AMS/NOAA Workshop for Teachers Workshop Components Workshop Staff Facilities Selection Criteria

Application Procedures Academic Credit Participant Support Housing Application Forms

This AMS/NOAA Workshop is designed for master precollege teachers and supervisors of science who teach or supervise the teaching of significant weather units. The Workshop is intended to (a) introduce master teachers to the latest technologies and techniques for sensing, analyzing, and forecasting weather, (b) explore and suggest ways in which the products of these technologies and techniques can be employed in school studies of the atmospheric environment, and (c) prepare workshop attendees to conduct training sessions on selected atmospheric science topics for teachers in their home areas during the next school year.

Each participant will become acquainted with a variety of atmospheric science instructional and resource materials, including teacher's guides, hands-on activities, and Internet-delivered weather information. These materials are being made available for use in teacher-training sessions, although many can be employed in appropriate precollege classroom situations.

As the result of successful completion of workshop activities, participants will:

1. Demonstrate the acquisition of updated knowledge concerning the sensing, analysis, and prediction of atmospheric conditions.
2. Show evidence of being able to interpret and analyze weather information acquired through direct and remote sensing of the environment.
3. Exhibit understanding of major weather systems and features, especially those that bring on hazardous conditions.
4. Indicate how they intend to promote weather education in their home areas by conducting in- service training of fellow teachers.

The workshop is held every summer at the U.S. National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC) in Kansas City, Missouri. The intensive two-week workshop includes lectures, tutorials, seminars, hands-on laboratory exercises, and field trips. National Weather Service and other NOAA personnel present a variety of topics dealing with the sensing, analyzing, and forecasting of weather. Their presentations are articulated with science content and weather education presentations led by workshop faculty.

The major topics to be covered include:

• Surface and Upper-Air Observations and Analysis
• Radar Imagery Interpretation
• Satellite Imagery Interpretation
• Weather Forecasting
• Thunderstorms and Severe Storms
• Hurricanes
• Global Climate Change

Time is devoted to discussions regarding the teaching of weather and the dissemination of weather information.

Formal workshop activity extends from approximately 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. A Saturday, July 26th, field trip is planned.

Workshop Faculty:
• Ira W. Geer, Workshop Co-Director; Director, Education Program, American Meteorological Society, Washington, DC.
• Robert S. Weinbeck, Workshop Co-Director; Associate Professor, Department of the Earth Sciences, State University of New York, College at Brockport, NY.
• Joesph M. Moran, Professor, College of Environmental Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, WI.

Topic Presenters:
• John L. Hayes, Director, National Weather Service, NOAA, Silver Spring, MD.
• Louis W. Uccellini, Director, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Weather Service, Washington, DC.
• Director, Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, Miami, FL.
• Joseph T. Schaefer, Director, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service, Norman, OK.
• Ronald Przyblinski, National Weather Service Forecast Office, St. Louis, MO.
• Jerry M. Griffin, Master Instructor, Forecast Operations Programs, NWSTC, Kansas City, MO.

The National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC) hosts the Workshop. NWSTC is one of the best equipped meteorological training facilities in the world. It has computerized weather information systems found in NWS forecast offices, satellite and weather radar display systems, and a meteorology laboratory. The Center is complete with classrooms, laboratories, and a full staff of instructors and support personnel.

NWSTC is collocated with the NWS Aviation Weather Center which is responsible for commercial and private aviation forecasting for the entire United States. The NWS forecast office in Topeka, Kansas, will be a site for a workshop field trip. A hydrology and geology fieldtrip will be conducted on Saturday, July 26th.

Applications are invited from master teachers and supervisors of precollege science who can provide evidence they:

1. Have had sufficient college-level training to profit from the material presented.
2. Teach, or supervise the instruction of, significant units in which weather-related materials are or can be included.
3. Have demonstrated leadership in teaching, curriculum development, and/or the in-service training of fellow teachers.
4. Will be able to promote weather education in their home areas and states subsequent to Workshop participation by arranging and presenting a minimum of two training sessions for precollege teachers.

Participants will be selected to provide a national geographic distribution and a cross-section of school environments - inner city, urban, suburban, and rural.

Participants will be selected to provide a national geographic distribution and a cross-section of school environments—inner city, urban, suburban, and rural. Teachers who are members of groups underrepresented in the sciences and/or teach (or will peer train teachers who teach) significant numbers of precollege students who are members of groups underrepresented in the sciences are especially encouraged to apply.

All communications concerning the workshop and applications should be addressed to:

Dr. Ira W. Geer, Director
AMS/NOAA Teachers Workshop
American Meteorological Society
1120 G Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005

All completed applications should be postmarked by March 31, 2008, although later submission will be considered if workshop vacancies exist. Initial notification of workshop awards and alternates will be made by letter on April 11, 2008. In selecting individuals for participation and otherwise in the administration of this workshop, the American Meteorological Society will not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, and status as a Vietnam Era or disabled veteran.

Participants may earn three semester hours of graduate credit in ESC 671 Selected Weather Topics through the State University of New York College at Brockport, upon completion of the workshop and the submission of a follow-up report of their weather education activities. Tuition-free credit will be awarded at the end of the Fall 2008 semester and may be applied to the Master of Science in Education degree at SUNY Brockport.

• Stipend of $600
• Single hotel room for twelve nights at no cost to participant
• Food and incidentals allowance of $350
• Air travel (or equivalent for land travel) for one round trip between home and Kansas City
• Instructional and laboratory supplies
• Free tuition
• A set of instructional materials

Participants will be expected to stay in hotel accommodations arranged by the American Meteorological Society as the Workshop will be intensive and will involve several evening meetings. Informal interaction among participants will be an integral component of the workshop.

Participants are encouraged to attend without families if their presence is likely to detract from full participation. While one other person may stay in the hotel room at no extra room charge, no other support is provided for dependents.