An exploration of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center’s (CCMC) hands-on tools to study our sun and its effects on our society

December 2023

Oral Presentation: Much like Earth weather affects our life, space weather affects both life on Earth and our exploration of the universe. The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC, https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov) presents their hands-on space weather modeling tools for formal and informal educators. The CCMC supports educational activities, such as Heliophysics and space weather summer schools, contests, research visits and exchanges. We create and maintain a wide variety of tools for space weather simulations, analysis, forecasting, and visualization. This includes tools such as the iNtegrated Space Weather Analysis System (iSWA), Database Of Notifications, Knowledge, Information (DONKI), and OpenSpace 3D visualization project.

We will give a brief overview of the tools above and offer to connect with educators to train them on using our tools with their science curriculum. The CCMC also produces and co-produces educational modules, tutorials and other training materials. We at the CCMC offer these tools to educators to enhance their space weather lessons to prepare the next generation of students.

Breaking Reality: Escape the Arctic with Climate Knowledge

July 2023

Poster Presentation: As the climate crisis grows ever more pressing for our planet, the importance of climate science in the K-12 classroom needs to expand beyond climate-specific curricula or piecemeal lessons. The relevance of climate change to our students’ lives should increase their motivation to learn about a seemingly disconnected topic from physics. To engage our learners in these important global issues, we created an Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach digital escape room game that transports students to a sinking remote Arctic research facility. The storytelling narrative of escape rooms is one way to incorporate climate change into the high school physics curriculum. We piloted this escape room with high school-age students (14-18 years old) over several class periods at the end of their first-year physics course. Overall, the reception to the game was positive and the students were able to make connections between their constructed physics knowledge and the provided climate science data. This poster provides an overview of the game, how it aligns with the NGSS Physics and Climate Change DCIs, Science Practices, and Cross-Cutting Concepts, as well as how gameplay led to increased, student-initiated, conversations about climate change. 

Climate Generations: A Climate Game Spanning Borders and Legacies

July 2023

Oral Presentation: In this talk, we present “Climate Generations”; a collaborative video game adventure developed at NASA for middle and high school students (12-18 years old). Built around physics principles, gameplay draws from leading NASA climate and impact models as well as key messages and responses outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report. Game design is supported by curricular resources that can be adapted by educators to meet the needs of their students. Similar to a Model United Nations conference, the entire classroom plays a single game. Players are assigned to represent a country at different points throughout history; this generational gap in policy decisions highlights the long-term consequences of early action or inaction. Through play and supporting curricula, students are encouraged to consider the diversity of perspectives in climate action across regions, interests, and generations that might differ from their own. They will need to work together to overcome many of the same snags that have held up climate action in the real world.

How to Utilize the Community Coordinated Modeling Center’s Hands-on Tools to Study Our Sun and Its Effects

July 2023

Poster Presentation: Much like Earth weather affects our life, space weather affects both life on Earth and our exploration of the universe. The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) presents a poster on their hands-on space weather modeling tools for formal and informal educators. The CCMC supports educational activities, such as Heliophysics and space weather summer schools, contests, research visits and exchanges. We create and maintain a wide variety of tools for space weather simulations, analysis, forecasting, and visualization. This includes tools such as the iNtegrated Space Weather Analysis System (iSWA), Database Of Notifications, Knowledge, Information (DONKI), and OpenSpace 3D visualization project. The CCMC also produces and co-produce educational modules, tutorials and other training materials. We at the CCMC offer these tools to educators to enhance their space science lessons to prepare the next generation.