Engaging Citizen Scientists to Study the Urban Heat Island Effect Through the GLOBE Program

This past summer was very hot in many areas of the world. Urban areas tend to be even hotter than rural areas due to the urban heat island effect. As a growing global issue, informing the public and engaging them as citizen scientists including K-12 teachers and students will help address this important problem. We developed a urban heat island field and research campaign through the GLOBE surface temperature observations and authentic science projects with the goal of improving public understanding and stewardship. This presentation will discuss a new massively open online course (MOOC) offered through GLOBE to teachers across the world during the 2018-2019 academic year. Teachers learned about the protocols through GLOBE online eTraining. They then participated in webinars and online discussions about urban heat island effect. They participated in the field campaign and collected surface temperature and cloud observations during October, December and March. Results were shared through webinars and student collaboration between schools was facilitated. We are testing whether teachers can be as successful through an online MOOC as they are through face-to-face training.