Seventh International Conference on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education

P1.13

AMS Local Implementation Teams in Action: A Decade of Change

Robert P. Wanton, National Weather Service, Mt. Holly, NJ; and J. D. Moore, K. Orr, and W. Huskin

“In the world of Atmospheric and Oceanographic Science there are scientists and educators. These are their stories.”

More then a decade ago the AMS DataStreme paradigm was established, the creation of Local Implementation Teams (LITs) that called for the partnering of AMS Education Resources Agents (AERAs), National Weather Service personnel, and representation from the local scientific community. This new “DataStreme” distance-learning course would seek to deliver a graduate level course nationwide using real-time data. What this particularly interesting is that this developed pre-Internet.

One such LIT was developed in the Delaware Valley, i.e. southern New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware, which coincides with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, forecast responsibilities. The Mt. Holly Office had already established a quite impressive and active “Outreach Education Program” going into schools, reaching thousands of students. These teachers (and schools) would be identified as, and proved to be, excellent DataStreme teachers. Our local Broadcast Meteorologists also took interest. This provided a high profile opportunity to begin building a regional network of meteorological and oceanographic education and public outreach.

It was discovered that this LIT represents the development of a professional collaboration where the sum of parts exceeds the whole. It has evolved into not only professional relationships, but personal friendships as well.

This presentation will review some of the outcomes of the collaborative work of this LIT. They include:

*Hundreds of NWS Outreach Education Programs reaching thousands of students

*Development of DataStreme Water in the Earth Systems LIT.

*Development of DataStreme Oceans LIT.

*Teacher Enhancement Workshops

*Innovative "Plans of Actions"

*Community Workshops

*Establishment of an AMS Local Chapter

*Establishment of an AMS Local Pre-College Student Chapter

*Establishment of the first Burlington County NJ NOAA NWS

*StormReady Community

*NWS Spotter Training Workshops with KYW CBS 3, Philadelphia, PA

*Collaborative Efforts and Participation in AMS Annual Meetings and the WeatherFest.

Poster Session 1, Poster Session
Tuesday, 4 July 2006, 8:30 AM-10:00 AM, Millennium Room

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