American Meteorological Society Holds Eighth Symposium on Education
by Michael J. Passow
Earth Sciences Correspondent
"From dreams to practice" might sum up the difference between the first American Meteorological Society (AMS) Symposia on Education early in this decade to this year's presentations on 10-12 January 1999, at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel, Dallas, TX. When these additions to the largest gathering of atmospheric scientists began, most presentations set forth visions of what they would like to accomplish. Now, they share what they have been doing, and it's even more encouraging for those of us in the classroom.
The Eighth Symposium convened under the general theme: "Enhancing Public Awareness of Weather and Climate Prediction." The program has grown to include approximately 40 oral and 60 poster presentations spread over three days. Recognizing the increasing importance of this Symposium, the AMS Annual Meeting opened with a buffet adjacent to the poster presentations in the Trinity Exhibition Hall at the hotel, bringing many dignitaries to see the exhibits.
Posters ranged from work done by elementary school children to advanced training for professionals in the National Weather Service (NWS). Many included Internet-based activities, CD-ROMs, multimedia courseware, satellite data sets, and other applications of real data. Mishelle Michaels of the NBC-TV weather team in Boston shared their weather almanac program for the community.
Others shared field-based experiences. Of special interest in this category were a series of posters presented by students at State College (PA) Area High School. Thomas Arnold's students described their researches about energy budget, stream flow, and other aspects of weather and climate in the Cloud Peaks Wilderness Area of Wyoming. This camping expedition was shared with students from Scotland, a relationship between schools that has now extended over four years. (The Scottish and American students will also be displaying their work at the 5th International Conference on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education, to be held in Australia next July.)
"Earthstorm," an extensive project developed by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma, and many schools, provided another set of exemplary programs describing student data collection and sharing, cooperation with local emergency systems, and other ways to enhance public awareness. Many good ideas can also be found on their web site: http://www.outreach.ocs.ou.edu
A joint session with the 11th Conference on Applied Climatology opened the oral presentations. Most focused on efforts by universities to bridge the gap between theory in classrooms and "real-world" applications helping the public. For instance, Peter Robinson, University of North Carolina, outlined some of the opportunities now available to encourage understanding and uses of applied climatology. Kelly Redmond, Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC), Nevada, explained how predictions of El Ni–o effects on local conditions in the area served by the WRCC greatly enhanced public credibility and opened opportunities to expand scientific literacy.
Rene McPherson of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS) explained how, in seven years, they have grown "From Rags to Riches," from a staff of about six dealing with traditional climatological data gathering into one with more than 70, with a dozen formal outreach programs. In addition to the above-mentioned "Earthstorm," OCS participates in the Oklahoma First-Response Information Resource System to assist emergency management; research above atmospheric radiation, rainfall distribution, and many other projects that interconnect grade school students with middle and high schools, universities, professional organizations, and many others beyond the state boundaries.
A number of K -12 Educational Initiatives were presented in the next session of the Symposium. There are now many excellent teacher-training projects. John Moore, Robert Wanton, and Tom Lamaine described how classroom teachers, NWS outreach personnel, and TV forecasters in the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey region have connected teachers through AMS educational programs, the GLOBE project, NASA's Earth System Science seminars, and other previously-independent activities.
The AMS Education Program has created three K-12 projects that have reached thousands of teachers and tens of thousands of students in the past nine years. These include Project Atmosphere, the oceanography-oriented Maury Project, and DataStreme, a distance-learning program. Ira W. Geer, Jr., AMS Director of Educator, described these, as well as two college-focused programs. One provides opportunities for undergraduate instructors--some of whom were not originally trained in the atmospheric sciences--to enhance their subject knowledge. "On-Line Weather Studies" is a new distance-learning initiative that begins pilot testing this semester. If successful, it will provide a quality, off-campus alternative for many institutions wishing to expand their science education offerings without expanding their staff. To find out more about these, you can go to the AMS Education Program on the AMS home page: www.ametsoc.org
University initiatives were presented during two sessions of the Symposium. Some focused on improving degree requirements, employment prospects, and continuing education. Others looked at content retention and pedagogy experiments. New applications of online studies, interactive web modules, virtual reality learning environments, and other technology applications were also presented.
Having been present at the First Symposium in 1992 and many since then, I feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that what were once only visions of what could be have now become accomplishments to look back at, and which can serve as inspiration for others. Because attendance at the Symposium is limited, those interested in learning more about these ideas can find useful descriptions of most of the presentations available in the conference "Preprints" publication, which can be ordered through the AMS home page www.ametsoc.org .
(Editor's Note: Mike Passow has been covering AMS efforts in Earth Science education since the Winter 1990 issue of this Newsletter.)
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