GLOBE- Sweden
Sweden signed the agreement to take part in the GLOBE program August 23, 1995.
Three pilot schools were chosen. One teacher each from these schools together with the two GLOBE-leaders took part in the training in Miami in November, 1995. During the spring term the teachers gradually got started. They engaged one more teacher in their school, bought equipment and tested the GLOBE-program. A follow up meeting was held March 8 1996, where problems and positive experiences were shared.
Meeting with GLOBE-Norway. 5 teachers from Norway including the coordinator visited Stockholm June 7, 1996. The teachers and coordinators shared their experiences of the program.
New schools
New schools were advertised for and good computer equipment was a prerequisite of becoming a GLOBE school. 12 new schools were chosen from primary up to upper secondary level.
Training the new teachers
To plan for the course a meeting was held in June, 1996 for the pilot teachers. The science program was divided among the three schools. It was decided that the teachers would bring up the following aspects
* why are the observations made
* what is needed to do the observations
* when to do the observations
* where to do the observations
* how to do the observations
The teacher training course was held in Vilhelmina September 4 -6, 1996. The new teachers were trained in the following areas: Atmosphere/Climate (temperature, precipitation, cloud cover/type) , Hydrology (water temperature and pH) and Land cover /Biology ( land cover, species identification, biometry). To give the schools a good start an Instrument shelter was ordered through a local firm in Vilhelmina for the schools to buy. A company dealing with school equipment have been contacted and will sell GLOBE-material. They had ordered the rain gauges for the schools to buy during the course. The course program contained a general presentation of GLOBE, the scientific protocols including field studies and computer knowledge.
Other activities
One GLOBE school ( teachers and students) participated in a computer fair and demonstrated the GLOBE program. Another school took part in a big industrial fair and presented GLOBE. A meteorologist have contacted the GLOBE and have visited some school and given lectures.
Result of survey of Swedish schools
Most new schools have now got started and a survey of the Swedish schools has been made in March 1997. 14 out of the 15 trained schools have got their ID. Two of the schools have reported data from all the areas where they have got training. Eight schools have reported data from two areas. Three of the schools that have not reported data have had problem with the Internet installations. They seem to be prepared to start during the next school year. Other reported problems were:
* Finding a suitable thermometer for the atmospheric measurements since mercury thermometers no longer are allowed in Sweden.
* Damage on the instrument shelter.
For the next GLOBE-meeting the most common wish was to be able to exchange experiences with other teachers.
Plans for the future
Since there are so many new GLOBE measurements which the schools not yet have been trained in the coordinating group decided not to bring in any new schools this spring but to concentrate on the old schools and give them the training of the full program. Three teachers together with the coordinator visited the GLOBE workshop in Cologne, Germany, 23-27 June 1997 to learn the new parts of the GLOBE II program and its supplement.
A workshop will be held 3-5 September for Swedish schools. The main part of
the program will be the training of new parts of the GLOBE program. Other
important issues:
* exchanging experiences
* presentations of learning activities by the teachers
* lectures by scientists
* discussions in groups divided according level
- how to integrate the GLOBE material in the school curricula
- how to integrate the science observations in a wider environmental
perspective--please visit the web site of Agenda 21 at
http://www.igc.apc.org/habitat/agenda21
- how to make the GLOBE program a matter for the whole school
- how to cooperate with other schools in the region to share the Globe
activities
GLOBE Participant Reports