HR: 16:22h
AN: ED14A-02 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Developing Authentic Research Experiences in the K-12 Classroom
AU: * Hall, M K
EM: hall@scieds.com
AF: Science Education Solutions, 4200 W. Jemez Rd, Suite 301, Los Alamos, NM 87544 United States
AB: The excitement of an authentic science experiment in one's own backyard piques interest, but teachers need resources and professional development experiences to capitalize upon this excitement and create opportunities for their students' learning. Three obstacles must be overcome for success in carrying out authentic research in the classroom. First, scientists and teachers must work together to identify relevant and developmentally appropriate research questions for the target audience. Second, teachers need professional development experiences that engage them in authentic research and that provide support for introducing a similar research experience in their own classroom. Third, the outcome of the research experience must have value to the scientist, teacher and student to motivate sustained participation by all. I have directed two projects that have opened the door for teachers to conduct authentic research with their students: monitoring earthquakes with educational seismometers and investigating local environmental problems with a GIS. Classroom seismometers permit students and the public to see first-hand Earth's dynamic response to both human and natural events in their hometown and around the country. From plotting earthquakes occurring throughout the school year to reveal plate tectonic relationships, or conducting seismic hazard analysis of the local region, to analyzing patterns of foreshocks and aftershocks of major earthquakes, students have been actively engaged and motivated in their learning. GIS opens the opportunity to investigate problems of land, water and other resource uses, but presents special problems in acquiring appropriate and useful data. I will discuss the lessons learned from working with teachers in educational seismology and GIS programs and how those lessons can be applied to developing research experiences for teachers and students.
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 6630 Workforce
DE: 6699 General or miscellaneous
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting