Earth system science and the Internet

In 1991, NASA and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) initia ted a program to introduce college undergraduates to the interdisciplinary challenges of an emerging Earth system science approach to understanding ou r planet. Earth system science Views the Earth as a synergistic physical sy stem of interrelated phenomena, processes and cycles which remain largely u nexplored in traditional disciplinary Earth science course offerings. The o ngoing Cooperative University-based Program for Earth System Science Educat ion (ESSE) challenges colleges and universities to develop and offer classr oom courses which examine the Earth as a system and to share their progress , course materials and learning modules. Concurrent with the development of the ESSE community and its shared learning resources has been the exponent ial growth of the Internet and its suite of communication tools, which are a central resource for the ESSE Program. The Internet has enabled the rapid deployment of information and resources through shared repositories of lea rning materials and general Earth system science knowledge, all of which se rve to create and maintain an active informed education community. ESSE par ticipants are organizing to develop a suite of web-based Earth system scien ce learning modules and sharing course materials and learning resources via the ESSE web site. The modular approach more easily assimilates peer-revie wed learning resources into a wide range of classroom environments. A web-b ased peer-reviewed Journal of Earth System Science Education is proposed to provide educators with quality classroom materials addressing the Earth as a system and to reward ESS resource developers with citable references. Mo re sophisticated web search and retrieval functions, as well as advanced co mmunication tools will be needed to maintain automated databases of network ed resources and an informed user community as Earth system science and the Internet enter the new millennium. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.