Improving K-12 climate science education through collaborations with scientists

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) is a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center based at the University of Kansas that concentrates its research on understanding the role of the polar ice sheets in sea level rise as a response to global climate change. Two primary objectives of the Center\´s Education Program are to excite K-12 students about science and to enhance K-12 foundational skills necessary to pursue further education in STEM fields. CReSIS\´ Education Team conducts a variety of outreach efforts. One particularly successful program is "The Heat is On! Confronting Climate Change in the Classroom" summer workshop for the professional development of K-12 science teachers. Participating teachers demonstrated significant gains in both climate science content knowledge and in their self-efficacy beliefs toward teaching climate science. Remarkably, when asked about the best part of the workshop, 20 out of 24 participants responded that the collaboration with scientists was the best part of the experience. These and additional evaluation results have contributed to new understandings about how to successfully integrate collaborative partnerships between scientists and teachers into a professional development program for K-12 science educators.