NASA/UWHS Climate Science

This project began in 2011 as a NASA funded program to develop a syllabus, labs, and teacher professional development for a high school course on climate science. The full course is offered through the UW in the High School (UWHS) program but the labs developed for the course are being implemented in other high school classrooms.

The importance of broadening the reach of this project is illustrated in the NPR story of March 27, 2013 "A Hot Topic: Climate Change Coming To Classrooms".

***Announcement: New teachers interested in the UWHS ATMS 211 course should contact either Miriam Bertram at the Program on Climate Change (hsclimat@uw.edu) or Tim Stetter at UW in the High School (tstetter@pce.uw.edu) for information on upcoming trainings.

Among other qualifications, teachers will be required to have the equivalent of one college level course in climate science. This requirement can be fulfilled through the online American Museum of Natural History Climate Science course designed for teachers, or the University of Chicago Open Climate Science 101 online course taught by David Archer. Other online courses may be able to fulfill this requirement; contact us for review and approval at hsclimat@uw.edu.***

The Course

The syllabus and schedule of University of Washington's Atmospheric Science 211 (ATMOS 211) is being adapted for the high schools, including: (i)development of mini modules that teach aspects of the course in more depth
(ii) expanding for use as a full year course (you could choose to teach it as a half year course, but we will be adapting it to be a full year course)
(iii)linking content and hands-on exercises to NASA data and teaching resources

Textbook

"The Earth System" by Lee R. Kump, James F. Kasting, and Robert C. Crane, Prentice Hall, 2010. Pearson (Prentice Hall) Educator Website

Professional Development

From 2011-2012, provided teachers with in-depth exposure to topics in climate, new laboratory based tools for teaching climate science, and a community of teachers and scientists focused on climate education.

  • Saturday Workshop: introduction for new participants was paired with problem session and detailed curriculum discussion with teachers and scientists from cohort 1 and 2
  • Periodic problem sessions
  • One-week summer institute
  • Classroom site visits
  • Follow-up workshops to discuss implementation issues and/or present new materials.

    • Advisory Board

    Gilda Wheeler (Environmental and Sustainability Program Director, OSPI); Doug Hostetter (Principal, Kentwood High School), Robert Sotak (Curriculum and Instruction Director, Everett SD), Bruce Kelly (Science Coordinator, Highline SD), Kieran O'Mahony (Research Scientist, UW LIFE Center), Andy Shouse (Director, UW Math-Science Institute), John Haskin (Education Director, IslandWood), James Dorsey (Excecutive Director, MESA), Jeff Giesen (Director, North Cascade Institute), Mike Brown (Science Coordinator ESD 105) and Mark Watrin (Science Coordinator ESD 112)


    UWHS ATMS 211 Instructor Resources:

    (under development as of 10/02/2012)

  • Syllabus: Warren (Winter 2011), Thornton (Autumn 2011), Battisti (Winter 2012)
  • CourseSite: This cloud-style course page has chapter materials such as labs and activities, homeworks, lectures, and background information that were collected collaboratively by the current cohort of UWHS teachers. For access, please email hsclimat@uw.edu.
  • Lectures
  • UW Field Trip
  • Classroom visits by UW Climate Scientists and PCC Staff
  • Other high school ATMS 211 Teachers
  • Science Requirements for Admission to UW

    • Useful Links:

  • 2013 National Climate Assessment
  • WA State Science Standards (EARLS with links to content standards)
  • NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE)
  • National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) Fall 2012 eJournal
  • Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
  • Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College (SERC Carleton)
  • Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)
  • Climate Change Curriculum Developed at Stanford University
  • Skeptical Science: Getting skeptical about global warming skepticism

    • Labs/Modules Developed by Members of the Project Team for use in teaching UWHS ATMS 211:

  • Lab: Historical Temperature Data (http://tinyurl.com/cxtmqch)
  • Lab: NASA MERRA Circulation Model
  • Ice Core Lab-two versions are available.

    • UWHS Ice Core Lab Lesson Plan (updated April 7, 2013)
    NASA General Use Ice Core Lab Lesson Plan (updated April 7, 2013)
    Accompanyment Excel File for Ice Core Lab (updated April 3, 2013)

  • Lab: Terrarium
  • Culminating Project: Scientific Evidence for Anthropogenic Climate Change

    • Coming Up:

    (updated 03/26/2013)

  • May 11, 2013: One-day on-campus introduction for teachers to new modules developed for use in high school science courses.
  • June 1, 2013: UWHS Teacher training for new teachers and those teaching the course in the 2013-2014 academic school year.

    • UWHS ATMS 211 will have its first run in the schools between 2011-2013 as it begins to be implemented in the following school districts:

  • Northshore (class page)
  • Everett
  • Kitsap
  • Redmond

    • More upcoming events:
    Ongoing classroom visits by UW Climate Scientists and PCC Staff

    Past Events:

  • Presentation at NACEP Conference
  • UWHS 2012 Teacher Orientation and Update
  • December AGU Conference, where Miriam Bertram, Ashley Maloney, and Elly Walsh presented on their work for the UWHS ATMS 211 course.
  • Summer Teacher Workshop: August 6-10, 2012
  • Teacher/Scientist Work-parties

    • For more information about the program or how to apply to be a UWHS Climate Science teacher, please contact Miriam Bertram at hsclimat@uw.edu.

    Documents

    Links