Can We Do Better at Teaching Mathematics to Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Students?

At the 2019 annual Members Meeting of UCAR, an informal survey was made during a well-attended breakout session organized by the UCAR COMET program. The following polling question was posed to an audience of department chairs and educational leaders of atmospheric and oceanic science programs at universities in the United States and Canada, "What is the greatest challenge students have when entering an atmospheric science program?" The majority of participants in the breakout session answered the question, and the dominant responses of these leading atmospheric science educators can be summarized with a single short word: "math." These responses included the topics of relating math and physics as well as computer programming and coding skills. The subsequent discussion explored the participants' experiences in greater detail and the nuances of the obstacle that math presents for many students entering atmospheric science programs. The conclusion that can be drawn from this one poll of atmospheric science educators is unequivocal. Mathematics, according to this poll, is by far the greatest challenge faced by undergraduate university students when they enter an atmospheric science program.