GLOBE: a world-wide science, education, and outreach program

The GLOBE Program is a worldwide education and science partnership designed to increase scientific understanding of Earth as a system, support improved student achievement in science and math, and enhance environmental awareness through inquiry-based learning activities. GLOBE began on the premise that teachers and their students would partner with scientists to collect and analyze environmental data using specific protocols. As the GLOBE network grew, additional partnerships flourished making GLOBE an unprecedented collaboration of individuals worldwide - primary, secondary, and tertiary students, teachers and teacher educators, scientists, government officials, and others - to improve K-12 education. Since its inception in 1994, almost 30,000 teachers in over 16,000 schools around the world have taken part in The GLOBE Program. The GLOBE Web site (http://www.globe.gov) is the repository for over 13 million student-collected data measurements easily accessible to students and scientists worldwide. Utilizing the advantages of the Internet for information sharing and communication, GLOBE has created an international community working together to better understand our planet.