Linking NASA & the Geography Standards Mission Geography

Workshop Introduce Mission Geography’s mission… Model ___ investigations Geoarchaeology (Grades 5-8) Physical and Human Made Features (Grades K-4) Volcanoes (Grades 5-8) ENSO (Grades 9-12) Introduce Mission Geography On Line Your feedback…

Geography for Life A vision of what geography education should be …

A geographically informed person… who sees meaning in the arrangement of things in space… Can you identify London, Amsterdam, Rome, Moscow, and Berlin?

A geographically informed person… Who sees relations between places & environments people

A geographically informed person… Who uses geographic skills…

And who applies spatial and ecological perspectives to life situations. A geographically informed person…

NASA’s Education Program & Evaluation Framework

Mission Geography Curriculum support materials that link the content, skills, and perspectives of Geography for Life with NASA’s missions and scientific findings. Three grade levels: K-4, 5-8, 9- 12, Available on one CD-ROM and for download from website

Mission Geography Use NASA research, data, and images –To drive activities, –To develop key geographic skills, e.g., pattern recognition and map interpretation and analysis, and –To model the work of NASA scientists and the methods they use to conduct research.

Mission Geography Ultimate goal: To excite and educate learners about geography, about NASA’s research and missions, and about the world in which they live.

NSTA NCTM ITEA GENIP

Mission Geography Subject matter focus: –Seeing the World in Spatial Terms –Physical Systems –Environment and Society

Mission Geography

Module Fundamentals –Must teach interesting and meaningful geography; –Must model geographic thinking and problem solving; –Must engage students in real world contexts and problems.

Mission Geography Modeling activities…

Natural Hazards Volcanoes: Local hazard, global issue? –NASA: Detecting change in Earth systems through monitoring signals. –What role does volcanism play in the Earth system? Images Data Aerosols (atmosphere) Hazard zones (lithosphere/biosphere)

Mission Geography Module Phase 1: Skill building and subject matter mastery. Case study of effects of volcanic eruption on Earth system, by sphere Investigation to clarify effects of volcanic eruption on different subsystems Image analysis to compare effects before/after Develop concepts related to areal extent of damage: buffer zone analysis

Mission Geography Module More skill building and subject matter mastery Case study of effects of volcanic aerosols on Earth system through three signal sensors: photographs from Space Shuttle, TOMS, & AVHRR –Profile & correlate temperature and aerosol index to determine relationship

Mission Geography Module Phase 3: Problem solving task. Problem: Where is it safe to fly? Monitoring regions with aerosol hazards – Collect TOMS data. –Map it. –Develop a systematic categorization of world regions in which there is a potential hazard from volcanic ash and other aerosols.

Before the Eruption May 1980 Landsat Infrared

After the Eruption June 1980 Landsat Infrared

Pumice Plain pumice

Mount St Helens Today December 1999 Landsat 7 True color