 August 1999 |
Middle-school teachers bid Boulder adieu |
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It's been a summer of summation and celebration for the 37 middle- and elementary-school science teachers who spent most of June at UCAR. This marked the third and final summer institute for the participants in LEARN: Atmospheric Science Explorers. Judging from the evaluations, this summer's program was a hit. One teacher commented, "I have learned an amazing amount," and another wrote, "The project has increased my knowledge base immensely."
What can you LEARN in one day?
Staff participants in LEARN: Atmospheric Science Explorers
Says LEARN director Carol McLaren, "It feels to me like this was our most successful summer. A lot of the content and learning has fallen into place."
"We've seen the mercury vapor light."--Visitors to the ACD lab of Barry Lefer and Teresa Campos
LEARN isn't quite over yet. During the coming school year, LEARN staff will join NCAR and UOP scientists on multiday road trips to the outlying Colorado schools where LEARN teachers teach.
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| Montrose teacher Mike Nadiak prepares a sample of his breath for isoprene analysis, part of a field visit with Peter Harley (ACD). (Photo courtesy of LEARN.) |
Weather lends itself nicely to multidisciplinary teaching, in which a number of subjects (language arts, social studies, science) are woven together and taught in a unified way--by following a ship's voyage, for instance. "That's one of the trends, to integrate across the content areas," says Carol. When the atmosphere is followed over a semester or a school year, rather than just for a week or two, the sweep of the seasons can be observed and analyzed by students in real time. Weather and climate instruction is furthered through print modules and hands-on exercises developed and brought to the teachers by LEARN staff and scientists within NCAR and UOP.
Each summer in Boulder, the LEARN teachers have spent one or two days "shadowing" a scientist or a support group. This year more than 20 staff were directly involved as shadowees. Since this summer's theme was atmospheric chemistry, many of these in-house hosts were from ACD (see sidebar). Over a dozen more scientists gave presentations during the three-week institute.
"We always follow the speed limit and we don't drive through cornfields."--José Meitín, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (now visiting JOSS), referring to his lab's renowned storm chasers
"I think it was an eye-opening experience for [the teachers] to see what happens behind the scenes of a field project," says Steve Williams (JOSS), who hosted five teachers. "They never imagined the tremendous level of effort required, from planning to setting up the project infrastructure, particularly in a foreign country." Joan Berryman, a teacher from Montrose, summed up JOSS's efforts this way: "They are neurotic about details!"
According to Sandra Henderson, LEARN co-investigator, this kind of in-person contact helps make research more real to the participants--one reason why LEARN is such a hit with them. "I think it's imperative that national institutions like NCAR be involved in teacher enhancement, in large part because there's so much here to share and the demand is out there," says Sandra. "Our job is to package and communicate it in a way that's accessible."
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| Nancy Smith (Montrose) takes air samples while shadowing Jim Greenberg (ACD). (Photo courtesy of LEARN.) |
That access isn't taken for granted in distant towns like Joes, Akron, and Bayfield. Some rural schools have state-of-the-art equipment, but others are still relying on Apple IIs. Satellite connections and modem links remain vulnerable to failure in rural areas.
Carol and Sandra are already working with collaborators on ideas for a follow-up to LEARN, including a World Wide Web component as well as other ways of reaching far-flung teachers. "We want to continue K-12 outreach at NCAR," says Carol. As with LEARN, the results could make more of a difference than we perceive from Boulder. "I wish you could come to my classroom and watch me teach," wrote one teacher as this summer came to a close. "You would see how excited I am about what I learned." •Bob Henson
"It's always someone or something."--Karyn Sawyer, JOSS, on the complexities of organizing field campaigns