AREN Project and GME Team Up in TerraROVER Training in Five Locations

Andy Henry and Geoff Bland from the AEROKATS & ROVER Education Network (AREN) Project offered TerraROVER training to GLOBE Mission Earth (GME) teachers in five locations July 21-23. Andy Henry trained Toledo area teachers face-to-face at the University of Toledo and remotely to teachers in Defiance, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Marquette, Michigan and Fredonia, New York. GME used the hybrid model developed for NOAA’s B-WET professional development last year. Each location received a TerraROVER for teachers to use in their training. Teachers drove the TerraROVERS over various surfaces outside. The TerraROVER were equipped with an Urban Heat Island Package (UHIP) to collect GPS position, relative humidity, and air and surface temperature data which are recorded on-board every 3 seconds. Andy Henry showed how the data can be downloaded and imported into various platforms like CODAP to visualize the data. In the practice session, teachers were encouraged to submit videos and photos to a shared Google photo album. All trainings were recorded and uploaded to GME’s YouTube Channel.

The TerraROVER systems used in the professional development were assembled by James Moon-Dupree (Wayne RESA) with assistance from Kay Rufty and Ted Miles (Black Swift Technologies). The 15 teachers participating in the summer training look forward to having a TerraROVER for their classrooms. More teachers are signing up for the fall training. This professional development of the merging of these two projects continues in a Google classroom for the next school year.

This collaborative effort of five GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) partners includes the following: Dr. Kevin Czajkowski from the University of Toledo in Toledo, OH, Dr. Amanda Gilbert, Defiance College in Defiance, OH, Dr. Mitchell Klett from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI, David Bydlowski from Wayne RESA (part of the AREN project) in Detroit, MI, and Dr. Michael Jabot from State University of New York at Fredonia, New York (part of the AREN project).