Although the Vice Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education thinks that science is all about jumping to conclusions -
"Evolution is not fact. Evolution is a theory and, as such, cannot be proven," he said. "Students need to be able to jump to their own conclusions." - Texas State Board of Education Vice Chairman David Bradley, R-Beaumont.
- the fact remains that science teachers delight in helping students develop their reasoning skills. Before students can do that, though, they have to learn how to read and interpret data.
MY NASA DATA can help this process. This site contains a wealth of easily-accessible earth science and atmospheric data gathered from various satellite missions. Teachers and students alike can choose to display data from:
- the atmosphere (Aerosols, Air Quality, Atmospheric Pressure, Atmospheric Radiation, Atmospheric Temperature, Atmospheric Water Vapor, Clouds, Precipitation)
- the biosphere (Monthly Leaf Area Index (MISR), Monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (MISR));
- the cryosphere (Monthly Snow/Ice Amount (ISCCP));
- the land surface (Surface, Surface Conditions, Surface Cover, Surface Radiation), and
- the oceans (5-day Sea Level Height (TOPEX/POSEIDON), Daily Sea Surface Temperature (MCSST), Monthly Ocean Wind Speed Vectors (NOAA NOMADS), Monthly Wind Speed - Climatology 1995 to 2005 (NOAA NCDC), Weekly Sea Surface Temperature (MCSST)).
Even young students - Kindergarten-4th grade - can use these real-world research results to learn how to read and interpret data. Here's a draft of an activity designed to help this age group learn that conclusions aren't "jumped to," they're derived from careful analysis. Please feel free to critique away in the comments!
posted by Cheryl Shepherd-Adams
