Advance your teaching skills and become a leader in Earth science education.

Since 1993, more than 23,000 teachers across the United States have energized their classes with information and techniques learned through the AMS DataStreme courses. They become science leaders in their own schools and communities, educating their teacher colleagues, and ultimately reaching millions of students nationwide.

The Future of DataStreme

In 2024, the AMS Education Team conducted a needs-analysis study to learn what K–12 and informal educators want from professional development programs like ours. Combined with shifts in the federal funding landscape, this made it the right moment to redesign DataStreme for the future. That work is now underway. It includes:

• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Each course will be open to all, completely free, and require no formal application.
• Go at Your Own Pace: Each course is designed to take about 40 hours for the average participant to complete. Learners can begin at any time and move through the material at their own pace—finishing in a week or spreading it out over three months.
• Mentorship: Our well-known mentor program continues, with pedagogical and scientific mentors available to support participants on request.
• Certification: AMS will provide a formal certificate of completion with your name and start/end date. Certificates can be customized to meet specific district or employer requirements.
• Residency Workshops: Participants who complete a course may apply for our in-person residency workshops, modeled on our prior Project Atmosphere, Project Ocean, and Project Ice programs. Those who complete all workshop requirements will receive a second certificate recognizing their advanced work. Pending continued financial support, these workshops will remain free and include some travel support. Priority enrollment will be given to those who complete one of the new MOOCs. 
• Course content is based on the prior DataStreme Atmosphere, DataStreme Ocean, and DataStreme Earth’s Climate System courses, with updated materials and newly developed online interactive activities. The courses are open to all, but content will be designed for middle school science educators (formal and informal). However, in the past elementary and high school educators have also had success in our program. Non-educators are welcome to participate as well. 
• Completion of the courses will count toward requirements for the Certified AMS Teacher (CAT) credential. Certificates of completion will also be conferred, with contact hours listed for use as PDUs.

Timeline

We are currently pilot testing each course. Meteorology was pilot tested in Summer 2026. Ocean Sciences and Climate Science pilot test courses are underway for Fall 2026 and enrollment is closed. 

• The following MOOCs are currently planned and will be open to the public:
  • Meteorology for Educators: January - March, 2027
  • Ocean Sciences for Educators: April - June, 2027
  • Climate Science for Educators (with an emphasis on paleoclimate): August - October, 2027
  • Air Quality Forecasting for All: TBD, but we hope to pilot test it in early 2028.

• The following residencies are currently planned:
  • Project Atmosphere: July 2026 and July 2027 (5-day residency)
  • Project Ice: June 2027 (2-day residency, Detroit)
  • Project Ocean: January 2028 (2-day residency, Baltimore)

Travel and lodging support is expected to be available for the residencies. Priority will be given to those who have completed the accompanying MOOC. The two-day residencies will be held as part of a greater meeting of the American Meteorological Society with attendees welcome to participate.

Please send any questions to [email protected].

We will continue to update this web page as development of the new program continues. 

We are very grateful to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US National Science Foundation Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (NSF COLDEX) for continued financial and scientific support of DataStreme. We are also excited to continue our partnership with PennWest University. While these programs will not confer formal graduate-level credits, Professor Chad Kauffman is continuing as a lead scientist and educator involved in both the online courses and the residencies. We could not do this without the partnerships with NOAA, COLDEX, and PennWest.