Smithsonian Education Conference Blog: Climate Change

Engaging Students with Technology

I’m Jeff Meade, the School and Tours Coordinator at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. I spend quite a bit of time leading tours through the museum, turning students into airmail planes and letter carriers and Pony Express riders and things like that. Museum education intrigues me but leaves me wondering about some pretty big questions. First, how effective are my offbeat, even wacky, lessons, and two, can some of the ideas I use on the museum floor translate to classrooms all over the country? I’ll try and tackle both of those questions in promoting dialogue about Climate Change.

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s central
exhibit tells the story of how the mail moves—
by plane, train, truck, and even dog sled!

I have found that collections relating to our natural and built environments often create a call for action, especially when we discuss topics like climate change with our audiences. Because there is no specific answer to what we should or should not do to address such an issue, I think it opens the door for creative engagement strategies like those I use at the Postal Museum. Climate change as a topic lends itself quite well to interpretation strategies I promote at the Postal Museum, mainly because there is no specific answer on what we should or should not do. In terms of tour strategy, lacking specific answers opens the door for creative engagement. Learning strategies I employ on tours, for students of all ages, encourage artistic, musical and theatrical interpretations. As wacky as they might first appear, these strategies encourage multiple ways to understand our themes and promote multi-sensory learning moments. Seriously, students are always taking in information, but do we as educators really provide enough creative outlets for them to interpret back to us what they know?

On the road in Wyoming: The Secretary’s travel journal (day two)

By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Wednesday, July 15: Weather, 62 degrees and sunny at 7 a.m.

A picture-perfect day for venturing into the field. We head first to the grocery store to obtain provisions for lunch and plenty of water, something that will be much needed in the dry climate and the heat of the day. Scott explains that we will visit three sites where teams are working to investigate the PETM and its consequences from different perspectives. He and his colleagues consider this area ideal for their work since the deep sedimentary deposits of the basin capture the stratigraphic profile of the time leading up to the PETM, the PETM itself and the years following it. The rock strata in this large basin slope inward at the sides and are relatively horizontal in the center, but regional uplift in the last few million years has once again loosed the power of erosion, carving deep gullies and valleys that expose PETM rocks and allow the researchers to find the fossils and other evidence they seek. Adding to the favorable geologic circumstances, much of the land is under the management of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which has been helpful to the research teams, and it is transected by a network of dirt roads maintained by an energy company that operates the many oil jacks that remove oil from the mature oil field in the region.

Scott Wing points out the red and gray strata
visible in the distant hills.
(Photo by Wayne Clough)

The drive to the research sites from Worland is about 15 miles. They are located to take maximum advantage of the exposures of the beds deposited during the time of the PETM. The relevant stratigraphy begins with the underlying gray, brown and tan deposits known as the Fort Union Formation, which formed during the Paleocene Epoch just before the time of the PETM. This was a period of relatively stable carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and a warm, moderate climate that allowed temperate and subtropical plants to grow as far north as Wyoming. The Paleocene was a time of rapid evolution among mammals, probably because the dinosaurs had gone extinct at its beginning. Many of these early mammals did not survive the PETM or began to decline in diversity at that time.

On the road in Wyoming: The Secretary’s travel journal (day one)

By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Tuesday, July 14. Worland, Wyoming.

It is reasonable to ask why the Secretary of the Smithsonian would make a visit to tiny Worland, Wyo. Worland is located in the northern central part of Wyoming, in the Bighorn Basin to the west of the Bighorn Mountains. Drive east and you come to the towns of Ten Sleep and Buffalo; go north and you find Basin and Greybull; head south and you will arrive at Thermopolis; and to the west are Meeteetse and Cody.  Worland, with a population of about 5,000, is the county seat of Washakie County, named for a great chief of the Shoshone Indians. Familiar western legends abound here: Butch Cassidy lived in Meeteetse, and his Hole in the Wall hideout is near Buffalo. Cody is named after Buffalo Bill Cody himself who had a large ranch in the vicinity. But I did not come to Worland because of the western lore, or even to indulge in the hunting, fishing and scenery that attract visitors. I am here to learn more about global climate change.

Climate Change and Spaceflight: Is There A Connection?

I was struck by the relationship between climate change and spaceflight while rereading lately Jared Diamond’s fascinating 2004 book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The broad premise of Diamond’s book is that societies have collapsed many times in the past and that we may understand how and why this occurred. He contends that these disasters in human history are the result of a confluence of five major elements: (1) environmental damage resulting in resource depletion; (2) climate change; (3) hostile neighbors; (4) loss of trade partners; and (5) a society’s responses to its challenges (p. 15).

Diamond applies this analytic model to several past civilizations, including Easter Island (this society collapsed due mostly to environmental damage), the Polynesians of Pitcairn Island (environmental damage and loss of trading partners), the Anasazi of the Southwestern United States (environmental damage and climate change), the Maya of Central America (environmental damage, climate change, and hostile neighbors), and the Greenland Norse (who collapsed because of all five factors). He also includes a few success stories from history as well—especially in Tikopia, New Guinea, and Japan—before moving on to more recent societies.

This is a sweeping analysis; one with much to offer those interested in effecting public policy at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Diamond contends that environmental damage, resource depletion, and climate change all portend disastrous consequences for the future. On the other hand, he has confidence that humanity can respond to these challenges but that the time for action has arrived.

Looking for Dialogue but Finding Talk

I’m Jarrid Green, a former Smithsonian intern and recent college graduate from the University of Maryland. Now I am working with conference organizers at the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies to create dialogue with  an online community of individuals and groups interested in climate change research, but also broader topics such as virtual conferencing, STEM education, the Smithsonian, and others that the conference may raise.  I’m very interested in creating opportunities for students through community engagement, so I’m excited that part of my job here is writing for this new blog, to bring the perspective of a young person to the discussion about climate change.

My job also involves contacting online communities and connecting with them. For the most part, that project seems simple. As I search online I am discovering an increasingly strong usage of social networking tools by educators and a myriad of government agencies and other organizations. Searching for insight into communities of scientists, teachers, and students, I often stumble upon a platform for discussion, or should I say, talk.

There are some communities and blogs, for example, where a published post will generate commentary from followers and some who choose to comment upon the post agree or disagree with one or two people. The information may be republished in other blogs or by other parties, but it all seems to be done in such a very “flash-in-the-pan” way, meaning, overwhelmingly introductory, not processed, reflected upon, or transformed into better or more refined ideas in a way that often happens in person-to-person conversations. Where real conversation actually does occur, it seems to be largely unnoticed by subsequent writers.  Perhaps my conclusions are based on the specific task that I have before me and as a result, my perception is limited. However, I am more than open to someone pointing me in the right direction.