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Precollege Teacher Enhancement and Leadership Training
Providing Online Distance Learning Opportunities in

DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) Science Education

he American Meteorological Society (AMS) received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct a Teacher Enhancement Project with a strong leadership component. An innovative Internet-based distance-learning course directed towards middle-school teachers, but open to all K-12 teachers, has been developed and is being implemented nationwide. The course, DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) Online, incorporates inquiry-based instructional strategies and a holistic concept of Earth from oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial water and problem-focused perspectives. It is designed after the highly successful DataStreme distance-learning course, and investigates the mass and energy flows associated with the global water cycle, and with related issues.

ourse participants will be prepared as WES resource teachers. They will demonstrate, through investigations of the global water cycle, the value of Internet access to environmental information in classroom applications. All teachers involved will be prepared to promote Earth system studies across the school curriculum in support of the National Science Education Standards. A pilot offering of the course was conducted in Spring 2001, followed by national implementation in September 2001 and twice-a-year offering thereafter, for two to three years. The United States Naval Academy, the US Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the State University of New York at Brockport provide assistance in the program.

he WES Project implements this teacher enhancement training program as a graduate three credit-hour distance-learning course partially delivered by Internet, which has introduced over 1,600 teachers to scientifically authentic and pedagogically sound learning activities. As WES resource teachers, the course participants have interacted with an estimated 16,000 teachers (and 160,000 students) in their home schools. A core group of 40 teacher Local Implementation Team leaders has been trained to provide course implementation and follow-up leadership.

© American Meteorological Society Last updated 01-08-2005