Looking Forward
Conference News: July 4 - Looking Forward
GLOBE steps into the future
Student collaboration doesn't stop in Helsinki
The last week in Helsinki has been a great success with the making of new friends, ideas and partnerships. "In the next few years, GLOBE will be experiencing new technology and information. With this new technology, GLOBE will spread, creating more data to build our satellite of the world", envisions Dr. Dixon Butler, Chief Scientist at the end of the Learning Expedition.
Data collected by GLOBE students is used mostly for soil and hydrology research. Dr. Elissa Levine is using soil data to adjust her soil model. Hydrology data is used to define the distribution of alkalinity. The rest of the data is undergoing analysis to establish reliability. Dr. Butler re-emphasises the fact that they still need more data. To create more information GLOBE will be producing new protocols including ozone, relative humidity, phenology, haze in aerosols and macro-invertebrates. These protocols will be put on the video, to help train teachers in the program." This conference is just the beginning, next you step into a wider world. Take the next step and keep the data coming. It only gets better and easier and the value increases", states Dr. Butler, encouraging GLOBE students.
Conference authors: Satu Kangas and Kristin Marsh
Collaboration gives a rounded education
"With collaboration students learn how to do science", say Ralph Coppola, of the U.S. and Bernd Tissler of Germany. The conference in Helsinki has allowed students to produce new scientific ideas and form new partnerships. Coppola and Tissler collected these ideas and made them available to all of those interested. To do so, the German and U.S. team hung up posters with different interests for students to sign. Some of these interests include Mediterranean climate, soil, hydrology and El Niño. Coppola and Tissler will then take the list of names and post them on the Internet in order for students to form international research groups.
The main goal of the collaboration, says Coppola, is to teach students how to do science. "The educational community and the scientific community meet with the collection of data. The data is important for the scientist's research and also teaches the students the scientific process". However, this collaboration goes further than science, teaching also cultural knowledge.
Heikki Hirvonen, Conference Chairman, is also happy with results of the conference. "It has been exhausting but also a lot of fun." He would like to thank all of the participants, because without them this conference wouldn't have been possible.
Conference authors: Satu Kangas and Kristin Marsh
Love is in the air
One would go to the GLOBE conference to learn about science, but how about love? Two students, Anna Johansson, 15, from Finland and Alexander Machold, 16, from Austria can be seen walking around holding hands instead of fully concentrating on the environment. They met on Monday evening at the ice breaking and have been hanging out together since.
According to Anna it wasn't love at the first sight but her comment on the first impression she got tells another story. "I love the way he acts!", Anna sighs leaning on Alex as they sit on the window sill, the only place they can find a little privacy in the chaos of the conference. They have spent as much time together as possible and have gotten to know each other very well. "I love everything about her," says Alex lovingly. Unfortunately, as the conference is coming into its ending, these feelings of affinity may become only memories. However, Alex and Anna hope that their friendship will survive for good.
Conference authors: Marna Palmer, Maria Leppälä and Matt Trautman