NASA GPM Mentorship Program - Educator Track

The NASAs Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Mentorship Program from 2023 hosts a spin-off program dedicated to teachers and educators. During its first year this pilot effort connected a GPM expert with Italian middle- and high-school teachers to learn about the water cycle, climate change and precipitation through the lens of the GPM mission. Given the success of the first year, for the 2023-2024 school year the program has been extended to every school grade, from kindergarten to high school, involving students from 5 to 18 years old. The main focus of the project is to provide information and tools to teachers in order to be able to pass the scientific knowledge to their students. After three lectures about water cycle, weather and climate, and the GPM mission and its applications, the teachers aided by the GPM expert develop a practical project with the students. The project is multidisciplinary and focused on precipitation, from measurement using rain gauges deployed in the school yard, to data analysis comparing measured data with GPM satellite retrievals. Classroom discussions on precipitation trends and changes lead to climate change awareness and link this project to other programs on sustainability developed by the schools. This paper will provide an outline of the program and an overview of the practical projects led by the teachers. The program is in constant development, expanding into Portuguese-speaking communities and other countries such as Turkey, to develop educational material in different languages to reduce language barriers and increase exposure opportunities of Earth observation data.