The goal of Atmospheric Science Education Research (ASER) is to improve teaching and learning in atmospheric science through the development of evidence-based knowledge and practices. This includes both Discipline Based Education Research (DBER) as well as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). DBER “investigates learning and teaching in a discipline using a range of methods with deep grounding in the discipline’s priorities, worldview, knowledge, and practices.” (National Research Council [NRC], 2012, p. 9), while SoTL aims to “Improve one’s own teaching practice through innovations in pedagogy and curriculum” (NAGT 2020). It has been shown that many in the atmospheric science community highly value education research (Kopacz et al. 2021), but the atmospheric science community has yet to broadly encourage this type of scholarship (Charlevoix 2008, NRC 2012). Effective education is important for our future workforce and for ensuring a scientifically literate populace as citizens need to be able to make informed decisions regarding environmental security issues (e.g., energy, health, food, and water) that will affect the quality of their lives and those of their children (e.g., United States Global Change Research Program [USGCRP], 2009). This session will feature reflections on and evaluations of teaching strategies or activities (SoTL) to theory-driven research on teaching and learning in the atmospheric sciences (ASER).

References:

Charlevoix, D. J., 2008: Improving teaching and learning through classroom research. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc, 89, 1659-1664, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2008BAMS2162.1.

Kopacz, D. M. , L. C. Maudlin, W. J. Flynn, Z. J. Handlos, A. Hirsch, and S. Gill , 2021: Involvement in and perception of atmospheric science education research. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 102, E717– E729, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0230.1.

NAGT, 2020: Publishing SoTL vs DBER. Accessed 5 August 2020, https://nagt.org/nagt/geoedresearch/toolbox/publishing/sotl_dber.html.

National Research Council, 2012: Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering. National Academies Press, 282 pp.

USGRP, 2009: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States 2009 Report. Accessed 14 April 2023, https://nca2009.globalchange.gov/about-report/index.html.