NASA GLOBE Mission Earth Educators Enhance Land Cover Data Engagement
Educators from the NASA Science Activation Program’s GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) Mission Earth project participated in a specialized Community of Practice during the 2025-2026 school year. Led by NASA Langley Research Center, the initiative aimed to refine how students interact with NASA’s land cover data, including MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel-2. The collaboration focused on improving data collection, curriculum integration, student research, and validation processes, with participating educators developing research plans for the upcoming 2026-2027 school year.
During the 2025-2026 school year, educators from the NASA Science Activation Program’s GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) Mission Earth project engaged in a specialized Community of Practice. This initiative, led by NASA Langley Research Center, focused on enhancing the methods by which students interact with NASA’s land cover data, specifically MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel-2.
The collaboration centered on four key areas: refining data collection processes for land cover observations using the GLOBE Observer App, identifying connections between these observations and satellite data for classroom learning, brainstorming potential student research topics related to land cover, and providing expert feedback on satellite comparison processes.
Through the GLOBE program, communities worldwide contribute environmental data to a long-term record. Participants submitting land cover observations via the GLOBE Observer app receive a satellite comparison email from NASA Langley, detailing how their observation aligns with corresponding satellite data.
The Community of Practice involved 14 educators, with six actively collecting land cover observations alongside their students. These observations were correlated with MODIS, Landsat, and Sentinel-2 data, and educators received comparative satellite emails. Ten of the participating educators developed student research plans for the 2026-2027 school year. These plans address questions such as the impact of land cover on surface temperature, local land use changes over time, land cover variations at the same latitude but different longitudes, and the effects of different land covers on flooding.
Educators also provided feedback for the GLOBE Mission Earth GLOBE Nature Notes Guide, developed by the NASA Langley team, which leverages the Nature Note model from the NASA Science Activation program’s Learning Ecosystems North East (LENE) project. An example of a land cover GLOBE Nature Note is currently under development by one of the educators and will be shared with the broader GLOBE and NASA Science Activation community upon completion.
Educators can join the GLOBE Program and contribute environmental observations, including land cover data, by downloading the GLOBE Observer app.
According to NASA Breaking News, the team has gained a better understanding of incorporating NASA land cover data into classrooms, identifying suitable student research questions, and developing resources to support educators' research plans.
