Geoscience Education Research to Enhance Effective Professional Development for In-Service Teachers: New Research Opportunities in the San Diego Region

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Geoscience Education Research to Enhance Effective Professional Development for In-Service Teachers: New Research Opportunities in the San Diego RegionDue to increased demand for Geosciences in schools, there is a surge in the demand for geoscience professional development workshops for both pre- service and in-service teachers. One of the largest professional development programs in California is run by the K-12 Alliance, a multi-agency collaborative organization. The PI and his research group are participating as content facilitators and researchers in this program and are assessing portions of the project including immediate impacts on classroom practice. This project supports students who will perform some of these assessment activities to conduct research on the impact and effectiveness of a new field-based, inquiry-driven unit on sedimentary rocks, depositional environments and change through time using a well exposed sequence of Eocene through Pleistocene rocks at Torrey Pines State Park. All participants undergo pre- and post-test summative evaluation, and selected participants will be interviewed before and after the field experience, and tracked to measure the impact of the field exercise on classroom practice over the coming school year.