Precollege Teacher Enhancement and Leadership Training
Providing Online Distance Learning Opportunities in

DataStreme Earth's Climate System (ECS) Science Education

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) received major support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to conduct a Teacher Enhancement Project with a strong leadership component. An innovative Internet-based distance-learning course directed towards middle-school teachers, but open to all K-12 teachers, has been developed and is being implemented nationwide. The course, DataStreme Earth's Climate System (ECS), incorporates inquiry-based instructional strategies and a holistic concept of Earth from oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial climate and problem-focused perspectives. It is designed after the other highly successful DataStreme distance-learning courses, and investigates the energy flows associated with the global climate system, and with related issues.

Course participants will be prepared as ECS resource teachers. They will demonstrate, through investigations of the Earth's climate system, the value of Internet access to environmental information in classroom applications. All teachers involved will be prepared to promote Earth system studies across the school curriculum in support of the National Science Education Standards. A pilot offering of the course was conducted in Spring 2009, followed by a pilot offering and national implementation in September 2009 and twice-a-year offering thereafter. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the State University of New York's The College at Brockport provide assistance in the program.

The ECS Project implements this teacher enhancement training program as a graduate three credit-hour distance-learning course partially delivered by Internet. DataStreme courses have introduced over 11,000 teachers to scientifically authentic and pedagogically sound learning activities. A core group of 11 teacher Local Implementation Team leaders has been trained to provide course implementation and follow-up leadership.

© American Meteorological Society Last updated 6-8-2009