Earth System Science and the Internet

Abstract

In 1991, NASA and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) initiated a program to introduce college undergraduates to the interdisciplinary challenges of an emerging Earth system science approach to understanding our planet. Earth system science views the Earth as a synergistic physical system of interrelated phenomena, processes and cycles which remain largely unexplored in traditional disciplinary Earth science course offerings. The ongoing Cooperative University-based Program for Earth System Science Education (ESSE) challenges colleges and universities to develop and offer classroom courses which examine the Earth as a system and to share their progress, course materials and learning modules. Concurrent with the development of the ESSE community and its shared learning resources has been the exponential growth of the Internet and its suite of communication tools, which are a central resource for the ESSE Program. The Internet has enabled the rapid deployment of information and resources through shared repositories of learning materials and general Earth system science knowledge, all of which serve to create and maintain an active informed education community. ESSE participants are organizing to develop a suite of web-based Earth system science learning modules and sharing course materials and learning resources via the ESSE web site. The modular approach more easily assimilates peer-reviewed learning resources into a wide range of classroom environments. A web-based peer-reviewed Journal of Earth System Science Education is proposed to provide educators with quality classroom materials addressing the Earth as a system and to reward ESS resource developers with citable references. More sophisticated web search and retrieval functions, as well as advanced communication tools will be needed to maintain automated databases of networked resources and an informed user community as Earth system science and the Internet enter the new millennium.