VT-NASA Raytheon Synergy Project Archives

Update:  September 2004
There are three scheduled VT-NASA\Raytheon Synergy Project Teachers Meetings:
September 15, 4:30pm at Essex High School, hosted by Joe Chase
September 22, 5:00pm at North Country Union Jr-High School in Derby, VT, hosted by Holly Willie
September 29, 5:00pm at Hartland Elementary School in Hartland, VT, hosted by Toni Williams

**ALL teachers should be checking with Joe Chase about the meeting he/she should attend.  Teacher project reports need to be in to Joe Chase ASAP!!!

Vermont has been selected as part of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Program.  There are 11 states involved in this Synergy Proposal.

Project Overview:
VT-NASA\Raytheon Synergy Project

    ►Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) joined the Mid-Atlantic
          Synergy Project through an agreement with Maryland Space Grant.
       ► VSGC appointed Joseph (Joe) Chase, a teacher at Essex Jct. High
          School, Essex Jct., VT, Lead Teacher.
 ►Robert Chaffee, Exec. Director, Vermont Mathematics Coalition,
             VSGC affiliate, headed the recruitment and selection of 14 Vermont teachers.
                      ►The teachers were selected from all three K-12 levels, 3-6, 7-8, 9-12.
                  ►The teachers selected also represented a broad distribution
                    throughout the State.
               ►Two New Hampshire teachers join VT project through New
                   Hampshire Space Grant funding.

List of Teachers Attending Fall 2003 Workshop

Samples of Teacher/Student Project Descriptions:

Initial Proposal

Educators: Get a Free GPS receiver and GIS data for your classroom.

The Cost: Free

Commitment: Attend training on the campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont on Friday September 12th, and Saturday September 13th.
A follow up meeting will be held in October. Fifty data points must be collected during the academic year.

Background: The Vermont Space Grant Consortium in cooperation with NASA’s Synergy project is proud to offer this unique opportunity to Vermont educators. VSGC will donate a handheld Global Positioning System receiver (GPS) and MapSource GIS viewing software for school use in exchange for collecting 50 or more truth points during the course of the school year. In the pilot year of this program, 14 GPS receivers will be distributed to selected teachers. The selections will be made based on the review of applications.

Truth points are used to tie data from the Geographic Information System (GIS) to LandSat 7 Imagery from space. Teachers will have great flexibility in choosing where the truth points are collected. It is assumed that the location of the truth points will be determined by its relevance to student studies. Collecting a truth point means recording the latitude and longitude at some location and making an observation about the geographic position of that location (i.e. is it paved, is it wooded, etc.). These truth points are then uploaded from the teacher’s school or home computer.

Participating teachers and schools will have access to this incredible wealth of data. GIS is more than just a map, it manages geographic information databases. It enables teachers and students to create their own geographic database search and render it into visual displays. LandSat images are taken by satellite along 7 different spectral bands and are high resolution. Vermont images from 1990, 2000, 2002, and 2003 will be available. Together these two resources have incredible possibilities for the classroom.

Earth Science: mapping geologic landforms, human impact on geology
Social Studies: urban growth, urban planning, mapping historical trends
Mathematics: modeling, statistical analysis
Biology: tracking the spread of infectious disease
Environmental Science mapping activity of watersheds, forest fragmentation
Oceanography monitoring changes in water temperatures, storm prediction

An example of the connection between GIS and LandSat images can be seen at this website http://chesapeake.towson.edu/education/viewers.asp and then select Basic LandSat Viewer.

Contact Bob Chaffee (BobChaffee@aol.com) or Joseph Chase (jchase@ejhs.k12.vt.us) for more information.

This project was created within Maryland and then widened to other states bordering the Chesapeake Bay as the result of a 2001 Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting. Funding under this component of the Vermont Space Grant Consortium's workforce development proposal would allow Vermont to participate in the next phase of this project, which will demonstrate that this valuable activity is exportable to watersheds beyond the Chesapeake Bay. GPS equipment will be purchased to allow 14 Vermont K-12 teachers to become involved in the ground truth data collection project. The Vermont State Mathematics Coalition, a VSGC affiliate, will manage the recruitment and selection of participating teachers. These teachers will be trained at Workshops held in Vermont by workshop instructors provided by Maryland Space Grant. The teachers will also receive instructional materials prepared by Maryland on the preparation of lessons to train undergraduate students, teachers, and state and local government staff in the use of digital image processing techniques using MultiSpec and Landsat data readily available via the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic from Space Web site (http://chesapeake.towson.edu). Funding will also cover follow-up activities. A key measure of student learning and performance will be the quantity of the collected data. The Vermont portion is endorsed by Goddard Space Flight Center, which is intimately involved, and the Vermont State Mathematics Coalition.

VSGC Sitemap