Alan
Gould, Director
Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California
What
is GSS?
- Global
Systems Science (GSS) is an interdisciplinary course for
high school students comprised of nine Student Books with
Teachers Guides.
- The books may be used for a one-year
integrated science course; or individual guides may be incorporated
into existing high school biology, physics, chemistry, Earth
science, or social studies courses.
Each
Student Book has:
- Investigations
to be done in class, lab, or home
.
- Issues pertaining to science and
society
.
- History
of the issues.
- Recent science
.
- A "Field Trip" chapter featuring a visit to a
facility where the science is happening
How
was GSS created?
- NIGEC
funds helped create a 1-year High School curriculum on environmental
change.
- GSS started
out as a single book called "Planet Under Siege",
but was later divided into 5 smaller books.
- NSF grant project allowed national field testing over a
3-year period with 125 High School teachers participating.
- Field test teachers met in summer institutes to share their
results and experiences, as well as to contribute new ideas
for investigations and materials to include.
Teacher
feedback resulted in:
- Additional
hands-on activities (Investigations).
- Further dividing the series into
smaller volumes—9 in total.
- A Teacher Guide for each volume.
- Assessment tools and strategies outlined in the Teacher
Guides.
How
to get GSS Download free teacher guides and free
sample student books from the GSS download page (password protected
but password is free after filling our short registration form). http://lhs.berkeley.edu/gss/
The free sample books are not intended to be used in local reproduction at schools
for use with classes. To acquire class sets of books for student use, use one
or more of these
options:
- Buy
class sets of hardcopy books.
[Cost: $10-17 ea.]
- Buy
a license to "Self-publish" class sets of books. [Cost: $1-2/student]
- Buy
a license to have students read the books on computers. [Cost: 1-2/student]
NASA
Digital GSS Project
- Putting
GSS online as part of Digital Library for Earth Systems Education (DLESE)
was part of a NASA grant project of the Earth Science Enterprise.
- As part of that project, we are making software
tools, Interpreting Digital Images, that lead students to understanding
how to analyze satellite images for changes in Earth systems.
Beginning with applications to understand how colors are formed on computer
displays and what false color is, students progress to tools for analyzing
images to quantitatively measure changes in vegetation.
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