WGU Chosen as Partner in National Science Foundation Earth System Science Program

Western Governors University has been selected as a partner institution in the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA), an innovative professional development program for pre-service and in-service middle and high school teachers.

WGU will join other colleges, universities, and science research and education organizations spread among 22 states and the District of Columbia.

ESSEA is funded through a cooperative agreement awarded to IGES (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies) by the National Science Foundation under its Geoscience Teacher Training (GEO-Teach) program, which supports projects designed to improve the quality of geoscience education, primarily at the middle and high school levels. GEO-Teach projects provide pre-service teacher training, in-service professional development, and access to high-quality curricular materials.

As an ESSEA partner, WGU will receive funding and training to offer a series of online Earth system science courses geared toward teachers of specific grade levels and aligned to national education standards. Working in collaborative groups, teachers who enroll in ESSEA courses will learn to teach Earth system science using inquiry-based classroom methods.

"Western Governors University is thrilled to be a part of this NSF-funded initiative and we are looking forward to working with IGES to make their Earth system science courses available to our undergraduate and graduate students in secondary-level science degree programs," said Dr. Philip Schmidt, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Teachers College at Western Governors University.