New Activities Supporting Atmospheric Science Education Research within the AMS Community

Investigating how to effectively educate future atmospheric scientists and how to communicate atmospheric science research is essential for broadening the impact of our science. Discipline based education research (DBER) is an important disciplinary area, enhancing knowledge of teaching and instruction through best practices established by scientific research. DBER elucidates the discipline-specific difficulties learners face and the specialized intellectual and instructional resources that can facilitate student understanding.

As a part of DBER, the Atmospheric Sciences Education Research (ASER) community continues to gain momentum. One visible activity that was widely distributed in atmospheric science circles this past spring was a survey on the interest and level of engagement in ASER. Further focus on ASER is demonstrated by the activity and recommendations of the AMS Ad Hoc Committee on Atmospheric Science Education Research under the AMS Board of Higher Education. Their report was submitted to the AMS Education and Human Resource Commissioner and AMS leadership in June 2019. The recommendations called for the AMS to more actively support ASER through activities such as establishing an ASER website, increasing collaboration with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), and working to publish more ASER peer reviewed articles. Additionally, in spring 2019 leading members of the geoscience education community noted the importance of, and the opportunity for, the AMS to further support ASER by including it as a specific recommendation in the External AMS Education Program Review report.

The authors of this abstract along with many other collaborators seized the opportunity to respond to the recommendation by developing a new vision for the future of ASER within the AMS community: The AMS Atmospheric Science Education Research Institute: Building a Community of Practice for DBER in the Atmospheric Sciences. The goal of the envisioned AMS ASER Institute is to specifically increase the number of researchers engaged in DBER focused on the atmospheric sciences. AMS and partners in this proposal are pursuing funding to foster this nascent community of practice through the engagement of community expertise and leveraging the Geoscience Education Research (GER) community. We see the AMS ASER Institute and the emergent partnership between the AMS and NAGT as a way to grow the presence of atmospheric scientists involved in DBER which will ultimately improve our community.

This presentation will highlight new activities in the ASER community, especially those directly involving the AMS and key partners.