Apps for Education: Chesapeake Bay Science
Would you like to integrate the use of technology into your science-based classroom activities? Do you want to capture your students attention by studying real world data? There are some fantastic, free smart phone and tablet apps that are perfect for you and your students!
To get started using apps in your classroom check out some of our top tips and the general education app suggestions provided in our Education? There’s An App For That! blog, then dive into the subject matter content with one of the science apps featured below. The following apps are a great way engage your students in the study of Chesapeake Bay science, technology, engineering and math (STEM):
This App is a “must have” for educators who want to teach about weather and/or estuarine water properties. The app itself utilizes NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System (CBIBS) to collect and transmit real-time weather and water data. CBIBS supports the use and management of a healthy Chesapeake Bay by providing the data and information needed to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect the environment. In your classroom, you can use the data provided by this Chesapeake Conservancy app to track weather and water conditions in the Chesapeake. Integrate real data and technology into your classroom by having students graph and analyze information on wind, waves, air temperature, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and more over time. See if your students can observe seasonal variations, or maybe even environmental changes surrounding an extreme weather event! Chesapeake Bay Watch is a similar app that will allow students to view real-time buoy information from NOAA buoys in the Chesapeake.
The iTunes U app gives you and your students access to complete courses and short clips from leading universities and other schools — plus the world’s largest digital catalog of free education content — right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Just download the app and search the catalog for “Chesapeake Bay.” The possibilities are endless: The Library of Congress has posted an hour long webcast called Chesapeake Bay from Space: New Views of a National Treasure. Washington College has some nice clips about Chesapeake ecology, ranging from 1 – 10 minutes. The ongoing series Voices of the Chesapeake Bay can help students learn about our region’s cultural identity while explore a variety of perspectives on key Bay-related topics. NOAA’s Making Waves podcast also provides some great content, including Measuring Change in an Estuary.
EPA’s new app and website, How’s My Waterway, helps people find information on the condition of their local waterways using a smart phone, tablet, or desktop computer. It makes science-based water quality information accessible and understandable for everyone. Have your students use a smart phone to find out about a lake, river, or stream near your school while standing right at the water’s edge or have them check on any location in the US by entering a zipcode or place name on their computer, smart phone or tablet. Once they select a specific waterway from the resulting map or the list of waters, the app and website offer more detailed results, including the type of pollution reported and what has been done by EPA and the states to reduce it. This is a great tool to use if you want to engage your class in a local restoration project. Learn more about this app and website via this Fact Sheet.
Download the Water Reporter app and you and your students can help protect your local waterway. Have students take a picture or a video of dirt and debris flowing from a construction site, manure piled next to a stream, or a pipe discharging polluted, smelly water. The picture and information will be sent to your local Waterkeeper for them to take action. There are 18 Waterkeepers in the Chesapeake Bay on call to follow up on your pollution report. The Water Reporter also allows your students to share their experiences on the water, so that we can build a stronger community of people willing to protect our rivers and streams.
Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. The Journey North app allows teachers and students to record and submit their observations while they are in the field! This app also connects to the website where you will find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information on to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. Widely considered a best-practices model for education, Journey North is the nation’s premiere “citizen science” project for children.
NASA satellites beam data from space; now the Agency is beaming it straight to your iPad. The app’s science features will include high-resolution movies and stills and short written stories to put all the pieces in context. Most of the movies are simply real satellite data, visualized. Other features will include interviews with scientists or imagery from supercomputer modeling efforts. This app is not focused on the Chesapeake Bay, but it will help your students explore content about Water on Earth, Retreating Glaciers and Groundwater, Superblooms, and more.
Be sure to check in with us over the coming months! Bay Backpack will be posting suggestions of apps to use for education about Chesapeake Bay history, outdoor education, and more.