GLOBE Teachers Orientation Workshop

August 23, 2006
Schulick Room, American Centre, New Delhi – 110001

Organized by: Indian Environmental Society
Co-organized by: Public Affairs Section, American Embassy, New Delhi
Supported by: The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India

An Orientation workshop was organised by Indian Environmental Society in close association with the Public Affairs Section, American Embassy, New Delhi on August 23, 2006 at American Centre in which approximately 30 schoolteachers participated from Delhi and NCR Region. The event was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India.

The programme began with a welcome note at 10:00 a.m. by Miss Robin D. Diallo, 1st Secretary, Public Affairs Section, American Embassy, New Delhi.

She appreciated the efforts of Indian Environmental Society for organising this event. She addressed the participants and highlighted very briefly about the importance of the GLOBE programme. Ms. Robin joined GLOBE in 1995 and she told the participant that this program is very close to her heart as it really involves lots of understanding about the Mother Earth.

Then followed a brief introduction of GLOBE Programme by Mr. R. Mehta, Advisor – MoEF and Country Coordinator – GLOBE. He threw some light on the history of this programme in India and status of its implementation in schools all over India and World. He also informed the participants that India signed bilateral agreements for the GLOBE with US Government in August 2000. While addressing the participants he also guided them on the strategies for implementing this programme in their respective schools and also enlightened them about the importance of the data, being collected by the GLOBE students, in the research being carried out by the GLOBE scientists.

The workshop basically dealt with an idea of providing the school teachers with an overview of how students can develop a better understanding of the environmental systems and at the same time can contribute to the work of scientists in carrying out their research studies. Two of the basic protocols of the GLOBE viz. Atmosphere and GPS Protocol and Hydrology Protocol were described in length by Dr. Deshbandhu, President, IES and Miss Aarti Kaushik, Programme Coordinator, IES respectively. Description involved the GLOBE prescribed procedure of testing various Air quality and Water quality parameters like Cloud cover and types, Contrail types, Temperature, Rainfall and its pH, TDS, Electrical conductivity of water bodies, their Transparency, Temperature etc. plus a brief demonstration of different instruments employed in carrying out the respective measurements.

The final session was devoted to the discussions and queries regarding the understanding and implementation of GLOBE in schools. A set of Recommendations were proposed like, there should a provision of providing Certificates to GLOBE Students or Schools which would act as an incentive for them to make this programme a consistent exercise. It would also add to their motivation towards participation. Another proposition was to arrange a meeting of the students with GLOBE scientists so that they can put forth their questions directly to them and can appreciate the results of their findings/analysis. Participants can be encouraged to report the readings constantly by awarding them with titles like, Student/School of the Week/Month and so on and so forth.

Teachers were also briefed about the accessibility of the Internet based GLOBE students Data Server. Lastly, the programme ended at 4:30 p.m. with a final note of thanks from Dr. Deshbandhu, President, IES. He thanked the teachers for making this event a great success. He expressed his heartiest gratitude to the Public Affairs Sections, American Embassy, New Delhi for their kind support and efforts in organizing this Workshop.

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