What Do Goddard and Big Brown Bats Have in Common? Why Ginger Butcher, of Course

Photo by Chris Gunn, 293

Butcher, independent graphics designer and web mistress for GSFC's Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics, has created a children's pop-up book, The Adventure of Echo the Bat,as an extension of the popular The Adventure of Echo the Bat interactive educational website (http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/) designed to teach the principles of remote sensing to upper-elementary and middle school student audiences.

Echo, a baby Big Brown Bat, takes the young reader on a journey through the Arizona landscape as he flies in search of his mother. Landsat images provide a space-based perspective of Echo's migration route and an introduction to basic concepts in remote sensing.

The original idea for the website and story line focused on younger students. Its objective was to teach the principles of remote sensing to 2nd graders. Echo, the story, was written with that goal in mind. However, image processing using false color to identify geographic/geologic features in Landsat images proved to be too complicated a concept for that age group. "You can't say green grass is red to a 2nd grader," said Butcher. As a result, the story was revised to reflect a higher reading level, and the Adventure website and companion lesson plans were developed for grades 5-8.

In 1999, the web-based Adventure of Echo the Bat received an "Outstanding Education Product" endorsement from NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) education products' review board with a recommendation for broad distribution.

The popularity of the website, coupled with increased need for K-4 education products, prompted Butcher to revisit the original vision of an Echo product for younger students, and this led to the concept of the pop-up book. It was developed as an extension of the website--a hard-copy product to meet the needs of grades K-4.

Support and funding for the project was provided by Goddard, USGS Biological Resources Division and MU-SPIN Minority University Space Initiative Network.

The sturdy paperback book with its large print and bright colorful graphics stands alone as a read-aloud experience for parent and child or as the centerpiece for the teacher using companion classroom activities on the website to teach perspective, shape & pattern, color and texture.

In the story, Echo the Bat travels through different habitats as he migrates to his winter home. "The focus on habitats pulls together the science in an application that children can relate to," Butcher said. "A focus on biodiversity stresses the importance of habitats along a migration path. The story provides an authentic text that helps students relate to concepts of remote sensing. It raises the awareness of using remote sensing to study the Earth system." Butcher added, children form perceptions of science at a very early age. The pop-up book presents an engaging look at science as a prompt for "hooking" a future generation of scientists.

Butcher dedicates the book to her father, Dr. James E. Kupperian, Jr., who was the founder of the astrophysicist branch at Goddard and its chief from 1959 - 1970. During his career at Goddard, Kupperian conceived and planned the observatory series of spacecraft including the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) for which he was its project scientist from its inception. Ginger's parents met here at Goddard and she was one of the first graduates of the Goddard Child Development Center.

The pop-up text version of the Adventure of Echo the Bat will be available through specific workshops designed for the formal and informal education communities. Copies may also be purchased from GPO for $7.50 at: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/market/