Project Atmosphere

Pre-residence online work: 7-12 July 2025
On-site residence experience: 13-19 July 2025
Post-residence online work: 20 July-8 August 2025

National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC)
Kansas City, Missouri

PLEASE NOTE: We closely monitor potential health and safety impacts on the planned residence component of this course. A decision regarding the residence component also going virtual will be made BEFORE invitations to participate are sent.

Project Atmosphere is an online and in-residence teacher professional development course with a one-week residence experience offered by the American Meteorological Society's Education Program in partnership with Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest) and the National Weather Service. This course is specifically designed for K-12 teachers who include weather content in their curriculum.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

Learn to interpret and analyze weather information acquired through direct and remote sensing of the environment
Gain an understanding of significant weather systems
Help promote atmospheric education by peer training fellow teachers in their community
Gain access to scientifically accurate and pedagogically sound instructional resource materials designed for teachers
Earn three graduate credits from Pennsylvania Western University upon completion of program requirements

Cost and Resources:

For Summer 2025, the academic fee is being waived for all who are selected to participate.

Each participant will be supplied with a variety of instructional resource materials, including those that can be used in peer-led teacher training sessions.

After successful completion of course activities, participants will:

Demonstrate updated knowledge concerning the sensing, analysis, and prediction of atmospheric conditions
Show evidence of being able to interpret and analyze weather information acquired through direct and remote sensing of the environment
Exhibit understanding of major weather systems and features, especially those that bring on hazardous conditions
Indicate how they intend to promote weather education in their home areas by peer training fellow teachers, especially those who teach students who are members of groups underrepresented in the sciences

Eligibility

To be eligible for Project Atmosphere, teachers and supervisors of science at the K-12 level should:

Have enough background knowledge or practice/experience with content to benefit from the course
Teach or supervise the instruction of weather or relevant subject area
Demonstrate interest in teaching, curriculum development, and/or the training of fellow teachers
Demonstrate willingness to promote the teaching of weather and climate concepts in their home region through minimum of one training session for colleagues upon completion of the summer course

Participants will be selected to provide a broad geographic distribution, with focus on areas particularly vulnerable to weather-related natural hazards and climate change, and a cross-section of school environments. Teachers interested in promoting participation by those traditionally underserved in STEM are strongly encouraged to apply.

Components

There are three main components to Project Atmosphere: the residence experience, online activities, and post course peer training. Successful completion of all aspects of these components is required to earn the graduate credits for the course.

Residence Experience: The Project Atmosphere on-site portion will be held at the U.S. National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC) in Kansas City, Missouri. The on-site, in-person portion of the course includes lectures, tutorials, seminars, hands-on laboratory exercises, and unique NWS facility tours. The National Weather Service and other NOAA personnel will present a variety of topics dealing with the sensing, analyzing, and forecasting of weather. Presentations will be articulated with science content and weather education presentations led by course faculty. Participants will have an active role and may be asked to share "best practices" from their home institution.

Online Activities: Prior to arrival at the NWSTC, teacher-participants will be enrolled in the PennWest Global Online program and course management system, D2L. Teacher-participants will be required to complete multiple, asynchronous online learning modules related to the atmospheric and related sciences. This preparatory work will enable teacher-participants to engage at a similar level of competency prior to arrival at the NWSTC. Participants will also have asynchronous modules/activities to complete after the conclusion of the in-person component of the course.

Post Course Peer Training: After the on-site and online components conclude, participants are required to submit a plan for and/or lead a synchronous peer training session for other K-12 teachers in their schools, districts, or communities that utilizes the concepts and materials learned during their Project Atmosphere experience. More information about this component can be found on the page linked here (although in-depth details are shared with participants during the residence experience).

The course will include the following topics (online or on-site):

Surface and upper-air observations and analysis
Radar imagery and interpretation
Satellite imagery interpretation
Weather forecasting
Thunderstorms and severe storms
Hurricanes
Global climate change
Teaching and dissemination of weather information

On-site residence activities typically run from about 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM CDT each day.

Equipment Requirements

You will need a computer and high-speed Internet connection. If you are reading this on-screen with your own computing hardware and you can print it out, you are essentially ready for the online portion of Project Atmosphere. Course registration with Pennsylvania Western University will provide you with your own PennWest student email address and other resources and benefits available to all students at the University. Technical requirements for course engagement can be found here: https://online.pennwest.edu/learning/

Participant Support

Stipend of $100
Single hotel room for six nights, arranged by AMS
Group meals
Food and incidentals allowance (based on Federal M&IE)
Round-trip air or land travel from US home to Kansas City, MO
Limited local transportation/toll stipend
Instructional and laboratory supplies
Tuition
Set of instructional materials

Facilities

The National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC) will host the residential portion of the course. NWSTC is one of the best equipped meteorological training facilities in the world. It has computerized weather information systems found in NWS forecast offices, satellite and weather radar display systems, and is outfitted with classrooms, laboratories, and a full staff of instructors and support personnel. NWSTC is collocated with the NWS Central Region Headquarters and the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) which is responsible for commercial and private aviation forecasting for the entire United States.

Housing

Participants will be expected to stay in hotel accommodations arranged by the AMS, as the course will be intensive and will involve several evening meetings. Informal interaction among participants during meals and evenings will be an integral component of the course.

Participants should attend without families as their presence is likely to detract from full participation. No support will be provided for dependents.

Academic Credit

Participants who complete all course requirements, including the submission of a follow-up report on their peer-training session, will earn three semester hours of graduate credit in ATMS 5014: Selected Topics in Atmospheric Sciences through Pennsylvania Western University.

Credit will be awarded upon successful course completion and may be applied to a university post-baccalaureate certificate.