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TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001 Table 1: Terra instruments and the vital signs monitored by each instrument Terra Instrument ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emisssion and reflection Radiometer CERES Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System MOPITT Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere MISR Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer MODIS MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vital Signs being Monitored clouds, glaciers, land temp. land use, natural disasters, sea ice, snow cover, vegetation radiation, clouds pollution aerosols, clouds, land use, natural disasters, vegetation aerosols, air temp., clouds, fires, land temp., land use, natural disasters, ocean productivity, ocean temperature, radiation, sea ice, snow cover, vegetation, water vapor complex, $1.3 billion Earth satellite launched in December 1999 that is designed to measure 16 of the 24 characteristics scientists have identified as factors that play a role in determining climate. Terra is part of the Earth Observing System (EOS), a National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) program designed to gather data for developing models of climate and climate changes. The 16 vital signs being monitored by Terra are: aerosols; air temperature; clouds; fires; glaciers; land temperature; land use; natural disasters; ocean productivity; ocean temperature; pollution; radiation; sea ice; snow cover; vegetation; and water vapour. Table 1 gives a listing of the specific Terra instruments and the vital signs each monitors (King & Herring, 2000). Earth System Science Examining the list of vital signs being monitored by the 5 Terra instruments (Table 1), one gains an appreciation of the Earth systems students should be learning about in schools. Scientists do not yet understand the causeand-effect relationships among Earth’s lands, oceans, and atmosphere well enough to predict what, if any, impacts these rapid changes will have on future climate conditions. Scientists need to make many measurements all over the world, over a long period of time, in order to assemble the information needed to construct accurate computer models that will enable them to forecast the causes and effects of climate change. These new activities have focused our attention on ‘Earth System Science’. In Earth system science, the planet Earth is viewed as evolving as a synergistic physical system of interrelated phenomenon, processes and cycles. Given the concerns that humankind is impacting Earth’s physical climate system, a broader concept of Earth as a system is emerging. Within this concept, knowledge from the traditional Earth science disciplines of geology, meteorology and oceanography along with biology is being gleaned and integrated to form a physical basis for Earth system science. This concept of the Earth as a complex and dynamic entity of interrelated subsystems implies that there is no process or phenomenon within the Earth system that occurs in complete isolation from other elements of the system. The initial views of the Earth Systems (ES) approach to Earth science education emerged from a conference that brought science educators and Bretherton Report geoscientists together in Washington DC in April 1988. The core issue was to abandon “the reductionist approach of focusing on the specific contributions of certain scientific disciplines in understanding concepts and process with their defined domain and replace it with a curriculum framework that relates the concepts and processes “to the Earth system in which they operate and interact with other processes and concepts” (Mayer & Armstrong, 1990; p 155). The problem is that whereas scientists function in interdisciplinary teams to pursue scientific inquiries (for example, more than 800 scientists from many disciplines are working on the numerous datasets collected by the Terra mission), our science education curriculum frameworks still honor the separate discipline model of teaching science. The move to Earth systems, and thus to an integrated science approach, according to Mayer and Armstrong (1990) recognizes; (1) the need for curriculum to reflect our social and economic systems and the basic understanding of the nature of scientific investigation; (2) how science disciplines are now intimately intertwined; (3) mathematics as an essential tool of modern science; (4) application of science in industry and global developments; and (5) the need for citizens to understand how technology is used in our society, to see the role evidence has as the real authority in science, and to see the power of theories in the investigation of nature. Earth System Curriculum Frameworks In the decade following the 1988 conferences, there have been several significant developments in the www.esta-uk.org 90
TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001 design of Earth system science curriculum. A nontechnological focused approach is found in Mayer’s “Earth Systems Education” (Mayer 1991; Fortner, 1991), which became manifest as PLESE (Program for Leadership in Earth Systems Education) (Mayer et. Al., 1992). Technological approaches to Earth systems science can be found in the K-12 GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) (Rock et al, 1997); and the Learning through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project (Edelson, Gordin & Pea, 1999). PLESE emerged from a teacher enhancement initiative at Ohio State University funded by the National Science Foundation in 1990. Initial efforts within PLESE led to the formation of a set of core concepts considered prerequisite for a 21st-century view of planet Earth, and the set of seven understandings that constitute a framework for Earth systems education: Understanding 1. Earth is unique, a planet of rare beauty and great value. Understanding 2. Human activities, collective and individual, conscious and inadvertent, are seriously impacting planet Earth. Understanding 3. The development of scientific thinking and technology increases our ability to utilize Earth and space. Understanding 4. The Earth system is composed of the interacting subsystems of water, land, ice, air, and life. Understanding 5. Planet Earth is more than 4 billion years old and its subsystems are continually evolving. Understanding 6. Earth is a small subsystem of a solar system within the vast and ancient universe. Understanding 7. There are many people with careers that involved study of Earth’s origin, processes, and evolution. The PLESE Project yielded Science as a Study of Earth: A Resource Guide for Science Curriculum Restructure (Mayer and Fortner, 1995) that educators could use to restructure their curriculum toward an Earth systems approach. GLOBE is a worldwide initiative to recruit schoolaged children in the gathering of data to help scientists develop models that will test the information contained in satellite images. UK teachers can learn more about GLOBE by visiting their website www.globe.org.uk Students in 9500 schools in 90 countries are currently part of the GLOBE effort. Students data-gathering and reporting protocols have been established for the areas of study outlined in Table 2. Participating schools collect environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data through the Internet. These data are added to NASA and NOAA global databases. Scientists use GLOBE data in their research and provide feedback to the students to enrich their science education. Global images based on GLOBE student data are displayed on the World Wide Web, enabling students and other visitors to visualize the student environmental observations. The CoVis project also focuses on the support of student inquiries. Employing powerful visualization tools similar to those used by scientists, students develop and test Earth system models. The CoVis researchers have so far developed the Climate Visualizer, the Radiation- Budget Visualizer, and the Greenhouse Effect Visualizer and the Worldwatcher which combines all the Visualizers (Edelson, Gordin & Pea, 1999). At the KS3 level, Worldwatcher Project www.worldwatcher.northwestern.edu students learn about the scientific factors that contribute to the controversial global warming debate. The project places students as advisors to the heads of state of several different nations, prompting students to learn about the issue as they respond to the various questions and concerns of these leaders. As expert scientists on the issue, the class is challenged to understand and explain to the heads of state what forces affect climate and what global warming actually means. Once they do this, they are asked to help the different nations of the world understand how global warming will affect them and what they can do about it. Each student team advises one country and presents a proposal that offers a set of solutions which address the concerns of their country. Stages of the project include an introduction to the basic issues of global warming, understanding the factors that contribute to temperature change, investigating the factors that determine global temperature and energy use, understanding potential consequences of atmospheric pollution on global climate, and finding solutions to these types of problems. Area Atmosphere Hydrology Soil Landcover/Biology Phenology Measurements Precipitation pH, cloud type, cloud cover, rainfall, snowfall, and min. max, and current temperature Transparency, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, salinity, alkalinity, nitrate Structure, color, consistence, texture, bulk density, particle size distribution, pH, and fertility (N, P, K) of samples taken from each horizon, soil infiltration, surface slope (in degrees), soil moisture, soil temperature, diurnal variation of soil temperature Qualitative land cover, quantitative land cover, dominant and co-dominant vegetation species, tree height and circumference, biomass of the herbaceous ground cover. Lilac phenology, budburst phenology The WorldWatcher KS4 Curriculum Project is building a year-long, inquiry-based, visually intensive environmental science curriculum centered on three key issues: Populations, Resources, and Sustainability; Meeting the Demand for Energy in Southern Wisconsin; Managing Water Resources in California and Local Environmental Issues. In the first unit, students are introduced to the investigation techniques that they Table 2: GLOBE areas of study and measurements 91 www.esta-uk.org
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