Tracking climate in your backyard: A museum 4-H collaborative

Paleontological Research Institute, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

In association with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network, this project is providing professional educators affiliated 4-H clubs with training and resources to involve large numbers of upper elementary and secondary school students in citizen science, monitoring temperature and precipitation. The project involves a collaboration among five organizations: the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), which has a specialty in Earth system research partnerships; Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) NY State 4-H, which will be the focus for project development and the conduit for national dissemination; the Northeast Regional Climate Center, which maintains a large database of GIS-based regional climate information, including for NY State; the Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems, which specializes in application of GPS/GIS methods to spatial data such as climate data; and CoCoRaHS itself, which is based at Colorado State University. PRI geoscience educators are providing professional development, lesson plans, and equipment for NY State 4-H educators, coordinating the resources of each of the respective organizations. Students participating in 4-H programs are being guided by their volunteer leaders, who in turn have been trained by 4-H professional educators, to monitor high spatial resolution data on precipitation that is important scientifically; over time these data may reflect climate change and will be tightly tied to the environment of their respective 4-H communities. The project deliverables include age-appropriate curricula adapted to the needs of 4-H clubs and their communities. The programming is being prototyped in New York State, with goals of sustaining the NY programming while working toward national implementation in the next phase of the project.