Authentic data collection and analysis is a critical goal of science education today (National Research Council, 1996). An excellent way for science students and teachers to develop and hone process-oriented skills is through the examination of “real” data, particularly data they have collected, refined, completed ground-truthing on, and compared to other sources. Recently the researcher participated in a High Altitude Ballooning workshop where raw data about temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and more was collected via a weather balloon. Pre-service science teachers examined the data and considered its uses with regard to science education and within their future classrooms; for example, students compared the observed cloud heights relative to calculated values based on temperature and humidity, and compared the data to same-day nearby upper-air rawinsonde data distributed through the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The essentially real-time data from the balloon launch was examined using GIS and the path of the balloon was converted from GPX to KML for illustration in 3-Dimensions with Google Earth™. General trends in wind direction were used to evaluate implications related to the spread of natural (e.g., forest fires, volcanic eruptions) and anthropogenic pollutants.

An examination of this data provided and modeled a way for pre-service teachers to develop questions through a data-driven inquiry-based approach to geoscience issues. Additionally, multiple forms of technology (e.g., GPS, spreadsheet software, GIS, and virtual globes) were demonstrated or utilized throughout the analysis process. Future goals of the project include incorporating payload design/development and student participation in high altitude balloon launches.