Earth System Science Education: an internet-based electronic curriculum

A holistic approach to the study of the Earth, as embodied in Earth System Science and Global Change concepts, provides a captivating socially relevant focus to Geoscience instruction. Under the auspices of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Universities Space Research Association, twenty-two universities have been engaged since 1991 in the Cooperative University-based Earth System Science Education Program (ESSE) to develop programs and curricula in Earth System Science at the undergraduate level. To facilitate collaboration and the sharing of materials, the ESSE program has initiated development of a World Wide Web (WWW) server as an active repository for Earth System Science and Global Change educational resources for use by ESSE and other university educators worldwide. The WWW server (http://www.usra.edu/esse/ESSE.html) is organized to assist users locate text, imagery and educational modules which are relevant to a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics. Through this capability materials generated for classroom use by the ESSE participants are shared with the broader Earth science education community. ESSE plans to bring at least sixteen new universities into the program during the next five years, and proposes to expand the content of the WWW server, develop new materials to reach secondary school educators as well as teachers in training, and to promote collaboration through distance learning technologies