How Broadcasters can help increase Science Literacy through the AMS Education Program

The mission of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Education Program is to raise the scientific literacy of teachers and thereby their students by providing professional development opportunities for teachers nationwide. These unique national-local teaching partnerships link educators with trained teachers, college and university faculty, scientists, and broadcasters.

During the fall and spring semesters, AMS, in partnership with NOAA, NASA, and SUNY Brockport, offers DataStreme Atmosphere, Ocean, and Earth's Climate System. These courses are delivered to small groups of K-12 teachers through Local Implementation Teams (LITs) in nearly all 50 states. The three-member LITs, typically composed of an AMS-trained teacher leader, college faculty member, and AMS certified broadcaster or NOAA or other federal operational scientist. Each team recruits about eight teachers per semester and then mentors participants through the course. Emphasis is given to recruiting pre-college teachers who are members of minority groups and/or teach at schools with a 25% or greater minority student population.

The courses use current, real-world environmental data to investigate the atmosphere, ocean, and climate system and consist of weekly online study materials (twice-weekly for DataStreme Atmosphere), weekly mentoring, and several face-to-face meetings, all supplemented by a provided textbook and investigations manual. Upon completion of each course, teachers receive three free graduate credits from SUNY Brockport. These programs have directly trained almost 17,000 teachers, increasing their knowledge of online geoscience resources and their confidence in understanding dynamic Earth systems. Through courses modeled on scientific inquiry and fashioned to develop critical thinking skills, these teachers become a resource for their classrooms and colleagues. These teachers have impacted over one million students.

With the additional partnership of NSF, the NWS, and the U.S. Navy, AMS also runs two, two-week long, summer residence workshops, Project Atmosphere on the fundamentals of meteorology and the Maury Project on physical oceanography. Alumni of both workshops peer-train teachers in their local communities and at various conferences using topic modules provided by AMS. They also assist in offering DataStreme courses.

AMS has also worked to increase students' earth science literacy through AMS Weather Studies, AMS Ocean Studies, and AMS Climate Studies, innovative undergraduate course packages for institutions to locally implement. These high-caliber, scientifically-authentic courses engage students in relevant topics in the geosciences by utilizing real-world, current, environmental data. Designed to be adaptable to traditional, hybrid, or online instructional settings, these courses have already been adopted by more than 650 institutions nationwide.

The courses consist of a fully-integrated set of printed and online learning materials including a comprehensive textbook, Investigations Manual, course website, faculty website, and a faculty resource CD. Instructors can use these materials in any combination that best suits their needs.

Updated yearly, the Investigations Manual contains 30 laboratory activities, two per textbook chapter, and innovatively connects with an optional third online component, Current Weather/Ocean/Climate Studies, via the course website. These online investigations reference data from the NWS, reports from the IPCC, and accompanying real-world data from other lead scientific organizations. The course website is an all-inclusive webpage that provides links to numerous external sources as well as other information to further engage and educate students.

In addition, course instructors receive a Faculty CD that contains a faculty manual including learning objectives and suggestions for course implementation, as well as Investigations Manual answer forms compatible with any course management system, test bank questions and answers, textbook images, and PowerPoint® presentations for each chapter. These courses can be taught by experienced science faculty or those new to teaching the subject matter. Mentoring by AMS-trained course instructors is available to all new instructors.

Training of faculty, especially at Minority Serving Institutions, who implement AMS Weather, Ocean, and Climate Studies is also of utmost importance to AMS. AMS Weather Studies and AMS Ocean Studies Diversity workshops, supported by NSF, have trained and mentored faculty at more than 200 institutions, reaching more than 16,000 students.

With the support of NSF and NASA, and a partnership with Second Nature, the organizing entity behind the American College and University President's Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), the newest professional development workshop, AMS Climate Studies Diversity Project follows the framework of the prior two workshops and began in May 2012 and continues for up to four more years.

AMS is dedicated to increasing the scientific literacy of both teachers and students. AMS precollege programs have trained almost 17,000 teachers, in turn reaching more than one million students. AMS Weather, Ocean, and Climate Studies have already been adopted by more than 650 colleges and universities across the United States. AMS strongly encourages broadcast meteorologists to participate in AMS Education Program initiatives by becoming members of DataStreme Local Implementation Teams and promoting the local offering of AMS Weather, Ocean, and Climate Studies. For more information, please visit http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu.