Nahid Khazenie (khazenie@istbsun.gsfc.nasa.gov), Managing Editor
The Aerospace Education Service Program in conjunction with the DFRC Educator Resource Center has organized and executed several Earth science teacher workshops. The Center's plan includes curriculum development, teacher workshops, follow-up teacher workshops, and student programs. A unique aspect of the DFRC plan is that it incorporates NASA Earth science themes and educational materials with the DFRC's Pathfinder Aircraft. The Pathfinder aircraft's main customer is NASA Earth science research and operates out of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai. The first phase of this educational outreach program was to develop and execute teacher workshops. From May 27 to June 11, the education team completed six teacher workshops on three different Hawaiian Islands. The second phase includes five teacher follow-up workshops and a student program available to schools on Kauai.
During a recent summit with Argentine President Carlos Menem, U.S. President Clinton announced that a school in Antarctica would be part of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program. GLOBE schools are now in sixty countries and on all seven continents.
In other GLOBE news, GLOBE student Sarah Moore has written a report on how GLOBE scientists, like Elissa Levine from NASA Goddard, are using GLOBE student data in their research. Her report is online at http://globe.fsl.noaa.gov/reg/newsletter/fall_1997 /page5.html.
For an update on GLOBE activities, including a report on the work of the NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio, visit the GLOBE Web Site and review the Fall Newsletter at http://globe.fsl.noaa.gov/.
http://mirage.usra.edu/esse/earthabove.html
A web page is now available for GSFC scientist Claire Parkinson's book, "Earth From Above." This book provides an introduction to understanding and interpreting satellite images, using illustrative examples. The WWW site provides links to the publisher where you can order the book online, browse the table of contents, and read the book's preface. SPECIAL: The publisher is offering complimentary slide sets from the book for orders exceeding 25 copies as long as supplies last. Each set contains 62 color slides.
http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/newedu.html
The JPL DAAC has updated its web site of "Education Resources for Oceanography and Earth Sciences," which includes links to classroom material (organized by grade level) and resources for continuing education, field trips/out of class experiences, satellite data/images, and multimedia. Abstracts are provided for most of the listings. A hard-copy version is also available from User Services at: podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov or (818) 354-9890. Two articles about the web site appear in the December issue of "California Educator." This magazine has a readership of 270,000 California teachers.