STEMMing the Tide

STEMMing The Tide in Alabama classrooms through GLOBE: Teacher training in environmental monitoring and citizen science.

STEMMing the Tide (STT) is a five-year initiative designed to equip Alabama teachers and students with the skills and knowledge needed to address pressing environmental challenges in their communities. With previous support from YLACES, we have successfully introduced citizen-science instruments into classrooms, enabling students to gather and analyze local environmental data. Building on that foundation—and in partnership with the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program—this proposal outlines our plan to continue and expand these efforts through two teacher-focused workshops and yearlong follow-up support, culminating in student-led presentations at the next ALYASS showcase

We propose hosting two workshops in Alabama guiding teachers on how to incorporate citizen science and service-learning into their STEM curriculum - one in Montevallo (July 9-10) and one in Mobile (July 30- 31). During the workshop, we will incorporate a half-day GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) training session as a model of how to incorporate citizen science and to train teachers on weather and air-quality monitoring protocols. By centering these workshops on GLOBE, we aim to equip educators with the knowledge and tools to engage students in authentic data collection and citizen science. In addition, we will support participating teachers throughout the 2025–26 school year, helping them develop hands-on environmental research projects that their students can present at the next Alabama Youth Action for Sustainability Summit (ALYASS) in spring 2026.

Project Overview

• Workshops: Each half-day session will train approximately 10 teachers and 10 community partners (20 participants total per event) on GLOBE protocols for weather and air-quality measurements. These half-day workshops will be incorporated into STT’s curriculum design workshop that partners middle and high school teachers with community partners and academics to develop sustainability focused projects and lessons for students in the following academic year.

• Equipment: After completing the training, each participating school or school system will be encouraged to apply for a weather station and an air-quality monitor from YLACES during the “Budget Development” session on Day 2. STT facilitators will help participants pinpoint their equipment needs and guide them through grant-writing, with submissions directed to either YLACES or STT depending on the project focus—data-collection tools to YLACES (e.g., monitors) or infrastructure-based resources to STT (e.g., recycling bins, garden beds).

• Follow-Up and Assessment: STT’s curriculum design workshop featuring GLOBE training equips teachers to develop sustainability-focused projects for the upcoming academic year and pairs them with local community partners and academic experts for year-round implementation support. Coupling STT with ALYASS offers additional professional development opportunities, along with a clear incentive for teachers to bring their projects to fruition—students can showcase their work at the following spring’s summit. STT provides an additional financial stipend to educators who successfully complete their projects in the following academic year. Finally, program impact will be monitored through a self-report Likert-style survey administered after the workshop and an end-of-year assessment in which teachers document their project outcomes and experiences.