Teaching Atmospheric Dynamics at the Education–Research Interface 

Daniel Keyser and Alicia M. BentleyDepartment of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222 

Kyle MacRitchieDepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

State University of New York College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY 13820 

23rd Symposium on Education 

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Overview

• Personal history

• Effective teaching practices

• Example of teaching in class: Thermal wind

• Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

• Example of a research-worthy topic: Gradient wind

• Concluding remarks

Personal history

• B.S. (’75), M.S. (’77), Ph.D. (’81) from Penn State.

• As a graduate student, I filled in for faculty when they were out of town, and taught Meteo 430 (Introductory Synoptic Meteorology Laboratory) in fall ’80 as instructor of record when the assigned professor resigned on short notice.

• I realized that I had a lot to learn and some growing up to do.

• After graduating from Penn State, I went to NASA/Goddard to work in the Severe Storms Branch of the Laboratory for Atmospheres as a research meteorologist. I gave little thought to teaching, but was encouraged to consider doing so by two respected and influential colleagues, one senior and one contemporary: Dick Reed and Kerry Emanuel.

• At NASA/Goddard, I enjoyed working one-on-one with two postdocs I was assigned to supervise, Michael Reeder and Joe Zehnder.

Personal history

• When a faculty position in synoptic-dynamic meteorology opened up at the University at Albany in late 1986, I applied and became a member of the-then Department of Atmospheric Science the following year.

• I then had ample opportunity to learn how to teach and advise students through the time-tested method of trial and error.

• I have been learning ever since.

Personal history

• At the University at Albany, I have taught lower-division undergraduate courses in introductory atmospheric science, upper-division undergraduate courses in atmospheric thermodynamics and dynamics, and graduate courses in synoptic-dynamic meteorology, the structure and dynamics of extratropical cyclones, and mesoscale dynamics.

Personal history

Effective teaching practicesSelected comments from student evaluations of

Atm 320 (Atmospheric Thermodynamics)taught in spring ’13:

“Great Job overall really helpful outside of class.”

“Appreciated the use of previous materials such as a SKEW-T in lecture and explanations. Very receptive to student ideas and always willing to learn as much as teach. Inspires students to challenge and derive solutions themselves.”

“Extremely helpful outside of class....made sure students actually learned the material”

Selected comments from student evaluations of Atm 320 (Atmospheric Thermodynamics)

taught in spring ’13:

“This was a very good course to take for a couple of reasons. The material was what it was, I mean, I personally didn't think that it was exceptionally interesting, but there were definately [sic] some topics that provided me with those ‘AHA!!’ moments. The professor really made the difference. He was very concerned with how we did in the course, regardless of our grades on the exams. While he was going over the material, he made sure that we understood what was going on and why, and to do so, he got us involved by asking questions. I liked his style of teaching, and after exams, he made sure that he met with us to discuss anything that we did wrong, which is something that is pretty uncommon. He was a great professor who without a doubt cared about his students.”

Effective teaching practices

• I believe that an important goal of atmospheric dynamics courses is teaching students how to learn and how to solve problems.

• I view my teaching style as traditional. I haven’t yet tried flipping my classes and I use class time to deliver content clearly, thoroughly, and slowly.

• I consider myself more effective teaching students one-on-one and side-by-side than in class.

Effective teaching practices

“Teaching Clearly Can Be a Deceptively Simple Way to Improve Learning,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 22, 2013, authored by Dan Berrett:

http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Clearly-a/143209/

Effective teaching practices

Want to improve student learning? Start by teaching in a clearer and more organized way.

That is the deceptively simple implication of three studies presented last week at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

While much of the pedagogical conversation in higher education focuses on innovations like the flipped classroom, the findings suggest the value of basic teaching techniques and traits.

Effective teaching practices

All of the studies draw on the Wabash National Study of LiberalArts Education, which followed thousands of students as they progressed through institutions of differing types, sizes, and levels of selectivity.

Effective teaching practices

The Wabash study provides an unusually rich portrait of student learning and dispositions. Data include demographic information, scores on a standardized test of critical thinking, and measures of motivation and approaches to learning.

Those measures were correlated with a survey of students' perceptions of the clarity and organization of their professors' teaching. The survey asked students how often they thought their instructors provided clear explanations, used good examples to illustrate difficult points, were well prepared for and organized in class, and had a good command of the subject.

Effective teaching practices

“AMS Teaching Excellence Award Renamed after Eward N. Lorenz,” The Front Page, March 21, 2013:

http://blog.ametsoc.org/uncategorized/ams-teaching-excellence-award-renamed-after-edward-n-lorenz/

Effective teaching practices

Almost five years after his passing, the AMS is honoring Edward N. Lorenz by renaming the Teaching Excellence Award after the pioneer meteorologist.

According to Peter Lamb in his recommendation to rename the award:

Edward N. Lorenz was arguably the most accomplished research meteorologist of the twentieth century. At MIT, his principal instructional role was to introduce multiple generations of beginning doctoral students, many with little or no background in meteorology, to the challenges and rigor of the theoretical essentials of our science. Those lectures were renowned for their consistently very high standards of preparation and presentation, just like Professor Lorenz’s external seminars.

Effective teaching practices

Example of teaching in class:

Thermal wind• Teaching atmospheric dynamics in class works when

equations, words, and schematics tell a coherent story. This point is illustrated with excerpts from the lecture on the thermal wind presented in Atm 510 (Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology I) on 5 November 2013.

Example of teaching in class:

Thermal wind

Example of teaching in class:

Thermal wind

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation• Teaching atmospheric dynamics out of class works when

course topics lead to research questions that can be addressed through class projects.

• Sawyer–Eliassen equation from Atm 631 (Mesoscale Dynamics) taught in spring ’95.

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Alicia Bentley’s course notes from Atm 511 (Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology II) taught by Ryan Torn during spring ’13.

Example of teaching out of class: Sawyer–Eliassen equation

Alicia Bentley’s course notes from Atm 511 (Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology II) taught by Ryan Torn during spring ’13.

Example of research-worthy topic: Gradient wind• The gradient wind, which is a classic textbook topic, is a

balanced wind that accounts for curvature of parcel trajectories and demonstrates that the actual wind speed is slower than the geostrophic wind speed (i.e., subgeostrophic) in troughs and faster than the geostrophic wind speed (i.e., supergeostrophic) in ridges.

• So far so good, but the textbook derivations technically apply to steady-state axisymmetric vortices in the case of constant Coriolis parameter.

Example of research-worthy topic: Gradient wind• How should the gradient wind be calculated and interpreted

in realistic flow configurations?

• Are subgradient and supergradient wind speeds possible and if so what is their dynamical significance?

Example of research-worthy topic: Gradient wind

Example of research-worthy topic: Gradient wind

Concluding remarks• Ingredients for effective teaching: Preparation, organization,

clarity, command of the subject, and empathy.

• Teaching atmospheric dynamics in class works when equations, words, and schematics tell a coherent story.

• Teaching atmospheric dynamics out of class works when course topics lead to research questions that can be addressed through class projects.

Concluding remarks• Not all of the concepts treated in atmospheric dynamics

textbooks represent the last word on the subject.

• Teaching atmospheric dynamics can identify viable research questions and operate at the interface between education and research.

• Atmospheric dynamics is not a static subject: it is dynamic.