Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle: An Earth Systems Approach to Increasing Elementary Teachers' Understanding of Climate and Climate Change

Beyond Weather and Water Cycle项目的目标是增加小学教师对气候和气候变化的了解，增加小学课堂上的科学课程的数量和质量，并建立一个虚拟的专业实践学习社区。这些目标将通过以下方式实现：使现有的适合发展的数字资源，包括有区别的、有吸引力的信息文本；为小学教师开发一个在线气候扫盲课程；利用网络2.0工具，提供互动体验和促进虚拟、协作的专业发展，从而实现这些目标。围绕气候素养的七项基本原则构建的教学和专业资源将使小学教师和他们的学生摆脱对天气和水循环的肤浅理解和教学，深入了解气候。该项目利用国家科学基金会对Beyond Penguins和北极熊项目所做的投资，并通过使用国家科学数字图书馆(NSDL)资助的项目(特别是CLEAN-NSDL气候素养路径项目)、工具、系统和合作伙伴关系，继续在NSDL的教育、社会和技术基础设施方面进行投资，作为扩大项目影响的一种手段。该项目在将科学与扫盲相结合方面具有创造性，在使用Web 2.0工具提供电子教育机会和促进虚拟、协作的专业发展方面具有创新性、变革性和对地球友好的特点。

The goals of the Beyond Weather and Water Cycle project are to increase elementary teachers' understanding of climate and climate change, increase the amount and quality of science taught in elementary classrooms, and build a virtual professional learning community of practice. These goals will be accomplished by contextualizing and adapting existing developmentally-appropriate digital resources including differentiated, engaging informational texts; developing an online climate literacy course for elementary teachers; and utilizing Web 2.0 tools to provide interactive experiences and to facilitate virtual, collaborative professional development. Structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy, instructional and professional resources will take elementary teachers and their students past the superficial understanding and teaching of weather and the water cycle to a solid understanding of climate. The project leverages the investment that NSF has made with the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears project and continues to make in the educational, social, and technical infrastructures of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) by using NSDL-funded projects (especially CLEAN - the NSDL Climate Literacy Pathway project), tools, systems, and partnerships as a means to multiply project impact. This project is creative in its integration of science and literacy and innovative, transformative, and Earth-friendly in its use of Web 2.0 tools to provide e-education opportunities and facilitate virtual, collaborative professional development.