty. Open-ended responses from the pilot survey results were used to design the Phase II Needs Assessment. The objectives of the Phase II Needs Assessment are to determine: 1) curriculum materials that are commonly used by geoscience educators; 2) whether these materials promote the use of data and if so, at what level; and 3) what types of data would complement currently used materials. Results from the Phase II Needs Assessment are expected by April 2005 workshop. Analyses of these data will inform the DAWG and DLESE community of data providers, tool developers, and educators on use of data in geoscience curricula.
2004 DAWG Meeting
A one-day DAWG meeting was held on the day following the 2004 Data Services Workshop at New England Conference Center in Durham, New Hampshire. A summary of the meeting is available for download.