'Curriculum Expansion for AMS Weather and Ocean Studies at the University of Houston (UHD)': A Poster Presentation on Education at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, GA, 16 – 21 January, 2010

摘要

The history of teaching the AMS version of Weather Studies at the Department of Natural Sciences of UHD dates back to Year 2004 when it began with one section consisting of 25 students. Student’s enrollment has grown steadily to fill three sections of Introduction to Meteorology (GEOL 1304) by fall semester in 2009, and I am involved with integrated lecture plus laboratory courses to date. I have also taught full Online AMS Weather and Ocean Studies courses at the Houston Community College System (HCCS) since Year 2004, while student’s enrollment has equally grown substantially to date. Most of the students have been typically nonscience majors, of diverse and minority origin, and have weak analytical skills but enrolled to fulfill a general science requirement for their various major degrees. I was recently mandated to participate in the Faculty curriculum development of a new course titled Oceanography (GEOL 2390) which I started to teach in fall 2009. This event ushered in a breakthrough, and a major achievement is that this is a sophomore level course designed based on the AMS Ocean Studies for the first time for both science- and non-science majors. It constitutes part of the major degree curriculum in the Department of Natural Sciences at UHD. Accomplishments offering AMS courses include a tremendous increase in retention of minority students, while the AMS Weather Studies course has become one of the most popular options among other traditional physical sciences in the Department. The student-centered instruction technique has been adopted to actively engage their minds, with lots of peer interaction, plenty of formative assessment integrated with instruction, and a focus on concepts. The learner-centered strategy is enhanced by learning from visualization plus reference to current weather events and oceanographic issues, particularly extreme weather conditions as they impact on society and the environment. The well-researched learner-centered instructional technique has functioned effectively as an interactive and engaging approach that involved collaborative group cooperation. Lessons learned from past experiences reveal that Faculty should engage in continual improvement including goal-oriented techniques that are designed to enhance student outcomes and teacher satisfaction. Achieving teaching excellence takes time, requires honest reflection on student’s feedbacks, plus repeated revision, and fine-tuning efforts. A major achievement is witnessed in higher retention rates, and passive students have ultimately turned into active learners with a renewed sense of appreciation for Weather and Ocean sciences.