Timothy Cone, Russ Clark, and Thomas Maty

 

To help our youth better understand climate change and its impacts on our daily lives both now and in the future, it is important that we seek to engage them in every aspect of the research process. We believe that youth should be involved not merely as observers, but as producers as well. Specifically, in this project, we sought the opportunity to work with a small group of high school students in the research and development of a hyperlocal network of sea level sensors located in Chatham County. The ongoing result has been students successfully designing and managing a manufacturing process, assembling over 50 sensors, presenting ideas for redesign and improvements, and performing a series of quality control tests. The goal of this presentation is to share our process and results so that whether you are a classroom teacher, district leader, or researcher that you will be inspired to seek out opportunities to engage our youth in real-world scientific research and discovery.