Using Alternative Technology Formats to Efficiently Reach Underserved Areas of the Community

This presentation will discuss how the National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office in Morehead City (MHX), North Carolina, is using new technology to conduct educational programming in previously underserved regions in North Carolina. This programming supports implementation of the next generation science standards for K-12 weather, climate, and ocean education. The MHX office developed a pilot program in 2017 using the new Google Hangouts platform. Improvements made to the 2018-2019 program included expanding the content provided to students, and including presenters from outside of the NWS, including external partners in the STEM fields.

Results of the initial pilot program in 2017 were positive. In a one-hour Google Hangout program, there was participation by 24 classes and 500 students, without the MHX staff physically leaving the office. The benefits of using this new technology to conduct educational programing includes having multiple NWS employees with varied job duties speak during the programming, instead of just one staff member when in-person school visits are conducted by the MHX office. Additionally, students tour the NWS MHX operations center virtually during the one-hour program. The google hangout platform allows lower-income school districts or those without available travel resources to participate in this experience.

Feedback was collected from teachers after the programming through Google forms. Some of the positive feedback from teachers has included the opportunity to virtually tour the MHX office and ask experts questions about meteorology, weather, and career skills. Anecdotally, students always seem very excited to learn about and see the equipment meteorologists use in their everyday job duties, as well the experience of “asking an expert” their questions about weather and climate topics.

In 2018, the program expanded to include meteorologists from local broadcast stations and partners from NOAA’s NC Sentinel Site Cooperative (NCSSC). These partnerships widened the programming to include female presenters in STEM fields, and to include topics such as sea level rise, climate change, and mitigation and adaptation strategies. One of the goals of the NCSSC is to better inform coastal residents about the impacts of sea level rise and coastal inundation. This programming provides “climate knowledge[1]” to students throughout the 22-county geographic coverage of the NCSSC in coastal North Carolina. This programming supports the NCSSC goal to educate K-12 students and teachers about the impacts of sea level rise and climate change.

This innovative educational programming initiated in North Carolina by the MHX NWS office has been very successful thus far. It provides students and teachers throughout North Carolina with information to support K-12 curriculum standards, and also serves to build partnerships in North Carolina between the NWS and external partners. This presentation will summarize the work of the MHX office to initiate this program, the short-term accomplishments and benefits, and goals for the program moving forward.