News - North America
2019 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Student Research Symposium Highlights
The ice-breaker activity for Friday, 31 May, was a kite flying challenge on the Charles River Esplanade. Students worked in groups of 2-4 people decorating and building sled kites (from Kites in the sky). Each group was a mixture of students from different schools, which encouraged students of different ages and from different states to get to know one another. Roughly 40 students and their teachers participated in this energetic activity. Students were challenged to:- measure the tension force on the string using weights and a bit of algebra; and
- determine the kite’s altitude two different ways.
After kite flying, overnight guests gathered for a welcome dinner where the group heard from the guest speaker, Kevin Ivey. Kevin is a high school senior who recently finished an internship at NASA Langley. He shared his experience working with NASA and described the process and efforts that led to him receiving this unique internship opportunity.
The following day, student participants presented their GLOBE research project posters. It kicked off with a 1-hour peer review session where each student attended and commented on at least two of their peers' presentations. Following the peer review, the STEM and science education professional reviewers, including Todd Czubek (Boston University),
Carole Ivey (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Elizabeth Burakowski (Univ. of New Hampshire), Susan Cox (USDA Forest Service), Dixon Butler (YLACES and NASA representative), Sadia Sharif (Boston University), Chelsea Hammond (Boston University), Michael Jabot (SUNY Fredonia), Tina Harte (NASA Langley), Evangeline Harris Stefanakis (BU GLOBE Mission Earth), Anthony Barrasso (Boston University), and Larisa Schelkin (Global STEM) reviewed presentations and spoke with the student participants about their research. During the review sessions, teachers participated in professional development on Collegial listening sessions and GLOBE and local weather forecasting in grades 4-12 classrooms.
After lunch, while the STEM and science education professional reviewers deliberated, students and their teachers participated in a GLOBEcaching activity on the Boston University Beach and the Charles River Esplanade. Working in groups of 4-6, students used their phones to locate the general area of a GLOBE cache box with GPS coordinates. At each cache box, students received a GLOBEcaching field guide and instruction on how to proceed. Teachers helped guide students through completing each assigned task using the appropriate measurement tools.
Nine GLOBE Partnership representatives, including Tina Harte (NASA Langley), Michael Jabot (SUNY Fredonia), Bruce Anderson, Donald DeRosa, Caleb Farny, Peter Garik, Evangeline Harris Stefanakis, and Kathleen Johnson from Boston University, and Larisa Schelkin (Global STEM) attended the event in support of the student-teacher teams. Dixon Butler, Tommy Hyde (videographer), Eleanor Jaffee (Program Evaluator), Maryellen Madaio (Boston University WED Events Coordinator), and Catie Purrazzella (Boston University Coordinator for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services) assisted in making the event a success.
See more photo highlights of the event here!
Images from the top: Project Review at the Northeast SRS, Kite Flying Challenge!, Student Keynote, Kevin Ivey, Peer Review Session, GLOBECaching
type: globe-newsNews origin: United States of America