09/01/2011 12:00 MDT - Juliette Vogel of Bern, Switzerland, has been the Country Coordinator of GLOBE Switzerland since 2004 and also serves as Co-Executive of The GLOBE Switzerland Association. Ms. Vogel completed her university studies at the University of Berne in biology and plant physiology and continued to further her studies in climatology, hydrology and pedology (the study of soil). Her systematic and interdisciplinary approach to environmental science drew her to The GLOBE Program where inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system often take a multi-disciplinary approach."Some of my fondest memories of GLOBE include leading training sessions that brought together so many enthusiastic teachers eager to introduce GLOBE into their classrooms," related Ms. Vogel. She continued by describing enjoyable experiences of piloting mixed-age investigations, including teaming a classroom of 8-year olds with 19 and 20-year students in Olten, Switzerland in 2010, to conduct research projects using GLOBE hydrology protocols on a small local river. According to Ms. Vogel, the results were positive. The younger students emulated the older students by paying close attention to procedures and safety equipment. The older students were challenged, in turn, by the need to explain complicated concepts such as pH, oxygen and nitrate levels, and macroinvertebrates as bio-indicators to the younger students. The process was educational and rewarding for all students involved."
"I‘m convinced that GLOBE contributes to a better understanding of the Earth system and of problems in environmental changes," writes Ms. Vogel. "Yesterday, for example, I was invited by the Gymnasium Kirchenfeld in Bern to present our GLOBE national project on invasive neophytes. In the coming weeks, 45 GLOBE students will map the invasive species (using the GLOBE Swiss mapping method) in a valley and along a river in their community, creating GIS maps with their results. These data will then be transferred by GLOBE to the national data base for Swiss Flora
Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons, each having their own autonomous school system; and the country has 4 national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Despite these challenges, GLOBE has been remarkably well-integrated into the country, largely due to the GLOBE Swiss website, providing teachers of all cantons with download GLOBE teaching materials in German and French, and to a limited degree, in Italian as well.
GLOBE Switzerland includes 135 registered GLOBE schools with more than 150 Swiss teachers participating in National Projects. In 2009, Ms. Vogel helped facilitate the founding of the national GLOBE association, and a permanent office from which to unify the broad network of Partnerships from teachers colleges, the Swiss Academy of Sciences, universities and many others from education, science and administrative sectors, for easier collaborative access to national experts in education and science. On 30 October 2009, a memorable ceremony at the University of Bern, celebrated the the official framework of GLOBE Switzerland, and honored the association-building efforts of 26 members of the GLOBE Swiss Team.
The national unification of the GLOBE Program in Switzerland has been key to building capacity for the Program itself and helping make the case for national curriculum in science and education that incorporates GLOBE protocols. Projects like Phaenonet for example, a pilot project on hazel phenology, uses the GLOBE protocols budburst and green up/green downb, It is an attempt to promote GLOBE as a vehicle for competence-based teaching and learning, adapted to our new national curriculum which is still in development.. In the next two years, GLOBE Switzerland will consider examining other varieties of trees such as beech, sycamore, birch, larch, lilac to expand the current project underway. As GLOBE is integrated into the national school system, Ms. Vogel sees her work expanding to ensure the sustainabilty of logterm implementation of GLOBE. In support of this aim, Ms. Vogel recognizes the need to collaborate with the University of Teacher Education in order to integrate GLOBE into preservice education currently in place in 4 teacher colleges in Switzerland.
As another means of long-term GLOBE sustainability, Ms. Vogel is focusing on collaboration with scientists and provides, as an example, Phenology Day at Meteoswiss in 2008. Another impressive effort is the CCES@School initiative, an outreach project of ETH Bereich, Switzerland, where GLOBE is an important education partner. Through the the collaborative development of teaching materials, GLOBE Switzerland can integrate GLOBE protocols into school curricula and guarantee environmental research activites for students.
"GLOBE is a messenger program to invite further generations to build up respect and fascination for exploring this unique but complex system, Earth. GLOBE invites students to conserve it in a sustainable way. And the possibility to put local measurements into a global context provides real value too!“ The GLOBE Program Offices wishes to commend Ms. Vogel for her tireless efforts to implement GLOBE in Switzerland.
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