Remote sensing in the event-based science classroom

Event-Based Science (EBS) is a modular middle school science curriculum that is created by a partnership among Montgomery County Public Schools (Rockville, MD), USA Today, NBC News, CNN, and federal science agencies. EBS was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is supporting development of remote-sensing activities that allow middle school students to use: Landsat satellite data to analyze urban development around seismically-active faults; Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) data to evaluate the health of the ocean near six harbors; Sea-surface temperature and real-time data-buoy data to evaluate the potential response of different harbors to oil spills; Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data to track a hurricane; GOES data to correlate cloud-top temperatures in a hurricane with surface wind speeds; Landsat data to examine a floodplain for evidence of meandering of the channel; Landsat data to evaluate recovery after a wildfire; Landsat and digital elevation model (DEM) data to plan an escape route from volcanic debris flows. EBS remote-sensing activities are designed for middle school students in grades 6 through 8 throughout the world. Although it is intended that each activity will augment a specific EBS module, each is also designed to stand alone for use by students even if they are not using an EBS module.