Curriculum Design with CIRES

Background

While at the University of Colorado engaging in my graduate work, I had the opportunity to work within the School of Education, as well as with other units at the university such as the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) Education and Outreach division and the Office of Outreach and Engagement's Learn More About Climate (LMAC) program. I have continued working with CIRES ever since. Collaborations around the CIRES' Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) are found on the Collaborating with Existing Networks page while all other collaborations are listed below.

Work

  • 2009-2013. Designer and Instructor, Continuing Education and Outreach, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, USA.

Related Presentations

Morrison, D. (2013). Critical Science Pedagogy: Strategies for minimizing risk while engaging in controversy in the classroom. Teacher Professional Development Workshop, Evolution and Climate Change Outreach Committees, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, March 16, Boulder, CO, USA.

Making the Global Local

In 2009, I began collaborating with the Education and Outreach Program of CIRES and the Learn More About Climate program to create climate change educational curriculum materials that were problem centric and place-based. Many of the resulting curriculum are now integrated into the CLEAN collection described below. Between 2009-2016 I served as a member of the LMAC advisory board, presented numerous times about this work, and learned a great deal about fostering climate literacy in the K-12 system.

Work

  • 2009-2016, Teacher Advisory Board Member. Learn More about Climate (LMAC), Outreach, University of Colorado at Boulder.

  • 2009, Co-Applicant (with Dr. Erin Furtak) for Making the Global Local: Colorado Climate Literacy for Secondary Science Teachers, Outreach Award, Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, $5,000

Professional Learning

  • Making the Global Local: Colorado Climate Curriculum Workshop (GRTE5030), with Dr. Erin Furtak. Teacher professional development, and teaching follow-up. Available for credit through the Learn More About Climate, Office for Outreach and Engagement, University of Colorado – Boulder, CO, USA, 2009. Summer-Fall 2009.

Related Presentations

Hafich, K., Martens, W., Fletcher, H., MacFerrin, B., Morrison, D., Stone, J., Collins, M. C., Chastain, M., Hager, C., Duncan, E. Gay, C. J., Kurz, J. D., Manning, C. B., Graves, B. J., & Bloomfield, L. (2015). Climate Literacy from the Plains to the Peaks: Challenges in Teaching Climate in Colorado Classrooms. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 14–18, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Morrison, D. (2015). Learn More About Climate Program. NESTA Session: NESTA climate, Ocean, and Atmosphere Share-a-Thon, National Science Teachers Association, March 12-15, Chicago, IL, USA.

Campanella, M., & Morrison, D. (2014). Shared CLEAN, LMAC and other Colorado resources at the NESTA Session: National Earth Science Teachers Association Weather, Climate, and Ocean Share-a-Thon, National Science Teachers Association, April 3-6, Boston, MA, USA.

Morrison, D., & Roudane, S. (2013). Learn More About Climate – Colorado Climate Education Resources. National Science Teachers Association western regional meeting, December 12-14, Denver, CO, USA.

Morrison, D. (2013). Teaching Resources Within the Learn More About Climate Program. North American Association for Environmental Education, October 9-12, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Morrison, D. (2012). Making the Global Local: State-specific Climate Curriculum Workshop Lessons by Teachers for Teachers. National Science Teacher Association, March 29-April 1, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Morrison, D., & Roudane, S. (2012). Learn More About Climate: Colorado Climate Education Resources. Colorado Science Conference for Professional Development, November 16, Denver, CO, USA.

Morrison, D., & Andrew, J. (2010). Teaching About Climate Change and Colorado’s Future. Colorado Science Conference for Professional Development, November 18-19, Denver, CO, USA.

CIRES Education and Outreach invited me to participate in the development and support of curriculum implementation around their Arctic Climate Connections curriculum project. This involved weaving in learning design and assessment elements as well as designing and facilitating learning experiences for educators to become familiar with the resulting curriculum.

Work

  • Arctic Climate Connections, with Dr. Anne Gold. Co-facilitated and co-designed k-12 teacher professional learning workshop to explore curriculum implementation. Held by Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at Boulder, CO, USA on February 22, 2014.

Related Publications

Gold, A. U., Kirk, K. B., Morrison, D., Lynds, S., Sullivan, S. M. B., Grachev, A., & Persson, O. (2015). Arctic Climate Connections Curriculum - A Model for Bringing Authentic Data into The Classroom. Journal of Geoscience Education, 63(3), 185-197.

Related Presentations and Workshops

Kirk, K. B., Gold, A. U., Morrison, D., Lynds, S., Sullivan, S. M. B., Grachev, A. A., & Persson, O. (2014). Arctic climate curriculum: Engaging high school students with authentic data in a flexible, relevant, and easy-to-use format. Geological Society of America, October 19–22, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Climate Connections Webinar Series and Climate Connections MOOC

In collaboration with Dr. Anne Gold at CIRES, I worked with climate scientists and social scientists to create learning sessions that were built into both a webinar series and a massively open online course (MOOC). These online video and other resources continue to be used and are available to be incorporated in a number of ways in other learning contexts.

Professional Learning

  • Climate Connections: Water in the West Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), with Dr. Anne Gold of CIRES, Co-designed and facilitated teacher professional development in collaboration with Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). Available for credit through the Office for Outreach and Engagement, University of Colorado – Boulder, CO, USA. Held virtually in June 2-30, 2014.

  • Climate Conversations Webinar Series (GRTE5030), with Dr. Anne Gold of CIRES. Co-designed and facilitated teacher professional development and educational outreach for the general public in collaboration with Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). Available for credit through the Office for Outreach and Engagement, University of Colorado – Boulder, CO, USA. Held virtually during school year 2013-2014. https://sites.google.com/site/climatesciencewebinars/

Climate Science 101 for Educators

In 2012 I collaboratively engaged with Dr. Susan Buhr Sullivan and Emily Kellagher to design and implement an online learning course for educators across the United States. This course was novel at that time as we engaged distributed and facilitated learning communities within the broader course learning efforts all within the then emerging virtual learning tool context. Learning from this effort has informed all my subsequent work in virtual learning design.

Professional Learning

  • Climate Science 101: Essential Knowledge and Teaching Strategies (ENVS5100/GRTE5030), with Dr. Susan Buhr and Emily Kellagher. Teacher professional development. Available for credit through the Office for Outreach and Engagement, University of Colorado – Boulder, CO, USA. Held virtually for educators across the U.S. Taught two sessions: Fall 2012, Spring 2013.

  • Gold, A., & Morrison, D. (2013-2014). Course - GRTE5030 – Climate Science Webinar Series, Teacher Professional Development and Educational Outreach for the general public, taught in 2013-14.

Related Presentations

Morrison, D., & Sullivan, S. M. B. (2012). Teaching and Learning about Climate Science: Inquiry Lessons Developed by Educators within Climate Science 101. Colorado Science Conference for Professional Development, November 16, Denver, CO, USA.

Collaborative Workshops with Scientists for Educators

Outside of other CIRES Education and Outreach collaborations but as a result of connections due to this collaboration, I have engaged with other Colorado based collaborators to design and/or facilitate learning.

Professional Learning

  • Climate Interactive Game (initial version of what is now EN-Roads - https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/). Done in collaboration with Terry Eastburn of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Facilitator and Participant for one game run with NCAR scientists and second game done with public. Held in Boulder, CO, USA, 2015

  • Grasshoppers, climate change and inquiry, with Dr. Cesar Nufio. Co-developed and facilitated workshop for the Colorado Biology Teachers’ Association. Held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA on April 20, 2013. Retrieve from https://sites.google.com/site/grasshoppersandclimatechange/

Related Publications

Buhr, S.M., & Morrison, D. (2013). CLEAN & ICEE: Two new resources for teaching climate change. Foundations, Newsletter for the Geo2YC Division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, 2(2), 12-14.

Related Presentations

Morrison, D., Buhr, S.M., & Kellagher, E. (2013). Climate Science 101: An inspiring climate education excellence (ICEE) professional development project. Paper No. 317-8 at the Geological Society of America (GSA), October 27-30, Denver, CO, USA.