March 2005 - Vol. 2, Issue 3           Previous Issues          Submit newsletter content          Back to DLESE

Contents

• Resources of interest: Journey North and NASA Earth Explorers
• Professional development opportunities: Satellite meteorology workshop and Seminars on Science
• DLESE 2005 Annual meeting
• DLESE highlights - what's happening in core services?
• Reconsider a resource
• NASA ESE community meeting

Resources of Interest: Journey North and NASA Earth Explorers

Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of Monarch butterflies, bald eagles, robins, hummingbirds, manatees, whooping cranes, other birds and mammals, the budding of plants, changing sunlight, and other natural events. Standards-based lesson plans, activities and information help students make local observations and fit them into a global context.

The Earth Explorers series on the NASA Portal features students, teachers and scientists who are working with NASA Earth science imagery and data to better understand our home planet. This monthly series highlights NASA Earth Explorers, young and old, with a variety of backgrounds and interests. In March, Earth Explorers shines the spotlight on Lee Fu, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fu has been described as "...perhaps one of the most important oceanographers using NASA satellite data to understand the ocean's role in climate and climate change." The February edition of Earth Explorers—It Takes a Village—featured how young scientists in the United States and Denmark are learning the importance of international cooperation and communication. Special versions of articles are written specifically for students in grades K-4 and 5-8. Please visit!

Professional development opportunities: Satellite meteorology workshop and Seminars on Science

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is sponsoring a workshop for science teachers in Satellite meteorology. This free workshop will equip teachers with the knowledge and skills to teach their students about capabilities in satellite remote-sensing technology. Participants will engage in hands-on activities to identify cloud types and other environmental phenomena in satellite imagery, listen to presentations by satellite experts, and work through a course in satellite meteorology. One graduate level credit in science is available from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department through the Continuing Studies program. Educators taking the course for credit are required to develop and submit a lesson plan that will be made available for use by other teachers. The workshop takes place June 28-29, 2005 in Madison. Apply by May 27, 2005.

K-12 educators looking for graduate-level science coursework may be interested to learn of the Seminars on Science, a series of online courses presented by the American Museum of Natural History. In each course, teachers discuss scientific ideas and classroom applications with museum scientists and educators as well as with colleagues from across the nation. Lesson plans and resources for classroom use may be available. Each course costs $455; graduate credit and continuing units are available at additional cost from a number of accrediting institutions. All courses run for six weeks, with an additional week for assignment completion. Course topics include physical science, ecology, evolution, biology, earth systems, and ocean science. A tuition discount is available for those applying by May 6; courses start on June 27, and end August 6, 2005.

DLESE 2005 Annual Meeting

The DLESE 2005 Annual Meeting takes place at the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, from July 9-12, 2005, in St. Petersburg. A more detailed announcement will be emailed to the community, and a call for interest to attend the meeting will soon be available on the DLESE website. Watch What's New at DLESE in the coming weeks, and complete the Call for Interest as soon as it becomes available. We look forward to seeing everyone in this beautiful ocean sciences environment!

DLESE highlights - what's happening in core services?

The five core service areas of the Digital Library for Earth System Education have been busy and productive in the last year. Check out the core services highlights page to get updated on developments in Community, Collections, Data, Evaluation, and Program Center activities. Learn more about the Ambassador program, teaching exemplars, support for undergraduate geoscience education, the Community Review System (CRS), cataloging activities, Data services workshops, Evaluation services, and Program Center developments. These educational and technical infrastructure advances by core services are designed to meet community needs, expand DLESE's reach and use, and advance geoscience education reform.

Reconsider a resource

Quality of resources is a high priority issue in DLESE—there has been significant community engagement in evaluating the quality of DLESE resources over the past two years. One easy way for community members to voice concerns about the quality of specific DLESE resources is the Reconsider a resource capability available in the library. This function lets educators and scientists recommend that a particular resource be reconsidered for inclusion in the library. Users submit a form that identifies the resource in question and details the reasons for the reconsideration request. There are two ways to do so: from the Educational Resources drop-down menu at the top of any DLESE web page, select Reconsider a resource; or, after performing a search within DLESE and obtaining a set of results, select Submit a comment or teaching tip, found at the upper right of the brief or full description of any resource. This will take the user to the DLESE Community Review System (CRS) Comments and Teaching Tips, where users can send in comments on particular resources, submit teaching tips, and/or check a box which initiates the same reconsideration process. A positive step towards eliminating resources that the community may consider questionable, reconsideration requests are forwarded to the Chair of the DLESE Collections Committee and outcomes reported to the requestor within 30 days.

NASA Earth Science Education Community meeting - May 18-20, 2005

A NASA Earth Science Education community meeting is planned for May 18-20 in Orlando Florida, at the Rosen Centre Hotel. NASA will present the draft Earth science education "roadmap" for community review and comment. The roadmap is a 10-year plan that will guide the NASA Earth science education program and activities. The meeting is open to members of the broad Earth system science education community, who are strongly encouraged to attend. A meeting website will soon be available—until then, information on the planning process and the meeting can be found on the roadmap website. Targeted application deadline for travel support to this important NASA ESE community meeting is April 4, 2005; watch the roadmap website for additional information.