Greetings,
On April 22, 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the 25th anniversary of GLOBE and me as a GLOBE Teacher, I introduced the GLOBE Satellites and Education Team (G-SET). For me, and from the beginning of GLOBE in 1995, one of the best opportunities for GLOBE was to introduce and integrate the use of satellite imagery and remotes sensing to the K12 community. In a small way it did through in its early years providing a LandSat image/dataset of each schools area. For the many new GLOBE teachers being trained, it was their first experience with image interpretation/analysis. For those of you who are recent new comers to GLOBE, this is why the study site is 90 meters, a LandSat "pixel". I had been working with a new community of satellite educators gathering, at West Chester University in PA, for a conference since 1987. Our focus back then was to focus of ways to get satellite imagery, mostly looking at building antennas, availability of dishes, and software to run the computers. We will gather again this year for the 33rd annual Satellites and Education Conference (via Zoom). I have worked on this concept while teaching in a CTE HS since 1985. Even in a CTE setting, this course of study attracted numerous females and a very diverse group of students. As "just a HS teacher" I never had funding from NASA, NOAA, NSF to complete a "formal" study … but I lived it and can tell you it works and document the great accomplishments of my students over the years.
I thought about the many NASA/GLOBE colleagues that share my passion for using satellites and remote sensing. I sent out a call. I was both humbled and overjoyed to see an amazing quick response to join G-SET. Within 48 hrs. G-SET was populated with , what I feels, are the best STEM professional regarding satellites in the USA. There are several form Africa as well, as we had been talking about this for many years and the interest is strong. I refer to them as the Africa Coalition! As we move into the next 25 years of GLOBE, I hope that this very experiences team can make a huge difference in the integration of satellites and remote sensing into the program, and develop strategies for widespread introduction into the K12 schools in the USA and around the world, and I would be happy to explain why it is the definitive application of STEM.
