Current Events

  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
  • Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows
    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 ...Read more

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    Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows

    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field. For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
  • Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust
    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials fr...Read more

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    Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust

    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature. Oceanic crust sinks into the Earth’s mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth’s surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now. For more information about these results, see the press release from the Carnegie Institution.

Becca Hatheway

I joined the Windows to the Universe team as an educational designer in the spring of 2007.

My professional background is in science and environmental education. I studied religion and environmental studies as an undergraduate at Colgate University (B.A. 1994) and science education at Western Washington University (M. Ed. 1999). My Master’s thesis topic was "The Effects of Experiencing Wilderness on Washington Adolescents".

For ten years I was involved in teaching in a variety of capacities, including: teaching kindergarten, leading recreation programs with preK-5 students, teaching field based natural history to grades 3-12 students in the Rocky Mountains, and guiding summer field experiences for adolescents in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. I worked at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science four years, where I managed the preK-12 classroom programs in cultural and natural history, developed and facilitated teacher professional development programs, and developed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Online Guide. Since joining the UCAR Office of Education and Outreach in 2004, I have worked on a K-4 project called Elementary GLOBE, developed curriculum and classroom activities, and facilitated in-person and distance learning teacher professional development programs for K-12 teachers. I am also working hard to learn Spanish so I can better use it with my job.

Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, biking, snowboarding, gardening, reading, and traveling.

Last modified August 1, 2007 by Becca Hatheway.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and NASA, our Founding Partners (the American Geophysical Union and American Geosciences Institute) as well as through Institutional, Contributing, and Affiliate Partners, individual memberships and generous donors. Thank you for your support! NASA AGU AGI NSF