Join the fun and enthusiasm of scientists in school projects!

A quick look at on-going activities, December 2006Philippe Saugier, CarboSchools coordinator

Overview

• Local projects in Bergen, Jena, Poznan, Firenze, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Viterbo, Heidelberg (see posters from Bergen & Heidelberg!)

• Regional projects in Germany, Holland and France :– Groningen CO2 SchoolNet– LSCE Gif/Yvette Pedagogical project– NaT Working in Kiel (IFM Geomar)

• International projects:– CarboNordic : pilot cooperation scheme between projects around

the baltic sea (exchange of students) – coordinator J. Dengg– Comenius project / teacher training – coordinator M. Schallies

The carbon cycle and climate change,

project of the LSCE (IPSL, CEA-CNRS, France)

with secondary schools in Ile-de-France

Coordinator : Marc Jamous marc.jamous@cea.fr

Aims:

• to promote investigation rather than lectures

• to present the research world to students

• to have student’s projects in March 2007

11 secondary schools - pupils aged 12-18 / results on a Website (opening: December 2006)

Three topics:

• dendrochronology,

• study of carbon sources and sinks,

• study of carbon exchanges between atmosphere and ocean.

Questions

• Can we get climate information from trees?

• Are all rings of a tree similar?

Experimentation

• How to measure rings?

• Working in groups -> measure precision and experimental error

• Edit the profile “ring width versus years”

dendrochronology

Modeling

• From experimental results and with meteorological data, construction of a model “ring width and meteorological events”

Model validation

• Profiles for past centuries (Xth or XVIIIth century) will be analyzed and compared with historical texts.

Questions

• Where does atmospheric CO2 come from?

• How is atmospheric CO2 regulated?

• Is atmospheric CO2 concentration similar throughout the day, the year?

Experimentation

• CO2 concentration measured in several places

• Construction of little greenhouses with CO2 sensors

Aims

• Understanding the carbon cycle (daily and seasonal)

study of carbon sources and sinks

study of carbon exchanges between atmosphere and ocean

Questions

• Does any exchange occur between atmospheric and ocean CO2?

• Are they similar all over the Earth?

• What changes in the ocean produce atmospheric CO2 rises?

Experimentation CO2

Sea water

clam

CarboSchools teacher training project (Comenius)

• New contract under Comenius / Socrates programme (EU programme for education) – a result of the CarboSchools launching workshop in Die (France) march 2005

• Budget 350 k€ with 260 k€ from EU

• Coordinator University of Education Heidelberg (Schallies), partners CIO Groningen (Meijer), CNR-Ibimet Firenze (Raschi), SLU Uppsala (Stromgren) / CarboSchools (Saugier)

• Duration 3 years, oct.06 – sept. 09

Rationale & goal• Presently, traditional science teaching is ineffective to prepare

students adequately for life´s complexity in a science and technology based society. Factual knowledge is not sufficient.

• Traditional teacher preparation programs have not been very effective to prepare teaching staff for the corresponding change in teaching methodology.

• The overall aim of the project is to identify the needs of science teachers to prepare them for teaching authentic science and for going from teaching activities to learning activities of students.

• Focus on experimenting & supporting Teacher-Scientist Partnerships (as defined in Die) as a tool for teachers’ professional development

Results expected

• A fully tested version of the « Teacher – Scientist partnership guide »

• Teaching materials (i.e. experimental procedures, worksheets for students, background literature etc.)

• Modules for pre- & in-service teacher training• Ultimately: contributing to a better training of school

science teachers, clearly one of the keys to raising attractiveness of scientific studies & careers

• My task: connecting with the broader CarboSchools (contributing & exploiting the results) / starting with a kick-off meeting in Heidelberg 12-13 January

Collaboration with science museums : IGLO

• ASTC, Association of science & technology centers launches the « IGLO » project in the frame of IPY – the goal is to mobilise science centers on the topic of climate

• ASTC invited CarboEurope/Ocean & CarboSchools at its annual meeting & IGLO workshop last October

• ECSITE, the European counterpart of ASTC would like CarboSchools to be part of IGLO-Europe

• The great thing for us is that science museums can be very powerful in reaching broad audiences and in facilitating the connection with schools

ACCENT, EGU & integration of European efforts

• ACCENT Training and Education develops didactic materials + training of young scientists

• Since EGU 2006, ACCENT tries to build up a forum for European leaders in science education and outreach towards an action plan for joint future actions

• No concrete plans yet, but a new educational session at EGU 2007: « Integrating Activities in Environmental Science Education - Approaches and Perspectives » – call for abstracts open, please contribute! (convener Evi Schuepbach, U. of Berne)

And… what about Global Warming in Gran Canaria?

The proof of global warming…