Joe Oliver
Technology Resource Teacher
Los Angeles Systemic Initiative, LAUSD
Van Nuys Mathematics, Science, Technology Center
The Los Angeles Systemic Initiative (a National Science Foundation-sponsored reform effort for mathematics and science) and a grant from the Department of Defense are helping Los Angeles students use technology and the Internet to participate in national scientific studies.
Equipped with laptop computers, ozone detector badges, and a national database maintained by TERC laboratories, Los Angeles Unified School District mathematics and science students are taking advantage of the global influence of the Internet under the guidance of middle and high school teachers who were provided with laptops, modems, and Internet accounts through the Model Mathematics and Science Satellite Telecommunications (MMSST) project, which is part of a Mathematics and Science Engineering Enhancement Model grant funded by the Department of Defense.
The project began with a series of classes that covered laptop computer use, Internet access, and e-mail. Teachers then applied this training in their classrooms by having their students collect and upload atmospheric ozone readings they collected as part of a project known as CyberMarch.
The readings were made by exposing a set of detector badges for one hour and eight hour periods, and students recorded the ozone concentration data, the latitude and longitude where the sample was taken, wind direction, temperature, and cloud cover.
For latitude and longitude, students were able to use the World Wide Web to access an interactive atlas (www.mapquest.com) to find the information they needed.
When all the information was complete, the students used the laptop computers to compile their data and upload it, over the Internet, to a national database at TERC Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Then, in May, all data was collected and hand-delivered to Congress by students participating in the CyberMarch, and the complete set of data at TERC was also made available for further study in math and science classes.
In the 1996-97 school year, students will again participate in the CyberMarch, and students in grades 3-12 are scheduled to participate in Project Globe, a national effort that connects students with scientific-quality weather stations, the Internet, and a program that emphasizes the need for accuracy in data collection.
Projects such as these will allow Los Angeles schools to participate in meteorological research across the nation and will give students access to global weather data for their own studies and projects.
For more information on these programs, contact Joe Oliver, LA-SI, Van Nuys at (818) 997-2574 or e-mail joliver@lausd.k12.ca.us.
Information on the CyberMarch can be found by e-mailing requests to CyberMarch@igc.apc.org.
