Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE Croatia: Students Present IVSS Research About Local Air Quality
As
students across the world begin to think about GLOBE research projects
for 2025 International
Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS), Snježana Marković-Zoraja,
GLOBE educator at Dubovac Primary School, Karlovac, Croatia, shares
the impact that participating in the 2024 IVSS had on her students.
Dubovac Primary School has been part of the GLOBE Program since 2004. As part of GLOBE, atmospheric, pedological, biometric, hydrological, and phenological measurements are conducted at the school under the guidance of GLOBE educators Snježana Marković-Zoraja and Kristina Fratrović.
Since 2022, Ms. Marković-Zoraja and Ms. Fratrović have been working with students on studying the carbon cycle in the alleys of the city of Karlovac, and later expanded their focus to measuring air quality. This is how the research project in a street called Marmont's Alley began.
The research project titled "Monitoring and Protection of Marmont Alley" took place during 2022 and 2023 and was focused on the carbon cycle in Marmont's Alley in Karlovac as well as air quality monitoring with devices made by students. This way, the natural science approach, GLOBE protocols, and engineering approach were combined.
The research
project was selected from the IVSS 2024 submissions to be presented at
the GLOBE Annual Meeting in Fredonia, New York, USA. Josip and Marta,
students from Dubovac Primary School, presented their project to
meeting participants, consisting of educators and scientists. They
also participated in the student experience, conducting biometric,
pedological, and hydrological field measurements using the ArcGIS StoryMaps tool to
document their research, guided by educator Alison Mote.
As part of the student experience, they visited Niagara Falls and the Niagara hydroelectric station, and on the final day, students presented their fieldwork to scientists.
Students were proud to represent Croatia—their city and country—and had an unforgettable experience.
I will always remember this trip to the USA. I met so many GLOBE students from all over the world and made so many new contacts. I feel lucky for meeting GLOBE scientists, especially Brian Campbell. We were communicating with him during the “Trees Around the GLOBE” webinars, so I was really happy for meeting him in person! —Student
I enjoyed a lot the trip to the Niagara Falls as well as American food. The lectures were very interesting, I learnt how to work with many new tools and got to know many new things about the GLOBE Program. —Student.
Students also appreciated that Mr. Campbell invited them to present their new project “Karlovac Promenade“ at a webinar on 10 September 2024. (Watch the recording of that presentation.)
The Dubovac Primary School continues to conduct air quality monitoring in Marmont Alley.
We plan to acquire sensors for PM 2.5 and PM 10 and monitor these parameters that may indicate air pollution. At the same time, we continue to do biometric measurements on the alleys in Karlovac, a medieval city that was built as a fortress in the shape of a six-pointed star. Today, there are alleys along the edges of that star and we would like to compare biometric measurements in each of them, such as the amount of stored carbon or the number of trees and their age. —GLOBE educator Snježana Marković-Zoraja.
Stay tuned to hear more about this research.
Learn More
- Learn more about the students’ research: “Monitoring and Protection of Marmont Alley.”
- Learn more about the International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS).
- Learn more about GLOBE Croatia.