NASA’s Science Activation program, known as SciAct, helps to connect NASA science with learners at every level with the goal of fostering a deeper understanding of our planet and the universe. By sharing NASA’s wide array of data assets and cultivating the skills needed to decipher patterns, SciAct nurtures data fluency.
In an effort to identify NASA Earth science data resources that could be most useful for K-12 educators, Rachel Connolly, a Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab and the SciAct Systems Integration and Analysis lead, created a radial tree diagram that maps out NASA’s Earth science data resources to the Next Generation Science Standards for Earth and Space Science.
Radial Earth Missions and Learning Standards
By Rachel Connolly
The Next Generation Science Standards, or NextGen for short, are the most recent science education standards. The standards set expectations about what K-12 students should learn and encourage hands-on student engagement with scientific data.
Connolly, whose specialty is helping educators integrate scientific data into their classrooms, focused her radial tree diagram on two of the three Earth and Space Science core ideas—Earth’s Systems and Earth & Human Activity.
The core ideas of Earth’s Systems focus on the major geologic, hydrologic, and biologic processes that drive conditions on Earth and how they influence each other. While the core ideas of Earth & Human Activity consider how humans impact the planet and how those impacts that can affect Earth’s processes. These two core ideas are further subdivided into nine components.
Connolly’s radial tree infographic focuses on eight of those nine components and connects them with the NASA Earth satellites and sensors that can inform the science of those components, as seen above. Landsat, a joint NASA /U.S. Geological Survey mission, is one of the few data sources that is useful in the study of all eight Earth science components, underscoring the broad, multi-disciplinary application of its data.
Satellite data (and the computer models that data informs) help Earth scientists understand the complex, interacting systems of our changing planet. Connolly’s infographic supports Earth Science Literacy—as addressed by the NextGen Standards—by helping students connect with some of the same data sources as scientists.
Related Interactive Graphics
+ Radial Earth missions and standards alignment; Flourish Studio
+ Earth missions and standards alignment (circles viz); Flourish Studio
