Description:

Educators are innovative while meeting the diverse needs of their learners. However, when new challenges arise, teachers must think outside of the box, while their ability to innovate is tested to the limits of the resources available. For example, during the recent Covid-19 outbreak, education shifted about the structured confines of a classroom to the homes of faculty and students where access to technology ranged from excellent to non-existent. PreK-16 educators were placed on high-alert to act quickly to continue their curricula without missing a beat. Hours were spent to create meaningful and engaging lessons that mirrored the quality education that typically occurs within a school building.  New meaning was given to “teacher as decision-maker” as they scrambled to find the best resources to replicate classroom learning while being bombarded with tools and materials espousing to be the “best.” Nevertheless, educators stepped up to the plate in various ways to meet known and unknown challenges. They taught students people are flexible - and educators can adapt to new things. 

When it comes to science education, lessons designed to engage students in ways that help them see the relevance of the material to what is going on around them enhances their learning. Theme-based learning helps students connect concepts and vocabulary in meaningful ways. When students ask questions, gather real information about what is happening around them, engage in scientific methods to analyze data and reach conclusions, and communicate with others, they are learning skills and techniques for life, not just within the science classroom. But there are challenges to providing rich learning experiences as these in the absence of a classroom. In the case of teaching weather and climate remotely, an educator may look to incorporating interdisciplinary topics into their plans while collaborating with other educators from their school.  In addition, local observations within the child’s community can enhance learning about weather and climate topics. Activities can become family-oriented, authentic observation and recording data in picture, words and patterns in even the youngest of learners. For the older, technologically advanced student, there are many online resources offered by organizations such as NASA, NOAA, and GLOBE containing relevant data that can be utilized by students in projects as well as many virtual learning experiences. These are just a few solutions to meeting the challenge of teaching weather and climate remotely, and this session seeks to identify other effective solutions.

This session welcomes, but is not limited to, topics such as:

• Innovative ways to teach weather and climate outside of the classroom
• Effective technologies for teaching weather and climate remotely
• Solutions for education settings where access to technology is limited or non-existent (equity issue)
• Meeting the needs of all learners when teaching at a distance
• Preparing and supporting educators as they transition to distance learning
• Connecting with the local community, science centers, and non-formal educators.