Building bridges between researchers and educators at CIRES

CIRES scientists conduct a great deal of meteorological, climate and oceanographic research. The CIRES Education and Outreach program works to build bridges between educational communities, school districts and teachers on the one hand, and CIRES scientists and research teams on the other. CIRES geoscientists are in a strong position to make contributions to education in the areas of meteorology, climate and ocean sciences, with the ability to contribute robust understanding of the scientific process, deep content knowledge, and access to cutting edge research projects and opportunities. This talk will provide an overview of the contributions that are being made by CIRES scientists and outreach professionals in the areas of oceans, weather and climate, and will describe strategies that work to increase the success of these endeavors. Building strong bridges between communities of educators and scientists requires flexibility, a thorough understanding of the needs, language and motivations of each group, and tenacity. Some strategies that support this bridging work are described in a CIRES study about the factors that engage or hinder scientists' involvement in education and outreach (Andrews et.al., 2005), while others are based upon experiences gained since agencies started to place more emphasis on the integration of research and education.

URL: http://cires.colorado.edu/education/k12/

Andrews, Elisabeth, Alexandra Weaver, Daniel Hanley, Jeff Hovermill, Ginger Melton. 2005. “Scientists and Public Outreach: Participation, Motivations and Impediments.” Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2005.