Grant received by Fairmont State funds high school NASA IV&V ERC GLOBE science projects

Fairmont State University received $4,980 in grant funding from the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, an international science and education program focused on teaching and learning Earth System Science.

The grant supports Going Global in WV with GLOBE, a project led by the Katherine Johnson NASA Independent Verification and Validation Education Resource Center (NASA IV&V ERC) in partnership with Fairmont State. The project's purpose is to initiate a GLOBE: Atmosphere Focus Group (AFG) to provide West Virginia science educators with training on GLOBE's Atmosphere protocols and access to loanable classroom kits to implement with their schools' science fairs.

NASA's IV&V ERC established the AFG and began training West Virginia STEM educators, who each submitted two student projects to both their local science fairs and the GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS). After these educators coached their students' GLOBE science projects, facilitated their schools' science fairs, and assisted students who advance to regional science fairs and IVSS, the AFG continued to meet about ways to engage with GLOBE in the future.

Two teams of GLOBE students and their GLOBE teachers shared their research during the 2024 GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium.

The "Clouds and Ground Temps" project conducted by Johnson Elementary in Bridgeport, W.VA earned the Problem Solver, Collaborator, and Impact Badges. In addition to their research using Infrared thermometers and the GLOBE Clouds Observer App, the school will expand its efforts in citizen science and atmospheric research by maintaining an automated weather station at sites in their county. Data on air temperature, precipitation, barometric pressure, and relative humidity will be available both statewide and globally by citizen scientists and students interested in accessing the information for science fair projects.

Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, W.VA investigated soils in West Virginia and analyzed them against soil data from Florida, Utah, and New Jersey. Their project is titled, "The Dirty Facts of Soil". In addition to presenting at GLOBE's international fair, the team advanced to the state level of the science fair. As a collaborating school, the team will also house an automated weather station for schools across the state to use their weather data for future science fair projects.

"We'd like to thank Jami Moss (Parkersburg) and Taya Cline (Bridgeport) for not only completing training at Fairmont State University but also partnering with the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center and the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium to continue to operate fixed, automated weather stations in their communities," said Josh Revels. "This enables additional teachers to be trained at Fairmont State University this summer and borrow a portable, automated weather station from NASA to compare their collected data with the atmospheric study sites in both central and western West Virginia. Not only will the GLOBE database contain this additional data from West Virgina, but all West Virginia students may access this data to use for science fair projects in future years."

To get involved with the WV AFG and to start utilizing the GLOBE Atmosphere kit, contact [email protected].