An Inquiry and Standards Based Earth System Science Course for Pre-service K-8 Teachers and Others

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Earth Systems Science (40)In this project we are adapting problem-based learning (PBL) and other inquiry-based approaches to a new integrated geoscience course for K-8 pre-service (preK-8) teachers. The motivation for this effort is to address the problem where our preK-8 pre-service teachers were taking a course that did not meet the content and pedagogy standards and that was not designed for them. With this new integrated geoscience course, we are trying to improve the students' attitudes toward science, understanding of science, ability to "do" science, understanding of science concepts, and ability to use instructional technology to learn about science. We also aim to increase the number of preK-8 teachers who choose to emphasize science, increase the diversity of science K-8 teachers, and provide university faculty and graduate student development to ensure high quality instruction. To accomplish these goals, we are creating an earth system science course that meets state and national educational standards for earth/space science content, science pedagogy, assessment and evaluation, and effective use of instructional technologies. The course is being designed around topical units that integrate multiple disciplines, that lend themselves to inquiry-based teaching and learning strategies, and that are socially relevant and interesting to students. The PBL approach is a student-centered approach that uses concrete, real-world problems to enhance student learning. In the course students investigate carefully framed geoscience problems via online explorations and visualizations of real-world data, small-group collaborations, and hands-on experiments. We are working with an elementary science educator to design effective assessment and evaluation methods.