Hello Girl Scouts and troop leaders!
We at GLOBE are very excited that you have chosen to use the GLOBE Observer app to work on your Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey.
This video can be used as a plug and play (with pauses for activities, so pay attention and pause the video while you work).
Alternatively, troop leaders, service unit or council volunteers, can use this video as an example of how you might run your own program.
However you choose to use this video, enjoy your Journey as you learn to Think Like a Citizen Scientist.
Welcome to the first step in being a critical part of a growing citizen science project.
Today you will learn about what it means to Think Like a Citizen Scientist,
learn about the Clouds Tool on the GLOBE Observer app
and practice identifying different types of clouds.
But first let me tell you about GLOBE and GLOBE Observer.
GLOBE is an international science and education program
that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process
and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment.
GLOBE Observer app is the data entry tool that allows citizen scientists
to enter their data and share observations.
GLOBE Observer is part of GLOBE.
Okay, speaking of the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey,
learning about what it means to observe is the first step in thinking like a citizen scientist.
Let’s get started by practicing our observation skills.
When we observe, we use our senses (taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight).
Since we can’t really taste, smell, hear, or touch these pictures,
we are going to use our sense of sight.
If you decide to do this experiment on your own, you can use some of your other senses.
Today we are going to practice your observation skills.
I'm going to show you a science demo (Cloud in a Bottle)
and I’m going to ask you to observe what happens.
You can write down any observations you made in your science journal or on a piece of scratch paper.
Observations are anything that you notice with your senses,
so today, you probably won’t notice any tastes, touches, or smells,
but I bet you will see something change.
Leaders, once your Girl Scouts have finished watching the demonstration
and noting their observations,
ask them to share their observations and discuss.
Hi! And so now we are going to do Cloud in a Bottle!
A science demonstration. And we are going to make a cloud form inside a bottle.
To do this experiment you are going to need a few things.
First you need a two-liter bottle (just an empty one).
And I used a little thermometer that I attached to it, that would be like a fishtank thermometer, as you can see here.
And so right now, we can see
that the temperature inside this bottle
looks like its about, or between 64 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit or between 18 and 20 degrees Celcius.
The next thing I need is a pump.
So this is a special kind of pump ah... that you can ah, buy online.
Othwerwise, if you just have like a bicycle pump with a cork
That you put in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds
until is gets a little bigger, so that it actually fills
the inside of your bottle
and then take like a pin that you would use to fill up a basketball
and then use that to poke through the cork
and then put the cork inside the bottle so you have a nice seal
and you still have a way for the air to get in.
And so what we're going to do is pump air in side my bottle
The last ingredient you need for this is some rubbing alcohol.
And so, I have a little rubbing alcohol here.
And what I'm going to do is, I'm going to add a little bit inside the bottle
and then I just swish it around a little bit.
so that it coats the inside of my bottle.
And as you can see, we're still measuring somewhere between 64 and 68 degrees Fahrenheith, or 18 and 20 degrees Celcius.
and then I'm going to put my cap back on with my pump, my little hand-held pump here.
And I am going to start adding air
into my bottle and we are going to observe
You can see that I can really squish it right now.
Let's see what happens when I add some more air.
Okay, here we go. I'm going to add more and more air.
( pumping noises)
I feel like I should be counting.
Maybe you can count with me.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Skip a few...
50
and now look at how much I can squish it. It's not very much at all.
I might actually give it just a few more pumps.
And I want to show you
what the thermometer is now reading.
Well let's see.
It looks like we are getting almost closer to the 71 mark.
So it's really bright on the 68. So it looks like the temperature has
gone up.
Hmm... interesting.
Okay
I'm just going to, for fun, shine a light through my bottle.
Do you see anything through there?
Ah, probably see a little reflection.
Be careful not to get a laser in your eye.
They are very dangerous, if that happens.
So an adult can do this.
But as you can see,
it doesn't look like
We can see the light as it goes through.
And it's definitely registering warmer now. Now that I've pumped
all that air into it.
Okay, now we are going to release all of that air.
We are going to decrease the pressure inside this bottle really quickly,
and we're going to see what happens.You ready?
Since we're NASA, we're going to count down.
So 3, 2, 1
(sound of air escaping)
And there you have it. That's a cloud in a bottle!
Look at the temperature.
Has it gotten...colder again?
Hmm...interesting.
So, I hope you made some great observations.
I'm going to shine the light through.
I'm not sure you can see that. Oh! There you go.
If you look at the top there is no clouds, but down here, there is cloud.
Interesting.
And I hope you marked down a lot of your observations in your journal or in your notebook.
And then,
discuss those with your troop.
And when you're done, resume the video.
Welcome back! I bet you made some really great observations.
But what does this have to do with Thinking Like a Citizen Scientist?
Let me ask you, what do scientists do?
Pause the video and discuss what a scientist does.
I bet you had a great discussion on what it means to be a scientist.
There are lots of different types of scientists out there,
but one thing they all have in common in their research is that scientists
rely on the scientific method to learn new things.
You are going to be citizen scientists,
where you use the scientific method to help gather data for NASA scientists
and other researchers including students or scouts like you.
The first part of the scientific method is to observe.
You all did a great job of observing the cloud appear in a bottle.
The next part of the scientific method is to create a question and make a hypothesis.
That's your best guess at the answer to your question based on your observations
Pause the video and discuss.
You can come up with your own question
or you can use the one that I’ll provide on the next slide.
The question for the cloud in a bottle could have been:
What happens when pressure decreases abruptly inside a closed container with water vapor?
The hypothesis is your answer to that question.
My hypothesis was that when pressure decreases, the temperature decreases, and a cloud will form.
And I was right.
We could see from the thermometer that the temperature actually went down.
While the pressure inside the bottle went down as well.
And when that happened the cloud formed.
But, how do scientists know if their hypothesis is correct?
They have to collect and analyze data.
The more data they have the better their results will be
because it helps filter out some of the outliers
(the mistakes, errors, or just oddball data).
Kind of like if I was measuring Favorite girl scout cookies.
The more people I sell cookies to, the better my data.
For example, here is a pie chart showing real data from my troop sales.
This Girl Scout made a single sale to one family
(who love Samoas and don't like Thin Mints).
But are Samoas the most popular cookie sold by Girl Scouts nationwide?
With this data my hypothesis should be yes!
But is it?
How could I get a better data set?
I could collect more data.
The pie chart on the right is the data for my entire troop’s sales.
This is a much better data set because it has 1,559 packages of cookies sold
1,554 more boxes than my single sale.
With this much data,
I could look at which ones I sold the most of
and be able to make a better conclusion to my hypothesis
than if I’d only sold 1 or 2 boxes or to only one family.
The more data that is collected, the better.
So are Samoas the most popular according to this data?
No!
Thin Mints are.
Your troop can do this same exercise with your troop sales!
If you added your data to this data, we’d have an even better data set!
NASA scientists rely on a lot of data.
And this is where you can come in.
You can be Citizen Scientists.
All these pictures and circles on this map are data points
where citizen scientists have taken observations of clouds around the world.
You can also take these observations and add to this robust data set.
Let's watch this video and learn about how GLOBE Observer contributes.
(background music)
Before we dive into collecting observations as citizen scientists,
let’s watch this video where Jessica Taylor, cloud scientist and education specialist at NASA,
explains a little more about the science behind and the different types of clouds that are in our sky.
You’ll be using this information to classify clouds in the next activity, so pay close attention.
(background music)
GLOBE is a community of scientists, teachers, students,
and citizens from more than 100 countries around the world.
Their efforts in collecting information or data are helping
us to better understand our environment.
And now we need your help in collecting data so we can better
understand the different types of clouds and the effects they
have on our Earth's climate.
At any time, over 70% of the Earth is covered by clouds.
And these clouds play a really important role in helping to
control the Earth's temperature.
For example, have you ever been outside on a hot and sunny day
when a cloud rolls overhead and provides you with some
much-needed shade?
Did you notice that the temperature suddenly
felt cooler?
That's because these clouds are blocking some of the Sun's heat
from reaching the Earth's surface by reflecting that
energy back into space.
Clouds like these, that help cool the Earth's temperature,
are lower to the ground and thicker like a big puffy cumulus
cloud or thick flat stratus clouds.
On the other hand, there are clouds that actually help warm
the Earth.
These clouds are high in the atmosphere, made up of ice
crystals, and are usually very thin.
Cirrus clouds are a type of high cloud and they let most of the
Sun's energy pass right through them reaching the Earth's
surface.
These clouds also help to absorb some of the Earth's
energy, preventing it from escaping into space,
so they acting like insulation.
Even small changes in clouds, such as overall cloud cover,
cloud type or the location where clouds form can impact
Earth's climate.
For scientists to understand these effects, we need accurate
data on clouds.
NASA has a number of satellites orbiting the Earth and
collecting data about clouds and the Earth's energy.
While these satellites give us a big picture of what's going on,
they sometimes have trouble with the details.
Plus we need data from your vantage point- right here on
Earth.
Satellites only see the top of the clouds while you see the
bottom.
By putting these two vantage points together we get a much
more complete picture of clouds in the atmosphere.
I'm really excited for you to start collecting data through
the GLOBE program.
You know, before I started working for NASA,
I was a GLOBE student.
Okay, so now Girl Scouts and troop leaders, you have a choice to make.
You can keep watching this video and try the cloud classification challenge
or you can join Marilé Colón-Robles and her girls and do the cloud dance and a few other fun activities.
Just watch the video and dance along or use the video to lead your own cloud dance and activities.
Hello, my name is Marilé Colón Robles and I'm the project scientist for NASA GLOBE Clouds
based at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
It's a rainy day and I'm here with my girls and we thought why not share with you some of our favorite cloud activities
to help you learn about cloud types.
One of our favorite things is what we call the cloud dance.
You girls ready to show the cloud dance?
Before we begin, there's three main cloud types.
There's many different types of clouds. But there's three main cloud types.
Cumulus, stratus and cirrus. And we kind of drew a little bit of them.
So cumulus are puffy. Kids sometimes say fluffy or cotton candy.
Stratus are flat. Some kids say it looks like a mustache.
And then cirrus - wavy, stretchy. We adults might say wispy, but kids don't really understand wispy.
So they might say some words like that.
Let's do the cloud dance. Are you guys ready, ladies ready?
Okay, so let's see, cumulus. Now cumulus means pile, so let's pile, let's make a cumulus cloud.
But the more we do it, the bigger it gets, the bigger it gets. STOP.
Okay, good, because if you keep doing it, it'll be a thunderstorm, and you don't want it to rain inside right?
Okay, now let's do stratus. Show me stratus.
That's right, it's flat and it goes everywhere. So make sure to stretch in every direction.
Now Madison, do you want to do your mustache. Like this. Oh, I like that.
Okay, now let's do cirrus. Let's do wispy and nice and fluffy.
And you can also do the dab.
Let's do the dab because it kind of looks like the dab. Very good.
Okay, now we're going to share with you some of the neat activities.
Madison, can you sit down, Elizabeth can you come up.
We looked, do you want to hold this up?
We looked for some materials around the house, and we did this.
So I wrote the words. Cirrus clouds again are high clouds, stratus and cumulus are low clouds.
But if you notice they are flat and puffy.
So Elizabeth, what material did you use for here, for the stratus cloud?
I think this is tissue, right? Tissue paper. And what did we use for a cumulus?
Yeah, cotton balls. And how about for cirrus?
A string. Very good. And she wrote her name. Here you go, can you sit down. Thank you for sharing.
Madison, do you want to come?
Now Madison, come here next to momma. What grade are you in?
Second grade.
She's in second grade. So we did a journal, right?
We found this strong material and made a hole and then we laced a rubber band.
So what's in the front?
On the cover, it says, "Cloud Notebook by Madison."
We did this per day. And if you want to make this at home, it's quite simple.
First you're going to write the date and then write the date of which the day is, down on the line.
Then you're going to write the time now.
Then you're going to write cloud types, a line, a line across that and the weather.
An example for the weather. The weather is basically like, so, for us the weather was very rainy and cold.
So for the weather we write rainy and cold, and usually during rainy and cold,
it's usually nimbostratus, which is here on the board.
You write in the line, you write sentence and you write a sentence.
For us, for me today, I wrote: "Today it is rainy and cold, and today it is raining."
Very good. So let's look at it again. This is how we chose to do our journal.
And you can do that per day.
That's right. So we're going to write the date, the time, the cloud type, the weather,
and then because Madison is practicing her sentences, we're going to write a sentence about what we observed.
Very good. Thank you. Can you sit down?
Awesome. So this week, the Clouds team just put out a family guide, which will help you
do some activities with your kiddos or with the rest of the family, no matter the age.
Now there's other things that you can do.
There is a book about clouds through the GLOBE Program called, "Do You Know That Clouds Have Names?"
It's one of our favorite books.
You can download it in different languages. So if you speak different languages like me,
yo hablo español y también hablo inglés,
you can read it in different languages.
Of course, you can use the GLOBE Observer app if you feel so inclined to make observations.
Within the app, within the GLOBE Observer app, you can find some cloud charts that can help you along,
And figure out what cloud type are you looking at.
So we're hoping that this will help you out, do some fun activities at home, especially if it's a rainy day like it is for us.
So, Madison, do you want to come here?
From our NASA family to you, we want to say bye and have fun (making) cloud observations.
Bye!
Now it’s your turn to analyze some data collected by GLOBE Observers.
We are going to use the Cloud Identification Chart and the Cloud Window Viewer
to identify and classify different types of clouds.
You can keep watching the video and go through the Cloud Classification Presentation
or you can do this activity as a troop,
logging the different types of clouds that you see.
Troops can keep a weekly log
or log conditions on days when you have troop meetings throughout the year.
Your trrop leader should be able to download and print the Cloud Classification Presentation and the Cloud Window Viewer.
Both links are in the script on slide 17 (and listed on the instructions on the next slide).
So here is the instructions.
Each slide will show you a different picture in the “window” of the Cloud Window Viewer.
Use the viewer to identify which type of cloud is in the window.
You can write down your answers on a piece of paper.
After all 8 photos, continue watching the video to see how many you got right?
Okay, and now, here are your answers.
This is a cirrocumulous cloud high in the sky.
This is a cirrus cloud. Also, high and wispy in the sky.
Here is a cumulonimbus cloud, or a storm cloud.
Here we have a cumulus or altocumulus. It's hard to tell because I don't know how high they are.
Here are cumulus clouds.
This is a nimbostratus, or rain cloud.
Here we have stratus clouds, covering the sky.
And here we have a trick question.
There is no clouds! It's clear skies!
Congratulations and thanks for playing the Clouds Classification Challenge.
Now that you are familiar with how to classify clouds,
let’s learn how to use the GLOBE Observer Clouds Tool.
If you want to get started as a GLOBE Observer,
ask your troop leader to register your troop through SciStarter,
then send you the link to set up your accounts.
Once you have a troop scistarter account, you will choose which citizen science opportunity interests you. There are a lot of different citizen science projects (including others with NASA) and others with GLOBE Observer, including: Trees, LandCover, and Mosquito Habitat Mapper, in addition to clouds.
you will choose which citizen science opportunity interests you.
There are a lot of different citizen science projects (including others with NASA) and others with GLOBE Observer,
You could try: Trees, LandCover, or Mosquito Habitat Mapper, in addition to clouds.
Then you need to download the app.
Register as a GLOBE observer and start collecting your data.
The nice part about clouds is that they change and can be observed almost anywhere
(except inside, of course, if there aren't any windows).
So now you’ve learned to Think Like a Citizen Scientist, by observing and collecting and analyzing data,
the next step is to collect and analyze your own data by using the app.
Then, consider how you might use your data to take action.
What kind of take-action projects can you think of doing?
Here are some options.
You know visibility can tell us a lot about how clean our air is.
You could educate some other Girl Scouts or people in your community about air quality and teach them what is in our air.
You could also track frequent storms to help neighbors to know what kind of weather to expect and be able to prepare.
You can also create a storm kit to help when severe storms hit or work to create these kits and distribute them to people within your community.
Or create a team of other Girl Scouts and contribute to citizen science.
If you have any questions for me about NASA, GLOBE Observer, or the Clouds tool
please feel free to contact us or follow us on social media.
We love seeing your take action projects, so please don’t forget to share!
What I love about Girl Scouts is that you all leave the world a better place.
I for one am really excited that you are leading the future for us.
Thank you Girl Scouts for joining me today and learning to Think Like a Citizen Scientist with
The GLOBE Program and GLOBE Observer.