Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Course for

Educators
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission course is designed for educators teaching
middle and high school students. The content of this course is a real time NASA project that is
seeking global citizen scientist that will help provide comparative data for the GPM satellite
orbiting the Earth. This course will provide primarily a project-based approach to teaching and
learning for you and possibly your own students. It will also provide the important tenets of
incorporating global science education simultaneously with international collaborative partners
that you will ultimately learn how to identify and declare on your own. Resources will be
provided that will aid you in identifying global partners.
The components of this course highlighted will enhance your learning of how to execute a global
collaborative partnership in a different nation, engage in project-based learning, effectively
communicating orally and scientifically through your writing. As global science educators, you
will be designing and creating engineering challenges within the scope of the science
collaboration. The core principals of this course incorporate the Next Generation Science
Standards and the common core elements of rigor.
Below you will find a cross section of all components essential to know in order to be successful
in this course. You will require constant access to Web 2.0, a computer with a camera, sound,
headphone, built-in microphone as well as recording capability. You will be engaged in
synchronous real time face-to-face communication with your global counterparts and you will
also engage in asynchronous communication with your global partners. You will need to be able
to effectively communicate with educators from a different nation than yours orally and in
writing. This may require that you research information about the nation that you will partner
with to become culturally sensitive in order to have a successful experience with global
collaboration.
You will be assessed weekly in two and sometimes three different ways. As adult learners, you
should be conscientious to ensure that you allocate approximately twenty hours weekly towards
the completion of the course components as a global educator. Please refer to the section under
assessments for more details. Your cumulative response to your learning will provide you with a
summative assessment for the course.
You will require one textbook that focuses on project-based learning and all other materials will
be provided for you within the course. An orientation session will be announced and conducted
for students who require a refresher session on being a distance learner.

Course Logistics
Familiarize yourself with course logistics. This will be your guide for pacing your learning
throughout this course that will help you achieve success as a global science education student.

Online synchronous meetings will occur using U.S. Satellite Laboratory at 7:00 p.m. EST
on Wednesday evenings the following dates 2014:
o October 1
o October 8
o October 15
o October 22
o October 29
o November 5

Welcome to the NASA Global Science Education Project for Educators. I will be your
instructor for this course. I contributed to the development of the teaching resources for
this project and would like to share the wealth of science and global core tenets that I
have witnessed spark interest in teachers and students alike due to the novel approach to
learning with others from a different nation. I have developed a course that you will
hopefully find enriching for the awesome work that you already are engaged for
educating students. If you have concerns, please feel free to contact me:

Florentia Spires
Email: florentia.spires@ttu.edu
Phone: (202) 643-0000
Office: NASA Science Lab Extension, Room Pluto
Office hours: M-Th 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m.

Textbook requirement: Project Based Learning (PBL) Starter Kit by John Larmer, David
Ross, and John Mergendoller
o Other course content materials will be provided to you online within the
assignments.

Course Policies
Educators are provided with course policies to ensure that they have an upfront understanding of
expectation in the course. It is imperative to read this information and become familiar with this
information in order to be successful in this course.

Attendance is mandatory for all classes. If an emergency absence is necessary, please

contact me via phone or email to discuss the pending circumstance preferably before the
absence occurs. There are dire circumstances that occasionally pop up. In these cases,
please contact as soon as possible thereafter. * Please note repeated absences may
require a student repeat the course if too much content material is missed.

Weekly assignments should be handed in on time. If there are extenuating

circumstances, please notify me in a timely manner. Timely does not mean during the
hour that the assignment is due. Be sure to plan completion of assignments so that you
are informed in advance in the case when it is essential to contact me.

Participation is required in this class. You will routinely be requested to respond in a

thought provoking way to offer feedback or a different perspective of at least two peers.
A special note: respectful discourse is a requirement but this does not indicate that push
back is not allowed as long as it is in a respectful approach. In the event that your
comments are deemed less than respectful, you will be notified and action will be taken if
this interaction goes beyond acceptable by the university guideline (note: please read the
student code of conduct as a reminder of acceptable tenets of discourse).

Plagiarism
Please refer to the university handbook to understand school wide policies regarding
plagiarism. It is imperative that all work submitted represents your learning in order to
be successful as a student. Plagiarism will not be tolerated so steer clear of this approach
to accomplishing your work.

Instructional Activities
Educators will be expected to engage in activities in real time as if they were students conducting
this type of global science engagement. Their engagement will provide a depth of actual
implementation knowledge that is hard to fully interpret through reading only. This experience
will provide a pulse for them to understand the nuances of how to execute this type of project in
their own classroom. Educators are advised to take this component of the course to heart as it
will provide them with the most useful experience as global science educators.

October 1 Diagnostic GPM Mission Pretest

Introduction: Understanding the NASA GPM Mission Project
1. Power point engagement with capture sheet
2. Synchronous Collaborative Session with Global Partners
3. Group asynchronous blog of developments

October 8 - Edible GPM Satellite Activity

1. Design and construct edible GPM satellite
2. Synchronous Collaborative Session with Global Partners
3. Group asynchronous blog of developments

October 15 Water Droplet Activity

1. Experiment on properties of a water droplet
2. Synchronous Collaborative Session with Global Partners
3. Group asynchronous blog of developments

October 22 - Home made Rain Gauge

1. Design, construct, and test variation of home made rain

gauge
2. Synchronous Collaborative Session with Global Partners
3. Group asynchronous blog of developments

October 29 - Commercial Water Gauge

1. Design and construct a post for commercial rain gauge to
be mounted
2. Synchronous Collaborative Session with Global Partners
3. Data Collection of Precipitation begins
4. Group asynchronous blog of developments

November 5 Diagnostic GPM Mission Posttest

1. Data Collection continued
2. Group asynchronous blog of developments continued.

Formative and Summative Assessments

Educators will have weekly formative assessments on their recordings of synchronous
communications with global counterparts. Educators will be assessed in the weeks of October 8
and October 22 for their Engineering Design Projects. The projects will be shared with their
global counterparts. Educators will have weekly formative assessments of their writing
components incorporated in their interactive asynchronous blogs with their global counterparts.
Rubrics will be used for all GPM project component assessments (e.g. please see actual rubrics
below).

Synchronous communication with Global Science Counterparts Rubric

Engineering Design and Creation Rubric
Writing Rubric

Assessment Tools
Group/Individual Name: _____________________________________ Date: _____________

Title of Project: ______________________________________________________________________

Oral Presentation Project Rubric (Content)

Focus

Support
Materials

Justification

4
Expert

3
Proficient

2
Novice

Purpose: informing, persuasion

or both. The subject and any
position taken by the
presenter(s) are clearly
defined in the beginning.
Information and data are
consistent with the purpose.
Contains relevant and
complete STEM facts, figures,
statistics, scenarios and/or
stories.

Some success in
defining purpose,
subject, and position;
information and data
are generally consistent
with purpose.

Attempts to define
purpose, subject; and
position with
challenge; presents
contradictory
information and data.

Key points or ideas are

completely and accurately
justified with data and/or
evidence.

Contains some relevant

and complete STEM
facts, figures, statistics,
scenarios and/or
stories.

Contains weak STEM

facts, figures,
statistics, scenarios
and/or stories that do
not support the
subject.
Key points or ideas are Key points or ideas
justified with some data lack in justification
and/or evidence.
with few data and/or
evidence.

Group/Individual Name: _____________________________________ Date: _____________

Title of Project: ______________________________________________________________________

Engineering Design Project Rubric

4
Expert

3
Proficient

2
Novice

Brainstorming
Problem

Creatively address a
practical need for the
prototype

Addresses a
practical need for
the prototype

Somewhat
addresses a
practical need
for the
prototype

Collaboration

Explains the application of

the working parts with
explicit details

Explains the
application of the
working parts

Explains with
few details the
application of
the working
parts

Design

The drawing realistically

and effectively depicts the
object.

The drawing
depicts the object
with details
included.

The drawing
depicts the
object lacking in
details.

Create

The prototype realistically

and effectively addresses
all objectives.

The prototype
realistically
and/or effectively
addresses most
objectives.

The prototype
realistically or
effectively
addresses few
objectives.

Blogging Rubric
Blogging is an act of reflecting and posting one's thoughts on a given subject or topic. It should be reflective in
nature, and make a personal connection to your learning and/or your classroom. Blogging also includes taking part
in the community by leaving comments on others blog posts. Thirdly, blogs can be used as digital portfolios that
showcase your skills and improvements in different aspects of learning. We will use blogs throughout the course to
achieve both goals. The following rubric will be used for blogging activities. Note that not all categories will be
scored for every assignment.
Score

Idea &
Content

These simple
entries lack
insight, depth or
are superficial. The
entries are short
and are frequently
irrelevant to the
events. They do
not express
opinion clearly and
show little
understanding.

The posts show some

insight, depth & are
connected with
events, topic, or
activity. Posts are
typically short and
may contain some
irrelevant material.
There are some
personal comments or
opinions, which may
be on task. Posts show
some understanding of
the topic.

Posts show insight &

depth. The content of
posts are connected
with events, topic or
activity. Posts may
contain some
irrelevant material
but are for the most
part, on task.
Personal opinions are
expressed in an
appropriate style.
Posts show a good
depth of
understanding.

Posts show insight, depth

& understanding. They
are connected with
events, topic or activity.
Entries are relevant with
links to supporting
materials. Personal
opinions are expressed in
an appropriate style &
are clearly related to the
topic, activity or process.
Posts and opinions show
a high level of
understanding and they
relate events, learning
activities and processes
to the purpose of the
activity and outcomes.

Post
Frequency

Posts are irregular.

Events are not
recorded as they
occur.

Posts have some

timeliness with most
key events. Some
comments are replied
to.

Most events are

recorded as they
happen. Most
comments are replied
to in a timely
manner. The reply
shows understanding.

All events are recorded in

a regular and timely
manner. Comments are
replied to in a timely
manner. Replies show a
depth of understanding
and relates to the
comments.

Quality

Posts are of very

poor quality. There
is little to no
evidence of
reading other
information in
order to form new
meaning of the
topics at-hand.

Posts show a below

average, overly casual
writing with a lack of
attention to style.
Students pay little
attention to other
reading and mostly
regurgitate previous
views.

Posts show above

average writing style.
The writing of
content demonstrates
that the student reads
moderately, and
attempts to build
information to form
new meaning.

Posts are well written,

and are characterized by
elements of a strong
writing style. The content
demonstrates that the
student is well read,
synthesizes content and
constructs new meaning.

Voice

Student voice for

the assignment
isnt appropriate
and does not meet
the assignment
goals.

Student voice is
marginally developed,
but still inappropriate
for the audience. The
tone is appropriate for
some of the outcomes

Student voice fits the

purpose and
outcomes of the
assignment, but still
contains some
inconsistencies and

Student voice is
appropriate for the
assignment and meets the
objectives of the writing
piece. The student is
meaningful and

of the assignment.

flaws that take away

from demonstrating
understanding.

deliberate in their writing

to convey their
understanding in a
holistic way.

Conventions
(when writing
lab reports)

Scientific writing
conventions are
ignored or misused
completely.

Scientific writing
conventions are
attempted but not
developed. The
student has difficulty
working proper
conventions into the
entire assignment.

Scientific writing
conventions are used
through most of the
paper and work well
with the students
arguments. The paper
has a clear purpose
and meets specified
expectations.

Scientific writing
conventions are skillfully
used to build a strong
case in the students
writing.

Use of
Enhancements

The student did

nothing to enhance
or personalize the
web blog space.

There is very little

evidence of
multimedia
enhancement and the
student blog is
primarily text-based.

The student enhanced

their
web blog to some
extent using video,
audio, images or
other add-ons.

The student greatly

enhanced their web blog
space using video, audio,
images or other add-ons.

Adapted with permission from Jeff Utecht and Kim Cofino, COETAIL, http://www.coetail.asia/ [8 August 2011].
Adapted with permission from Andrew Churches, educational origami, http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/ [18
February 2011].
Adapted with permission from Ryan Bretag, Ecmp355, http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=462 [January 2009]