A DESIGN GUIDE FOR UNDERGRADUATE EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE EDUCATION

Supported by NASA through the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), the cooperative university-based Earth System Science Education (ESSE) program fosters the development of undergraduate curriculum and courses designed to understand Earth as a system. Since 1991 ESSE has supported 58 colleges and universities where faculty members have developed over 120 Earth system courses and reached tens of thousands of students with relevant and compelling interdisciplinary content that fosters a scientifically literate and informed citizenry and that strengthens skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program organizes the ESS education community, develops and shares learning content and builds infrastructure that promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding Earth. The ESSE community identified the need for a tangible legacy of the Program through documentation and sharing of the impact of ESSE participants, supported by illustrative vignettes with application to ESS education topics. The resulting web-based Design Guide for Undergraduate Earth System Science Education is a living synthesis of how ESS is being implemented in the college and university environment, including key items essential for undergraduate Earth system education that reflect the collective wisdom of the ESS education community. The Design Guide serves as a capstone of 15 years of ESSE program experience and as a starting point for future ESS education endeavors, leveraging original support to engage potential new audiences. The primary intended users of the Design Guide are undergraduate teaching faculty from multiple disciplines who seek advice and lessons learned for how to work collaboratively as teams to initiate interdisciplinary courses, as well as administrators interested in developing degree programs in ESS. The Design Guide is organized into nine sections, each authored by ESSE community members:

* The Scientific Framework of ESS * Teaching, Learning and Evaluation * Effecting Institutional Changes * Partnerships and Community Building * Pathways to STEM Education * Diversity in the Workforce * Exemplary Learning Modules * Data, Tools and Models * Future Directions and Challenges

The Design Guide will be available at http://esse21.usra.edu/designguide