NASA´s S´COOL provides the teachable moment for the new millenniums´ wide range of learners

Students from more than 475 registered school sites in 37 countries are combining their efforts with these of NASA in an important endeavor on behalf of the Earth Science Enterprise. The Student´s Cloud Observations On-Line (S´COOL) is a hands-on educational project which supports NASA´s Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite instrument. Students observe clouds and related weather conditions, compute data and locate vital information while obtaining ground truth observations that coincide with the passage of the CERES instrument over their location. The observations can then be used as one of the components to help validate the CERES measurements, particularly detection of clear sky from space. Students´ findings regarding cloud type, height, fraction and opacity as well as surface conditions are reported to the NASA Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) located at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. The data is then accessible to both the CERES team for validation and to schools for educational application via the Internet. Whether it is the nine year old, who is first learning to recognize cloud types, the middle school student just learning how to use the computer and discovering many new avenues for applying their developing skills, the high school student gathering current data for statistical analysis, or the teacher in training looking for innovative ways to involve their future students in relevant learning, S´COOL is meeting their needs