Alert Home :: Alert Mission Statement :: Alert Fact Sheet :: CSUDH K-12 Science Resources

GOALS and OBJECTIVES

The overarching goal is to promote awareness, appreciation and understanding of Planet Earth to millions of students and the general public in short, "Learning and Teaching about Earth" .

• The main pathway for achieving the ALERT goal is through partnering NASA centers with educational institutions responsible for teacher preparation.
• The regional consortiums in California for this joint venture of earth science education involves the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California State University (CSU) system.

Specific objectives of the ALERT project:

• Bringing NASA information and technology into teacher preparation classrooms;
• Bringing CSU expertise in science content and pedagogy into the design of NASA educational products and policies;
• Facilitating systemic and curriculum renovation through statewide educational system;
• Facilitating systemic and programmatic renovation through the infusion of CSU educational information into NASA processes;
• Producing a significant body of educational data products that employs cutting-edge technology;
• Linking with and supporting the NASA projects: ESSE (Earth System Science Education) and NOVA (NASA Opportunities for Visionary Academics);
• Replicating similar consortia nationwide

PRODUCTS, ACCOMPLISHMENT AND OUTCOMES

It is expected that this 3-year project will bring:

• Involvement of CSU faculty and NASA personnel in summer fellowship and release-time programs;
• Production of a significant body of educational data products that achieve prominence in three main areas: (1) cutting-edge technology for common, user-defined platforms, (2) utilization of NASA and other government earth system science (ESS) mission data, and, (3) application of pedagogical and content standards for teacher education in ESS;
• Development of methods for evaluating ESS educational products in classroom settings;
• Linkages built with California community colleges, K-12 systems, and statewide educational efforts that can be documented;
• Implementation of the transfer of NASA technology into classrooms;
• Promotion of a process by which communication and cooperation are sustained among the three cultures: NASA ((Earth Science and Education), CSU Colleges of Science and/or Liberal Arts and Sciences, and CSU colleges of Education;
• Creation and operation of an ALERT Digital Library of web pages documenting the process, progress, products, and personnel of the ALERT project;

ALERT project accomplishments since its inception

• "Release time" funding during the school year which allowed CSU faculty from 11 campuses to work on developing teaching modules for K-12 pre-service teachers that foster the development of science literacy, and use of multimedia techniques and advanced technology to develop course materials in Earth Science related subjects;
• Summer fellowships which provided opportunities for CSU faculty to work with NASA and ESS personnel in areas/topics of mutual interest.;
• Partnership between education and science faculty in developing teaching modules enumerated below;
• Team teaching involving science education and science faculty which allowed for cross-fertilization of content and pedagogy techniques to benefit prospective K-12 teachers ;
• Creation of an ALERT Digital Library of web pages documenting the process, progress, products and personnel of the ALERT Project. This Digital Library provides hyperlinks to a large variety of Earth Science educational resources.

a. Products (modules, teaching materials, etc.)

SJSU:
*An on-line module for weather and climate and a real-time weather forecast for the San Jose area.

CSUN:
*Educational material for the WORLDWIND CD-ROM.

CSULB:
*Two web-based modules: Land Slide Talk Story and Virtual Field Trip.

CSULA:
* An interactive web-based spectral data visualization utility for hyperspectral remote sensing applications.
* A California State University (CSU) ALERT module template.

CPP:
*A video on mineral properties for use with exercise.

SDSU:
*An educational web site titled "How Volcanoes Work".

CSUH:
*A web module on UV-light and its effect on terrestrial plants.

JPL:
*Educational and resource materials in the CD-ROM entitled "Geomorphology from Space."

b. *Outcomes such as changes to existing courses and new courses

CSUH:
* Laboratory of Geology 1003 " Earth Sciences Laboratory for Educators".
* A new seminar level course on planetary science.
* A new course proposal on global change.

CSULA:
*Developed and offered a new seminar level course — Advanced Remote Sensing Applications.

CSUN:
* Revised Earth Science 300 and Physical Science 196.
* Developed a new course — GEOL 595-Y Teacher Enhancement.
* Enhanced the existing course GEOL 464 with seismology and GPS.

CSULB:
* Observed an introductory geology class to improve the cross-fertilization of content and pedagogy techniques.
* A report on standards and misconceptions.

CSUDH:
* Developed a ten-seat computer lab in Earth Science department.
* Blended Earth Science/Teacher Education classes.

HISTORY

During the summer of 1994, CSU Professors Elizabeth Ambos, Eric Frost and Milan Mijic spent some time at JPL, teaming with Michael Martin and Edward Ng, to explore education outreach approaches. Some seminal ideas were developed for a program to promote earth sciences in teacher training and general education that were to focus on technology applications and curriculum reform. This program was to involve partnering of educational institutions and NASA, i.e. the California State University system (22 campuses), NASA-headquarters (Earth Sciences and Education) and NASA centers (ARC & JPL);

In the ensuing years, a series of discussions were held among interested institutions. These entailed working meetings, and visits to different CSU campuses, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, ARC and JPL. An informal partnership was developed and nurtured through interactions among managers at JPL and faculty members of CSULB, SDSU and representatives of the ESSE program.

Spring, 1997:
A workshop was held at CSULB that brought together educators from the CSU system and representatives from NASA headquarters, JPL, CSU and the ESSE program. A strategy was developed for improving teacher preparation in geosciences and space sciences. Data from space missions, observation of the Earth, and active science program will provide the data to augment the classroom learning environment.

Fall, 1997:
A California regional consortium was formed with faculty of ten (10) CSU campuses and staff at ARC and JPL.

Spring, 1998: Project ALERT was launched
Sponsorship from NASA was acquired to launch Project ALERT as an exploratory program. At the same time, the 10 CSU campuses in the consortium made a commitment to provide matching resources for the project.

April, 1998:
A kick-off workshop was held in JPL to start this 3-year pilot project. It provided an opportunity for the Consortium members to interact, exchange ideas and find out more about each other. Participants of the workshop included professors from the 10 CSU campus, staff from ARC and JPL, and representatives of the national partners ESSE and NOVA projects.