ESI-9453205 This national project brings together the American Meteorological Society in cooperation with the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel and members of the AMS professional society. During five years, 4,100 teachers from grades K-12 will be trained directly, in an intensive course offered twice yearly, on atmospheric and related Earth environments. The course is based on electronically transmitted data streams and learning materials delivered in real time. It will emphasize the teaching of integrated science through problem-focused or event driven investigations of the natural environment. Leader teachers, those who have completed the twenty two days of training, will act as resource persons within their schools, reaching a second tier of at least 41,000 teachers. At the same time, they will work towards raising the awareness administrators, parents and school board members of the educational potential of electronically-delivered data streams in their schools. The course will be implemented through 50 Local Implementation Teams composed of experienced teachers, college faculty and professional meteorologists. The KEY to the this aspect of the project is it will be its delivery via a combination of group meetings, by Internet or more commonly using the Vertical Blanking Interval of the Weather Channel.
