NASA GLOBE Mission Earth Educators Develop Land Cover Research Curriculum Through Community of Practice
Fourteen educators from NASA's GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) Mission Earth program participated in a specialized Community of Practice during the 2025-2026 school year to improve how students interact with NASA satellite land cover data. The initiative focused on data collection, curriculum integration, student research design, and validation of satellite comparisons using MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel-2 data. Ten of the participating educators developed student research plans for 2026-2027 that will investigate questions about land cover's effects on temperature, land use changes, and flooding impacts.
NASA's GLOBE Mission Earth program convened 14 educators in a Community of Practice led by NASA Langley Research Center to refine educational approaches to land cover data and satellite observations. Six educators actively collected land cover observations with their students using the GLOBE Observer App, which automatically compares student observations with satellite data and provides detailed comparison emails. The collaboration addressed four key areas: improving data collection and submission processes, identifying curriculum connections, brainstorming student research topics, and validating satellite comparison methodologies. Ten educators developed research plans for the upcoming school year exploring questions such as how land cover affects surface temperature, how land use has changed locally over time, and how different land covers impact flooding. The program also produced the GLOBE Nature Notes Guide to help educators integrate observation protocols with classroom learning, with one educator developing an example that will be shared with the broader GLOBE community.
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- NASACenter
GLOBE Mission Earth Educators Participate in Land Cover Community of Practice
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