MORE INFORMATION:

Please contact Dr. Susan Buhr: susan.buhr@colorado.edu

ICEE Teachers Survey is here!  Click here

*see ICEE Flyer 2009

as pdf click here

Introducing ICEE

Inspiring Climate Education Excellence

Funded by NASA's Global Climate Change Education project, the Inspiring Climate Education Excellence  (ICEE):  Teacher Professional Development for Effective Instruction in Climate Science Literacy project will develop a model of climate science teacher professional development that addresses important climate science content along with the pedagogical skills necessary for effective instruction. ICEE will showcase NASA data and platforms, especially those associated with Arctic climate systems and global sea level change.

While effective climate change education requires that teachers understand the content of climate science, it also requires teachers to bridge the science content with effective pedagogy. Pedagogical issues related to effective climate change education include aligning interdisciplinary climate science with existing science curricula, anticipating student misconceptions, and being prepared to address public controversy around climate change in the classroom.  In a recent CIRES study of over 600 Colorado middle and high school teachers, Teaching About Publicly Controversial Science (TAPCS), those who do not teach climate science cited three key barriers: a lack of confidence in their knowledge of climate science, the perception that climate science does not have a place within their required curriculum, and concerns related to the public controversy around climate change.

No climate science professional development available today addresses both content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), or the pedagogical skills particular to teaching climate change science.  We propose to meet this need by developing an in-person workshop and online professional development units that are aligned with the Essential Principles of Climate Literacy (EPCL), built upon NASA climate science and learning resources, and that integrates pedagogical aspects of teaching climate change throughout. The EPCL is a research-based conceptual framework endorsed by many agencies, scientific and educational groups. Click here for a full description of the Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts of climate literacy.

The EPCL have been reviewed and endorsed by the US inter-agency Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), which integrates federal research on climate and global change.

In order to engage as much participation by teachers as possible, online professional development resources will be available via three mechanisms; i) a formal online course available for credit, ii) self-directed learning resources and iii) as video-enhanced podcasts (vodcasts) available on iTunes U.

The target audience for these professional development opportunities will be middle and high school teachers, particularly teachers who will participate in the upcoming NASA-funded GLOBE Climate Campaign. ICEE will be led by the Education and Outreach Group at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  Project partners include NASA-funded climate scientists, the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), the GLOBE program, the Climate Literacy Network, and the Independent Learning group at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which is currently offering an online Climate Literacy course.

For more information contac Dr. Susan Buhr (susan.buhr at colorado.edu )