STORMS (Students and Teachers Observing and Recording Meteorological Systems) is a one-year pilot project at the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, that advances public Earth system science literacy and promotes the development of a future geoscience workforce. By creating professional development experiences and curriculum with students and teachers using a technology-infused, place-based pedagogy, STORMS will strengthen K-8 education on weather, storms, and climate in at least 10 island and rural coastal schools in the Gulf of Maine. Project goals include: 1) increasing teacher and student knowledge of core STEM principles on weather, storms, and climate; 2) increasing teacher abilities to use technology tools to strengthen STEM curriculum; 3) increasing teacher and student awareness of geoscience educational and career pathways; and 4) illustrating the efficacy of the STORMS professional development model for increasing Earth science literacy to inform curriculum development throughout the state of Maine. To accomplish these goals, STORMS combines place-based education strategies, strong professional learning communities, and integrated technology plans to stimulate inquiry-based learning. Teachers will develop the content understanding, technology skills, curriculum, and confidence to explore climate science in their classrooms through the lens of weather and storms. Students will observe and participate in authentic research activities first-hand, including collecting weather data, undertaking basic data analysis and graphing, and documenting how weather and storms affect natural resource-based communities using spatial data tools (GPS/GIS) and ethnographic research. STORMS staff, science and STEM education research advisors have formed strategic statewide partnerships with the National Weather Service and CoCoRAHS to ensure that STORMS acts as a catalytic pilot project beyond participating schools, enabling design and deployment of more effective climate science education initiatives within the northeast region and more broadly.
) was a one-year Track 1 pilot project that advanced earth science literacy and raised student awareness of opportunities in the geoscience workforce. STORMS partnered the Island Institute with 24 teachers from 13 island and coastal K-8 schools in Maine to provide sustained professional-development training opportunities to in-service teachers, which resulted in deeper content knowledge and confidence in teaching STEM disciplines. Teachers developed the technology skills and confidence with curriculum in order to explore earth and climate science in their classrooms through the lens of weather and storms, using open source technologies. Through engagement with climate-change scientists and curriculum development experts, and with on-going in-classroom support, teachers implemented lesson plans that include locally-focused, action-oriented activities. Students observed and participated in authentic research activities, including collecting weather data, interviewing community elders and leaders, basic data analysis and graphing of weather data, and documented how weather and storms affect natural resource-based communities using spatial data tools (GPS/GIS) and ethnographic research. The total number of individuals that participated in STORMS was 24 teachers and 255 students; this includes those who attended STORMS trainings or events, and those directly involved in their school’s STORMS project(s) and training others in the technologies. In addition, the project engaged active participation of 15 local fishermen, many parents, 15 research scientists and 3 research facilities. Intellectual Merit: STORM project goals included: 1) increasing teacher and student knowledge of core STEM principles on weather, storms, and climate; 2) increasing teacher abilities to use technology tools to strengthen STEM curriculum; 3) increasing teacher and student awareness of geoscience educational and career pathways; and 4) illustrating the efficacy of the STORMS professional development model for increasing earth science literacy to inform curriculum development throughout the state of Maine. To accomplish these goals STORMS deployed an education model that combined place-based education strategies, strong professional learning communities, and integrated technology plans to stimulate inquiry-based learning. Teachers developed the content understanding, technology skills, curriculum, and confidence to explore climate science in their classrooms through the lens of weather and storms. The major accomplishments for the project included: Successful recruitment efforts: higher than expected interest in the project resulted in more teachers and schools benefiting from the project Quality professional development opportunities for teachers, derived through staff research and partnership with universities and scientific research facilities Full implementation in K-8 island and coastal classrooms, and higher than expected community interest and engagement in the project Development of a suite of activities, lesson plans, and student products are publicly available at www.islandinstitute.org/storms.php A video highlighting the impact of the STORMS project is available at www.islandinstitute.org/videos/STORMS-Project/14825/ A STORMS Student Expo at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, for which students prepared creative, scientifically accurate presentations on many climate-related topics, and which drew active participation by research scientists from local universities. Broader Impact: The STORMS project spoke to a central challenge and potentially powerful opportunity in global climate change by educating students, teachers, and the broader public about the climate system and climate change in an effectively engaging, instructional, and habit-altering way. STORMS improved earth science literacy around the differences between inter-annual and decadal climate variability and longer-term climate change, and created openings for discussing global climate change within communities while helping to build the future geoscience workforce. Through a sustained effort of professional-development opportunities, curriculum integration, and teacher partnerships, the STORMS project altered the way teachers present these topics to their students in school; expanded the range of study topics and tools to include data gathering and analysis, ethnography, digital audio and video production, and dissemination through a website. STORMS staff and science and STEM education research advisors formed strategic statewide partnerships. These partnerships not only allowed for formative student exposure to STEM research professionals and their work environments; they also disseminated the STORMS project structure beyond participating schools, enabling design and deployment of more effective climate science education initiatives within the northeast region and more broadly. The level of community engagement far exceeded expectations: several schools set up their weather stations to stream data on the schools’ website, bringing increased traffic by parents, neighbors, and most of all, local fishermen. Students shared their weather data and observations on The STORMS Blog, an interactive Google Docs spreadsheet, and CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain Hail & Snow) citizen-science website. The social aspect of these platforms increased student motivation to share weather data and observations. The best practices learned from this project will be implemented in a new Island Institute project, WeatherBlur (NSF#GEO1203005) where elementary and middle school students will interact with fishermen and meteorological scientists through an online learning community focused on investigating the local effects of climate change.
