Cal U, AMS Partner on Project Ice

Oct 05, 2021

The University's partnership with the American Meteorological Society will expand to share climate science knowledge gained from studying Antarctic ice.

weather map student

Earth science teachers in grades K-12 can look forward to learning more about climate science through Project Ice, a graduate-level course to be offered through California University of Pennsylvania’s unique partnership with the American Meteorological Society.

The AMS has partnered with COLDEX, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration, to develop content for the 3-credit summer course. Informed by subject matter experts from COLDEX and AMS, Project Ice will include emergent science regarding COLDEX efforts to enhance our understanding of climate change by extracting and studying some of Antarctica’s oldest ice.

Beginning in summer 2023, teachers who enroll in Project Ice will complete online coursework in paleoclimactic studies through Cal U, plus a one-week ice/climate science workshop at the home of the COLDEX technology center hub at Oregon State University.

Cal U has been awarded a five-year, $131,567 grant from the National Science Foundation; the funding helps enable Cal U to offer Project Ice and contribute to learning modules designed to support participating elementary, middle school and high school teachers from across the country.

“Project Ice will be a wonderful addition to the lineup of online and workshop-oriented courses that Cal U and AMS Education have offered to K-12 science educators since 2017,” said Dr. Chad Kauffman, a Cal U geosciences professor and curriculum development coordinator for the AMS DataStreme program.

In conjunction with AMS Education, Cal U currently offers DataStreme Atmosphere, DataStreme Ocean and DataStreme Earth’s Climate System courses, which are delivered online in the fall and spring semester; as well as Project Atmosphere and Project Ocean, summer courses with both online and in-person, workshop components.

Teachers enrolled in the 13-week DataStreme courses are supported by teams of regionally based mentors who answer questions, provide feedback and assist as educators use their new knowledge to develop hands-on lessons for their own classrooms. To date, more than 1,500 teachers nationwide have enrolled in AMS Education courses at Cal U.

Cal U’s School of Graduate Studies and Research awards three graduate-level credits for each AMS DataStreme course or summer course completion. K-12 teachers who complete three courses (nine credits), in any order, earn a post-baccalaureate certificate.

For more information, visit www.calu.edu/ams.