Engaging high school students in authentic scientific investigations is essential for increasing scientific literacy. Teachers often resort to using textbooks and in-class laboratory experiences that emphasize facts but leave students feeling disengaged. Additional challenges are often added to trying to teach STEM content effectively to students for whom English is not their first language. A collaborative partnership between the author, a former educator who now is an Education and Outreach Specialist with NASA, and a high school teacher who works with underserved students for whom English is not their native language, was formed in order to offer authentic STEM experiences in a public-school setting. They explored the many resources within The GLOBE Program and the GLOBE Observer app, and decided to use these to build the structure around an elective STEM course for 11th grade students. Students learned how NASA satellite data is being used to better understand Earth’s systems and to gather data to help us monitor our changing climate. They used the GLOBE Observer “tools” (Mosquito Habitat Mapper, Trees, Land Cover) as well as several GLOBE atmosphere protocols (precipitation, air temperature, relative humidity, soil moisture) to monitor ongoing environmental conditions. Students formed investigative teams and worked with NASA scientists and data as they designed and conducted research to explore the impact of environmental conditions on active mosquito seasonality and types of mosquitoes, tree growth, and land cover in their schoolyard. They also communicated regularly with other students who were collecting similar data in different countries around the world to compare and contrast the impact of these environmental variables. The goal is for students to submit their research results to GLOBE’s “International Virtual Science Symposium” and also share their projects at their county-level science fair.

The emergence of technologies such as mobile devices, web-based analytical tools, social media platforms, open data and cloud computing have the potential to enable broader participation in science research experiences. We discuss how these capabilities were combined with a citizen science app and e-learning modalities to pilot a scalable model to extend the reach of an established high school internship program. STEM Enhancement in Earth Science High School Summer Intern Program is a nationally competitive program. In 2019, more than 600 qualified students applied for 50 positions. Those who were not selected were offered the opportunity to participate in a virtual cohort working with the GLOBE Mission Mosquito science team. Over 100 students elected to take part in the Mosquito Mappers virtual internship. A recently published meta-analysis of European citizen science projects demonstrated that the majority (90%) involved participants in data collection, 42% involved citizen scientists in data analysis, and only 10% of projects provided opportunities for participants to define their own research question (Turrini et al. 2018). A series of 5 research challenges posed during the 10-week program were designed to promote a sense of scientific collaboration amongst the participants and provide a structured research experience. Students identified an original research question, interacted with scientist mentors via live webinars and discussion boards. A virtual science symposium served as the capstone of the internship. The critical threat of mosquito vector borne disease makes student research examining local mosquito populations both relevant and compelling. While vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus are actively transmitted in parts of the U.S., both a changing climate and the northern migration of invasive mosquito species pose a future threat of diseases such as Zika and dengue. As scientists, students are empowered as agents of change improving health in their community. The Mosquito Mappers virtual internship was created in partnership with NASA, Texas Space Grant Consortium, The University of Texas at Austin Center for Space Research, and the GLOBE Mission Mosquito Program, administered by Goddard Space Flight Center and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.