Energizing students' earth science literacy

Abstract

The future state of the world's oceans greatly depends on the leaders of tomorrow. That's why increasing current students' ocean and overall Earth science literacy is so important and a primary goal of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). To this end, the AMS has created a suite of introductory, undergraduate-level courses that have already engaged approximately a hundred thousand students in the Earth sciences. AMS Ocean Studies, AMS Weather Studies, and AMS Climate Studies have been developed by the AMS with support from NSF, NOAA, and NASA and are designed to be adaptable to traditional, hybrid, or online instructional settings. Course components include a comprehensive textbook (ebook only for AMS Climate Studies; printed or ebook options for AMS Ocean and Weather Studies), eInvestigations Manual, course website, faculty website, and a faculty resource CD. Instructors can use these materials in any combination that best suits their needs. The 3rd edition Ocean Studies textbook features topics such as ocean acidification, harmful algal blooms, the use of ocean currents as an alternative energy source, along with a detailed look at the essential role the ocean plays in Earth's climate system. The textbook also reviews the latest technology for monitoring ocean properties including floats and gliders and cabled ocean observatories. The newest version of the climate studies textbook, Our Changing Climate, is currently under revision and was released for the fall 2014 semester. A greater focus on climate change issues as well as new chapters detailing human and ecosystem vulnerabilities to climate change, energy and geopolitical issues, and climate change denial are a few highlights in the new text. Additionally, new findings from the IPCC AR5 report and the USGCRP National Climate Assessment will be included along with mitigation and adaptation solutions to climate change issues. Updated yearly, the eInvestigations Manuals contain 30 laboratory activities and innovatively connects with a third online component, Current Ocean/Weather/Climate Studies, via the RealTime Ocean/Weather/Climate Portals. These online investigations reference data from NOAA, NOS, reports from the IPCC, USGCRP and contain real-world data from other lead scientific organizations. The RealTime Ocean/Weather/Climate Portals is an all-inclusive webpage that provides links to numerous external sources that further engage students. Instructor support materials are available with each course and include a faculty CD that contains a faculty manual with learning objectives and suggestions for course implementation, as well as investigations manual answer forms compatible with any course management system, test bank questions and answers, textbook images, and PowerPoint® presentations for each chapter. The investigations manual answer forms are files compatible with Respondus®, test-generating software for which many institutions are licensed (answer forms are also provided in Respondus® format). The faculty member has the option of delivering questions through their course management system to allow automatic scoring and immediate results for their students. This feature allows for full integration to a college's e-learning environment. AMS Ocean Studies also offers a unique way to study marine science through the use of Google Earth-based animations and other similar data visualization tools, such as NOAA View that allows students to view satellite, model, and other data and export high-resolution images. These tools bring oceanography to life! The AMS believes that students are truly motivated to learn when they can relate to the topic. That is why use of current, real-world data is vital to all three of the courses. A few examples include the 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami event, the 2012 record-low Arctic sea ice, and Superstorm Sandy. In all of these instances, online activities were created as these events were occurring; students learned the science as it was happening! AMS Ocean Studies, AMS Weather Studies, and AMS Climate Studies can be taught by experienced science faculty or those new to teaching the subject matter. Mentoring by AMS-trained course instructors is available to all new instructors. These courses aim to interest all students in the geosciences and increase scientific literacy through the use of real-world data.