Pathways to Science Teaching Immerses Preservice Teachers in Field-based Earth Science Research and K-8 Teaching
Abstract
Diverse and well-prepared K-12 teachers are critical to expanding participation in the future earth science workforce. However, preservice teachers rarely have opportunities to design and conduct a scientific investigation and connect this experience to teaching scientific practices as articulated by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). To address this gap, Pathways to Science Teaching , an NSF-GeoPaths project at Western Michigan University, engages 8 undergraduate students per year in a 10-week summer program that couples field-based research and teaching. Participants learn science through identifying local water quality issues during interactions with community stakeholder groups, practice science by conducting a water quality investigation in the local watershed, teach science with guidance from professional mentors in two K-8 summer camps, and think science as they use their experiences to reflect on their ideas about the nature of science, NGSS science and engineering practices, and their identity as scientists and teachers. The first two cohorts included 10 education majors and 6 science/engineering majors with a strong interest in teaching, of diverse race/ethnicity, gender, age, and community college experience. As an outcome of the project, participants experienced moderate growth in their understanding of the nature of science, mostly related to the role of creativity in science. They reported increased knowledge of NGSS practices related to developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, and analyzing and interpreting data. Ten of the participants reported a stronger or renewed sense of identity as a geoscientist or geoscience teacher. Participants greatly valued opportunities to develop and conduct their own field-based research, connect the research with teaching, and learn valuable written and oral communication skills. Based on these early results, the Pathways program could provide an educational model for strengthening preservice science teacher education.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMED23F1070P
- Keywords:
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- 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design;
- EDUCATION;
- 0850 Geoscience education research;
- EDUCATION