GLOBE Scientists' Blog

This week’s post is a continuation from last week, where our guest blogger, Vera Gekov, explored GLOBE and connected it to environmental stewardship. 

As part of my Master’s Applied Research Project, I collected stories as richly diverse as the international GLOBE community itself from the question: “What does stewardship mean to you?” Answers ranged from “ taking care of Earth and its natural resources for the benefit of all creatures,” to “managing environmental resources,” and “developing a global consciousness and responsible behavior towards nature.”

What impressed me about the GLOBE community is how, teachers and students are inspired to act in their local or global community through the implementation of inquiry-based investigations. Learning about science by doing science led to small, yet powerful acts:

• My students and I clean the waterways in the nearby park in the spring.
• We pick up trash at the beach.
• My youngest has a passion for picking up cigarette butts because he is really afraid of the impact it will have on animals.
• We make smarter choices when buying items at the store, items that can be recycled or buy from local vendors rather than big corporations that might not use the “best practices.”
• We are trying to reduce our carbon footprint – this includes becoming more educated on how to do this.

Students from Moldova, Estonia show how much trash they picked up from the side of the road. Photo courtesy of Ketlin Piir.

I am honored to have been able to connect with GLOBE community members around the world to hear these stories. But evidence of GLOBE students dedicated to stewardship is easy to find – just watch the Earth Day competition videos!

In one video, students collected water samples from the creek and tested the pH, nitrate level, and conductivity in hopes that they might be able to use the data to let the city and county officials know what is happening to the quality of their creek. Another school observed that the pH has been consistently dropping in a nearby river through fourteen years of hydrology data collection. By working with NASA, these students were able to determine that the probable cause was due to acid rain from a nearby polluted valley. When they discovered this, the students became very active in spreading environmental awareness in their school. In a third video, GLOBE students used several water and soil protocols to examine soil and water quality for local farmers and then followed up by sending private letters to the farmers.

My Applied Leadership Project, which had me observe GLOBE and design a project that directly benefits the organization, has shown me how GLOBE is helping to enrich the lives of many students around the world and how they can protect Earth by doing science. I found that through the investigations, they experienced a more intimate connection with the natural world. As GLOBE evolves and expands, it will continue to spread environmental awareness to millions of additional students, scientists, and teachers around the world. I believe that GLOBE is a vital component of maintaining a viable and resilient planet for future generations.

An illustration of how GLOBE is used to understand local climate. Drawing was submitted to the 2013 Calendar Competition

Suggested activity: Tell us how you’ve become environmentally aware through your participation in GLOBE.  Leave us a comment, send us an email or tell us about it on our Facebook Page.

This week we have a guest blogger, Vera Gekov.  Vera is a recent graduate of the Environmental Leadership program at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, USA.  She was drawn to GLOBE because of the program’s commitment of increasing environmental literacy in youth.  She completed her Applied Leadership Project by connecting with GLOBE teachers and country coordinators to understand environmental stewardship.

Through my graduate research project, I was able to connect with GLOBE and understand more about their commitment to increasing overall environmental literacy.  What struck me most about GLOBE is that while students are still learning from books and lectures in classrooms, they are also venturing outside. They are encouraged to learn from their own curiosity and engage with the very elements and systems that they are studying. As GLOBE students worldwide participate in the investigations, they are transported from the traditional way of learning science to a more experiential process.

To focus on the stewardship aspect of GLOBE’s mission for my project, I connected with teachers to explore how the program is enhancing environmental stewardship and coming alive in the greater GLOBE community.  I started by investigating how the program’s hands-on-science program connects students to nature through activities and observations in their communities.  I sought insight from the teachers by asking them how they have connected the GLOBE Program’s science protocols with stewardship and environmental justice issues. The questions I asked were about activities that encouraged deep ecological perspectives and focused on how both the teacher’s and student’s relationship to nature were changed by the program.

I interviewed GLOBE teachers in the U.S. and abroad and reviewed the Earth Day Competition videos in which students demonstrated how participating in the GLOBE Program has inspired them to improve the environment of their home, school, or local community. Through my research process, I heard many amazing stories of how students are using the protocols to contribute to protecting the natural world around them.

Students perform hydrology protocols alongside the Thur River near Uzwil, Switzerland. Photo courtesy of Markus Eugster.

I discovered that as students perform the GLOBE protocols and become more familiar with their environment they become increasingly aware of what’s happening with their local ecology. One teacher stated that because of GLOBE, her students noticed traces of oil in the wetland areas that surrounded their school and they determined that the oil was coming from a nearby road.  This demonstrates how the students have become tuned into their environments through consistent observation.

I asked teachers how their relationship with the natural world had changed after being involved in the GLOBE Program and was pleased to learn that it had become stronger. For example, the one GLOBE Country Coordinator sent me this response: “Teachers and students have developed an intimate relationship with clouds, soil, and water. In addition, the value of wildlife conservation and environmental protection has been enhanced for both teachers and students after practicing GLOBE protocols.”

Students from Saudi Arabia examine soil. Photo courtesy of Norah Al Nasser.

My survey prompted teachers to comment on the experiential research approach.  One teacher said, “Hands-on science definitely provides the opportunity to experience the natural world with fresh eyes. You can go out to the same area and every time it will be different. The variables will change. I believe you’re more apt to explore and investigate when you’re out in nature.” Another teacher spoke of how they stay out at their site past sunset and watch the night sky. She described how the students would “get really quiet and listen to the sounds.”  To me this type of narrative beautifully illustrates the essence of GLOBE.

Suggested Activity:  Have you experienced a connection with your local environment by performing the GLOBE protocols?  June is the perfect time to begin making a connection by participating in the Great Global Investigation of Climate and continuing to take your Phenology and Climate measurements.  As you learn about your environment, you may begin to notice when changes occur.  Using those changes you can develop an exciting research project.  Let us know about what you’ve seen by leaving a comment, sending us an email or connecting with us on our Facebook Page – we’d love to hear from you!