News Archive 2002
ARM Education Takes Part in International Digital Library (Posted 5/19/02)
The ARM Education team has recently completed writing a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) International Digital Library (IDL) Program. This proposal titled, "An International Digital Library for Atmospheric Visualization" is a collaboration between the ARM Education Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Christopher Klaus at Argonne National Laboratory, Keith Andrew at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), Chad Bahrmann at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Gerald Mace at the University of Utah, Peter May at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and Steve Siems at Monash University. If this proposal is funded, we will work on creating a cutting-edge, long-term, international digital library contribution of new atmospheric data visualizations used by teachers, students, and scientists around the world. This IDL project will focus on the United States, Australia, and the Pacific, with educational materials created and international and national teacher workshops held annually. A pdf version of this exciting International Digital Library proposal is available.
November 2002 ARM Climate Change Workshops (Posted 12/22/02)
Teacher measuring temperature as a part of the "Arctic Microclimates" Lesson.
Carrie Talus telling the participating teachers about the ARM Project and the ARM Education Program.
Laura Marsh and Carrie Talus of ARM Education recently presented teachers' workshops in basic climate change science at three schools in the North Slope. Marsh's presentations included a discussion of global climate change such as El Niño, sea level rise, global warming, ecology of climate change, and the greenhouse effect and the Bringing Climate Change into the Classroom handout. Talus and Marsh presented information on the ARM Program and the ARM Education Program. She also shared information about the Iñupiat traditional knowledge effort, which included inviting elders into the classroom to share what they know about climate and weather. During the workshop, the teachers also participated in hands-on activities on arctic microclimates, melting sea ice, insulating sea ice, and a computer lesson using real ARM data called “Comparing Temperature, Pressure, and Humidity.” A Pen Pal Program was also offerred to the teachers in an effort to start correspondence between students in the Arctic and the Tropical Western Pacific.
The North Slope Borough School District covers the top of Alaska and is entirely above the Arctic Circle. Its boundaries are the same as those of the North Slope Borough, covering 88,000 square miles. It is 650 miles from east to west, making it the largest school district in the U.S. The school district has eight widely spread villages and is primarily Iñupiat Eskimo. The November 2002 ARM Education workshops were held for Eben Hopson Middle School teachers in Barrow, science teachers at Alak School (K-12) in Wainwright, and all teachers at Meade River School (K-12) in Atqasuk. At the workshop, teachers received ARM Education curriculum books, science posters for their classrooms, an ARM Education totebag, and other education materials.
ARM’s Contribution to North Slope Science Standards (Posted 12/22/02)
While on the North Slope in November 2002, ARM Education staff Carrie Talus and Laura Marsh held a meeting with the North Slope Borough School District’s Science Committee, headed by Jodi Picou, in order to discuss adding the subject of climate change to the North Slope science standards. This science committee is working to update and improve the current science standards so that they better match the state and national standards. ARM Education gave this committee a set of recommendations for integrating climate change into the classroom for K-12 students and is looking forward to working with them in the future to include this important subject in the North Slope curriculum.
