Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Education Outreach Program

Current Research Feature Stories

We educate people about Earth and environmental science issues that are relevant to our everyday lives, through outreach to the public and to the K-12 education community.

University of Colorado at Boulder

K-12 Projects: Teacher Education

CIRES Outreach projects focus on professional development for teachers and scientists, partnerships with school districts, opportunities for students at all levels and avenues for teachers and students to be involved in current research.

Hallmarks of our Projects

  • driven by the needs of the teacher, district or student who is being served;
  • uses inquiry-based pedagogy and the processes of science.
  • involves research scientists and current research
  • often targets under-represented and educationally disadvantaged populations
  • based upon National, state and local science education standards
  • contributes to our understanding of best practices in geoscience education and outreach.

For more information about our projects, please contact us.

Current Projects

CLEAN- The Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network is a new Pathway of the National Science Digital Library, providing a collection of reviewed and annotated online resources, along with teaching tips that review the importance of specific climate and energy concepts and how to address misconceptions and common confusion about these complex topics.

CLEAN is a collaborative project with several national partners including TERC in Cambridge, MA, and SERC at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. Visit CLEAN on Facebook.
Project Extremes

EXTREMES: EXploration, Teaching and Research for Excellence in Middle and Elementary Science
Placing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduate students into Boulder's more socioeconomically diverse schools, this program supports both the enrichment of science learning opportunities for GK-12 students and the professional development of young scientists.
ICEE: inspiring climate education excellence

ICEE: The Inspiring Climate Education Excellence: Teacher Professional Development for Effective Instruction in Climate Science Literacy. The ICEE project provides a face to face workshop, an online course and self-directed learning modules to help teachers learn to be Climate Literate. ICEE addresses important climate science content and the pedagogical skills necessary for effective instruction.
Climate Literacy Blog Because climate science is inherently interdisciplinary, it can fall through the cracks in traditional science education. Climate literacy is aimed at helping address the gaps.  In this blog, author Mark McCaffrey shares insights about climate literacy efforts around the world.  Visit the Climate Literacy Blog

Connecting the Global Oceans to Inland Audiences
A teacher professional development program that delivers a new ocean and climate science topic each year. Available face to face or through videoconferencing.
EVE logo EVE: the Solar Dynamics Observatory Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (SDO EVE) project. Teacher professional development, solar weather kits for classroom or after school use, and public events in conjunction with a NASA satellite mission to study the sun.
Polar Visions

Polar Visions Video (in 7 segments)
This educational film by Dr. Ryan Vachon is about the causes and effects of climate change in the polar regions.
Polar Bear Teaching about Publicly Controversial Science: A survey of teachers' views of climate change, evolution, and education by Sarah Wise
Wind Turbines Climate Change and the role of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: A presentation by Chuck Kutscher of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Upward and Outward: Scientific Inquiry Tibetan Plateau

A film for high school and college science students that shows the scientific process

Geomagnetism in the MESA Classroom:  An Essential Science for Modern Society

A four-part after-school module that allows students to explore geomagnetism with compasses, navigation exercises, and a caching activity, followed by a field trip to the NOAA’s David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder.

Past Projects »