DIYnamics: An Active Learning, Scalable Climate Sciences Teaching Platform

While the impacts of climate change are front page news day in and day out, the underlying phenomenon that controls climate dynamics is not extensively taught below the advanced undergraduate level. To make climate science more accessible, the topics of atmospheric and oceanic dynamics need to be communicated at all levels, including primary and secondary education. Towards this end, the Do-It-Yourself Dynamics (DIYnamics) project has developed a series of low cost, DIY kits in which students and educators alike can build on their own tangible analogue to the Earth in the form of a Lego-driven rotating tank. With these kits, anyone can carry out hands-on planetary climate experiments. Such active learning pathways are rare in teaching climate science. Further, DIYnamics experiments can be used to teach basic, concretized modeling concepts, and spatial thinking skills. Here, we will discuss the state of this NSF funded, broadly collaborative project, including the survey outcomes from our first teachers workshops held at the Earth Educators' Rendezvous at the University of Minnesota in July 2022.