GLOBE Observer at NASA CitSciCon
On May 21 and 22, the NESEC-led* GLOBE Observer team provided strong support to NASA’s inaugural citizen science event, CitSciCon. Five team members and three GLOBE Observer volunteer participants presented in five sessions (NASA Citizen Science@My School; CitSci Lifelong Learning; NASA Citizen Science Near You; What comes after participation in a NASA citizen science project; Leading Discovery, Volunteers in their own Voices). GLOBE Observer was also a component of a partner presentation on the Fresh Eyes on River Ice project, which uses the GLOBE Observer app to monitor river ice, and Greatest Hits of NASA CitSci Discoveries. The GLOBE Observer team supported the event planning and promoted the event heavily through the GLOBE Program’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and the GLOBE Observer website. 5,000 people registered for the event, and 2,200 unique IP addresses tuned in. The event is archived on the SciStarter YouTube channel where it can continue to be viewed.
“Being part of GLOBE Trees exposed me to the environment and how important the environment is to me and to future generations. It led me to look at the trajectory of my future in terms of what I want to study in college and my career path. One of the major decisions I made was to consider a minor in environmental studies during this fall. Doing the GLOBE Trees program, every time I took a picture of a tree, I would question myself, what is the name of the tree? As you enter the data, you have to write about the environment. What are the conditions? Is is dry? Is it rainy? All of those factors contributed to me being more exposed to my environment. This fall, I’ll be joining Colgate University. I’m going to be a minor in environmental studies because of my exposure through the GLOBE Trees program.”
-Macdonald Chirara, high school student, South Africa, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdUB_TwPxIQ
*NESEC is the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative SciAct award.
