Presenter: Peg Steffen, Education Coordinator, NOS Communications and Education Division, NOAA
Sea level rise, coastal degradation, loss of species and habitat destruction will provide many challenges for the young people in the future. How can we give them the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their planet? NOAA has investigated the use of game technologies, providing effective resources for widely dispersed audiences. Games about coastal habitats and threatened species have been developed and tested in elementary and middle school classrooms. This session will share study results along with characteristics of digital projects that educators find useful. Finally, learn about an upcoming free August workshop that will highlight the use of models and simulations to understand and take action on impacts of climate change and a climate game jam coming to a site near you in October!
Peg Steffen - Preparing Youth as Planet Caretakers
1. Preparing Youth as Planet Caretakers:
Games Tackle Environmental Issues
Peg.Steffen@noaa.gov
2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
• National Weather Service
• National Marine Fisheries Service
• National Ocean Service
• Oceanic and Atmospheric
Research
• Satellites and Data
2
3. NOAA includes……
*Real world issues *Full range of STEM
*Monitoring and data *Systems thinking
*Human interactions with Earth systems
3
7. • Changes in trends of maximum
and minimum temperatures
• Changes in “normal” distribution
of temperatures
• Heat waves – stress on people,
plants and animals
• Shifts in plant and animal species
Heat and Heat Waves
12. State Environmental Literacy Standards
MD “Each local school system shall provide a
comprehensive, multi-disciplinary environmental
education program….
– Environmental Issues
– Interactions of Earth’s Systems
– Flow of Matter and Energy
– Populations, Communities and Ecosystems
– Humans and Natural Resources
– Environment and Health
– Environment and Society
– Sustainability.
13.
14. Next Generation Science Standards
• Scientific and engineering practices
• Crosscutting concepts
• Disciplinary core ideas
Students should explore a core idea by
engaging in the practices and making
connections to crosscutting concepts.
15. Framework Assumptions:
• Children are born investigators
• Focus on deeper understanding of fewer
ideas
• Understanding develops over time
• Science and Engineering require both
knowledge and practice
• Connecting to Students’ Interests and
Experiences in the real world
16. Environmental Literacy and NGSS
Environmental
Literacy
Environmental Literacy depends on science
skills and understandings but includes social
sciences and humanities…civic engagement.
Next
Generation
Science Standards
17. Its Confirmed: Kids Play Games
• 97% of ages 12-17 play video games
• 48% of American parents play with their
children weekly
• 64% of parents believe games are a positive
part of their children’s lives
18. Games have great potential to:
• Engage students in investigations
• Develop understanding in science
concepts and practices
• Maintain motivation
• See and interact with representations
of phenomena
• Keep students engaged in science,
especially girls and underserved
groups.
23. WaterLife: Serious Science Games
Game Development
Partnership between:
Montgomery College Computer Simulation and
Gaming Department – game design,
animation, technical expertise
Montgomery College Foundation – student
funding support
NOAA – content review and funding
Development time for each game: one year
24.
25. Where Rivers Meet the Sea
• Ecosystem basics
• Habitat importance
• Threats to estuaries
• Estuary restoration
• What you can do
32. Additional Resources
• For Educators
• For Kids
• Careers
• What We Do
• You Can Help
– Visit, volunteer
– Beach and Waterway
clean-up
– Stop Marine Debris
34. Many sea turtle populations are declining sharply
Loggerhead sea turtles face many dangers in the marine environment and on
land. These dangers are mostly caused by human activities.
Sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear and their nesting beaches
may be altered or destroyed by building resorts and beach-front homes.
Since human actions are causing turtles to become threatened, we need to
help save them!
Why this Mission?
41. Use images, voice recording, video, music,
and sounds to tell stories
* Create new stories
* Show what they have learned
* Explain what people can do to help
* Share their stories with peers and parents
Use images provided in the gallery, combine with
other artwork, or create new
Digital Storytelling
46. More Multimedia Projects
Use video cameras, computer images, posters and
other props to tell a story, highlight an event, or
create a newscast.
•Give a tour of sea turtle habitats and life history.
•Create a “moment in history” with interviews,
eyewitness accounts
•Research your local connections to the ocean
•Create an documentary about a problem
47. Formal Research Study
Completed in 2011 with middle school teachers using the
games in the classroom.
Research question is: Does playing a WaterLife game as part of instruction
develop students’ understanding of the key concepts as well or better
than instruction without the game?
Additional questions:
• Do the two learning conditions affect student attitudes and intentions
differently?
• Are there differences in the effects on students of prior high, medium and
low achieving levels?
• How do educators use the game in their instruction?
• What do students think about the experience of playing the games and
its affect on their understanding and attitudes?
48. Results
• Students were equally knowledgeable about the
problems in estuaries and with sea turtles.
• The game group was more emotionally involved
and passionate about the issue.
One student said he was “frustrated
trying to get the sea turtle to her nest
and he realized that that was what it was
like for the sea turtle”
49. Results
Results were comparable for boys and girls, for different achievement
levels, and different grade levels.
Students reported significant learning gains about the core concepts.
Teachers plan to use the games again and will recommend them to
other teachers as a good way to learn.
Both students and teachers reported that the games were
•Educational
•Interesting and engaging
•Effective for learning the concepts
•Helpful showing students that something can be done to protect
estuaries and sea turtles and keep their habitats healthy.
50. The Future???
• 40 million tablets and 300
million smartphones
• Textbooks will be replaced
with a digital-rich curriculum
• Trajectory is for game-
infused resources.
52. NOAA Planet Stewards
Gaming environment for high school
science classes:
•Brings together digital resources in a tested
interface for classroom use.
•Progress monitored by classroom instructor
•Allows for customization of resources to fit high
school courses
•Provides exploration of potential career paths
•Developed in cooperation with NOAA scientists
and independent instructional designers
53. NOAA and 3D GameLab
• Online, quest-based platform
• Teacher-managed curriculum tool
• 172 web-based quests
• Students earn experience points, levels, and
badges to demonstrate their achievements
• Encourages higher levels of challenge and
reward
57. • A free climate science workshop for formal and informal educators
• Introduction to global climate models with new tools for classroom use
• Simulations and activities for modeling planetary energy balance, tree rings,
paleoclimates, the greenhouse effect, future climate projections
• Simulations and role-playing games
• Attendees will receive a certificate of participation and professional
development hours.
Sign up at https://goo.gl/NTQDLc
For more information on Climate.gov (http://goo.gl/wo2Nz8)
Need help? Peg.Steffen@noaa.gov
58. Join game developers, artists, climate
scientists, educators and youth at sites
all overthe U.S.
Rapidly prototype climate game
designs (online, mobile, tabletop, or
otherformats)
Opportunities forprizes, online posting
and development support
Sign up yoursite at
tinyurl.com/climategamejam
Individual sign-up begin in Septemberat
www.climategamejam.org
59. "It is better to teach people in advance
about the environment, than to reverse the
damage they do...“
Nevo M., 6th Grade
Peg.Steffen@noaa.gov
Notes de l'éditeur
One of the most important changes in precipitations we’ve seen across the nation is that more rain is coming in the form of heavy downpours. There are fewer light rains and more heavy rains in every region.
From 1958 to 2007, there's been a nearly 20% increase in the amount of precipitation falling in the heaviest events throughout the U.S. , including 67% in the Northeast, 31% in the Midwest, and 20% in the South.
An important message from this map is that the heaviest storms are even heavier than before. You can see that the largest percentage increases in the heaviest downpours have taken place in the Northeast and Midwest. So it’s no surprise that we’ve seen some record flooding areas of coastal inundation there. And we understand why warming causes this. Higher temperatures mean more evaporation, putting more water vapor in the air. Then, when a storm system comes along, all that water dumps out in a heavy downpour. This pattern is projected to continue, with higher emissions meaning greater increases in the heaviest downpours.
The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2014 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880. The December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was also the highest on record.
Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year. In fact, on average, excessive heat claims more lives each year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined. In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. In the heat wave of 1995 more than 700 deaths in the Chicago area were attributed to heat. In August 2003, a record heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.
North American summers are hot; most summers see heat waves in or more parts of the United States. East of the Rockies, they tend to combine both high temperature and high humidity; although some of the worst heat waves have been catastrophically dry.
The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the rarest marine mammals in the world. Part of the "true seal" family (Phocidae), they are one of only two remaining monk seal species. The other is the Mediterranean monk seal. A third monk seal species--the Caribbean monk seal--is extinct.
Isolated from their closest relative 15 million years ago, Hawaiian monk seals are considered a "living fossil" because of their distinct evolutionary lineage. About 1000 left in 2 populations.
Environmental stewardship is taking responsibility for environmental quality shared by all those whose actions affect the environment. (http://www.epa.gov/stewardship/)
Understanding your influence on climate and climate’s influence on you and society and
Taking action to reduce climate change and its impacts
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MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY STANDARDS
In 2011, Maryland became the first state in the Nation to require students to be environmentally literate as a high school graduation requirement. The State Board of Education ruled that “each local school system shall provide in public schools (Pre-K-12) a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary environmental education program infused within current curricular offerings and aligned with the Maryland Environmental Literacy Curriculum.” The requirement does not require a specific environmental course for students; instead, each local school system will shape its own environmental education program, but the program must align with Maryland Environmental Literacy Curriculum Standards. There are eight state standards: Environmental Issues; Interactions of Earth’s Systems; Flow of Matter and Energy; Populations, Communities and Ecosystems; Humans and Natural Resources; Environment and Health; Environment and Society; Sustainability. Each local school system will submit their plans to the State Superintendent of Schools for their high school program of environmental literacy. These locally developed programs must ensure that all incoming Grade 9 students in the fall of 2011 will complete a comprehensive environmental education program that meets the Maryland Environmental Literacy Curriculum Standards by graduation.
Simulations are dynamic models that allow users to explore implications of parameters
Games
Incorporate goals and rules
Provide feedback on progress
Player’s action affect the play
3.6 million hits in FY14
Proper removal of water-flow blockages and trash from
the water, navigating between obstacles.
Increase your KP (Knowledge Power) –
the more you used the Field Guide and the better you cleaned up trash throughout the game, the more KP you have to fight the pollution monster.
Why this Mission?
Many sea turtle populations are declining sharply.
Loggerhead sea turtles face many dangers in the marine environment and on land, mostly caused by human activities.
This game accomplishes a recovery action as outlined in the loggerhead recovery plan.
For a simple story, choose images from the gallery provided and develop a storyboard to tell a story that has a particular point of view or tells about events in the life of any of the characters. Completed stories can be used for student assessment or put in their portfolio. The length of the story can vary widely and the images combined in many different ways,
Awarded a grant through the HASTAC competition funded by the MacArthur foundation in cooperation with Mozilla. NOAA was in the system as a content provider and open to work with institutions who would develop the badging system.
Contact at NOAA – me
Boise State – Lisa Dawley and Chris Haskell
NOAA , as any science agency, faces challenges in getting out content to the public so they can use it to understand their world and respond to a changing economy, changing workforce needs, and a physically changing world. Putting research in a static form on the web does not personalize the consumption of the science concepts or provide engagement strategies.
Intrigued with the well-tested platform that Boise State had developed. They have over 3,000 players in 10 countries complete 30,000 quests with very positive results.
Yields – more work completed, higher grades, persistent engagement
Very attractive to educators…..
Needed a flexible system that would rise to the new challenges educators are faced with digital students, Next Generation Science Standards, and increased pressure to prepare students for college or the workforce.
Teacher feedback has been phenomenal with this tool and the learning analytics which are part of this intelligent system provide data on the learner choices and behaviors.
System of 20- badges that highlight most science areas of NOAA.