Level: Middle and High school science teachers. Date: Feb. 17, 18, 19, 2010; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: Free. Teachers will receive a $450 stipend for participating. Registration: please register online. Application deadline: Jan. 12. Teachers will be notified by Jan. 15.

GRACE: Tracking Water from Space Teacher Professional Development Institute

In this three-day professional development institute at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, middle and high school teachers  engage with a global gravity data set to understand how water distribution across the globe is affected by climate change, and learn how NASA scientists gather and interpret data.

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is a mission to track the movement of water, including ground water and polar ice, from space. A pair of satellites responds to the gravitational pull of these massive stores of water, effectively “weighing” Earth’s shifting water resources. The satellites detect where water is accumulating and drying up on a grand scale-data that were unavailable before.

During the Institute, teachers will engage with a visualization of the GRACE data on a spherical display, as well as selected regions on the globe to better understand the impact of climate change on major rivers, ice sheets, and groundwater. Teachers will work with a NASA scientist, increase their capacity to teach about climate change, and learn how to introduce the analysis of data in the classroom. They will have the opportunity to bring their students to the museum to participate in a student class that explores the GRACE data set. The Institute aims to support middle and high school science teachers’ use of GRACE data in the classroom and prepare teachers to engage students in the study of climate change.

Teachers will receive a $450 stipend for participating in the three-day Institute, a GRACE Resource DVD, and opportunities to participate in a student class during a museum visit and to work with other NYC science teachers. See the website for more information.

Visit the AMNH educators’ website for more programs and resources.

Filed under: For Teachers, K-12 Outreach Programs, Web Resources

Tags: NASA, Professional Development, Programs for Teachers, Satellite, Space