Using AMS Courses and Data in the K-12 Classroom to Increase Student Engagement at the Pre-College Level

For decades, AMS Professional Development opportunities have opened incredible opportunities for teachers to learn and subsequently engage their students in weather, climate, and ocean topics in the secondary classroom. By completing AMS courses like the Datastreme project, Project Atmosphere and Project Ocean (formerly the Maury Project), enough advanced credits can be earned for K-12 educators to pursue the option of teaching Weather and Climate as a Concurrent Enrollment Course. At Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colorado, students who take Concurrent Enrollment Weather and Climate in their senior year of high school and pass with a “C” or better earn four guaranteed-transfer credits to any in-state institution through the Community College of Aurora! This presentation will focus on the pathways provided by AMS programming that allowed the credit accumulation at the master’s level to be able to teach in a Concurrent Enrollment environment. The presentation will demonstrate that through programs who owe much of their success to Ira Geer’s legacy, over 400 Colorado students (and counting) have achieved credit completion at the associate’s level in the deep study of topics in Weather, Climate, and Oceanography. Students taking the Concurrent Enrollment course utilize AMS data daily, participate in AMS-developed curriculum, and apply principles of Weather, Climate, and Oceanography to their daily lives, despite living in a landlocked state. Because of Ira Geer’s dedication to education and teacher professional development, students who may not have easy access to higher education get this experience for free at the high school level, earn credit toward their high school and college diplomas, and have the outstanding benefit of becoming informed citizens of a Weather Ready Nation in the process.