1 Earth E/PO Forum Nuggets February 2013

2 Dorian Janney Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) at “Aerospace in Annapolis” at the State Capitol February 1, 2013 Legislators, aerospace industry personnel, and midshipmen studying aerospace engineering came out in droves in spite of the wintery precipitation to learn more about NASA missions. GPM had a booth that included a model of the core observatory.

3 Dorian Janney Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) collaborates with Outdoor Environmental Educators and GLOBE February 2013 A new hands-on inquiry based module was created by the GPM, Outdoor Environmental Educators and GLOBE educators. The new module entitled ‘Survivor’ focuses on data from GPM and features freshwater resources. Over 90 sixth grade students, their teachers and parent volunteers were outside in the snow as part of this 2 ½ hour module! One child was overheard saying “this is so much better than school!”, while another one begged her teacher to “keep letting us go outside to learn science!”

4 Ginger Butcher 8 entries for “Ship Tracks” 15 Entries for “Ozone ” 25 entries for “Water Cycle” NASA Earth Science missions kicked off a new video contest designed to challenge high school age students to produce a video communicating NASA Earth Science to younger students. Students are consuming over 10 hours of media a day and video is increasingly important to communicate and inform about science. This contest challenged High School students to engage younger students in Earth Science by creating a 2 minute video communicating one of these science topics: 1.Ozone in the Stratosphere 2.The Water of the Water Planet (Water Cycle) 3.Ship Tracks and our Environment The contest was open to residents of the United States ages 13 to 18 and submissions were from teams or individuals. The 2012 REEL Science contest received 48 entries! Finalists will be announced in March. Winners will have their videos posted on NASA's website. They will also get the opportunity to be a NASA Producer working with NASA scientists and communication experts in July 2013 to produce an Earth Science feature video. REEL Science Communication Contest Missions: Aura (lead), Terra, and Aqua February 15 th, 2013

DISCOVER-AQ E/PO Activity Summary for CA Central Valley Campaign January 15-February 8, 2013 Amber Richards, Jessica Taylor, GLOBE Workshops GLOBE Train-the-Trainer workshop hosted by Langley with 2 GLOBE Partners: Los Angeles Unified and San Joaquin Valley School District Partners hosting local Teacher workshops focused on air quality: Feb in LA Mar 2-3 near Fresno Live Chats between Students & Scientists onboard P-3B Aircraft 8 Live Chat Sessions 468 Student Participants 29 Teacher Participants Schools from CA, NY, TX, and Punta Arenas, Chile Students Visit Huron Ground Station 240 middle school students visited the ground station in Huron, CA NASA EDGE Vodcast As of January 31, 2013, the DISCOVER-AQ NASA EDGE show has been downloaded 263,370 times

6 New navigation scheme, with type of feature on the top menu and topic areas on the side menu. Larger format for looping slideshow on home page. More flexible to accommodate more images/links. Previous version of home page used Flash, not functional on mobile devices. Current version uses JavaScript to avoid that problem. Videos were previously in Flash and not viewable on mobile devices. Now videos use a common format viewable on all platforms. Alternative animated navigation scheme added for “Big Questions.” “Big Questions” content presented in small bites, if the alternative navigation feature is selected. Topics are cross-linked to a greater extent to build content clusters. Improved search builds custom menus on the fly. Improved content management system makes updates and enhancements easier. Site is now more able to accommodate new types of content. Presenting the scientific evidence for human-caused climate change in a clear, concise, non-threatening, and compelling way for children in grades 4 – 6, their teachers, and their parents. Home page with several features looping in main panel “Power Up!” renewable energy game. New and improved Climate Kids climatekids.nasa.gov Designated a “Great Science Website for Kids” for 2012 by the American Library Association. gws.ala.org/category/sciences