Students & Scientists Unite to Study Mother Earth

SATELLITES stands for Students and Teachers Exploring Local Landscapes (to) Investigate the Earth (from) Space. In this article, the program, activities, and ways to get involved are explain... See More

SATELLITES stands for Students and Teachers Exploring Local Landscapes (to) Investigate the Earth (from) Space. In this article, the program, activities, and ways to get involved are explained as students collaborate with scientists to study surface temperatures of Earth ground materials. Interested teachers are required to attend a free, 5-day teacher institute that describes how various remote sensing devises and global positioning systems (GPS) are used to collect data. The article mentions the IPY (International Polar Year) as an underlying theme. It seems that there have only been 4 IPYs in 150 years. During these international partnerships, efforts to research the Earth’s polar regions are done collaboratively with scientists around the world. A history of the IPY is included in the article. Culminating student research projects are presented at an annual SATELLITES science conference. Contact information is included for teachers interested in integrating the technologies mentioned into their classroom science lessons.