This past summer the Seventh International Conference on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education (also known as EWOC 2006) convened in Boulder, Colorado. This international conference provides educators worldwide with a forum to share information about their initiatives to promote the study of weather, ocean and climate. Since the first such conference held at Oxford, UK in 1983, educators have described programs, demonstrated materials, conducted workshops and exchanged ideas on how to enhance educational activities for the atmospheric, oceanic and related sciences.

This year the conference attracted 135 delegates from 12 different countries. The program included the following themes: the role of learned societies in educational outreach; enhancing public awareness of meteorology and oceanography through the media; teacher training; business and education partnerships for meteorology and oceanography; student-centered educational programs; cyberinfrastructure and computer-based learning for meteorology and oceanography; science, society and schools; education and outreach for the coastal and marine environment; indigenous perspectives of weather, climate and oceans; promoting diversity and enhancing the involvement of under-represented groups in meteorology and oceanography; informal education for meteorology and oceanography; international education programs and collaborations.

This paper will review a brief history of the previous conferences, summarize highlights of the EWOC 2006 conference, and discuss plans for the next conference, including a proposal to expand to a broader focus with an Earth System perspective. It is hoped that this new format will attract a wider audience with interest in earth and spaces sciences in addition to the atmospheric and oceanic sciences.