EARTHLABS WORKSHOPS: INCREASING TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDING AND ABILITY TO TEACH CLIMATE SCIENCE

EarthLabs Climate is an NSF-funded (DRK-12) project focused at the high-school capstone level that includes curriculum development, teacher professional development, teacher leadership development, and research on student learning components. The curriculum development effort includes three distinct but related modules: Climate and the Cryosphere; Climate, Weather, and the Biosphere; and Climate and the Carbon Cycle. Climate-related themes that cut across all three modules include the Earth system, with the complexities of its positive and negative feedback loops; the range of temporal and spatial scales at which climate, weather, and other Earth system processes occur; and the recurring question, “How do we know what we know about Earth’s past and present climate?” which addresses proxy data and scientific instrumentation. The research effort addresses the question of what interventions are most effective in helping high school students grasp the complexities of the Earth system and climate processes, which occur over a range of spatial and temporal scales.

In order to assure an effective implementation of the modules with students for the research component of the project, providing professional development for teachers is essential. This presentation will describe how the project addresses teacher professional development, with a particular focus on the teacher-led, weeklong summer workshops. During June 2012, workshops were held at University of Texas-Austin and at Mississippi State University. The presentation will draw on feedback from both the attendees and the teacher leaders of the workshop as it address the highlights and challenges of climate science professional development.