AMS Education Program
“The AMS Education Program’s Professional
Development Programs for Precollege
Teachers”
2010 ESIP Federation Summer Meeting
Knoxville, TN
Dr. Jim Brey
Director, AMS Education Program
American Meteorological Society
• A nonprofit scientific and professional society.
Interdisciplinary in scope, AMS actively promotes the
development and dissemination of information on the
atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic
sciences.
Boston and DC offices
• AMS Headquarters is in Boston at 45 Beacon
Street
• This is a historic building, built in 1806, that
was the residence of Harrison Gray Otis when
he was mayor of Boston.
• The AMS also has a major office in
Washington DC near the Metro Center subway
station for the Education and Policy
Programs.
American Meteorological Society
• Overall Mission: To advance the atmospheric
and related sciences, technologies, applications,
and services for the benefit of society.
American Meteorological Society
• Founded in 1919
• Over 14,000 members
• Organizes over a dozen conferences annually
• Publishes nine leading journals
• Certifies consultants and broadcasters
• Significant educational activity since 1990
Our Mission:
Promote the development
and dissemination of information and
education on the atmospheric and related
oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the
advancement of their professional
applications.
AMS Education Program Mission
To better equip students in
science and math by providing:
• Substantive professional development
opportunities for teachers nationwide
• Innovative undergraduate survey
course packages licensed to
universities, colleges, and community
colleges – including significant
numbers of minority serving
institutions
This is what we are most
concerned with and this
is what we do best!
Opportunities in our Disciplines
• Prepare the next generation of earth scientists by
promoting workforce development
• Encourage members of underrepresented groups
to aspire to an Earth science career
• Provide insight into the excitement of
Earth system science
• Illustrate the rewards provided by an
Earth science career
• Introduce role models to
emulate
Realizing the Driving Factors
• Global Change Issues
• Environmental Hazards
• Biodiversity and Environmental Health
• Globalization
• Human Interactions with the Earth System
• Technology and Access to Information
• Water Issues
• Air and Water Quality
Our First Mission:
Work with Teachers
•
Provide teachers with rich and interesting content to improve competence
and confidence
•
Provide materials that are standards-based and scientifically accurate which
can be transformed by teachers into age-appropriate lessons
•
Provide incentive and utility by offering graduate credit bearing courses
•
Create a structure for peer-training so the impact
of the training goes beyond the initial group
into schools and educational communities
• Create mechanisms for continued
interaction between teachers trained and
scientists and practitioner mentors
1991 - Present
Project ATMOSPHERE Teacher Workshop
•
Two-week summer workshop on weather forecasting. (NOAA, NSF support)
•
NOAA’s National Weather Service Training Center, Kansas City, MO
•
Course taught by the best of National Weather Service’s and AMS!
•
Leadership training for AMS Education Resource Agents
(AERAs)
•
AERA leadership essential for every other
AMS Education endeavor
•
3 graduate credits SUNY Brockport
National Weather Training
Center, Kansas City, MO
Project ATMOSPHERE:
Summer workshop
1994 – Present
The Maury Project (NSF)
• Two-week summer workshop on the physical foundations of
oceanography
• U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
• Leadership and the basics of ocean science
• Office of Naval Research, Navy METOC,
USNA, also NESDIS, NOS, and the
MD Space Science Consortium
• 3 graduate credits
SUNY Brockport
Maury Project:
Summer workshop
AMS DataStreme Project
•
Distance-learning teacher enhancement courses
•
Scientific inquiry utilizing near real-time geoscience data
•
Local Implementation Teams (LITs) provide mentoring by scientists and
practitioners
•
Customized textbook, investigations manual, & website
•
Teachers serve as resource agents in their
schools and school districts
•
Contribute to curriculum reform
•
Teachers earn 3 graduate credits
from SUNY Brockport
The DataStreme Model:
Group meetings
DataStreme Courses
• ~ 15,498 K-12 Teachers have completed a
DataStreme Course (through Spring 2010)
• DataStreme Atmosphere (NSF, NOAA)
1996-Present
• DataStreme Ocean (NOAA)
2003-Present
• DataStreme Climate (NASA)
2009-Present
Our Second Mission:
High quality Earth System Science courses
for undergraduate students
•
AMS Weather Studies, AMS Ocean Studies, & AMS Climate Studies
•
Introductory undergraduate courses that place students in a dynamic educational
environment where they investigate the Earth-atmosphere-ocean system using
real-world and real-time environmental data
•
Emphasis on hands-on laboratory investigations and the development of
critical thinking skills
•
Designed and serviced by AMS and licensed by colleges
and universities for local offering/credit
•
Turnkey package with multiple components
•
Can be offered in a variety of
learning environments
• NASA, NOAA and NSF-supported
Diversity Projects facilitate implementation
at minority serving institutions (MSIs) nationwide
AMS Weather Studies
• An introductory college-level course on the fundamentals
of atmospheric science
• Students learn about weather as it happens in near realtime using customized weather products from NOAA
• Nationally implemented in Fall 1999 and licensed by
more than 430 institutions
• Course offered to over
50,000 students
• Developed with
NSF support
AMS Ocean Studies
• Developed in cooperation with NOAA
• Course emphasizes:
– Flow and transformations of water and energy
– Physical and chemical properties of seawater
– Ocean circulation
– Interactions between
the ocean and
Earth system
AMS Climate Studies
• Focuses on the science, but also addresses the social and
societal impacts that draw the attention of students
• The same effective turnkey package as AMS Weather Studies
and AMS Ocean Studies
• Also, serves as a great primer for students
entering technical ‘green’ programs
Emphasis of AMS Climate Courses
• Scientific foundations of Earth’s climate system, including climate
dynamics
• Basic understandings of climate behavior
• Contributions of human activities to climate change
• Societal vulnerability and response to climate variability and change
• Vulnerability of managed and unmanaged ecosystems to climate
variability and change
• Political and economic aspects of climate change
• The challenge of achieving sustainable
development
Course Structure and Components
• All three courses are composed of fully-integrated packages,
and contain both printed and online learning materials
– Comprehensive 15-chapter, full color, hard cover textbook
– Investigations Manual with 30 laboratory-style activities
– Course website
– Faculty website
– Faculty resource CD
– Course Management
System-compatible files
AMS Weather Studies students
observe the weather at the
University of Texas at El Paso
The Textbooks
•
Weather Studies: Introduction to
Atmospheric Science, 4th Edition
– Authored by Joseph M. Moran
•
Ocean Studies: Introduction to
Oceanography, 2nd Edition
– Edited by Joseph M. Moran;
M. Grant Gross and Elizabeth
Gross were major contributors
to 1st Ed.
•
Climate Studies: Introduction to
Climate Science, 1st Edition
– Authored by Joseph M. Moran
• Case-in-Point
• Driving Question
• Chapter Narrative
• Basic Understandings
• Review and Critical Thinking Questions
• Essays
Investigations Manual
• Includes 30 lab-type investigations (two per chapter)
• For the Weather course, emphasis is placed on recent meteorological
case studies and the day’s weather
• For the Ocean course, an inflatable globe guides visualization of
complex ocean phenomena, including tides, El Niño/La Niña, and
tsunami trajectories
• For the Climate course, students are introduced
to the AMS Conceptual Energy Model,
easily visualizing the effects
of changing atmospheric
composition
Course Websites
• Weekly Weather/Climate News and Weekly Ocean News
• Weekly Current Weather Studies, Current Ocean Studies and
Current Climate Studies
• Daily Weather Summary
• Supplemental Information
• Links to current environmental
data and maps
• Student Resources
• Semester Archives
Paine College student leads a
discussion of current weather
Faculty Resource Materials
•
Faculty CD
– Faculty Manual
– Textbook images suitable for
PowerPoint presentations
– Test bank questions
– Answers to review & critical
thinking questions
– Course Management Systemcompatible files
•
Faculty website
– Weekly discussions
– Answer keys
Course Management System Files
• Respondus software converts formatted files to Blackboard,
WebCT, ANGEL, Desire2Learn, Moodle, and other CMS files
• CMS files facilitate student response online and
automatic grading of responses for instructor
• Respondus-formatted files
– Investigations Manual
(faculty CD and website)
– Current Weather Studies, Current Ocean
Studies and Current Climate Studies
(faculty website)
– Test bank questions
(faculty CD)
Course Implementation
• Course design enables offering by experienced science faculty,
as well as by professors with no prior teaching experience or
formal training in the atmospheric or oceanic sciences
• Instructional settings range from traditional
lecture-based to totally online
• Students enrolled in the course receive
institutional credit and purchase
materials through their local
local
course
bookstore
• AMS staff and experienced course
instructors mentor new faculty
AMS Ocean Studies students at
Washington Adventist University
on a research boat
Conclusions & Future Directions
•
AMS Weather Studies, along with AMS Ocean Studies, together have
introduced real-world geoscience education to 500+ institutions, many
of which had not previously offered a course in these disciplines
•
Courses encourage additional student explorations of the
geosciences, possibly leading to science careers
•
Turnkey course design and faculty enhancement
workshops make possible course introduction at
U.S. minority serving institutions and other
institutions globally
•
DataStreme: Water in the Earth System and AMS
Water Studies currently in planning phase,
developmental funding will be sought
•
Grant funding for AMS Climate Studies
Diversity Project will be sought
Acknowledgements
• AMS Weather Studies diversity Project was funded by NSF grants
GEO-0119740 (OEDG) and DUE-0126032 (CCLI-ND)
• AMS Ocean Studies Diversity Project is supported by
NSF grant DUE-0442497 (CCLI-ND)
• AMS Climate Studies development supported by NASA grants
NNX-09AP58G and NNX08AN53G
• DataStreme Atmosphere and DataStreme Ocean
are supported by NOAA award NA07SEC4690023
Contact
Dr. Jim Brey
Director
AMS Education Program
brey@ametsoc.org
(202) 737-1043
American Meteorological
Society
1120 G Street NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005