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|A Pilot Summer Course for In-Service Teachers
This project will improve the quality
of science teaching and help achieve National Science Education Standards
(NSES) by exposing in-service teachers to inquiry and research-based education.
In contrast to the way many science courses are taught, science is an active
process, something students do, not something which is done to them (NRC,
1996). Teaching to achieve NSES involves inquiry-oriented experiences in
which students engage in problem solving, planning, and decision making.
Although changes are underway to improve the education of tomorrow's science
teachers, we cannot ignore the needs of current teachers. This project
provides practicing teachers with exposure to cutting-edge geoenvironmental
research, the opportunity to complete a group research project, and time
to reflect on how to implement and assess team-based research in their
own teaching. Improving science teaching requires a complete overhaul of
the traditional model, yet in-service teachers have few opportunities to
see alternate techniques modeled. We propose to develop a pilot short course
that will model this type of teaching through the use of local problem-oriented
research. This short course will involve faculty involved in both research
and teaching from the fields of Geoscience and Education, and will: 1.
Pilot innovative geoscience education; 2. Bring cutting-edge research to
the classroom; 3. Model implementation of NSES for teachers, and; 4. Allow
teachers to work with research scientists. We have a successful
approach to team-based, active, inquiry-based learning for today's undergraduates
and graduates, modeled on the research process, in courses for geoscience
and environmental education students at Purdue University. Our goal is
to adapt research-based, university-level courses to the needs and realities
of in-service teachers. We will make the course available to teachers in
their home area, during the summer months, when most teachers have time
available. The class will provide continuing education credits in science
and education and will include innovative educational material including
alternative assessment models. Participants will be shown how science education
standards and goals (NRC, 1996; and NSF, 1997) can be integrated into their
own teaching through student, team-based research. This research will take
place in a watershed in close proximity to the summer workshop, in order
to provide a convenient location and immediate local interest on the part
of the participants. The instructors will first outline local geoenvironmental
issues and provide background data and general information for a watershed
that is currently being studied as part of a major EPA-funded research
project. Participant teams will act as science consultant groups and write
proposals to investigate geoenvironmental concerns of their choosing. Their
proposal will include a recommended method for determining a solution to
a problem. Guest speakers from the scientific community as well as stakeholders
associated with the problem under investigation will address the class
so that the participants hear differing viewpoints. After collecting information
and listening to presentations, the groups will collect and analyze information,
prepare reports, and make recommendations. The groups will receive feedback
from the instructors and other participants, and use this to revise both
their written reports and oral presentations. Groups will also prepare
an instructional plan to take their research approach to a classroom setting.
These instructional plans will follow recommended strategies from the NSES
and will include alternative assessment models, such as "authentic assessment"
(NRC, 1996). This model program will be disseminated across the US, and
will demonstrate how cutting-edge research can be used to drive summer
programs in which in-service teachers learn how to apply and assess team-based
student research in geoscience as a way to achieve National Science Education
Standards.
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