Globe Connections
CONNECTING WITH GLOBE SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD
In Learning Sequence 3 of GLOBE Weather, students consider why storms move the way they do on a global scale. One of the strengths of the GLOBE Program is a vibrant community of students and schools doing GLOBE around the world. For this GLOBE Connection, we recommend connecting with the teachers and students at GLOBE schools as you consider a question related to Lesson 12: Are there regular patterns of storms where you live?
How to Find GLOBE Schools
It would be best to reach out to GLOBE schools before the start of this unit to have a greater likelihood of a timely response. To view GLOBE maps of country coordinators or schools from each country around the world, use the interactive map on the GLOBE website and select ‘country coordinators’ or ‘schools’ from the dropdown menu: https://www.globe.gov/globe-community/community-map.
Maps showing country coordinators in parts of Europe (left) and schools in Poland (right)
Use the plus sign on the bottom right of the screen to zoom in to a country of interest. Each of the markers on the map at this view provides the number of GLOBE schools by country. From here you can click on the pins to see where GLOBE schools are located in each country.
How to Contact GLOBE Schools
Some schools are more active than others. To connect with students from active GLOBE schools, it may be best to first contact the country coordinator using the email located on each country’s profile page:
https://www.globe.gov/globe-community/community-map?filter=3. From here, you can click on the country of interest and then ‘contact us’ to find the contact information for the country coordinator. The screenshot below shows an example contact for Poland.
Note some country coordinators change over time and some countries do not have active country coordinators. If you don’t receive a response from the first country coordinator you choose, try another. The GLOBE website should have up-to-date information for each country.
We recommend that when you contact the country coordinator, you request email contacts for schools that might be interested in working with your students. When corresponding with a school/teacher, begin by explaining that your students are studying weather phenomena and are interested in having a dialogue with interested students in their classes. Explain that you are studying worldwide weather and are interested in learning about weather patterns in their location. Ask the teacher if they might have students who would like to respond to your question, “Are there regular patterns of storms where you live?” It might be interesting to contact several schools around the world and compare their responses before watching the NASA Global Rainfall and Snowfall video.
However, there is potential for much more! Since GLOBE is a community of learners, this initial contact may be the beginning of a scientific collaboration between your school and other GLOBE schools around the world.