Join the Maryland Association of Science Teachers (MAST) for a professional development workshop highlighting NASA’s premier education program, the GLOBE Program. Learn how inquiry-based lessons, such as the ones available through GLOBE, support the new vision for K-12 science education that is the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). You’ll have an opportunity to explore the Scientific and Engineering Practices found throughout the NGSS and work together with other teachers to figure out how these practices might look in your classroom.
The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA, NOAA and NSF in study and research about the dynamics of Earth's environment.
A brief introduction of the GLOBE Program will be presented along with how GLOBE can be incorporated into existing school curriculums. The presentation will include GLOBE protocols and lessons used as STEM activities, alignment to NGSS and the Common Core, GLOBE program interaction with NASA Missions such as SMAP (Soil Moisture Active/Passive), and GPM (GLOBE Precipitation Measurement). Discussion will follow outlining how teachers can involve their students in these missions and many others.
After the NASA presentation, teachers will work in small groups to design a lesson that will prepare students for one of the performance expectations using one of the science and engineering practices. Small groups will share the products of their work with each other at the end of the workshop.