MSSD and Mississippi School for the Deaf students share El Niño research at an international conference in Finland

El Niño wreaked havoc with weather systems around the world in 1998. But while many people experienced the weather changes as disasters, science teacher Mary Ellsworth and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) seniors she taught used the turbulent weather patterns as a learning opportunity.

Throughout the 1997-98 school year, the students charted the weather variances as a basis for a scientific study that linked them to students and scientists around the world through the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program. And last summer, Ellsworth and one of her students, Vinny Riccobono, had the opportunity to join a group from the Mississippi School for the Deaf (MSD) at an international GLOBE gathering in Helsinki, Finland, where students from the two schools presented results of their research project on El Niño.

The GLOBE Program

The GLOBE Program is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment. Students and teachers from more than 5,500 schools in more than 70 countries around the world have been taking regular sets of environmental measurements and reporting their data via the Internet. The information is used and analyzed not only by the students themselves but also by scientists who wish to track weather patterns and other climatic and environmental changes locally.

Vice President Al Gore began the GLOBE program in 1994 as a way to give elementary and high school students hands-on science and computer training. Based in Washington, D.C., GLOBE receives about $13 million each year from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The U.S. GLOBE program teams up with U.S. organizations that recruit GLOBE schools, train teachers, and mentor students in their areas. The GLOBE franchise at Gallaudet University and Pre-College National Mission Programs, supported through District of Columbia Space Grant funds, is directed by Dr. David Snyder, a physics professor at Gallaudet, and Ellsworth, both also GLOBE teacher trainers.

MSSD’s earth systems science class has been a participant in the GLOBE program since April 1996. All seniors were involved with doing GLOBE measurements during the year, with groups of three or four students each assigned a particular week. During that time, the group would go out to the GLOBE weather shelter behind MSSD and read the current, maximum, and minimum temperatures. They also would measure precipitation and assess cloud type and coverage. Then the data they collected was entered on the GLOBE Web site.

“We also used GLOBE cumulative data from the Web site for various lessons during the year,” says Ellsworth. “The junior team learned about hydrology protocols, measuring certain parameters at the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School pond such as water temperature and pH. This activity was just started at the very end of the school year and is a once-a-week measurement. We hope to continue these measurements in 1998-99.”

All of the seniors also did research projects last spring, with Riccobono and his partner, John Lawson, working together specifically on El Niño.

A Joint Project

In February 1998, Geraldine Jones from the Mississippi School for the Deaf invited Ellsworth and an MSSD student to join the Mississippi School for the Deaf’s team at the international GLOBE Learning Expedition in Helsinki, Finland, from June 27-July 5. Jones had met Ellsworth during a GLOBE Teacher Training workshop that Ellsworth gave at Gallaudet in June 1997. When Jones’ and her students’ proposal was selected by GLOBE, entitling them to be one of nine schools representing the United States at the international event, Jones asked Ellsworth to represent the Gallaudet GLOBE franchise, assist as interpreter/teacher, and invite one MSSD student. Ellsworth chose MSSD senior Vincent Riccobono.

MSSD'’s participation in the Helsinki conference was made possible through funds from the W.M. Keck Foundation and the Coca-Cola Foundation. The students from MSD, Tyrone Williams and Durrell McCoy, and Riccobono were the only deaf student participants in the conference.

Beginning in spring of 1998, both MSD and MSSD investigated the U.S. weather service’s predictions for the El Niño year for the areas of Jackson, Miss., and Washington, D.C., respectively, to track if temperatures and precipitation were correct. The U.S. Weather Service predicted that due to El Niño, Jackson would have lower than normal temperatures and higher than normal precipitation for the winter of 1997-98 and Washington, D.C., would have higher than normal temperatures and normal precipitation during that time period. The students concluded generally that the predictions were supported, but not completely—Jackson was warmer, not cooler, for example, and D.C. was warmer and wetter. The students created graphs to show their findings and produced a report on Web pages.

The Helsinki Conference

The Global Learning Expedition attracted secondary students from 25 different countries. In addition to giving scientific presentations on school research projects, GLOBE students attended each other’s presentations, modeling the inquiry and research sharing that is characteristic of scientists at scientific conferences. They also had the opportunity to attend presentations given by scientists and to participate in environmental data collection exercises.

During the opening ceremonies, students were introduced to Mr. Day Mount, U.S. Ambassador to Iceland, and viewed a special videotape prepared for them from Vice President Al Gore, sending his greetings and hopes for a successful and effective conference. The MSD/MSSD team was one of three teams invited to present their research project, “El Niño Predictions: Fact or Fallacy,” during the opening ceremonies.

“The students all did a wonderful job with the presentation, especially considering that the three met for the first time two days before,” says Ellsworth. “They exhibited great stage presence, signed clearly, and paced themselves perfectly with the material. They made us all proud of them. They were pros! And to help them out, the technology all worked perfectly as well.”

Recalls Riccobono, “Many people were coming to me saying what a wonderful job we had done. It was pretty difficult working with the Mississippi School for the Deaf because of the distance between us—but we did it by working together and patching the presentation up through electronic mail and the World Wide Web.” The students received assistance from Ellsworth and MSSD materials evaluator and Web specialist Ken Kurlychek in getting their projects and presentation onto Web pages.

GLOBE conference staff invited deaf educators and professionals in the Helsinki area to attend the opening ceremonies and see the MSD/MSSD student presentation. Markku Lepojarvi, principal of the Albert School for the Deaf in Helsinki, Marrku Jokinen, chair of the Deaf Association of Finland, and Marita Saunamaki, also of the FAD, attended. After the students’ presentation, Saunamaki interviewed them on camera about their experiences coming to the conference and being in Finland. She also served as a translator from ASL to Finnish Sign Language.

The GLOBE scientists attended every one of the student presentations, asking questions and prompting discussion. “I enjoyed meeting the scientists because now I have a better view into the life of a scientist,” says Riccobono. “I met certain scientists such as those who analyze soil—its history and its environmental impact.”

The international aspect of the conference presented some interesting challenges, according to Ellsworth. “All presentations and official events took place in English,” she says. “Our group passed out many sign language alphabet cards and participated in many conversations with conference attendees—both students and adults—about sign language and deafness. Many people made an effort to communicate.” Ellsworth reverse interpreted the MSD/MSSD student presentation and provided sign language interpretation for many other conference events, with assistance from Jones.

The conference facilities included an Exhibit Hall where students could learn more about GLOBE and environmental activities in other countries, and a very busy Internet Café where participants could send e-mail messages home, keep up on conference news and pictures published daily on the Web by a Helsinki news service, and have fun interacting with each other.

“Helsinki was a wonderful location for the conference,” said Ellsworth. “There was evidence everywhere of the Finnish people’s emphasis on preserving natural resources and the natural beauty of their country, which made Finland an especially appropriate setting for the GLOBE Learning Expedition.” The conference included a two-day camping trip at the Nuuksia National Park, just north of Helsinki, where students participated in exercises reviewing the GLOBE environmental measurements, hiked together in multinational groups, and learned about Finnish saunas.

Tours and a Videoconference

A highlight of the trip was an invitation to visit the Albert School for the Deaf in Helsinki. Principal Lepojarvi gave the team a tour of his school, pointing out its excellent new computer technology, including video networks between every classroom and the main office, and a large auditorium outfitted with videoconferencing. They saw a special computer classroom where a teacher can monitor what students are doing on their computers from his or her own desk and, using a video camera, can pop up on each student’s monitor and sign a message to the student! The whole building is laid out with thought given to using technology to enhance the students’ visual environment.

The Albert School for the Deaf shares space with a hearing high school program. The two programs have divided up rooms and facilities so that they coexist comfortably in one building.

After the school tour, Kimmo Leinonen, assistant to the Dictionary of Sign Language Research Project, took the students on to the new facilities of the Finnish Association of the Deaf, just outside Helsinki. Their tour included a visit to his own office, where he gave the group a look at the new and extensive Finnish Dictionary of Sign Language just recently published. “We presented Mr. Leinonen with a book of poetry and a videotape from Gallaudet, which he immediately deposited in the FAD library,” says Ellsworth. While at FAD they watched a group of young students rehearse a short drama piece that they were taking to an international festival in northern Finland. “They were a delight to watch and gave us an interesting lesson in Finnish sign language,” Ellsworth says.

During the visit, the group was able to share information about the GLOBE program and about the Gallaudet GLOBE franchise’s efforts to involve U.S. schools for deaf students in GLOBE environmental measurements.

On July 2, the students participated in a videoconference with Dr. Walter Trafton’s students in the Gallaudet University Summer Science Program. GLOBE staffer David Brown assisted the team with the connection on the Helsinki side, and Dr. David Snyder arranged to have the camera and software working on several computers at a Gallaudet computer lab in Hall Memorial Building. The 14 high school students in the Summer Science Program asked the Helsinki student team questions about Helsinki and Finland, and the GLOBE conference. Coincidentally, a group of eight D.C. GLOBE teachers and staff who happened to be on campus participating in a GLOBE teacher retraining workshop were able to observe the videoconference as well.

Reflections on the Conference

“The GLOBE Learning Expedition to Helsinki was a valuable educational experience for all involved—students, teachers, and scientists,” says Ellsworth. “Our visits with the Helsinki deaf educators and students gave us a glimpse into the Finnish deaf culture. It is our hope that we will be able to have future interactions with the Albert School for the Deaf and take advantage of videoconferencing and Internet technology to further the understanding of each other’s cultures. Possibly we can share experiences with doing GLOBE environmental measurements and promoting global understanding of our fragile and beautiful planet, Earth.”

“I thought the trip to Finland was a wonderful, rare opportunity,” says Riccobono. “I was in the right place at the right time when I was offered this. I feel that I have grown due to the interaction with many people from so many other countries. I was elated to represent MSSD.” Riccobono is now a freshman at Gallaudet and hopes to continue his interest in environmental science.

Riccobono says that at first the other students were awkward because he is deaf, “but then they dealt with it—I even made several new friends. I will continue to make contact with the friends I made at the conference through electronic mail.”

Of the GLOBE program itself, Riccobono says, “I think GLOBE is valuable because it will be useful in the future—the environment is a major part of our lives. Deaf students should be involved in the GLOBE program because it is educational, but they should begin early—in the middle school, or early in the high school years. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new era where hearing and deaf people toil together to uphold environmental stability. ”