Extended Abstract (96K)J7.4
LEAD LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Sepideh Yalda, Millersville University, Millersville, PA; and R. Clark, E. Joseph, J. Alameda, T. Baltzer, K. Droegemeier, D. Bender, and W. Yarnell
A new National Science Foundation Large Information Technology Research (ITR) grant – known as Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery (LEAD) – has been funded to address the challenges needed to create an integrated, scalable framework for identifying, accessing, preparing, assimilating, predicting, managing, analyzing, mining, and visualizing a broad array of meteorological data and model output, independent of format and physical location. The transforming element of LEAD is dynamic workflow orchestration and data management, which will allow use of analysis tools, forecast models, and data repositories as dynamically-adaptive, on-demand systems. As part of its formal commitment to education and outreach (E&O), LEAD has established six Education Testbeds to coordinate and manage a three-phase plan designed to: 1) assess the effectiveness of LEAD technologies for education and ensure that applications are scalable and congruent with educational requirements, specifications, and standards, 2) provide critical input and feedback to IT developers so that the tools and technologies will meet the needs of educators, and 3) deploy and integrate LEAD applications and facilitate knowledge transfer to a community of users (educators, researchers and students). In order to fulfill these goals, the LEAD E&O is promoting the formation of LEAD LEARNING COMMUNITIES (LLC). A LLC is a collaborative network of individuals that interact and collaborate to address issues related to LEAD that are common to the community at-large. In all, four learning communities have been identified: 1) Pre-College Learning Community; 2) Undergraduate Learning Community; 3) Graduate Learning Community; 4) Computer Science - Meteorology Research Learning Community. The four communities form a strand that shares the common theme of capitalizing on new opportunities created by data accessibility and Web Services technology. The LEAD E&O will coordinate and manage the activities of each LLC in order to identify challenges, develop broad and diverse user profiles, create curriculum materials including online interactive modules, entrain in-service and pre-service teachers, sponsor LEAD education workshops, publish a Web-based “newsLEADer” that will feature best practices and links to scripted workflows for educators, and develop a multi-tiered educational process where each LLC will work on aspects of the same research problem at a level appropriate to that community. Of particular interest to the LEAD Education Testbeds is the role of teacher-partners in the Pre-College Learning Community. LEAD is soliciting interested and enthusiastic middle and high school science teachers from a diverse demographic to join a network of partners to participate in the evaluation and assessment of LEAD proto-tools and technologies for integration into the pre-college curriculum, and to ensure the alignment of LEAD activities with national and state science and technology standards and the development of learning materials for the 6-12 classroom, and the dissemination of outcomes to peer teachers.
Joint Session 7, Cyberinfrastructure to support atmospheric and Oceanic Education: Examples and strategies (Joint with 21IIPS and Education)
Tuesday, 11 January 2005, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM
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