Informal science education supporting weather broadcasters on-air with TRMM "Mini-Education Supplements"

A new, monthly short-form education product and service for the Weather Broadcast community has been developed to use in conjunction with NASA Earth Science News TV products on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). In the past, NASA has regularly produced popular animations, visualizations, and long-form educational videofiles. This pilot study adds value to NASA through the development and distribution of two-minute "mini-education supplements" which give context and teach about current weather and Earth science research.

On-air weathercasters serve as public educators and are uniquely positioned to communicate and teach science to the public (including students). Yet, they lack adequate preparation, knowledge, and technical support to offer solid, quality educational experiences. The goal of this project is to give on-air broadcasters what they need to "teach" about science related to TRMM and other NASA missions. This serves to increase public literacy, expand media-based educational products and assure higher accuracy and quality science reporting. New features in these "mini-supplements" include: quick classroom demonstration activities to show and try at home, simple diagrams and animations that help explain science concepts, educational lessons which are relevant to national educational standards, and pointers to more in-depth, topical NASA and other educational resources.

This paper reviews the content of the pilot "TRMM Mini-Education Supplements" and discusses their utility as a public awareness and educational tool. We also review actual supplements and discuss the rationale of their components. Finally, we assess measurable impacts from our initial test year of producing and distributing the supplements.