Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE Slovakia - Games Exploration Festival Brings Together GLOBE Students and Scientists from Slovakia and the Czech Republic
In June, DAPHNE, The Institute of Applied Ecology and the J. A. Bata University of Applied Sciences and Technology in Svit welcomed GLOBE students and teachers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic to a 4-day festival to celebrate a year of environmental activities by GLOBE students.
GLOBE teachers Adriana Mlynská and Martina Gánovská hosted the festival at their secondary vocational school in Svit situated near the High Tatras National Park. More than 120 GLOBE students (ages 7–17) and about 40 GLOBE teachers from different parts of Slovakia and the Czech Republic participated in the festival. Students and teachers connected with scientists and experts from eight institutions and universities, including the Ministry of the Environment, the State Nature Conservancy, Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, and University Matej Bell, as well as several NGOs.
Peter Falcon, Earth science communications specialist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, presented to students and educators on how to use open-use data from NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program in their projects. After the festival, Peter also visited eight schools, giving motivational lectures to the students and their teachers.
GLOBE students had opportunities to present their projects to an expert jury, receiving feedback from scientists from six scientific institutions. Students also participated in inspiring workshops and field activities.
"Our boys have passionately and in detail described every day and every detail to us today, and they have the experience and motivation of a lifetime. It was a gift for me, as a teacher, to see their enthusiasm for science but also their appreciation of their own accomplishments and opportunities for improvement and personal growth, and their joy in working together and meeting new people and opportunities, which I consider to be significant progress at their age. I hope that this enthusiasm will last with them thanks to you. … We will definitely continue the project for the next school year."
—GLOBE school headmistress from participating school
More about GLOBE Slovakia: Students explore nature and actively improve the environment around their schools. Inclusivity is important to GLOBE Slovakia The emphasis is on teamwork and the involvement of all curious children with a relationship with the environment. Student teams at the festival included pupils from disadvantaged communities and geographically remote regions.
Currently, almost 50 schools and educational institutions in Slovakia participate in the GLOBE program. GLOBE Slovakia has contributed up to 4,630 data points to the GLOBE database.
"Pupils learn to be systematic, and patient, and to discover natural processes in context. We link the observation of tree leaf budding to topics such as weather or climate change. By measuring and counting increments, children also practice mathematics in the school garden environment, for example. We link different topics and subjects."
—Marián Diviš, GLOBE teacher, Karviná Secondary School
More about GLOBE Czech: Czech students and teachers have a long tradition of involvement in the GLOBE program. Some GLOBE Czech teachers have involved their students in GLOBE data gathering projects over a period of years.
Thanks
GLOBE Slovakia would like to offer a thank you to everyone for the great energy young explorers brought to the festival, with a special thanks to Peter Falcon and to the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia for their financial support.
Thanks to GLOBE teachers Adriana Mlynská and Martina Gánovská, and to all the teachers, students, former students, and school management who volunteered for the preparation and the program. Without their support and enthusiasm, an exploration festival of this size would not have been possible.
And a special shout out to J. A. Bata Polytechnic School in Svit—19 years in the GLOBE program!