A Variety of Methods for Educating Audiences about Climate and Earth System

A leading organization in weather and climate change research, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and it's parent organization University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) have made significant efforts to communicate the current scientific understanding of global climate change in a variety of ways and to various audiences. This presentation will showcase these efforts.

Professional development workshops for middle and high school educators allow teacher participants to become familiar with the methods scientists use to explore climate including modeling of the Earth system. Two-week workshops during the summer have proved to be intensive learning experiences for educator participants. Short, one- to four-hour, workshops at regional and national NSTA conventions have reached a larger number of participants from various parts of the country. Additionally, a prototype of an online six-week course for educators in climate change education has been tested recently with good results.

Hands-on classroom activities, designed for K-12 classrooms, illustrate how Earth's climate system works, how climate is studied, and possible impacts of recent global warming. These activities spark curiosity about the Earth system, develop student inquiry skills, and expose students to the collection of and manipulation of scientific data.

Climate Discovery, a newly developed exhibit for visitors to NCAR's Mesa Laboratory allows the general public to explore how Earth's climate has varied through geologic history, how and why climate is currently changing, and what models show as the probable future of climate change. Exhibit development involved close collaboration between NCAR scientists, educators, and exhibit designers.

Climate information is also disseminated to large numbers of K-12 and general public audiences from around the world via the Climate and Global Change section of the Windows to the Universe educational web site (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/). Windows to the Universe also houses the classroom activities related to climate change in the Teacher Resources section where educators are able to access information about upcoming workshop opportunities.