“Introducing the Global Climate Change Education” Project” with Mark Becker (Oct 2011)

Originally presented 22 Oct 2011

WITH GREAT SORROW, WE NOTE THE PASSING OF MARK BECKER IN A MULTI-VEHICLE TRAFFIC ACCIDENT
IN FEBRUARY 2014.

Introduction to this Workshop

The “Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change” report conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication revealed that while only 10% of American adults feel “well-informed” on the topic of climate change, 75% think that schools should incorporate climate change education into their curricula. And that is just what the NASA Global Climate Change Education project aims to do by providing K-12 educators with the necessary tools and resources to access NASA climate and related Earth systems data. Not only is it imperative that tomorrow’s adults understand why and how climate change is happening, but also how it will affect their lives and the lives of the rest of the world.
Come learn effective ways to teach about climate change and societal impacts. Test out the new Climate Change Human Health website.

Co-developers of this program are CIESIN (Center for International Sarth Science Information Network) at Columbia University and IAGT (The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology at Cayuga Community College, Inc.).

The central tool is “Change Viewer.” The Climate and Health ANalysis for Global Education Viewer (CHANGE Viewer) was built using NASA World Wind, an open source, 3-D geo-visualization tool. CHANGE Viewer allows the exploration of climate science, human and socio-economic datasets made available through the Data Library.
The Global Climate Change and Human Health project supported by NASA’s Global Climate Change in Education program is an opportunity for the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology (IAGT) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) to engage educators in using innovative technologies to explore climate change in the classroom.

This project developed from existing collaborations and missions of both organizations, while continuing to address the need to connect science, research and resources used by scientists to classrooms and educational environments for youth.

Cutting-Edge Research

Focus for this workshop is our new “Climate Change Human Health” program:
www.climatechangehumanhealth.org

This website is currently under development, but already has sections describing:
Resources
Professional Development
Change Viewer

Please check back frequently to see what has been added.

Classroom Resources

“Climate Change Human Health” is currently being tested by classroom teachers and scientists in a variety of locations. Here is a link to one article about this tool:

“Classrooms Explore Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health Using CHANGE Viewer”  (Directions Magazine, 18 Oct 2011)

Summary:

The Earth’s climate is getting warmer, and the signs are everywhere. Global rain patterns are shifting, sea levels are on the rise, and glacial snow melt is at record high levels. This article describes a tool built using NASA World Wind – CHANGE Viewer – that brings climate science and socio-economic spatial datasets into the classroom.

Available soon on the “Change Viewer” website will be classroom lessons in these focus areas:

IAGT and CIESIN plan to conduct training seminars for educators starting in the Summer of 2012. More information will be available in the coming months. Please check back soon for dates and locations. If you are interested in receiving information about the upcoming workshops, please fill out the form under Contact Us stating your interest.

Other Resources for This Topic

IAGT (Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, Inc.)

Who will be impacted by Climate Change? It is widely known that climate change will not impact our Earth at the same rate nor will it affect all humans to the same degree. Certain regions of our Earth that are densely populated by humans will see significant impact from a changing climate, other regions might see the same impact, but not have the same population density. The spatial distribution of humans is important when discussing climate science and global climate change. One question continues to be asked when we are exposed to climate predictions is: “Who will be impacted by these predicted climate changes?” The activities developed through this project explore this specific question by providing access to both climate and human data through CHANGE Viewer, a customized and enhanced NASA World Wind tool. Students and educators are able to investigate a variety of climate science and climate change datasets and the potential impacts on humans using several human health themes.

Focus Areas The activities will enable students to explore the effects of climate change predictions of their local environments and compare and contrast their findings with the effects predicted for other regional, national, and international environments. The Focus Areas investigating global climate change impacts on human health are:

These activities are designed by IAGT and CIESIN with help and feedback from high school science teachers. While the activities are designed to meet the education standards for High School Students, they can be adapted for use in all classrooms.

Use of Geospatial Technologies to understand Climate Change impacts This project takes advantage of geospatial visualization technologies as an enhanced learning mechanism to provide a more intuitive and deeper understanding of the climate science and the impacts on humans across the Earth. The use of geospatial technologies enables patterns to become visible that would otherwise not be seen though just the use of charts, graphs and text. Combining geospatial visualization technologies with climate science data and world population estimates, we can explore the question of “who will be impacted by these predicted climate changes?” By knowing what areas of the Earth will see and increase or decrease in precipitation, what areas will see an increase in the frequency of cyclones, or the expansion of suitable habitats for disease carrying insects, we can see just how many people will be exposed to these changes.

Lifelines Climate Change Education Presentations
Archived webinars from leaders in climate change education
https://sites.google.com/a/berkeley.edu/lifelines/presentations