American Meteorological
Society’s Education Program
“AMS Climate Studies: A Turnkey
Package in Climate Science Literacy”
2009 GSA Annual
Meeting & Exposition
Portland, OR
October 18, 2009
Dr. James A. Brey
Director, Education Program
American Meteorological Society
American Meteorological Society
• Founded in 1919
• Over 12,000 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
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
What are AMS Weather Studies, AMS
Ocean Studies & AMS Climate Studies?
•
Introductory undergraduate courses that place students in a dynamic
educational environment where they investigate the atmosphere and world
ocean 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 real-time
• Nationally implemented in Fall 1999
and licensed by 380 institutions
• Course offered to over
40,000 students
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
available Fall 2010!
•
Help your students become responsible, scientifically-literate
participants in the discussions that dominate climate science today
•
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
Course Development Background
•
AMS Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement
Program (UFEP), 1994, 1995, NWSTC
•
AMS DataStreme Atmosphere pre-college
teacher enhancement course, 1996-
•
AMS Weather Studies pilot tested in spring 1999; national
implementation fall 1999; licensed by 400 institutions
•
AMS DataStreme Ocean pre-college
teacher enhancement course 2003-
•
AMS Ocean Studies pilot tested spring
2005; national implementation fall 2005;
licensed by 120 institutions
•
AMS DataStreme Earth’s Climate System
pre-college teacher enhancement course 2009-
•
AMS Climate Studies pilot testing
spring 2010; national
implementation fall 2010
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
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 today’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
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, 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 meteorology,
oceanography and climate science faculty, as well as by science
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 local
institutional credit and purchase course
materials through their local bookstore
•
AMS staff and experienced course
instructors mentor new faculty
National Dissemination Background
•
The U.S. faces a serious challenge in attracting members of
racial and ethnic minority groups to scientific careers
•
Within the geosciences, minority groups earn 4.6% of all
bachelor and 5% of Ph.D. degrees, even though these
groups comprise about 27% of the U.S. population
•
The challenge in attracting minority students is that
many college and universities with high minority
student populations focus on traditional sciences
and do not offer introductory geoscience courses
•
To help alleviate this problem, AMS makes
available AMS Weather Studies, AMS Ocean
Studies and AMS Climate Studies and
conducts NSF-supported
faculty training
AMS Diversity Projects
• Faculty participants attend expenses-paid, week-long course
implementation workshops that cover fundamental course
understandings and implementation procedures
– Key to these workshops are presentations by
NOAA and university scientists along with
field trips to science laboratories
• Faculty members then present posters on their
course implementation at the subsequent
AMS Annual Meeting
AMS Diversity Projects
•
AMS Weather Studies Diversity Project
– NOAA/NWS Training Center in Kansas City, MO from 2002-2007
– 145 institutions have offered course to over 8,000 students
– Anecdotal evidence of students choosing additional science courses
and/or indicating intent to pursue meteorology major
•
AMS Ocean Studies Diversity Project
– University of Washington/NOAA facilities in
Seattle, WA from 2006-2008
– 77 institutions have already offered
course to 1,700 students
•
We hope to do the same with
AMS Climate Studies!
Conclusions & Future Directions
•
AMS Weather Studies, along with AMS Ocean Studies, together have
introduced real-world geoscience education to 400+ 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
•
AMS is building upon its suite of introductory
geoscience courses with AMS Climate
Studies, available next fall!
Acknowledgements & Contacts
• AMS Weather Studies 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 is supported by NASA grant
NNX-09AP58G (CCLI-ND)
• NOAA and the Univ. of Washington School of
Oceanography have also contributed
supported the Seattle Diversity
Project workshop
Dr. James Brey
AMS Education Program
brey@ametsoc.org
(202) 737-1043
American Meteorological Society
1120 G Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005