EARTH2CLASS: CONNECTING CLASSROOM TEACHERS AND RESEARCH SCIENTISTS

"Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers" provide an effective format for bring together classroom teachers and research scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. Once-a-month Saturday meetings held at the Palisades, NY, campus give teachers insight into a wide variety of current areas of investigation. Before each program, we provide background information to assist teachers in understanding the scientist's presentation. After the talk, teachers have opportunities to work through related classroom investigations and/or educational technology applications. These parts of the program give teachers a good start on developing curricula appropriate for their classes and applicable Science Education Standards. Sharing among participants and scientists also lead to exciting ideas for implementation in their programs. Themes for this year's Workshops include: Studying climate change through sea floor cores; Managing risks from natural hazards; Ocean temperatures and South Hemisphere climates; Exploring Lake Vostok; Dendrochronology; New understandings of the crust from the Ocean Drilling Project; Marsh archives of the Hudson Estuary; Photographing the Microworld; Remote Sensing of the Southern Ocean; Sea-floor impact craters and tsunamis; and Using synthetic aperture radar to investigate natural hazards. Visits to the unique facilities at Lamont-Doherty, such as the Deep-Sea Sample Repository and Remote Sensing Laboratory, enhance these programs. Our web site, www.earth2class.org, provides additional supporting materials. These include archived versions of past programs (almost 40); extensive web and print resources; mentoring suggestions; examples of work contributed by participants; virtual tours; and course materials. Results of evaluation studies will also be presented.