In addition the Kenan Fellowship, I am also doing a North Carolina climate fellow partnered with NASA and UNC Institute for the Environment. The fellowship is designed to write a lesson pertaining to climate change and be published by NASA.
The first day were several local scientists presenting climate research. They were ranged from the impact of runoff from a clear cut watershed as it regrows to effects of butterfly spawning to
On day 2 we went to a field lab in Duke forest. One group was studying the impact of global warming on young trees by comparing saplings grown in ambient temperatures to saplings grown in +1.5 degrees C and +5 degrees C. The other lab was looking at the impact of global warming of ant diversity. This was the most interesting study at the seminar! The pictures I took were made into a animodo video in preperation for the summer institute at NCCAT found here. During the break, I made an aura for my coffee cup logo with a chinese dragon!
Day 3 was focused on using logger pro probes to demonstrate climate change on small scale in the classroom. These consisted of different ways that students were able to engage with global climate change on a small scale in the classroom. We used a Labquest 2 to model water levels and heating rates of various substances and compared that to real world locations.
The Institute was one of the best I have been too. I look forward to collaborating with the folks I met from universities and schools on some awesome lessons(especially ants)!