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The National Center for Atmospheric Research Education and Outreach Program

The National Center for Atmospheric Research Education and Outreach Program. Roberta M. Johnson, Director Susan Q. Foster Deputy Director UCAR Office of Education and Outreach. Why Is Education and Outreach Important at a National Research Laboratory?.

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The National Center for Atmospheric Research Education and Outreach Program

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  1. The National Center for Atmospheric Research Education and Outreach Program Roberta M. Johnson, Director Susan Q. Foster Deputy Director UCAR Office of Education and Outreach

  2. Why Is Education and Outreach Important at a National Research Laboratory? • Numerous national studies have identified concerns for quality of science education and level of public science literacy in America • The UCAR Scientific Community has called for UCAR to take a larger role in education and outreach (EO) • Previous studies have identified internal need for coordinated EO program for UCAR, NCAR, and UOP • Education and Outreach office provides opportunity for • coordination, integration, and leveraging of resources • efficiencies of scale • proactive program worthy of a national research center • building on strengths of existing projects and expertise to better serve the UCAR community and the public

  3. UCAR Education and Outreach Strategic Plan Mission: In partnership with the university community, UCAR promotes science literacy and advances all levels of education and training in subjects related to Earth’s atmosphere. Goals: • Support Students and Professionals: From Pre-K through Post Graduate • Foster an informed public through science education • Promote the involvement of diverse and historically under-represented populations in the geosciences http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/stratplan.html

  4. Who is involved in Education and Outreach at UCAR/NCAR/UOP? • UCAR EO Office • Provides centralized support and coordination role for EO at UCAR, NCAR, and UOP • Focus on K-14 integration of research and education • Assists scientists in UCAR community in development of education programs supporting their research efforts • UCAR Office of Programs • Develops and disseminates educational technologies and resources (digital libraries, data streams to universities) • Professional training for meteorologists (COMET) • GLOBE • NCAR Scientists • Advisors, reviewers of program content, mentors, role models, and content presenters for students and the public

  5. Formal Education K-12 Students Mesa Lab Classroom Tours K-12 Teachers Climate and Global Change Workshop Modeling in the Geosciences Workshop Curriculum Development for HAO Science in K-12 GLOBE Undergraduate SOARS Unidata Undergraduate Leadership Workshop Graduate/Postgraduate Study ASP, VSP, Graduate Fellowships, COMET, SOARS Digital Libraries DLESE, NSDL Informal Science Education Events Super Science Saturday, Public Lectures, Conferences Tours Customized Visits, Guided and Self-guided (Audio Tour) Exhibits Mesa Lab Lobby (Upgrades) Web-Based Resources Windows to the Universe Web Weather for Kids UCAR and NCAR EO web sites Divisional EO web sites Roberts’ Forum Skymath, LEARN Outreach Resources: HYPERSCIENCE from HIAPER Current Education and Outreach Program

  6. NCAR Undergraduate Leadership WorkshopJune 21 – 25, 2004 A five-day program immersing college juniors and seniors in the atmospheric and related sciences • Benefits to student: • Gain broadened awareness of state-of-the-art research topics • Tour facilities and labs at NCAR and NOAA • Meet leaders in the scientific field • Explore models of leadership in science careers • Establish a network of peers that may extend for a lifetime • Benefits to university: • Extended student’s beyond classroom experience • Students learn more about graduate programs and early career experiences http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/ulw/

  7. University: • Nominates student • Covers cost of travel to and from Boulder • NCAR: • Selects 20 participants • Covers costs of accommodations, food, activities, and local transportation • Application deadline: March 1, 2004 NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop 2002- 2003 University Sponsors: Cornell, Denver Metropolitan College, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Jackson State, McGill, Millersville, Pennsylvania State, Plymouth State, Purdue, Rutgers, San Jose State, St. Louis State, Universidad Metropolitana de Puerto Rico, UCLA Irvine, U of Maryland, U of Missouri, U of North Carolina Chapel Hill, U of Oklahoma, U of Miami, U of North Dakota, U of Toronto, U of Wisconsin Madison, US Naval Academy, U Louisiana Monroe, and Washington State

  8. Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research & Science www.ucar.edu/soars/ Creates a direct pipeline to bring ethnically diverse students into careers in the atmospheric and related sciences including engineering, mathematics, and social sciences Funding Agencies: NSF DOE NOAA NASA CU-CIRES UCAR

  9. www.ucar.edu/soars The Four-year Program Includes: • Mentoring • Leadership training • Writing and communication skill development • Career guidance and counseling • Financial support for Graduate School • Written report and formal presentation of research and results • Support for presenting Summer Research Reports at meetings and conferences • Publication of Protégé Abstracts in “Earth, Wind, Sea, and Sky

  10. http://www.ucar.edu/soars Results: 1996-2003 Thirteen (13) protégés in the STEM professional workforce • Four (4) Ph.D. candidates • Sixteen (16) M.S. degrees; one (1) M.B.A. • Twenty-six (26) in STEM graduate degree programs • Ten (10) with papers published in refereed scientific journals • Three (3) AMS graduate fellows • Two (2)NSF graduate fellow • Fifty (50) oral presentations at national conferences or meetings • Fifty one (51) posters at national conferences • Best Academic Mentoring Program, Westword: Best of Denver 2002 • 2001 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentoring Contact: Rajul Pandya, SOARS Director, pandya@ucar.edu

  11. Professional Development for Educators • Participants selected from national pool of master teachers with significant training experience • 2 weeks each, 20 middle/high school teachers • High impact through waterfall training model • Distance-learning programs in development • NCAR Workshop on Climate and Global Change, July 21-Aug 1 • science content, activities, field work, standards, technology, and training support • leading scientists and professional development specialists • http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/gew • Modeling in the Geoscience Workshop, June 16-27 • Funded by NASA through Earth System Modeling Framework • Focus on use of models in geoscience education • http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/mgw/ • UCAR recently selected for management of GLOBE

  12. GLOBE is an international science and education program that brings together students, teachers, and scientists to: • enhance environmental awareness of individuals throughout the world. • support improved student achievement in science and mathematics. • gather important environmental data for the global science community. Current GLOBE protocols: Air Temperature, Clouds, Precipitation, Aerosols, Water Vapor, Surface Ozone, Relative Humidity, Barometric Pressure, Surface Temperature, Water Transparency, Water Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Water Ph, Electrical Conductivity, Salinity, Alkalinity, Nitrates, Macroinvertebrates, Soil Characterization, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature, Particle Density, Soil Particle Size, Soil Ph, Soil Fertility, Water Infiltration, Land Cover Site, Biometry, Manual Land Cover, Computer Land Cover, Land Cover Change, Budburst, Green up/down, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Phenological Gardens, Fire Fuel Ecology, Seaweed, Marine Macroinvertebrates, Arctic Birds

  13. Mesa Lab Tours and Events • Mesa Lab Visitors Center ~80,000 visitors/yr • Theater, Interactive exhibits, Weather Trail, Science Store, • Tour Program • Tours 7 days/week serve ~15,000 visitors/year • Customized to interests of public, students, scientists • Science inquiry experiences • Super Science Saturday • ~3000 children and parents • Supporting Science Fairs • Student exhibits and awards

  14. Mesa Lab Exhibit Program • Exhibit Planning • Assessment of current exhibits’ content, physical condition • Scientific advisory board • Prioritization of enhancements and upgrades • New Climate and Global Change Exhibit opened June 2003 • Now working on Climate Futures exhibit for spring 2004 opening • Planning for major upgrades in Weather gallery in 2005

  15. Mesa Lab Audio Tour Funded by NSF Geoscience Education • Offers a thorough, self-guided orientation to the ML for visitors that do not take guided tours • Focus on research, science concepts, exhibits, & ML architecture and natural environment • Content for both adults and children in English and Spanish • Preliminary results: • Perception that audiotour has changed the public’s mode of interaction with NCAR exhibits • 997 users to date since opened July 21 • 687 during summer (2 kids:3 adults) over 5 weeks (~138/wk) • 310 during fall (1 child:6 adults) over 9 weeks (~34/wk) • 10 requests for Spanish language version to date • Will be reaching out to San Juan Learning Center this fall (bi-lingual education program in Boulder)

  16. Brings Earth and space sciences together with humanities content to share excitement of research and exploration with the public Over 70 Web Awards to date Over 6000 web pages/visuals on site Over 800 teachers trained on site in FY03 77% of users in K-12 31% middle school, 31% high school, 15% elementary 47% use once per week or more Spanish translation of Earth and Sun sections of the website opened in December, 2003! ~2200 users per day after 3 weeks Windows to the Universe Website www.windows.ucar.edu National Science Foundation • 2003 Summary Statistics • 4.4 million sessions • 38 million pages served • 150 million hits • ~400,000 users per month in academic year

  17. Education and Outreach Web Sitewww.ncar.ucar.eo/ • Providing information about NCAR education and outreach activities and resources available from our UCAR Office of EO • Presenting geoscience content relevant to the foci of NCAR science and appropriate to meet the needs of students, teachers, and the general public. • Highlighting science research underway throughout NCAR in a way that is accessible and relevant to a general public audience and high school students.

  18. Web Weather for Kids www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/webweather/ • Introduces 11 – 14 year olds to the science of dramatic weather events and weather forecasting • Includes hands-on science inquiry activities, weather stories, safety tips, and games. • Invites students to join an online weather forecasting contest for Madrid and Denver • Partially translated into Spanish Unisys Prize 2000 for innovation in Web-based education Westword Magazine 2001 “Best Science Web site for kids”

  19. HYPERSCIENCE from HIAPER Mission: to engage K-12 students, teachers, and the public in the HIAPER Program from the development of the aircraft to its deployment on scientific campaigns in order to: High Altitude Instrumented Platform for Environmental Research • Achieve academic excellence in the STEM • Recruit students into STEM careers • Model and promote diversity in the STEM workforce • Showcase “ingenious” engineering in the service of breakthrough science • Explore “real world” science addressing local to global scientific challenges • Teach math and science in the context of HIAPER’s exciting workplace • Highlight HIAPER’s interdisciplinary, interagency, collaborative contributions to the evolution of knowledge and its societal applications

  20. Scientist as Education Partners • Working with scientists here and at UCAR universities to develop resources, programs, and provide training to support their own outreach • Project development and implementation • Sabbaticals for scientists to be involved in programs, develop expertise in this area • Implementing training and volunteer programs • Program Partners • Content Advisors • Mentors • Mesa Lab Tour Guides • Scientists in the Schools • Ambassadors • Speakers • Wizards http://www.ucar.edu/educ_outreach/volunteer/

  21. http://nsdl.org

  22. The National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library The National Science Foundation’s online library of resources for science education … …established to catalyze and support continual improvements in STEM education at all levels (K-12, Higher Education, and Lifelong Learning).

  23. NSDL is a work in progress being built by community participation… Scientists Students Technology Experts Professional Organizations Universities Teachers Museums Content Providers Research Laboratories Publishers Government Agencies

  24. Earth and Space Science Partners • Northwestern University • Ohio State University • Scripps Institution of Oceanography • TERC, Inc. • Universities Space Research Association • University Corporation for Atmospheric Research • University of Arizona • University of California – Santa Barbara • University of Maryland – Baltimore County • University of Southern California • American Geological Institute • Argonne National Laboratory • Carleton College • Colorado State University • Columbia University • Cornell University • Dartmouth College • Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) • Foothills College • Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory • Kent State University • Michigan State University • New Media Studio

  25. NSDL Resources – Diverse Topics and Formats Interactives Data Sets Documents Maps Images Communities of Practice Exhibits Videos Remotely Operated Instruments Services Lesson Plans News Professional Development Tools Animations Visualization Tools

  26. Opportunities for Participation Participation in NSDL • Contribute collections and services to NSDL • Utilize NSDL resources • Apply for grant funding to develop a collection, service, or conduct research. • Serve as an expert for the AskNSDL virtual reference desk • Join the NSDL community through our email newsletter, listservs, website, and committees for content, technology, community services, educational impact, and policy. http://nsdl.org

  27. For More Information: Contact Dr. Roberta Johnson, 303-497-2590 rmjohnsn@ucar.edu Susan Foster 303-497-2595 susanf@ucar.edu

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