The primary issue with telepresence is in regards to the LTE equipment available at the linked sites. Additionally, weather proofing components to withstand weeks deployed in fresh and salt water is a key factor in equipment and deployment configuration. This project is part of a larger initiative to link students studying Lake Erie around Toledo, Ohio, and students on the Chesapeake Bay around Yorktown, Virginia. This equipment is vital to the success of this education effort in alloying for telepresence exploration of both sites in real-time. The primary goal of the overall effort is for students to conduct research on water quality, river/bay topography, comparing watersheds and learn how to use technology to solve water based problems. In doing so, linking fresh and saltwater areas, we will be highlighting the impacts from inland and coastal systems in the overall hydrosphere model.

Additional Information

By using telepresence, students, researchers, farmers, policy-makers, etc. can be directly connected with places, people, and issues that otherwise would just be words on paper, numbers in a graph, or video clips on the internet, lacking the direct in-person impact and connection that being there often can provide. As an example, while anyone would agree that derelict fishing gear is a major issue, actually showing crabbers, fishermen, students, and policy-makers several sites in the field in real-time with meaningless by-catch being lost can have an emotional impact that makes action and continued engagement with the issue much more likely.

This project supports a larger effort with Toledo Public Schools, based in Toledo, OH, Tethys Oceanix LLC, based in Yorktown, VA, and NASA GLOBE. This effort involves the Chase STEMM Academy, an urban school in Toledo, OH which is 96% free/reduced lunch and 215 of the 310 students are minorities. This project will also encompass Hawkins Elementary which is also a title one building with 50% minority and 61% free/reduced lunch. The High School, The Aerospace and Natural Science Academy of Toledo, is 20% minority and 33% free/reduced lunch. This allows for diversity in teamwork and also for the introduction to STEM, National Geographic and NASA. This project, if continued after a pilot period, will impact approximately 150 students each year. The grades incorporated are 6-12th.

This effort support the National Geographic COVID-19 Remote Learning Emergency Fund for Educators and provides the perfect opportunity for this project.

Data was provided by [5].

Outcomes of this project include educating students:

Outcome #1 for Middle School: What is Engineering? What is Technology? High School Students should be able to articulate and guide this conversation.

Outcome #2 What is an ROV/ASV/UAV? How are they important? High School Students share research and accompany middle school students out to the field to model and allow middle school students to also collect data.

Outcome #3 Students will be able to develop and understand how to select and use energy and power technology. Students should be able to describe the basic components of an electrical circuit, build a basic electronic circuit given a diagram, and conduct experiments on how electricity behaves. High School students will assist with creating and troubleshooting circuits and the power system.

Outcome #4 Students should have a basic understanding of buoyancy, pressure, density and so forth.

Outcome #6 High School students after working with Middle School students will then complete the research. Students will gather the data from the GPS locations to test water samples and document the findings. We will be sharing information between multiple locations and researchers at Yorktown, VA. In addition the students will be creating a device to collect samples from river beds and the bed of marsh for analysis. Students will measure the oxygen composition of water samples in the marsh as depth increases and the location to the shore. Students will form hypotheses on the oxygen content and other data.

Outcome #7 Work with NASA GLOBE and Tethys Oceanix LLC, instructing students and citizen scientist volunteers on GLOBE protocols and data acquisition. Studying findings and comparing the results and what we can do from a conservation perspective.

Outcome #8 Telepresence objectives: Students and citizen scientists will explore the connected locations, analyze meteorological and water quality data, looking at similarities, differences and trends between the Ohio and Virginia sites.

Outcome #9 Students and citizens will present there experiences, observations, and lessons learned at the conclusion of the project.