Contents

Resource of Interest

Global Climate Change presents the latest climate information from NASA's Earth monitoring missions and research. Historical and current information help explain the vital signs of the planet. A Climate Time Machine tracks changes in global conditions such as ice melt, sea level, CO2 emissions and average global temperatures over time. Earth Science Missions from over a dozen spacecraft/instruments in orbit studying all aspects of the Earth system (oceans, land, atmosphere, biosphere, cyrosphere) are profiled. A Vital Signs Widget download is available for keeping track of the latest climate change data on your desktop.

Professional Development Opportunities

Free Professional Development Opportunity: Exploring Earth’s Integrated Systems (ESCI 510) is an on-line PD course being offered during the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters through SUNY College at Oneonta. The course is a small group-based exploration of interactions in Earth's systems using problem-based learning. System interactions are explored through the lens of trigger events such as volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and melting ice sheets. Weekly reading, discussion and written assignments are the basis for student evaluation. The course carries 3 semester hours of graduate credit and is open to anyone, and tuition and fees will not be charged. To enroll in this course, complete an application for status as a non-degree graduate student and submit a transcript. Students that complete the course will be eligible for a small stipend.

NSTA 2008 area conferences: The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will hold three area conferences this fall. The first conference, with a theme of “Charlotte’s Science Web”, will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina October 30 – November 1. Sessions will provide opportunities to build content knowledge, hear the latest in cutting-edge research, participate in hands-on workshops, and enjoy social functions, field trips, exhibitor giveaways, and networking events. An all day workshop for Physical and Earth Science Elementary and Middle School teachers, "Matter, Energy, and Interactions" will feature six sessions focusing on activities to teach basic topics in chemistry, physics, and Earth science. Save on your registration fees by taking advantage of special earlybird and advance rates! The earlybird deadline is September 19 and the advance deadline is October 3.

Two additional NSTA area conferences will be held this fall:

Portland, Oregon       November 20-22
Cincinnati, Ohio        December 4-6

Visit the NSTA website for additional conference and registration details.

Call for Participation

Earth Science Week 2008 contests: Earth Science Week, sponsored by the American Geological Institute (AGI), is October 12-18, 2008. Contests are a great way to get involved. The photography contest (“Earth Science Beyond Your Front Door”) is open to interested persons of any age and gives entrants an opportunity to showcase their outdoor Earth science adventures. Or, students in grades K-5 can enter the visual arts contest (“Studying Our Earth”) and submit artwork in which they depict themselves as an Earth scientist using the inquiry approach to answer a question in nature. Entrants in the essay contest (“Earth Connections”) are asked to discuss how various natural processes on the Earth are interconnected and how they affect each other where you live; this contest is open to any interested person in grades 6-9. You must be a resident of the United States to enter these three contests.

To celebrate the International Year of Planet Earth and Earth Science Week 2008, AGI is sponsoring a major international photography contest: "Exploring Earth Science Around the World." This photography contest is open to anyone of any age, anywhere around the world.

All eligible submissions for the 2008 contests must be postmarked or received electronically by 5 p.m. EST, Friday, October 17, 2008 (the Friday of Earth Science Week). Entries may be submitted now but participants are encouraged to base entries on Earth science experiences that have been learned during Earth Science week. The first-place prize for each contest is $300 and a copy of AGI's Faces of Earth 2-DVD package.

AGU Fall Meeting: The 2008 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting takes place December 15-19 in San Francisco. The Fall Meeting is expected to draw a crowd of over 15,000 geophysicists from around the world and provides an opportunity for researchers, teachers, students, and consultants to present and review the latest issues affecting the Earth, the planets, and their environments in space. This meeting will cover topics in all areas of Earth and space sciences. Online registration will be available through November 26. The pre-registration rates can be found on the AGU website and are valid through November 14. After November 14, the rates will increase by $70 for most categories.

Scientific Program: Six main themes have been identified for the Fall 2008 Meeting. Union sessions have been grouped to allow meeting attendees to more easily identify topically-connected Union sessions. Each Union session has been assigned to one of this year's themes: Carbon in the Earth System, Earth’s Polar Regions, Climate & the Environment, Earth’s Dynamic Interior, New Frontiers, and Hazards and Public Risk. The online submission deadline for abstracts is September 10, 2008, 2359 UT (Universal Time).

Rapid Earthquake Viewer Activities

Digital Learning Sciences is nearing the completion of a collaborative project with the University of South Carolina and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) to develop student activities that use the Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV). REV provides access to data from seismograph stations from around the world and posts information about recent earthquakes, including the recent magnitude 5.8 event in Los Angeles.

A team of Colorado educators developed six activities for middle and high school students that use REV and augment the original lessons in the "Living in Earthquake Country" Teaching Box. The activities include a tutorial on the features of REV, a "teachable moment" activity to explore a current earthquake, and an inquiry-focused approach to exploring the interior structure of the Earth and the seismic "shadow zone". The release of these activities is scheduled for late August.

What's Happening with DLESE?

On November 1, 2007, the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) “moved” to a new home at the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The transition to a new host was transparent to library users who can continue to access DLESE’s educational resources at www.dlese.org. The move to NCAR will enable DLESE and its users to benefit from NCAR's extensive cyberinfrastructure and expertise in information management. NCAR library staff will maintain the DLESE collections. If you have any questions about DLESE, please submit them via support@dlese.org.