On the Web: Our Changing Earth

SciLinks®

SciLinks® is a web-based service from NSTA that provides online content chosen to augment printed articles and books. It does so through keywords; the keyword for this issue is Careers in Earth Science.

NSTA Calendar

The NSTA Calendar lists the following opportunities relating to Our Changing Earth. To learn about other science education events and opportunities, visit http://www.nsta.org/publications/calendar/.

• Ice Stories: Exploratorium's Polar Webcasts
  Antarctica is a vast, wild continent of snow and ice, boasting the driest desert and the coldest temperatures on the planet. Join the Exploratorium as it ventures to the bottom of the world for a series of webcasts, live events, and demonstrations. In celebration of the International Polar Year (2007–2008), the Exploratorium crew will be talking with scientists at McMurdo Station and the South Pole about the myriad of research being done there. Meet scientists pulling giant cores of ice from miles down, watch as penguins dive under the ice, and see scientists reach for the sky with their weather balloons. Learn about the giant trap under the ice that catches the tiniest particles from outer space and a new 10m telescope at the South Pole. In 2008, programs will be webcast on January 4, 11, 12, 18, and 25.

• 2007–2008 Snow Spotter Network
  Weather Works, a private meteorological consulting firm, is coordinating the Snow Spotter Network for the winter season (through March 2008). High schools and middle schools are invited to participate in this free, entirely web-based program. Each school should have one designated snow spotter (teachers or students may join) responsible for taking a snowfall measurement at home after each snowfall, and then submitting the report on the Snow Spotter website. The Snow Spotter Network serves as an excellent way to enhance interest in Earth science and a great opportunity for volunteer work.

• Down Under, Out Yonder Educator Workshop
  This workshop, held July 7–11, 2008, will help you learn about coral reef ecosystems and the National Marine Sanctuary Program, specifically the Flower Garden Banks NMS, located in the Gulf of Mexico. Hosted by the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) and sponsored by the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, the workshop consists of a two-day, land-based workshop, followed by three days of SCUBA diving in the sanctuary. All applicants must be previously SCUBA certified and have a fair amount of open-water diving experience. Applications for 2008 will be available in January.

• A Magic Web: A Traveling Exhibit
  A Magic Web: The Tropical Forest of Barro Colorado Island exhibit explores a tropical ecosystem through the photography of ecologist Christian Ziegler. The 40 detailed images featured in the exhibition were captured during 15 months of fieldwork with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island. Thousands of scientists from around the world have conducted research on the island since 1923. The large-format photographs, coupled with bilingual text (English/Spanish), provide a glimpse of this ecosystem’s riches and illuminate the nearly invisible relationships that exist among the thousands of plants, animals, and other organisms living in tropical ecosystems. A Magic Web was organized in cooperation with STRI and the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.

• American Meteorological Society's Weather Workshop
  The American Meteorological Society (AMS), in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is offering a summer workshop for K–12 teachers and supervisors at the National Weather Service Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri, from July 20–August 1, 2008. Teachers who are members of groups underrepresented in the sciences or teach significant numbers of students from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. A stipend, housing, food, and travel will be provided, and three semester hours of tuition-free graduate credit may be earned.
  
  This AMS/NOAA Workshop is designed for master pre-college teachers and supervisors of science who teach or supervise the teaching of significant weather units. The workshop is intended to introduce master teachers to the latest technologies and techniques for sensing, analyzing, and forecasting weather; explore and suggest ways in which the products of these technologies and techniques can be employed in school studies of the atmospheric environment; and prepare workshop attendees to conduct training sessions on selected atmospheric science topics for teachers in their home areas during the next school year. Applications should be postmarked by March 31, 2008.

• BSCS Science Institutes: Evolution: Earth and Life
  This year-long institute includes a six-day, face-to-face workshop experience in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this summer and an online professional learning community that will be moderated through May 2009. The institute kicks off with an online activity and discussion to initiate the online community and provide a platform from which to begin the summer program.
  
  The six-day summer program provides an intense, engaging experience in evolution and examines evolution from the perspectives of biology and geology. Participants will consider evolution through inquiry-based and field experiences, and will review instructional materials designed for teaching evolution in the secondary classroom. Participants will also discuss the issues around evolution and teaching science. The registration deadline is June 6, 2008.

• DataStreme Atmosphere Distance Learning Course
  DataStreme Atmosphere is a major pre-college teacher enhancement initiative of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The initiative’s main goal is training Weather Education Resource Teachers who will promote the teaching of science, mathematics, and technology using weather as a vehicle across the K–12 curriculum in their school districts. The initial step in the training of Resource Teachers is their participation in the DataStreme Atmosphere distance-learning course. The 13-week course is offered twice a year to selected participants. It focuses on the study of the atmospheric environment through the use of electronically-transmitted weather data and learning materials combined with Study Guide readings and investigations.
  
  Participants must be teaching professionals at the pre-college level who live in an area served by a Local Implementation Team. Teachers of any grade level or subject who have an interest in promoting the teaching of weather across the curriculum may apply.

• Grandfather Mountain Workshop
  Surround yourself with the North Carolina mountains June 23–28, 2008 as you learn cutting-edge environmental science. Participants visit Grandfather Mountain, an international U.N. Biosphere site and home for 47 rare and endangered species. Interact with K–12 educators from the United States and around the world. Learn about environmental topics and their global significance. Research scientists share their expertise on air and water quality, mountain ecosystems, sprawl, native medicinal plants, the importance of Geographical Information Systems Global Positioning Systems to global projects, and more. Field work, environmental monitoring, and special presentations about the culture and history of the Appalachian mountain people round out the workshop.