CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLIMATE MODELING: REACHING TEACHERS THROUGH AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE

As national and state-level K-12 science education frameworks and standards begin to explicitly incorporate the principles of climate literacy (Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences, USGCRP, 2009), teachers are seeking opportunities to enhance their own knowledge of climate science and climate change, as well as data and modeling tools that can enhance their students’ classroom experience. To help address this need, the American Museum of Natural History has developed a graduate-level teacher professional development course, Seminars on Science: Climate Change. The 6-week, online-only course covers a broad range of topics, including the fundamentals of the climate system (relevant to earth surface processes); the natural and human causes of climate change; the role of paleoclimate investigations in understanding climate variability; and a discussion of potential consequences and risks of future climate change.

An important aspect of AMNH’s Seminars on Science: Climate Changeis the inclusion of hands-on experience with a full-fledged 3D global climate model (GCM) through a partnership with Columbia University’s Educational Global Climate Modeling Project (EdGCM). Through the use of EdGCM, participants are able to work directly with one of the key tools employed in climate change and climate impacts research, an experience that can later be repeated (at appropriate levels of complexity) with their own students. Step-by-step EdGCM exercises walk course participants through the process of simulating climate scenarios and analyzing model output, in a fashion designed to emulate the workflow in scientific research. The EdGCM experience is key to helping the teacher participants to better understand the strengths and limitations of models in climate change research. Together with the other course content, EdGCM provides teachers with the background needed to develop student materials that take a true systems approach to earth science studies.

Since AMNH began offering Seminars on Science: Climate Change in 2010, it has become one of the most popular courses offered by the Museum. Although the participants often find the exercises challenging, many report a high level of satisfaction in using EdGCM.