Research Programs

Biogeosciences Education and Outreach Project
FY2006 activities

TIIMES Theme:
BGS

Roberta Johnson - E&O - TIIMES

Research Team: Roberta Johnson, Lisa Gardiner, and the Windows to the Universe Team

Windows To The Universe

The Windows to the Universe team is working in collaboration with the NCAR Integrated Biosphere-Atmosphere Research Program to develop education and outreach resources associated with the project.  Specific tasks include (see original proposal, attached):

• Online content and interactive experiences, bilingual and at three levels of instruction, suitable for elementary and secondary student audiences as well as educators and the general public.
• Resources for K-12 educators to effectively teach the relevance of biogeochemical cycles and modeling of the Earth system available in both English and Spanish.
• Dissemination of resources for educators at NSTA, and leveraged through our NCAR exhibit and professional development program.

Presently, Windows to the Universe is visited by ~14 million visitors per year (corresponding to ~124 million page views over the past 12 month), with ~25% of website traffic going to the Spanish version of the website.  About 55% of website traffic comes from US web domains, while ~75% of traffic on the Spanish version of the website comes from domains outside the United States.  About ~55,000 visitors visit the website overall on a daily basis, and ~20,000 visit the Spanish version of the website.

A snapshot of traffic on selected biogeoscience sections and pages of the website is informative.  The table below provides details on the traffic to specific sections or pages on the website on one day - Sept. 13, 2006.

To date, the following accomplishments have been completed or remain in progress in this effort:

Development of Online content and interactive experiences

• New web pages developed: Nitrogen Cycle, Cycles, Carbon Cycle Changes, Amount of Carbon in the Cycle, Wangarri Maathai people page, CO2 (and extensive supplementary content on atmospheric chemistry developed through the MILAGRO education and outreach effort) and coral reefs (in development)
• Revised web pages: Carbon Cycle, Water Cycle, Greenhouse Effect, Energy Pathways, Solar Cycle, Rock Cycle, Inheritance, Climate Controls, Evolution Exploratour (11 pages), Kyoto News, Hurricanes and Climate, Medieval Warm Period, Hurricane News, Photosynthesis, Autotroph, Respiration, Heterotroph
• Water cycle interactive (in development)
• Carbon cycle interactive (in development for dissemination at upcoming NSTA workshop this fall)

Resources for K-12 educators

• Nitrogen cycle activity
• Adaptation Investigation

Dissemination of resources to educators

• Dissemination at National Science Teachers Association (NSTA): Nitrogen in workshop/Sharethon, Adaptation in WALLS – 310 teachers in Anaheim, 190 teachers in Chicago
• Nitrogen cycle activity included in Climate Discovery Teacher Guide (cycles unit)
• PVP use of Nitrogen Cycle activity (in Mesa Lab classroom programs and the Broomfield Library outreach program)
• Resource page for Texas climate workshop - ~30 teachers
• Content highlighted through the Windows to the Universe Educator Newsletter: Cycles (11/05), Adaptation (12/05), Wangari Maathai (2/06), Biosphere (5/06), Water Cycle (6/06), Workshop Resources (8/06)
• Version of the nitrogen cycle game included in NCAR Kids’ Crossing in the Classroom guide for upper elementary and middle school educators

Unanticipated Developments

Over the past year, two developments helped to extend the reach of our work from that originally planned, due to unanticipated developments, including:

• Completion of development for the MILAGRO Education and Outreach portal in January-April 2006, during which we develop over 50 content pages as well as a “Postcards from the Field” interface which allows scientists to report on their research progress directly.  Included in this portal are a suite of content pages on atmospheric chemistry, which support work in many areas of the website, including biogeosciences.
• In September 2005 we began distributing a bilingual newsletter to teachers around the world highlighting new resources on the website and upcoming events.  Teachers have responded with great interest, and at this point we now have ~4500 teacher subscribers in 123 countries receiving the newsletter, increasing by ~100 teachers per week. 

FY07 Proposed Activities :

Development of Online Content and Interactives

• Interactive cycles: Finish revisions on Carbon cycle game following user-testing at Fall 2006 NSTA; complete development of water cycle interactive and potentially other cycles (nitrogen) in the same format
• Translate biogeoscience related Flash games into Spanish
• Content pages: Develop additional content pages that describe the carbon cycle, add more depth to modeling content, as well as to profile NCAR scientists and their research through the modern people section of the site

Resources for K-12 Educators

• Teachers guide to integrating online interactives (cycles) and content resources into learning of cycles and Earth system in the classroom
• Ecosystem connections activities (if abstract submitted to St. Louis NSTA in April 2007 is accepted)

Dissemination of Resources to Educators

(abstracts are either already submitted or planned for presentations at meetings)

• Baltimore NSTA (11/06 - accepted): Climate and Global Change: A Toolkit for Teaching About Our Ever-changing World Short Course, Climate Change: Classroom Tools to Explore the Past, Present, and Future workshop, Water, Air, Land, Life, and Space (WALLS) workshop
• St. Louis NSTA (4/07 - proposed): WALLS workshop, Climate Change: Classroom Tools to Explore the Past, Present and Future workshop, Playing with Ecosystem Science:  Informal Modeling Games to Explore the Delicate Balance in Watery Places workshop
• Submit climate/biogeoscience related workshop proposals for 2007 regional NSTA meeting in Denver (fall) and 2008 national NSTA.

Newsletter: ~ 6 articles/year relevant to biogeoscience resources