US -Thailand, Czech Republic, Norway, South Africa Workshop: Catalyzing GLOBE Alumni International Near-peer Mentoring (CGAIN)

NSF与NASA、NOAA和美国国务院合作，支持全球学习和观测有益于环境（地球仪）计划的活动。 地球仪是一个国际性的环境/地球科学研究和教育项目，面向112个国家的中小学。地球仪的愿景是促进和支持学生、教师和科学家合作，对环境和地球系统进行基于调查的研究。 地球仪已成立19年，为来自24，000所学校的65，000多名教师提供了环境科学内容和技能的专业发展和培训，并吸引了1000多万学生参与：学习科学过程;发现环境科学;并为支持科学研究提供了9000多万次基于协议的观察。通过地球仪被引入科学的大量学生继续获得科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学位，并在STEM中追求职业生涯。正如最近的几份报告所指出的，STEM劳动力的健康和活力对国家的繁荣至关重要。人们还注意到，STEM研究越来越多地作为建立在多个国际合作基础上的全球企业进行。因此，像地球仪这样的项目，让学生在多元文化和丰富的背景下参与STEM途径，是非常重要的。 越来越多的前地球仪参与者社区正在寻求找到有意义和具有成本效益的方式来回馈地球仪计划，并为其努力支持一个充满活力和多样化的学生社区参与全球科学事业做出贡献。 制定战略，利用全球地球仪网络的持续热情和支持是一个重要的和具有成本效益的机会，以维持和扩大该计划的影响。该提案寻求资金，以召开一个战略规划研讨会，制定一个连贯的框架，激活和使用一个新的校友网络，包括以前的参与者在地球仪科学和教育计划。 该研讨会将与在印度新德里（2014年8月3日至8日）举行的地球仪年度合作伙伴会议和四年一度的全球学习考察（GLE）同时举行，以利用更大的地球仪科学家，教育工作者，培训师，学生，合作伙伴和赞助商参加GLE的社区。研讨会议程的重点是分享特定校友社区正在开展的当前活动，收集GLE参与者对校友参与最有用的优先领域的投入，制定考虑业务因素的战略计划，为创建地球仪校友近同行指导网络奠定基础，并招募国际参与者，研究地球仪校友近同行指导活动的有效性。召集这次研讨会的地球仪参与者团队多年来一直作为领导者或培训师参与该计划，他们拥有必要的技能和联系，使这次研讨会成功实现其目标。NASA和NSF最近支持了地球仪用于通信、数据共享和分析的技术基础设施的现代化;这些升级大大提高了地球仪参与者使用社交媒体和更复杂的协作软件的能力。在进行这些升级的同时，地球仪业务的管理模式也发生了转变，从在美国集中管理转变为更加由社区驱动的管理进程。 这些改革使提议的努力，有意义地参与地球仪特别及时。 地球仪计划为新的增长做好了充分的准备;从校友那里获得额外的支持，作为近同行的导师和榜样，将有助于地球仪实现这一潜力，并为支持学生的STEM抱负提供新的机制。

In collaboration with NASA, NOAA, and the US State Department, NSF supports the activities of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. GLOBE is an international hands-on environmental/earth science research and education program for a global community of elementary and secondary schools participating in 112 countries. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system. Now in its 19th year, GLOBE has provided professional development and training in the content and skills of environmental science for over 65,000 teachers from 24,000 schools and engaged more than 10 million students in: learning about the scientific process; discovering the science of their environment; and, contributing more than 90 million protocol-based observations in support of scientific research. A significant number of students who have been introduced to science through GLOBE have continued on to obtain degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and pursue careers in STEM. As noted in several recent reports, the health and vitality of the STEM workforce is critical to the Nation's prosperity. It is also observed that STEM research is increasingly conducted as a global enterprise built on multiple international collaborations. As such, programs like GLOBE, which engage students in STEM pathways within a culturally diverse and rich context, are extremely important. A growing community of former GLOBE participants is seeking to find meaningful and cost-effective ways to give back to the GLOBE program and contribute to its efforts to support a vibrant and diverse community of students engaged in scientific endeavors worldwide. Defining strategies for leveraging the ongoing enthusiasm and support of a global network of GLOBE alumni is an important and cost-effective opportunity for sustaining and expanding the impact of the program.This proposal seeks funds to convene a strategic planning workshop to develop a coherent framework for activating and employing a new alumni network comprised of previous participants in the GLOBE science and education program. This workshop will be held in parallel with the annual GLOBE partner meeting and quadrennial Global Learning Expedition (GLE) in New Delhi, India (August 3-8, 2014), in order to leverage the availability of a larger community of GLOBE scientists, educators, trainers, students, partners, and sponsors attending the GLE. The workshop agenda is focused on sharing of current activities being undertaken by specific alumni communities, collecting input from the GLE participants regarding priority areas where alumni involvement can be most useful, developing a strategic plan that considers operational factors, laying a foundation for creation of a GLOBE alumni near-peer mentoring network, and recruitment of international participants in research on the effectiveness of the GLOBE alumni near-peer mentoring activities. The team of GLOBE participants convening this workshop has been involved as leaders or trainers within the program for several years and they have the necessary skills and connections to make this workshop succeed in achieving its goals. NASA and NSF have supported a recent modernization of the GLOBE technical infrastructure used for communication, data sharing, and analysis; these upgrades have dramatically improved the ability of GLOBE participants to use social media and more sophisticated collaboration software. These upgrades have been accompanied by a shift in the governance model for GLOBE operations, from being centrally managed in the United States to a more community-driven management process. These reforms make the proposed effort to meaningfully engage the GLOBE alumni especially timely. The GLOBE program is well-positioned for new growth; having additional support from alumni as both near-peer mentors and role models will both help GLOBE realize this potential and provide new mechanisms for supporting the STEM ambitions of its students.