More than 200 students from Ohio and Michigan ranging from kindergartners to college seniors will present research projects related to the Earth’s environment from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1 at The University of Toledo.

Teams investigated a wide variety of topics, including:

• How does our energy use relate to surface temperature at our school?;
• Which Michigan city uses the healthiest raw water for drinking water: Detroit, Monroe or Wyandotte?;
• Urban heat islands in Lucas County;
• Tracing It Back: Forensic soil science; and
• Effects of select weather factors on surface temperature during a polar vortex.

The annual SATELLITES student research conference is part of the GLOBE MISSION EARTH project, a $10 million project funded by NASA and led by a UToledo researcher that is transforming the way science is taught to students throughout the United States.

Dr. Kevin Czajkowski, professor of geography and planning, has been spearheading this effort to introduce authentic science to K-12 students through projects that rely on hands-on experiments to build knowledge using the resources of NASA and education partners across the country.

Czajkowski will give the keynote presentation at 11:45 a.m.

The student presentations will take place from 9:40 to 11:45 a.m. in Thompson Student Union’s Ingman Room and Room 2582.

Judges for the conference are local scientists and teachers.

Awards will be presented at 1 p.m. to each grade level category: K-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13-16. A peer choice award also will be presented.

“Science is more fun when students are participating in data collection and the scientific process, as opposed to conducting preplanned experiments in a classroom or lab,” Czajkowski said. “Through these research projects, students answer their own science questions about their environment by creating hypotheses, collecting data, analyzing data, drawing conclusions and sharing their results through their poster presentation.”

Czajkowski created the SATELLITES program, which stands for Students and Teachers Exploring Local Landscapes to Interpret the Earth from Space.

Through the SATELLITES program, students have access to GLOBE resources to help answer their research questions. GLOBE is the acronym for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, which is an international science and education program that connects students, teachers, scientists and citizens from different parts of the world to conduct real, hands-on science about their local environment and put it in a global perspective.