NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth supports NASA's strategy for communicating science to the public, and specifically, as stated in the Mission to Planet Earth Strategic Plan, seeks to "...foster the development of an informed and environmentally aware public." Science communication must be embedded in everything NASA does, as an essential component of the agency mission. Broader participation by key groups in communicating science, most notably the scientific community, is essential. Coordination between scientists and the formal education community fosters the inclusion of ever greater content richness in the education system.

The long-range objectives for MTPE's science education programs adhere to a complement of overriding principles, which recognize education, in a broad sense, as one of the ultimate products of the program. The goal is to implement a sustainable Earth system science education program that is consistent with externally imposed education standards. Attention to equity and diversity must be a component in all MTPE education activities, and leveraging the expertise of external organizations is critical to meeting the demand for educational and informational tools and activities in a constrained budget environment. Within this context, contributions by MTPE to the advancement of formal education are a major aspect of how the success of the program will be measured.

MTPE has taken several steps to foster coordination between the scientific and educational communities. A strategy for the MTPE education program was developed jointly by MTPE science program and NASA education representatives; thus, the implementation plan encompasses both communities. One key recommendation from the agency's Science Communication Steering Committee focuses on broadening the scientific community's participation in the communication of NASA's results. As a result, MTPE will, whenever feasible, incorporate a call for communication proposals into all research solicitation announcements in the form of either supplemental grants or selection criteria. Partnerships are encouraged in the announcements between the science principal investigators and communication experts to deliver accurate, relevant information.

Another mechanism for fostering coordination is a newly established peer review process in MTPE for evaluating education-related, unsolicited proposals. Each proposal is now peer reviewed by science and education experts and then considered against the MTPE strategy for education before final disposition. Therefore, all approved grants demonstrate strategic scientific as well as educational merit in their plans.

Objectives: MTPE Educational Approaches

MTPE and the NASA Education Division have been working with NASA Center representatives to strategically plan the MTPE Education Program. MTPE's education team consists of education and science representatives from each NASA field center and NASA Headquarters. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is the lead center for the MTPE program, and plays a critical role in coordinating all of MTPE's educational activities. The education team is responsible for development and implementation of overall MTPE educational programs.

The major responsibility for the MTPE education team is to conceptualize and develop proposed plans and approaches for Mission to Planet Earth's educational initiatives and aid in implementation and coordination of these plans with all NASA centers and NASA Headquarters. These educational programs are designed to benefit the education community at all grade levels across the nation. In addition, major effort is devoted to coordination and collaboration with other agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Education, and private sector research and academic institutions. This broad coordination will ensure that the information content of the Educational Programs is complete, accurate, and up-to-date. It also ensures that the resources are combined and utilized in a partnership to allow for the widest possible national dissemination of all educational programs and products.

The education team has prioritized the MTPE education program resources to achieve the following objectives:

• train the next generation of scientists to use an interdisciplinary, Earth system science approach;

• continue to educate and train educators as research evolves and capabilities change;

• raise awareness of policy makers and citizens to enable prudent policy determination regarding global change;

• improve science and math literacy;

• improve interface between educators and scientists and secure greater support by scientists for broad education efforts;

• explore mechanisms to leverage the development of materials and products, where reasonable, to:
  • increase resource availability

  • increase knowledge base

  • encourage the development of an external capability, expert in translating scientific research into usable forms for a continuum of customers nationally; and

• educate the populace to be better caretakers of Earth for future generations.

Prioritization of educational activities is not clear-cut. In order to meet these objectives, the education team studies and evaluates a complement of activities, using various implementation approaches. Certain priority elements are considered when implementing a focused, sustainable program. In the pre-college portion of the program, emphasis is placed on training the educators, as research evolves and capabilities change. Another top priority element is systemic change, to make the most significant impact on the nation's education system with respect to Earth system science, and thus improve science and math literacy generally across the country.

Getting the Job Done: MTPE Education Planning Working Groups

Working groups have been established to address individual concerns and make recommendations about implementation approaches in order to identify and create a balanced, strategic program. The focus areas of these working groups are summarized below:

1. Teacher Preparation Program: This team was responsible for recommending a program outline and mechanism for implementation (perhaps through solicitation or grant augmentation) of a national, teacher preparation program.

2. In-service Teacher Training Program: This team was responsible for recommending a plan and mechanism to better leverage existing NASA programs and replicate the efforts across the nation (possibly through distance learning) to better train individuals already in the teaching profession.

3. Curriculum Support Materials Review: This team was responsible for reviewing the current inventory of MTPE curriculum support products, recommending deletions and identifying areas of need, based on the review, and suggesting mechanisms to disseminate the resultant inventory to the broadest possible customer base.

4. Systemic Change -- U.S. Global Change Education Workshops: This team was responsible for managing and organizing the regional workshops at the NASA Centers and making recommendations on any follow-on activities that NASA might support that involves the U.S. Global Change Education State Teams.

A recommendation/status from each Group was forwarded to the full MTPE Education Strategy Team at the end of June, 1995. The recommendations were analyzed and, as budgets allowed, the implementation phase began at the end of the summer 1995.

Summary

The MTPE education team supports and ensures NASA's strategy for communicating science to the public. The team focuses on broader participation by the scientific community and coordination between scientists and the formal education community in order to foster the inclusion of accurate content in our national education system to prepare and provide an informed citizenry to face the national and global challenges of the future.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Mark Pine and Mitchell Hobish, Robert Price, and Gerald Soffen for their contributions to the article.

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