Photo credit: science.nasa.gov
Engaging students in scientific exploration linked to their daily experiences can profoundly transform their self-perception, fostering their identity as future scientists. This enrichment can ignite a lifelong passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), leading to further educational pursuits and potential careers in these essential fields. Interactive experiences with NASA’s scientific endeavors—such as those featured in this narrative—serve to widen students’ understanding of STEM, stimulate their curiosity, and enhance their confidence. With dedicated educators guiding them, these pivotal moments of involvement become vital pathways for students to envision themselves as integral participants in significant scientific inquiries.
In September 2021, Ms. Deanna Danke, a mathematics teacher at Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School located in Queens, New York, introduced her students to tree height measurement techniques rooted in trigonometry. During her lesson planning, she became acquainted with the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Observer Trees Tool, and subsequently initiated a collaborative project with her over 150 students, gathering tree height data on their school grounds. This ongoing endeavor has yielded hundreds of tree height observations, empowering both students and professional researchers to create datasets that align with measurements obtained from NASA’s satellite instruments, enabling longitudinal data analysis.
The fruitful collection of tree height data led to a significant opportunity for Ms. Danke: she was invited to co-author a paper published on June 21, 2022, in the Environmental Research Letters journal’s special issue on public participation in environmental research. The research titled “The potential of citizen science data to complement satellite and airborne lidar tree height measurements: lessons from The GLOBE Program” incorporated the valuable data collected by Ms. Danke and her students, marking a remarkable accomplishment for all participants.
On March 21, 2025, continuing their journey with NASA science, both current and former students of Ms. Danke had the opportunity to visit the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. This educational trip featured presentations from experts associated with programs such as the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Missions, as well as insights from the Wallops Balloon Program Office and the Machine Shop for Fabrication and Testing. The segment focusing on ICESat-2 was particularly enlightening, shedding light on the student-collected tree height data and the satellite’s capabilities in observing tree height from space.
Ms. Danke’s initiatives exemplify the substantial influence educators have when they bridge classroom curriculum with authentic scientific research. By introducing her students to tools like the GLOBE Observer Trees Tool, she unlocked unique opportunities that many students only fantasize about—ranging from data collection that supports satellite missions to co-authoring published research and exploring NASA facilities. Such narratives reinforce the idea that empowering students to engage in real scientific endeavors can lead to infinite opportunities for education, motivation, and future careers in STEM.
The GLOBE Observer application utilized by Ms. Danke and her students is supported by the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC). This no-cost mobile app offers four distinctive tools that allow citizen scientists to engage in NASA-related research: Clouds, Mosquito Habitat Mapper, Land Cover, and Trees. Interested individuals can discover more about how to participate in this and other NASA citizen science initiatives. These participatory science projects invite volunteers and amateurs worldwide—irrespective of citizenship—to contribute toward vital scientific discoveries.
NESEC operates under a cooperative agreement grant number NNX16AE28A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. For additional information about how Science Activation links NASA experts with communities to foster engaging scientific experiences, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
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science.nasa.gov