Sharing the Climate Change Story with Young Learners Through Elementary GLOBE

This webinar showcases an elementary school level GLOBE storybook and set of classroom activities focused on the science of climate change. The book, What in the World is Happening to Our Climate?, builds K-4 student understanding of climate science through storytelling, where the kids in the story employ science and engineering practices as they explore our world. Three accompanying classroom activities aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core help students learn more about the difference between weather and climate, the impacts of sea level rise on coasts, and solutions to slow climate change. All resources were reviewed by climate scientists, field-tested in elementary classrooms and are available FOR FREE online

Lisa Gardiner is an educational designer at the UCAR Center for Science Education where she develops educational resources for K-12 students, teachers, and the public such as websites, exhibit content, classroom activities, books, and teacher professional development programs to help foster understanding of weather, climate and Earth system science. She has have also authored science curriculum for projects funded by grants from NSF, NOAA, and NASA. Lisa is especially fond of interdisciplinary curriculum that knits science with art, social studies, geography, and language arts.

Lisa tells stories through children’s storybook illustrations and illustrated all seven books in the Elementary GLOBE series. She is also the author and illustrator of two Colorado-focused children’s books: What's Up with Altitude?, and Catastrophic Colorado. Lisa also develops scientific illustrations and infographics to help communicate science through exhibits and websites.

She earned her PhD in geology (with a focus on paleoecology) from the University of Georgia while researching how clams and snails in Caribbean reefs formed communities amidst wild changes in sea level about 120,000 years ago. She also studies how corals are preserved in the fossil record by examining processes in living reefs. More recently, she earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Goucher College to hone her abilities to tell the stories of science.

Lisa in the main contributor to the blog of the UCAR Center for Science Education, was a contributing editor for SciStarter from 2011-2013, and has been an occasional contributor to the Science Friday and ScientificAmerican blogs.

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Dr. Diane Stanitski is the Deputy Director of Planning and Administration in NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division. As a Physical Scientist, Diane has helped build and sustain global ocean and atmosphere observing systems for climate. Prior to working for NOAA, Diane was an Associate Professor at Shippensburg University, PA, taught at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and the U.S. Naval Academy. She has authored/co-authored five children’s science books; taught student field courses in Australia, Vietnam, and the Grand Canyon; and coordinated the NOAA Adopt a Drifter Program. She served as the Executive Director of the PA Geographical Society, Director of the Climate Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers, and now serves as co-chair of the American Meteorological Society’s Symposium on Education.

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Becca Hatheway is the Manager of Teaching and Learning at the UCAR Center for Science Education in Boulder, CO. She is the project manager for Elementary GLOBE and has co-authored the seven storybooks, developed many of the classroom activities in the series, and managed classroom field-testing of these materials. Becca develops content about weather, climate, and Earth system science for K-12 students, teachers, and the general public. Resources she has worked on include educational curriculum, web content, and museum exhibits. In June 2016 she completed a new exhibition about climate change which is on permanent display at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. Becca also develops training materials for teachers and facilitates teacher professional development programs.

Becca has been a science educator for nineteen years. She also taught elementary school for two years. She has a BA in Religion and Environmental Studies from Colgate University, and a M.Ed. in Science Education from Western Washington University.

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Jessica Taylor is Physical Scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center. She serves as Lead trainer for the GLOBE Atmosphere Training Center of Excellence and is the Education and Public Outreach lead for the CALIPSO mission. Jessica serves as Langley’s representative for two Agency initiatives: NASA’s Early Career Scientist & Engineer Working Group and NASA’s Women in STEM Working Group.

Jessica has over seven years of experience in meteorology and in bridging the gap between scientific studies in atmospheric science and educational outreach in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She has worked in various formal and informal science education programs including: GLOBE, a hands-on Earth science program; EXPLORES!, a satellite education program; REALM, a science outreach program for middle school girls; the Challenger Learning Center; and most recently as a curriculum developer and professional development lead for the College of William and Mary’s STEM Education Alliance. She has also taught Introduction to Meteorology and Teaching Earth and Space Science at Florida State University. Jessica also has experience with federal and state educational policy as Program Director for the Florida Department of Education, working with Title I programs, after school services, and parental involvement. She has a BS in Meteorology, BA in Finance, and Masters in Science Education from Florida State University.