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

DataStreme Atmosphere Science Education

What is DataStreme Atmosphere?

DataStreme Atmosphere is a major precollege teacher enhancement initiative of the American Meteorological Society with the main goal of training of Weather Education Resource Teachers who will promote the teaching of science, mathematics and technology using weather as a vehicle, across the K-12 curriculum in their home school districts.

The initial step in the training of Resource Teachers is their participation in the DataStreme Atmosphere distance-learning course. The 13-week course is offered twice a year to selected participants. It focuses on the study of the atmospheric environment through the use of electronically transmitted weather data and learning materials combined with Study Guide readings and investigations.

DataStreme Atmosphere is currently funded via the AMS/NOAA Cooperative Program for Earth System Education (CPESE) with assistance from the U.S. National Weather Service and the State University of New York College at Brockport. Initial DataStreme Atmosphere operations were funded by the National Science Foundation.

Who can participate in DataStreme Atmosphere?

Participants must be teaching professionals at the precollege level who live in an area served by a Local Implementation Team (LIT). Teachers of any grade level or subject who have an interest in promoting the teaching of weather across the curriculum may apply. Many participants are earth science, middle school and upper elementary teachers. Applications are sought from persons who can demonstrate potential for leadership as resource teachers. They must be willing to act as resource persons for other teachers and as advocates for promoting the use of electronically-delivered environmental data in schools.

Teachers who are members of groups traditionally under-represented in the sciences, or teachers who are teaching in schools with large numbers of students from groups traditionally under-represented in the sciences, are especially urged to apply.

What must I do for DataStreme Atmosphere?

How is the DataStreme Atmosphere course conducted?

The DataStreme Atmosphere course is offered through DataStreme Atmosphere LITs that are located around the country. LITs, typically composed of three members, coordinate the selection and delivery of the course to approximately eight teacher participants each semester. Each team advertises the local course availability, recruits and selects participants, arranges and holds local meetings, individually mentors participants on course understandings and activities, provides participant evaluations, and assists in developing Resource Teacher action plans. Each LIT is composed of at least one master precollege teacher and most include one professional meteorologist.

What equipment do I need for DataStreme Atmosphere?

You will need a PC or Mac computer, printer, and an Internet connection with browsing capability (such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer software; or a service like America On Line, Prodigy or Compuserve). If you are reading this on-screen with your own equipment and you can print it out, you are essentially ready for DataStreme Atmosphere participation. The only other equipment requirement is access to a facsimile machine for transmitting and receiving materials between you and your LIT mentor.

What will I need to do if I am selected for the DataStreme Atmosphere course?

• Attend the three (or four) scheduled course meetings arranged by the LIT in your area.
• Follow weather on a national scale via DataStreme Atmosphere delivery of real-time information throughout the course.
• Successfully complete two learning activities with electronically-delivered components each week.
• Complete Study Guide assigned readings and weekly progress reports.
• Fax completed activities and progress report to your assigned LIT mentor on a weekly schedule.
• Interact regularly with your LIT mentor by telephone and email to discuss course progress.
• Document several examples of in-school applications of DataStreme Atmosphere course products.
• Develop plans for becoming a Weather Education Resource Teacher.
• Submit for review and evaluation a complete portfolio (archive) of course work at the final group meeting of the course.

What does DataStreme Atmosphere do for me?

What benefits do I receive by participating in DataStreme Atmosphere?

You will be prepared to act as your school's weather education resource person. By successfully completing the DataStreme Atmosphere course, you will:

• Become your school's representative as part of a major national science education program conducted by the American Meteorological Society in close cooperation with the National Weather Service.
• Learn weather fundamentals via a unique electronically delivered distance-learning course that emphasizes the study of weather as it happens.
• Develop computer-based real-time environmental information acquisition and analysis skills.
• Receive resource and reference materials for your professional library.
• Discover ways to instill the excitement of current real-world events across the precollege curriculum.
• Develop collegial working relationships with DataStreme Atmosphere, LIT members, and other course participants.

All participants are enrolled in a 3 semester-hour graduate course, entitled ESC 675 Real-Time Weather Studies, through the State University of New York College at Brockport. Credit is awarded upon successfully completing course requirements the same semester as the course is taken.

What materials does DataStreme Atmosphere supply?

• DataStreme Atmosphere textbook and DataStreme Atmosphere Study Guide
• Hands-On Meteorology by Zbigniew Sorbjan
• Glossary of Weather and Climate, and Related Oceanic and Hydrologic Terms by AMS
• NOAA Weather Radio receiver,
• Electronically-delivered daily weather summaries and learning materials based on current weather
• Continuously updated current weather information via the DataStreme Atmosphere Homepage

What must I do after the DataStreme Atmosphere course?

The goal of DataStreme Atmosphere is to empower Weather Education Resource Teachers with the knowledge and capabilities to transform a virtually endless stream of environmental data into exciting and creative learning experiences for young people. As a Weather Education Resource Teacher, you will be expected to introduce other teachers and administrators in your school, parents, and members of the community to the benefits of utilizing electronically-delivered environmental data streams as vehicles for learning across the curriculum.

DataStreme Atmosphere expects to develop a long-term working relationship with DataStreme Atmosphere course participants. The goal is to upgrade scientific literacy by motivating teachers and through them, their students, to develop and nurture active interests in science, mathematics, and technology.

How do I apply for DataStreme Atmosphere?

Contact your nearest DataStreme Atmosphere LIT Leader listed on this Homepage under the heading 'DataStreme Atmosphere LITs', and request information and application materials for the next offering of the DataStreme Atmosphere course.

If there is no LIT listed near you or in your state, inquiries may be sent to find out about joining a LIT outside your area by email to: amsedu@ametsoc.org

To be considered for participation, a completed application form must be submitted to your local LIT leader. You will be notified of the status of your application by the local LIT leader. Enrollment is limited and selection is based on a number of criteria. Application forms in pdf format may be downloaded from our website.

Who makes up DataStreme Atmosphere?

DataStreme Atmosphere Project Staff and Partners

DataStreme Atmosphere operates through the combined efforts of literally hundreds of people working together to provide a unique enhancement opportunity for K-12 teachers.

At the local level, it consists of three-member Local Implementation Teams spread throughout the United States. These typically consist of trained master precollege teachers, local college faculty members, and professional meteorologists including National Weather Service personnel and television weathercasters.

DataStreme Atmosphere Central, located at the AMS Education Office, is a team that develops instructional materials, provides logistical support to the LITs, conducts the credit-bearing course in which most DataStreme Atmosphere participants enroll, and administers the overall project. These include Dr. Ira W. Geer, DataStreme Atmosphere Project Director; Dr. Robert Weinbeck, Associate Director; Dr. Joseph Moran, Associate Director; Bernard Blair, Information Services Coordinator; Elizabeth Mills, Content Specialist; Maude Mason, Executive Assistant; Emily Miller, Program Assistant; and Diem Tran, Shipping Assistant.

Other present or past members of DataStreme Atmosphere Central include Dr. Edward Hopkins, University of Wisconsin - Madison, who writes the DataStreme Atmosphere Daily Weather Summary; Kathryn M. Ginger, DLESE, Boulder, CO, Content Specialist during DataStreme Atmosphere start-up phase; Mark Seefeldt, Content Specialist during 1996-97 implementation; Ross Foniri, Program Assistant 2004-06; and Prof. Emeritus Tom Wells, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY.

NOAA is now the primary source of support for DataStreme Atmosphere. Other organizations that have made DataStreme Atmosphere possible include the National Science Foundation’s Teacher Enhancement Program, Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education which provided major funding; State University of New York at Brockport, NY which awards graduate-level academic credit for the DataStreme Atmosphere course through Dr. Robert Weinbeck, Associate Professor, Department of the Earth Sciences; and the US National Weather Service, which provides course assistance through its network of offices throughout the country. Also, the National Weather Service's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) provides meteorological products for the course homepage.The AMS provides financial support for the program and encourages its membership to take part as LIT members.

DataStreme Atmosphere development was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-9453205.

Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation.

DataStreme Atmosphere is now primarily funded by NOAA via the AMS/NOAA Cooperative Program for System Education (CPESE)