Education/Telecon 2015-09-25

From Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)

Folks who dialed in: Rebecca Fowler, Preston Lewis, LuAnn Dahlman, Becky Reid, Erin Robinson, Pat Reiff
Folks who wrote to say they couldn't make it: Shelley Olds, Margaret Mooney, Bob Downs

We discussed the outline describing a potential series of drone-themed professional development activities that Rebecca Fowler contributed following our conversation last month. She also shared a successful proposal to a private foundation that resulted in funding for a four-day teacher workshop.

We'd like to have an engaging theme for educators that could also tap in to the expertise of data scientists within ESIP. Can we draw on the experience of ESIP members who presented on drones at Asilomar? Rebecca Fowler will contact Jane Weingard (sp?) and Bar (Lindsey Barbieri) and invite them to share a presentation at our next meeting on Oct. 23.

Drones are an attractive topic, but realistically, we'd likely have do something much cheaper. We also want to steer clear of having to deal with FAA regulations. Starting with tethered balloons that have been outfitted to carry cameras seems like a realistic scope. Suggested explorations or activities could be produced for people to use whichever platform they have available. The topic ties in well with the satellite-based projects education folks want to promote. Everyone on the call was in general agreement that providing teachers with the opportunity to build a data collection platform and develop questions that could be answered from the data they collect could help the teachers (and their students) understand the value of organizing and archiving data.

Is it possible that we could plan through the fall, hold a few Webinars in the spring, and convene a group of teachers for a workshop built around this content by the summer (2016) meeting? Realistically, it might be smarter to plan through the fall and spring, test and refine our ideas at the next summer workshop, and THEN offer a program...

We decided to start a group document to gather ideas that could become an outline of professional development concepts and activities. LuAnn volunteered to do some hands-on testing. She will report back as soon as she can, perhaps providing a kit of sorts to Becky Reid for some testing with students.

Action Item Summary: Rebecca Fowler will start a document for outlining a potential series of PD events LuAnn will attempt to build and use a tethered balloon with a camera harness. Rebecca Fowler will invite Jane and Bar to make a presentation at our next meeting.