Students at Western Illinois University enrolled in large lecture general education Weather and Climate courses become a part of mass-scale environment education by contributing to Earth Gauge.

Earth Gauge is sponsored by the National Environmental Education Foundation, the American Meteorological Society and COMET. This service provides environmental information to broadcast meteorologists for use during on-air, internet, or printed weather discussions in order to increase environment awareness among the general public. I introduced Earth Gauge to my introductory-level large lecture classes as a service learning project. Students are asked to come up with ways that weather influences their environment and a “Viewer Tip” describing how individuals can help reduce detrimental impacts. Students work in groups to brainstorm ideas, and then each student is assigned (by the group) a topic to research. Groups meet throughout the semester to create a final write-up for submission to Earth Gauge. I have used various forms of this project during each of the last four semesters. Students really enjoy this project, learn a lot about the interaction between weather, mankind and the environment, and have an opportunity to be a part of educating the public about environmental concerns.

This poster presentation will include strategies to get a large lecture class involved in helping Earth Gauge, samples of students' work that has been submitted to Earth Gauge, assessment of what students have learned by participating in this project and suggestions by students on how the project can be improved in subsequent semesters.