AHS to Send Delegation to Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica

     Plans are underway to organize a student delegation of 11th and 12th grade students from Andover High School to attend an Environmental Sustainability Summit next March in San Jose, Costa Rica.  The two day summit is organized by EF Education and will include five additional days of travel within Costa Rica to gain an awareness of the different ways organizations in this country are addressing issues of maintaining biodiversity and promoting environmental sustainability.

     Prior to attending the summit on March 21-22, students will visit the Tortugeuro Sea Turtle Conservation area as well as other conservation projects in the Arenal region of Costa Rica, famous for its spectacular volcano.  The itinerary includes tours and speakers as well as opportunities to get to know the natural beauty of Costa Rica from whitewater rafts and forest canopy zip lines.

     A highlight of the program will be the two day Environmental Sustainability Summit featuring keynote speaker world-known conservationist Jane Goodall.  In addition to workshops and presentations by prominent presenters, Andover students will join groups of students from other states and countries to work together developing and proposing solutions to environmental problems and challenges presented by the summit organizers.

     Planning for the trip is underway and being coordinated with staff from EF Education.  The plan is for Stephen Sanborn, PreK-12 Science Program Advisor, and Melanie Cutler, science teacher at Andover High School, to lead a group of 12 students to the summit and related travel.  The Global Summit initiative is a relatively new program offered by EF Education and this trip to the Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica will serve Andover High School as a pilot to help evaluate the possibility of attending other annual EF summits in the future focused on themes such as Innovation, Human Rights, and the Future of Energy and taking place in locations around the globe that provide rich settings for exploring the designated theme.
     Information about the Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica can be easily accessed by visiting a web site established specifically for the AHS group at http://www.eftours.com/1632002HU.  

     There will be an informational meeting for parents and students interested in learning more about this program on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 pm in the Andover High School Media Center.  A representative from EF Education will be attend to present an informational program and answer questions.

Andover High School Joins WeatherBug Network

Last spring, Earth Networks installed a new weather station and web cam on the roof of Andover High School signaling the arrival of Andover Public Schools as member of the national WeatherBug network of schools and organizations.  

Screenshot of AHS online data display taken from the WeatherBug site

Attached to the Andover High Weather station is a web cam pointed to the field below and the sky above West Middle School.  The image is refreshed a few times a minute and both day long and month long time lapse images can be viewed.  High school students frequent the permanent weather data display in the science department to check on radar images, weather conditions, and forecasts in preparation for their afternoon and weekend activities

AHS webcam view of the sky above West Middle School

      Along with the weather station equipment, lifetime access to WeatherBug online educational resources was acquired for all 10 of Andover’s public schools.  This access includes use of the WeatherBug Achieve web resources, a rich collection of tutorials, videos, maps, lessons, and other curriculum resources designed for different grade levels for use in all subject areas.  Many of the Achieve lessons integrate live data from the Andover station.

      For example, the graph below compares temperature vs relative humidity and begs the question of how one might explain the shapes of shapes and possible connections between the lines on this graph.  A variety of math lessons are possible with these graphs as well.

       Another example of a useful learning resource is the Lewis and Clark Weather Portal, an archive of journal reports including weather conditions recorded during the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.  These journal entries can be used in a social studies or history course

Excerpt from Lewis and Clark journal of September 8, 1805

     Joining the WeatherBug network and gaining access to the Achieve resources was made possible by a $20,000 grant from ACE, the Andover Coalition for Education.  Because the data from the station is accessible by anyone online, this grant serves not only Andover's students and but anyone with access to the internet.  And don't be surprised to see data and images from Andover's station pop up during WBZ-TV's weather forecasts.

     Andover’s Weatherbug station data can be accessed by anyone by visiting www.weatherbug.com and entering 01810.  There's even an Weatherbug app for your phone or computer.  Check it out !