Evaluation of the AMS Project Ice K-12 Teacher Professional Development Program on Ice Core Science and Paleoclimatology

Since 2021, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) has partnered with the NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) to design and offer the Project Ice K-12 teacher professional development program. COLDEX's mission is to locate and recover Antarctic ice that is over 800,000 years old. The atmospheric gases and particles trapped within these ice cores help scientists understand climate change—past, present, and future. Project Ice equips teachers with content on paleoclimate, ice cores, and polar science, serving as a platform to disseminate COLDEX's scientific discoveries and to help diversify the future polar science community (Rahilly et al., 2022; Brook et al., 2023). The program aims for participants—many of whom teach in underserved communities—to integrate ice core science and paleoclimatology into their curricula and to share this knowledge with other educators. The course, along with other COLDEX educational initiatives, is evaluated by a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University (OSU).

The Project Ice five-week summer course includes online coursework followed by a weeklong residency at OSU. Administered by the AMS and offered for graduate credit through Pennsylvania Western University, the course was piloted in the summer of 2023 with 11 teachers, and 24 teachers participated in the summer of 2024. During the online portion, teachers utilized a learning management system, along with educational platforms like Padlet and EdPuzzles, to explore topics in modules covering paleoclimatology, polar region geography, ice types and sea level rise, ice core engineering, and ice core analysis. Once on-site, teachers engaged in hands-on learning activities, visited ice core and sediment core labs, and participated in “Ice Jam” sessions to adapt this science to their specific learners.

Project Ice's comprehensive evaluation includes a demographic survey, cognitive and pedagogical pre/post surveys, a workshop evaluation with daily feedback, and interviews with summer 2023 participants at the end of the school year following their course participation. We will present the 2023 and 2024 course evaluation results, providing summative statistics and suggestions for improvement. Project Ice can serve as a model for other major research centers seeking to educate teachers—and by extension, their students—about scientific fundamentals and discoveries.