Global-scale environmental changes are critical to our survival as they may affect the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. From the perspective of education and research, the topic of global change presents a rich domain of inquiry, exploration, and discovery at all grade levels. GLACIER's primary goal is to provide graduate fellows a strong interdisciplinary perspective on global change research by training them to observe and analyze both physical and anthropogenic processes and their consequences at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. GLACIER fellows will also have the opportunity to enhance their teaching skills and learn how to translate their research into exciting and dynamic STEM classroom lessons in grades 5- 8. GLACIER will also train teachers to use geospatial technologies (such as remote sensing, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)); learn about methods and field work used to study global change, create sustainable curricula for grades 5-8 based on an inter-disciplinary approach, and cultivate new ways of engaging their students to think about environmental problems.
Broader Impacts: GLACIER will help educate a citizenry that can make informed decisions about the environment, and to train future generation of scientists with a multi-disciplinary perspective and strong analytical skills. Finally, systematic evaluation criteria will provide feedback regarding the value of our multi-disciplinary focus. GLACIER will strengthen the ties between Boston University and two partner school districts of Cambridge and Brookline, as well as enhance existing links to local museums, zoo, aquarium, and other field sites.
