Weather and Climate for Teachers 2009

This July, teachers from across the country gathered at the brand new Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) building for a CMMAP and Little Shop of Physics  hosted class, “Weather and Climate for Educators 2009.”  This full-week course was hosted by Brian Jones, Sheila Ferguson, Christine Aguilar and Nisse Lee of the Little Shop of Physics, and Scott Denning (Education Director of CMMAP) and several graduate students and faculty members of the atmospheric science department.  For five days, 36 teachers from Colorado, Kansas and Wisconsin expanded their understanding of climate and weather through Scott’s compelling lectures and hands-on experimentation developed by the crew of the Little Shop of Physics.

The Little Shop of Physics has been part of CMMAP’s education and outreach efforts for three years. CMMAP is a Science and Technology Center funded by the National Science Foundation; the grant is up for renewal this October.  The main goals of the education and outreach program are to increase understanding of the earth’s atmosphere, an especially timely topic for teachers given the recent emphasis on earth system science in the state science standards, and given the national attention on issues of climate change.  The summer course is an integral, piece of this goal.  The material presented spanned concepts including convection, conduction, radiation, phase changes, atmospheric stability and forces, formation of weather phenomenon, and how all these pieces come together to make up our complex climate. Participants received two graduate credits for their work.  A one credit version of the course was led by the Little Shop crew recently at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Many of the attendants of the course were members of the Alliance Program at Colorado State, which is directed by Patricia Vigil, director of Early Outreach and Retention Initiatives, and Mary Ontiveros, Associate Vice President for Enrollment and Access.  The Alliance program is a partnership with 10 schools that serve populations of students that are historically underserved or underrepresented.
Despite the seriousness of the material and that of the course mission itself, the participants and presenters couldn’t help enjoying themselves.  Each day
consisted of 5 parts which demonstrated the “5 E’s” instructional approach: engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate.  These pieces ranged from physically simulating gas molecules contained within an impermeable container to satellite imagery to lecture on the structure and formation of clouds and temperature gradients to an interactive activity demonstrating the nature of science and logic entitled “The Cube: How Do We Know What We Know?”

Participants of the summer course have begun to submit their assignments for credit and these are available here. Presenters are polishing up their lessons, and these will soon be available online as well.

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