2013 SMAP-GPM Middle School Teachers Workshop
The SMAP and GPM Mission Education teams held a groundbreaking multi-mission teacher workshop on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This workshop, the SMAP-GPM Joint Mission Teacher Workshop, was attended by 15 middle school teachers from the Goddard region. Teachers were from Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
This workshop was designed to showcase how NASA studies soil moisture and global precipitation from space. We connected how soil moisture and precipitation directly relates to the global water cycle and the teachers performed some engaging, hands-on activities and experiments that can be used in their classrooms.
Mission scientist speakers included Peggy O'Neill (SMAP Deputy Project Scientist), Karen Mohr (Research Meteorologist), and Dalia Kirschbaum (GPM Applications Scientist). Mission education specialists doing hands-on activities with the teachers included Brian Campbell (SMAP Education Lead), Dorian Janney (GPM Education Lead), and Izolda Trakhtenberg (Soil Specialist). This workshop was the idea of Brian Campbell designed by the SMAP and GPM Education Teams to focus on NASA's ongoing interest in multi-mission collaboration.
Download Resources from the Workshop
Activities (.pdf):
- Create Your Own Soil Profile
- Soil Moisture Description for the Layman
- Simple Soil Moisture Measurement
- GPM Rain Gauge Experiment
- Filtration - "Just Passing Through"
Documents (.pdf):
- SMAP / GPM Teacher Workshop 2013 Agenda
- SMAP / GPM Teacher Workshop 2013 Information Sheet
- Next Generation Science Standards - Middle School Physical Science
Presentations (.pptx):
- SMAP / GPM Teacher Workshop Intro
- Freshwater: A Precious Resource
- GPM Rain Gauge Lesson
- GPM Educational Resources
- What are SMAP and GPM, and How are they Connected to the Water Cycle?
- NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission
- SMAP / GPM Workshop Teacher Training
- SMAP / GPM Soils Workshop