Title: The Earth and Space Science Technological Education Project (ESSTEP) The Earth and Space Science Technological Education Project (ESSTEP) will unite undergraduate faculty from two- and four-year institutions and secondary school faculty, with professional societies, businesses, and government agencies in a partnership to provide faculty in grades 8 through 14 with: (1) hands-on experience in state-of-the-art data acquisition, manipulation, and presentation technologies for the earth and space sciences, (2) innovative strategies for using technology in classrooms and laboratories, (3) internship opportunities in earth and space science technology fields, and (4) improved access to a wide-variety of technology-based education resources. More specifically, ESSTEP will assist faculty in exploring ways that technologies such as the Internet, Geographical Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems, multimedia, image processing, CD-ROMs and laserdiscs can be used to enhance student learning, promote science and technology careers, catalyze the development of new courses and materials, and better articulate the grade 8-14 earth and space science curricula. Through earth and space science technology training institutes and a World Wide Web site, ESSTEP will directly serve 120 faculty during the next five years. These faculty will in turn provide in-service opportunities for an additional 1100 to 1500 faculty.
