There is a growing recognition among employers, business leaders, policy makers, and educators that most U.S. students lack the critical geographic understanding and reasoning skills that are required for careers and civic life in the 21st century.

This session aims to bring together STEM advocates, educators, and experts who have been on the journey of creating STEM Education program to building a diverse and competent STEM workforce. The purpose of the session is to invite presentations on existing best practices funded by federal agencies (NSF, NOAA, NASA, DOE, etc.), private foundations, and industries to integrate innovative sciences into STEM education that supports the AMS 2019 theme of the three Is (Interdisciplinary, International, and Inclusive).  

The session will be co-convened by NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI)−Cooperative Science Center (Dr. Shakila Merchant) and NOAA Office of Education (Dr. Marlene Kaplan).

The proposal is to create one combined session (informal and formal) or two separate sessions. One session is dedicated to presentations (oral and posters) papers from the STEM Learning Ecosystems across the nation (informal and out-of-school) and NOAA’s environmental literacy programs across the nation. The second session would include oral presentations and posters on formal education funded by agencies like NOAA, NSF, NASA, Dept. of Education, NOAA EPP/MSI Cooperative Science Centers, NSF-REU, NOAA Hollings/Undergraduate scholarships programs, and NASA-MUREP. Both sessions would also aim at including presentations (oral or posters) from private sectors/industries STEM activities such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, AT&T, and IBM. 

The outcome of the session is to create a community of practice network of STEM educators to continue the dialogue and collectively engage in their missions beyond AMS 2019!