Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia had a hand in a publication that recently won a prestigious award and it wasn’t a research paper – it was a children’s story.
The Council of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) awarded the Elementary GLOBE storybook What’s Up in the Atmosphere: Exploring Colors in the Sky the 2021 Louis J. Battan Authors’ Award, K-12. The book was sponsored by NASA through the SAGE III on ISS and CALIPSO missions and supported by a group of NASA Langley scientists and communicators.
Written by Becca Hatheway and Kerry Zarlengo and illustrated by Lisa Gardiner at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the NASA Langley team provided significant input and reviewed the story as science advisors.
In the story, a group of students investigates the different colors they see in the sky and learn how aerosols, or tiny particles, in Earth’s atmosphere can affect the sky color and our health. Aerosols, ozone, and air quality are core focus areas of SAGE III on ISS, CALIPSO, and other NASA Earth science missions.
“Children are naturally curious, and it was exciting to help be a part of a resource for kids to encourage that curiosity, give them additional science skills, and teach them about what’s in the air we breathe,” said Jessica Taylor, a scientist at NASA Langley. “Air quality continues to be a very important issue to society and NASA plays an important role in measuring and monitoring the health of our air. The science teams that worked on this book wanted to share about this science, and the book helps do this in a way that’s relatable to kids – by observing the colors in the sky.”
The award is presented to the author(s) of outstanding learning materials or a book that fosters the understanding of atmospheric and related sciences in K-12 audiences. The citation for the award reads, “For What’s Up in the Atmosphere: Exploring Colors in the Sky, which is a delightful, comprehensive story that walks young children through the scientific process to explore aerosols and air quality measurements.”
The book is available on the GLOBE website along with a set of activities designed to engage students in describing sky color and conditions in the atmosphere and helping them learn how sky color and visibility are affected by aerosols using prisms to explore properties of light and colors and collecting aerosol samples.
Here is a list of NASA project advisors: Lin Chambers, Kristyn Damadeo, Jessica Taylor, Rosemary Baize, Jim Crawford, Sarah McCrea, Gloria Hernandez, Preston Lewis, Dave MacDonnell, Ann Martin, Richard Moore, Ali Omar, Margaret Pippin, Marilee Roell, Jason Tackett, Larry Thomason, and Joe Zawodny.
To view the storybook and learning activities on the GLOBE web site, click here.
To learn more about the AMS Louis J. Battan Authors’ Award, click here.