NASA and GLOBE Connect K–12 Students to NGSS with Big Data Applications

Abstract:

For students to connect with big data, they must relate it to their own experiences—a pathway provided via GLOBE and NASA. This combination provides students with a multi-faceted background in climate education. The combination of GLOBE(Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) and NASA provide students with a multi-faceted experience into climate data and education, explicitly connecting NGSS with big data using GLOBE protocols as a mainstay curriculum component. GLOBE, created by the NSF, NASA, NOAA and the U.S. State Department, engages students through environmental data collection and connects them to scientists, and other schools around the world. GLOBE visualizations introduce the concepts of data presentation to capitalize on our natural pattern recognition abilities. The MY NASA DATA project extends students’ data collection experiences into the realm of big data and remote sensing, providing curated, interactive animations targeting grades K–12. Correlating GLOBE data to NASA data validates remote sensing concepts. We present a learning progression from graphing of local data, expanding through the mesoscale and global scale. Students are challenged to identify gaps in the GLOBE database, create models to fill the gaps, and to validate their models using NASA data.