Adapted from TeachEngineering activity contributed by Kansas State University.

Summary

Middle school students learn that ordinary people like themselves can make meaningful contributions to science through the concept of “citizen science.” They review examples of ongoing citizen science projects, such as medical research, then explore Zooniverse, an interactive website that shows how research in areas from marine biology to astronomy leverage the power of the Internet to use the assistance of non-scientists to record and classify large amounts of data. To conclude, students form “engineering teams” to brainstorm local project ideas that could benefit from community help, then design conceptual interactive websites that could organize and support the projects.

Grade level: 6-8

Time: 90 minutes

Learning objectives

After completing this activity, students should be able to:

• Describe what a specific citizen science project monitors/researches, how it does that, and how it enables researchers to make more informed decisions.
• Explain the practical societal benefits that a specific project might have.
• List the fields of science and engineering involved in a specific project and explain how each group contributes to the project.
• Explain the role of citizens in a specific citizen science project.
• Describe several projects in their own community that could benefit from the help of citizen scientists.

Learning standards

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

• Design and use instruments to gather data.
• Use data collected to analyze and interpret trends in order to identify the positive and negative effects of a technology.
• Identify trends and monitor potential consequences of technological development

Engineering Connection

In this activity, students explore several citizen science projects to see how engineering can be used to make advances in scientific research. Like engineers, they analyze the design of one of the citizen science projects to first understand the need driving the project. Specifically they learn about the problem that needs to be solved, the basics of how that problem is solved, and how the project’s design could potentially be improved. Then they work in small groups to design citizen science projects of their own.

Background

(Photo, right, from Alaska region Fish & Wildlife Service’s Chena River citizen science salmon project.)

The Seafloor Explorer project is an example of citizen science. It was designed by fisheries biologists, software engineers, and specialists from other related fields who worked together to come up with solutions to monitor the ecological balance of the sea life in the northeast continental shelf. The fisheries biologists described to the software engineers what they wanted and the software engineers created computer software solutions. In this case, the biologists want to monitor the ecological balance on the northeast continental to ensure that the population of the sea creatures stays in balance, which is important so that no species become endangered. It also helps the biologists study and learn more about sea creatures in general. The software engineers responded by designing a website where citizens classify the data, a database where the data is stored and queried, and an artificial intelligence system that learns the from citizens’ classifications in order to eventually classify the images itself. Citizen science from this project also helps the software engineers generally improve their design of artificial intelligence capabilities.

Before the Activity

• Conduct a number of the Zooniverse projects to learn how they work and gain some insight on a few specific examples, which will help you knowledgeably share facts and description about a few examples when introducing the class to Zooniverse, as well as be a resource for any technical problems students might encounter.
• Create a Zooniverse account. Some Zooniverse projects require an account while others do not. Preferably, direct students to projects that do not require accounts or let them create their own accounts. Or, log them in with your account. If you log them in with your account, the tutorial for any projects that you have completed will need to be restarted.
• Make copies of the Exploring a Zooniverse Project Worksheet (click HERE for PDF) and Website Project Design Chart, (click HERE for PDF) one each per student.
• Prepare to show students the Citizen Science with Zooniverse Presentation, which includes accessing websites and an online video.

With the Students

1. (Begin at slide 1 of the presentation.) Present the Introduction/Motivation content to the class; see if students have any prior knowledge about citizen science and Zooniverse.
2. (slide 2) Citizen science is scientific research that ordinary citizens can help with. Usually it involves people working with or being led by a team of scientists, engineers and/or other researchers with varied backgrounds and expertise. Many different types of citizen science are going on around the world at this very moment; maybe you have heard of some of them.
3. (slide 3) One example of ongoing citizen science is medical research; that’s when researchers and doctors test out new medical treatments on sick people who volunteer to be test subjects. For example, trying a new way to fix a broken leg or participating in clinical trials for new cancer treatment.
4. (slide 4) Another example of ongoing citizen science is medication testing; that’s when people are paid to test medications for medical conditions such as high cholesterol or heartburn. Have you seen drug advertisements on TV or in magazines and noticed the long list of warnings and side-effects? Those side-effects are discovered by this testing.
5. (slide 5) Psychologists study peoples’ minds. During their research, they see how people behave in certain situations and how different conditions and stimuli influence their brains. For example, the MRI machine shown on this slide is used to conduct research because it shows people’s brain activity in response to how they are thinking and feeling in response to certain stimuli.
6. (slide 6) Another example is the use of people’s personal computers to help with complex scientific calculations, such as SETI @ home, which can be downloaded on almost any computer to process data when your computer is not being used. You do not need to do anything except download and set up the program on your computer. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. How does it work? The Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico, shown on the slide, which is the largest dish antenna in the world, captures radio waves from outer space on the feed antenna suspended above it on cables and examines them for signs of intelligent life. How many of you have a radio in your family’s car? This is the same idea, except SETI listens to radio signals from distant space instead of from nearby radio stations. Right now, all the radio signals that have been found seem to be unintelligent noise, like the static noise on the radio when no station is dialed in. However, more radio signals exist than can possibly be examined by scientists, which is why citizen scientists can volunteer their computers to help examine the radio data.
7. (slide 7) Another very common type of citizen science is the classification of data that needs humans to look at it because it cannot be deciphered by machines. That’s where Zooniverse comes in. Let’s look at the first Zooniverse project, Galaxy Zoo, and do one classification together. As a class, conduct the interactive Galaxy Zoo activity by following these steps:

• Click the Galaxy Zoo link on the slide to go to the Zooniverse website, at https://www.zooniverse.org/project/hubble.
• Once there, read the introduction: We need your help to classify the Hubble Space Telescope’s hundreds of thousands of galaxy images according to their shapes—a task at which your brain is better than even the most advanced computer.
• Then click the “Take part” button (goes to http://www.galaxyzoo.org/) and then click the “Begin Classifying” button.
• When an image of a galaxy appears, ask students for advice on how to classify it.
• Click on the “Examples” button to show students how to use the “Help” feature to learn more about how to classify the different types of galaxies.
• Explain that multiple people classify each of galaxy, so if a mistake is made in classification it is not a problem and will eventually get corrected or figured out by consensus.
• Get agreement or majority vote from students on how to classify the galaxy.
• Get input from students at each step in order to answer all the questions about classifying the galaxy until its classification is complete.
• Once a galaxy has been successfully classified, congratulate students on having made a small, but meaningful contribution to science.

8. (slides 8-9) Now that students have first-hand experience with how citizen science works, give them some background on Zooniverse, its history and project types. Show them a 1:28-minute video that recaps how Galaxy Zoo harnessed the brain power of 250,000 volunteers to classify the shapes of hundreds of thousands of galaxies captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9wizyDV8c. Zooniverse’s science and laboratory projects include a range of topic categories: space, climate, humanities, nature and biology. Look at the list of ~20 Zooniverse projects at https://www.zooniverse.org/projects#all.
9. (slide 10) Explain the activity steps listed on the slide: get a worksheet, go to the Zooniverse website, pick a project and explore it, answer the worksheet questions, use reasoned inference as necessary.
10. (slide 11) Give students some research tips by going to the Zooniverse website at https://www.zooniverse.org/ and scrolling through the main page, showing the different categories of projects, and then clicking on the Galaxy Zoo project. On the Galaxy Zoo project website, point out the links to the various website sections (story, science, discuss) and their sub-pages, and explain that from pages like this on their projects’ websites, they will find information to help them answer the worksheet questions.
11. (slide 12) Address any student questions before getting started. As needed, help students navigate to the Zooniverse website and its list of projects.
12. (slide 13) Hand out the worksheets and direct students to get started, working individually or in pairs (or larger groups, depending on computer availability). Leave slide 10 on the projector screen so that students can refer to it as a reminder of what they should be doing.
13. (slide 14) After 25 minutes, have students share their observations, thoughts, experiences and findings, as well as any other information they recorded on their worksheets.
14. Ask students to reflect upon the citizen science project they explored and share with the class a way to improve the project. This is something engineers think about doing a lot—how to make something better. As an example, one possible design improvement for the Seafloor Explorer project might be to add zoom-in functionality for when people are classifying the images because some of the sea life is small and hard to see. This improvement would make the project easier to use, thus attracting more people to participate.
15. Once students have finished exploring the Zooniverse site, point out that the projects on the website are all large-scale and of national or international interest. Invite a discussion of different types of projects like Zooniverse that could be implemented more locally, in their own community. Ask: What are some projects that could be done in your community that citizens could help with?
16. Start brainstorming with students, writing their suggestions on the classroom board. It may be hard at first, after seeing such large-scale projects, but try to get them thinking about hands-on assistance or awareness. What about a website devoted to environmental engineering issues (ecosystem, soil, air or water pollution)? Cleaning up parks? Roads? Pothole reporting? A website for reporting environmental hazards? Downed trees or clogged street drains after storms? Continue brainstorming ways that citizens might contribute to community-wide problems via websites or social media.
17. Once a half-dozen or so ideas have been suggested, divide the class into groups of two to four students each. Direct groups to each design a website that addresses its local project topic (either chosen or assigned). Review the steps of the engineering design process with students and emphasize that they focus on brainstorming ideas and the initial design steps of the process (more than the implementing and testing of their designs). Hand out the design chart and give groups 20 minutes to come up with overall website designs.
18. Next, have students use colored pencils or markers and blank paper to sketch their website designs. Make sure the graphical work generally follows their design charts and that a main page and sub-pages are designed in such a way that the information is clear, easy to use and has some way for community members to contribute. Provide ~25 minutes for this portion of the activity.
19. Conclude by having teams present their projects and website designs to the class, as described in the Assessment section.

Activity extension

Have your class participate in a citizen science project, such as volunteering to track rain and snowfall for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Have students research and write a brief report on a citizen science project, such as the California 7th graders who found a new cave on Mars from examining NASA photos in 2010.

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Do you have a great hands-on activity or strategy that incorporates engineering into your STEM or literacy lessons? Are your students developing engineering habits of mind? Share them with engineering educators and classroom teachers at ASEE’s 2017 PreK-12 Workshop in Columbus, Ohio, on June 24.

The theme for this year’s workshop is “Inspiring the Next Generation to Take Flight with PreK-12 Engineering Education.” Engineering educators and STEM teachers are invited to submit workshop proposals. (See details below).

In addition, all educators are invited to display their original ideas and innovative models that show how they integrate engineering and STEM at the PreK-12 Curriculum Showcase that concludes the workshop. We’ve also added a new Counselor’s Connection – dedicated sessions for college counselors to learn strategies to support positive learning experiences and increase understanding of careers in engineering.

This one-of-a-kind event wouldn’t be complete without you, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to boost your professional development! REGISTER HERE to attend the 2017 workshop ($35 for ASEE members). Check out the 2016 program of events. Not an ASEE member? Join HERE.

To submit a workshop proposal, please use the following steps:

1) Login to the ASEE.org site. If you are not an ASEE member, select Don’t have an Account? to create a profile.
2) Select ‘Upcoming Workshops’
3) Select ‘2017 ASEE Workshop on PreK-12 Engineering Education’
4) Select ‘Submit a Workshop’ or ‘Request a Workshop’ if submit is not shown
5) Fill out all of the requested information and select ‘create’ when finished. Presenters are entered in the next step.
6) Add presenters from the ASEE database. If you have presenters who are not ASEE members, all of their information will be requested.
7) Done! Sit back and wait for mid-March notification on whether your proposal was accepted.

If you have any questions while going through this process, please contact either Martha Cyr (mcyr@wpi.edu) or Lisa Jennings (l.jennings@asee.org).

Photo, above: 2016 ASEE PreK-12 Workshop participants do a design challenge. Copyright Michelle Bersabal/ASEE

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Level: Graduating High School Seniors
Deadline: March 1, 2017
Where: Camp Pocahontas, near Bartow, W.V.
Dates: June 14 – July 8, 2017
Cost: Free, including travel to and from the camp and visit to Washington, D.C.

Click HERE to apply.

The National Youth Science Camp (NYSC), one of the country’s premier science education programs, offers graduating high school seniors from around the country and world a month of outdoor adventure and hands-on projects in the beautiful woods near Bartow, W.V., all travel costs and camp fees paid.

A typical day might include a morning lecture from a guest scientist, small-group, hands-on science seminars, and lots of hiking, caving, art projects, and fun discussions on topics from why engineered systems fail to origami. There also are trips to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and to Washington, D.C., just five hours by car, where recent keynote speakers have included astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and National Institute of Health director Francis Collins. See highlights and photos from the 2016 camp… like the visit to Einstein’s statue at the National Academies of Science in Washington:

Each state and country conducts its own competition to select two delegates to represent them at the camp. NYSC alumni include astronauts, members of Congress, Nobel Prize winners, and business leaders.

Applications must be completed online and are due  March 1, 2017. Click HERE to apply. (Students will need to set up an account) and for answers to frequently asked questions.

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Every day across the globe, millions of ordinary people help advance knowledge in fields as diverse as astronomy and zoology. These “citizen” scientists and engineers record bird sightings and rainfall amounts, documenting environmental shifts over the decades. They hunt for interstellar dust, classify earthquake damage, monitor lead in local tap water, count penguin populations, and even discover comets!

Some projects spur new legislation. Others inspire community involvement and a lifelong interest in STEM.

Here’s a sampling of projects. The Zooniverse, Federal Crowdsourcing Catalog, and National Geographic also have searchable lists. There also are citizen science games! Where will your class dive in?

Butterfly Counts. The North American Butterfly Association’s census of butterflies has a $3 price to participate.

Celebrate Urban Birds. Founded in 2007, this year-round project developed and launched by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has partnered with over 10,000 community-based organizations, distributed more than 250,000 educational kits, and awarded dozens of mini-grants.

Did You Feel It? Report an earthquake to the US Geological Survey.

Earth Echo Water Challenge. This global project, which involves more than 1.4 million citizen scientists, runs from March 22 (the UN’s World Water Monitoring Day) through December and includes free test kits and lesson plans.

eBird. Launched in 2002 by Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, this real-time, online checklist program has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds.

FrogWatch USA. Volunteers listen for frogs and toads during evenings from February through August and submit these observations to a national online database.

Galaxy Zoo. Launched in 2007 with a data set made up of a million galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the world’s best-known online citizen science project has the largest number of publications based on citizen scientists input and inspired the creation of The Zooniverse.

The GLOBE. The U.S. government’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment. NASA even developed an app to assist with observations and reporting!

National Geographic’s FieldScope is an interactive mapping platform that enables citizen scientists to document and understand the world around them–both in the classroom and in outdoor settings. Current projects include studying the Chesapeake Bay watershed, counting frogs in FrogWatch USA, and monitoring when plants flower and leaf in Project BudBurst.

Penguin Watch. Help monitor penguin colonies in over 100 sites worldwide.

Shakespeare’s World. Transcribe handwritten documents from Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

Stardust@Home. Help scientists at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory and NASA’s Johnson Space Center detect grains of interstellar dust in photos of material collected during a spacecraft’s 2004 encounter with a comet.

Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Join a Citizen STEM Project!

Spend a day introducing a girl to engineering. Coach or mentor a Future City team. Make slime and other cool stuff.

DiscoverE’s 66th annual Engineers Week is Feb. 19 – 25, 2017 and there are plenty of local events and hands-on activities – including Discover Engineering Family Fun Day at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., Feb. 18 – to raise awareness of what engineers do and how their work makes the world a healthier, safer place.

This year’s theme, Dream Big, coincides with the premiere of DREAM BIG: Engineering Our World, a spectacular big-screen odyssey from classic Roman arches to village bridges, towering skyscrapers, and the International Space Station.

Want to participate but don’t know how to start? Self-guided tutorials with PowerPoint slides and frequently asked questions help educators and volunteers lead kids through a successful engineering experience.

New this year: Teachers can live stream the Future City finals in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Watch live at futurecity.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/FutureCityCompetition/ Teachers also can live stream “engineering solutions” from the National Building Museum to their classrooms on Wednesday, Feb. 22 and Friday, Feb. 25.

Now in its second year, Global Day on April  5 brings together the international community to give students around the world a chance to experience engineering.

The week-long celebration is part of a broader effort to connect engineers and schools. Volunteers have coached  Future City teams, mentored students, and spoken at career days.

Looking for a way to make engineering come to life in your classroom? DiscoverE has a searchable library of free engineering and technology videos, hands-on activities (including 30 activities related to the DREAM BIG film), and other resources. Also check out ideas – and a free toolkit – for introducing engineering on Girl Day, which takes place Feb. 23, 2017.

Other sources for eWeek activities include Engineering is Elementary, the Museum of Science, Boston’s program. Download a poster showing the EiE Engineering Design Process, or try such fun, hands-on engineering activities as “Guess the Technology,” “Technology Tag,” “Tower Power,” and “Wind-Powered Vehicles.” There’s also an app that let’s you load EiE’s “Technology Flashcards” on your iPhone.

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(Lesson modified from Cooper-Hewitt Educator Resource Center and Lisa Liu). [See modification by Guthrie Green, an outdoor park and education center in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Brady Arts District, that emphasizes “community inventory” as an English Language Arts/literacy lesson for grades 6-8.]

Level: Grades 5-9.

Time Required: 3-4 class periods. Activity 1: 30 minutes, Activities 2 and 3: 60-90 minutes each

Introduction: Students in grades 5-9 learn about urban planning as they assess the environmental health of their community, taking a walk around their neighborhood. The lesson aims to help them become aware of the area’s “green” strengths and weaknesses through a series of activities that can be done jointly or independently.

First, they evaluate how people interact with their environment in both positive and negative ways. They take a critical look at everyday activities to determine whether better alternatives need to be encouraged.

Next, students focus tour their school neighborhood, with camera and worksheets in hand. They produce a report of their results, either through a portfolio or an annotated map. Finally, they propose ways to strengthen the community’s environmental setting. Do we value open green spaces as much as commercial or residential properties?

National Standards:

Science: Science as Inquiry — Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment

Please see Cooper-Hewitt lesson for standards in Social Studies, Language Arts, and Visual Arts (K-4) 1.

A city park near high-rise apartments

Objectives:

Students will:

• evaluate positive and negative interactions between individuals and their community
• identify different types of green spaces in their community
• learn about the benefit of green spaces to the environment
• design a portfolio presentation or annotated map

Materials:

• Communuty Inventory Worksheet
• Green Spaces Worksheet
• photocopied maps of neighborhood
• disposable or borrowed cameras
• large copies of maps for bulletin board display
• clipboards (optional)
• colored stickers or GreenMap icons

Vocabulary:

• Community
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Trees
• Streetscapes
• Parks
• Wildlife refuge/habitat gardens
• Gardens

Introduction:

Inform the class that their goal will be to examine their school’s community space and how well it functions — for the surrounding nature, as well as for the people living and working in it.

Pre-lesson Considerations:

• For schools at a distance from their communities, or for those with geographically dispersed student populations, the class might focus upon a key location of the town or city.

• Teachers need to plan ahead to ensure smooth execution of the neighborhood tour in activity #2. Parents, older students, or school volunteers can be enlisted to help student groups, particularly in recording the specific location of each photograph.

• While inexpensive disposable cameras can be used for this activity, equipment could also be borrowed. Safeguard the equipment by designating an official photographer from within the group.

Activity 1: Community Inventory

1. Write “community” on the board, soliciting students’ ideas of this concept as you create a semantic web of what community means to them.

2. Define the area boundaries, then project an image of the space or distribute photocopied maps for the students to study — how familiar are students with the space? What are its community strengths and weaknesses? Define “community strengths” as the ways people work to improve the environment and the aspects of the community that are beneficial to the environment. Define “community weaknesses” as ways in which people are harming or neglecting their environment.

3. Have students record the definitions and the ideas raised in the brainstorming session on their Community Inventory Worksheet.

4. Have students identify the area’s green spaces on distributed, photocopied maps. Help them define five basic green spaces, such as a park, garden, tree, wildlife refuge/habitat garden, or streetscape. Allow 10 to 20 minutes to complete the worksheet.

5. Have the class discuss the key green spaces they identified, as well as the community strengths and weaknesses in interacting with these spaced.

6. Brainstorm possible ways to address the weaknesses and to protect and enhance community strengths.

An urban rooftop garden

Activity 2: Neighborhood Walking Tour

materials for each group:

• one disposable or borrowed camera
• two Green Spaces Worksheet
• a photocopied map
• clipboards (optional)

1. Before the students undertake their tour, ask them to list the green spaces they will see or interact with in their neighborhood.

2. Categorize the places the students mention as a park, garden, tree, wildlife refuge/habitat garden, or streetscape. Older students can develop a more varied and complex list, such as those used by GreenMap, an online mapping project.

3. Break the students into small groups for the walk to record their observations. Each group should carry a camera, a neighborhood map, and two copies of the Green Spaces Worksheet upon which to record their pictures and notes. Help students organize to decide who will be in charge of which materials.

4. Explain their task of photographing and recording notes about:

a) green spaces (park, garden, tree, wildlife refuge/habitat garden, or streetscape)
b) people interacting with their environment
c) strengths and weaknesses (elements that help or harm the environment)

Each group should aim to record at least five images.

Remind them to jot down quick notes on the worksheet to help them recall important aspects of what they have photographed, and to specify the location of each image.

They may also want to take a few “overview” photographs to capture the overall impression of a street and area.

Activity 3: Evaluating the Community Space

After conducting the walking tour, the teacher and students should prepare their materials for the next activity: producing a report of their findings. Teachers may need some adult help to guide students in downloading their pictures and printing them out, or taking film to be processed.

Teachers can choose to have students produce their report in the form of a portfolio or of an annotated map.

1. Portfolio of community strengths and weaknesses

Materials for each group:

• students photographs
• completed Green Spaces worksheets, for reference
• paper supplies for portfolio construction
• GreenMap icons sheets

a) Using the GreenMap icons sheets for reference, have the class decide upon a few key categories of community strengths and of weaknesses they discovered during their walk.

b) Each group will prepare a portfolio that highlight up to 5 chosen categories of community strengths and of weaknesses. Each portfolio will contain 5 pages, each illustrating one strength or weakness and containing:

• a photograph, with location clearly identified
• a GreenMap icon
  
• one paragraph of explanation, based on worksheet notes
• suggestions for improvement or action
  

Extensions:

• Have each group present their findings on one strength and one weakness. How many groups selected the same item? Which suggestions are the most promising for improvement?

• Select a representative portfolio page from each group and display each on a collective bulletin board display, keyed to an enlarged map of the neighborhood. Allow the students take the lead in designing the display.

• Undertake a class project to encourage neighborhood improvement for the community space.

2. Mapping the Community Green Spaces

materials for each group:

• student photographs
• completed Green Spaces worksheets
• enlarged photocopied maps or graph paper
• colored pencils
• GreenMap icons or color coded stickers
• yarn
• graph paper (optional)

a) Present each group with a enlarged version of the neighborhood map. Students could also draw their own map on graph paper. Have them color in the green spaces.

b) Have students affix to the map GreenMap icons or colored stickers coded to the types of green spaces they identified on their walk (i.e. park, garden, tree, wildlife refuge/habitat garden, or streetscape).

c) Have the students attached their photographs to the sides of the map, and then attach a piece of yarn from each photograph to the matching location on the map.

d) Each group should prepare an oral or 1-2 page written report summarizing their findings, including recommendations for improvements of community space and its use.

Extensions:

• Have each group summarize their findings for the class. How many groups selected the same items? Which suggestions are the most promising for improvement?

• Have the class pool their efforts on a single out-size map that goes into more detail, using more GreenMap icons or students own drawings.

• Discuss, then execute, a plan of action — what project could the class undertake to encourage neighborhood response or appreciation for the community space?

• Help students explore online green maps from the Green Map System.

Assessment:

Evaluation of students’ participation in this lesson can be based on:

• Completion of “Community Inventory Worksheet” and “Green Spaces Worksheet”
• Oral responses to teacher questions
• Contribution to small group work and discussions
• Writing assessment

Additional Extensions

• Write a letter to your local newspaper convincing your community to take care of its green spaces, create more green spaces, and detailing the importance of green spaces.

• Research a green engineering solution. How have engineers helped improve communities? View the egfi student blog to discover, then present your findings on new, environmentally friendly inventions. What other devices and solutions could engineers contribute?

• Take a class trip to a Wildlife Refuge Center or similar site. Compare this environment to that of your neighborhood. What the relevance and importance of such centers?

• Develop projects to help green your home and/or school.

A hand-drawn map

Resources

The Green Map Atlas

Salt Dough Map Rubric

Online Map Creation

Map Skills

On Green Maps from GreenMap.org:

Green maps provide a different perspective of residential areas. Instead of seeing only built areas of the local urban ecology, green maps locate waterways, wildlife habitat, parks, agricultural zones, recreational, cultural and historical sites, and other interesting places that make up a local environment. The online Green Map System is a global collaborative that assists people in constructing their own local Green Map. These online maps can be viewed on the Website.

Teacher Reflection (from the Cooper-Hewitt Lesson): The students responded well to the lessons, and could relate to the issues in them easily. Students were really struck by how negative human behavior really detracts from the beauty of a green space (e.g. trash in someone’s garden). For my students, this is a small part in a year-long look at community greening. They came in with lots of background. The most difficult part of this lesson was having the students record the location of where they took the pictures on the Green Spaces worksheet so that we could match up the location once the pictures were developed. I imagine this aspect would be easier with older students. To improve on this, I would meet with the other adult leaders before the walk to inform them of how the locations should be recorded so that they can better help students. It is also important to recruit as many adult volunteers as possible to allow for smaller groups. Having students work in small groups for discussions was successful. As students discussed, I was able to rotate between groups, make comments to each group, and encourage their ideas. Students were engaged and excited.

updated 2/20/17 by MCL

Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lesson: Map the Green Space

Watching birds is fun. And when lots of people compile and compare their sightings, it can help researchers get the “big picture” on what’s happening to bird populations and understand such influences as climate change and the spread of bird diseases like West Nile virus.

One of the oldest and biggest of these citizen-science projects is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, held this year from February 17 to 20. Launched in 1998 by Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, the initiative has grown to involve more than 162,000 bird watchers around the world who in 2016 counted more than 18.6 million birds representing 5,689 different species.

Observations from  other citizen-science projects, such as the Christmas Bird Count, Project FeederWatch, and eBird, also add to the knowledge base.

So grab some binoculars and start counting!

Check out the Audubon Society activities, including the the February eBirder of the month photo contest, as well as the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s webinar [YouTube 1:04] for teachers on how to engage students and bring young people and the community into the 2017 Great Backyard Bird Count.

cover photo shows the Binocular Boot Camp hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Bear River Refuge for the Christmas Bird Count for Kids, Dec. 4, 2010. Credit: Jason St. Sauver/USFWS

Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on STEM Takes Wing!

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Summer Teacher Institute will be held July 10-21, 2017 at NIST’s headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., near Washington, D.C.

Some 22 middle school teachers from across the country will be selected to participate in this professional development and training program, which combines hands-on projects, lectures, and visits with scientists and engineers at the NIST Campus. Teachers will receive a $2,000 stipend and up to $2,000 to cover travel expenses and lodging for those who live more than 50 miles away.

Teachers who participate in the NIST Summer Institute gain a wealth of new knowledge about core topics such as forensics and materials science, and materials to integrate these topics into their classroom while meeting curriculum standards. They also gain:

• Increased understanding of the subjects they teach
• Increased understanding of how scientific research is performed
• Materials and resources to implement what they learned at NIST in their classrooms
• Increased enthusiasm for science
• A network of scientists and engineers at NIST with whom to consult

Note: Applications must be submitted through your school district or private school administration. Applications from individual teachers will not be accepted. Click HERE to request application forms.

Submission deadline for electronic or paper application is Friday, March 3, 2017!

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Think engineering is all about crunching numbers and about as exciting as watching paint dry? DREAM BIG: Engineering Our World, a new 3-D IMAX movie from MacGillivray Freeman Films, promises to challenge those perceptions … big time.

Presented in partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers and Bechtel Corporation, the film not only reveals the ingenuity behind some of the world’s most iconic engineering marvels, but also the inherent beauty of the structures. In the process, it illuminates the passion, grit, and humanity that drives engineers to tackle life’s great challenges – from building a much-needed village bridge to the International Space Station.

DREAM BIG, which opens on giant-screen theaters around the country at the start of Engineers Week on February 17, examines how engineers have changed both everyday lives and entire societies. Narrated by Academy Award winning actor Jeff Bridges, the film sweeps from Rome’s ancient arches and the Great Wall of China to roller coasters, underwater robots, and wind-defying skyscrapers – upending stereotypes of who becomes an engineer in the process.

“For the past two decades, people have been itching for a popular film about STEM,” says director Greg MacGillivray, who spent three years filming  this massive undertaking. “Teachers, museums and parents are looking for ways to get kids not just exposed to but also really turned on by science and engineering. So we wanted to see if we could bring something new to that effort with an entertaining, visually spectacular film full of stirring human stories, one that energizes kids of all kinds, including girls and minorities, to think about engineering as something that might be an exciting thing to do with their lives and their way to make a mark on the world.”

Teachers can reinforce the viewing experience with 10 hands-on activities that were developed especially for the film. Two of them – Windy City Tower and Earthquake-Resistant Structure – are actually performed in the film. Film partner DiscoverE has 30 more activities designed to encourage kids to “Dream Big,” the theme for Engineers Week 2017.

Find a theater near you!

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