HR: 1340h
AN: ED23B-1288    [Abstracts]
TI: Creating Science Education Specialists and Scientific Literacy in Students through a Successful Partnership among Scientists, Science Teachers, and Education Researchers
AU: * Metoyer, S
EM: smetoyer@geog.tamu.edu
AF: Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, 810 O&M Building, College Station, TX 77843-3147, United States
AU: Prouhet, T
EM: tavia0728@yahoo.com
AF: Landmark, A Halliburton Company, 2701 City West Bldg 2, Houston, TX 77042, United States
AU: Radencic, S
EM: sradencic@bryanisd.org
AF: Bryan Independent School District, 101 North Texas Ave, Bryan, TX 77803, United States
AB: The nature of science and the nature of learning are often assumed to have little practical relationship to each other. Scientists conduct research and science teachers teach. Rarely do the scientist and the science teacher have an opportunity to learn from each other. Here we describe results from a program funded by NSF, the Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center for Teaching and Learning. The ITS Center provided the support and structure necessary for successful long-term collaboration among scientists, science teachers, and education researchers that has resulted in the creation of new science education specialists. These specialists are not only among the science teachers, but also include avid recruits to science education from the scientists themselves. Science teachers returned to their classrooms armed with new knowledge of content, inquiry, and ideas for technology tools that could support and enhance students' scientific literacy. Teachers developed and implemented action research plans as a means of exploring educational outcomes of their use and understanding of new technologies and inquiry applied to the classroom. In other words, they tried something different in the class related to authentic inquiry and technology. They then assessed the students' to determine if there was an impact to the students in some way. Many of the scientists, on the other hand, report that they have modified their instructional practices for undergraduate courses based on their experiences with the teachers and the ITS Center. Some joined other collaborative projects pairing scientists and educators. And, many of the scientists continue on-going communication with the science teachers serving as mentors, collaborators, and as an "expert" source for the students to ask questions to. In order to convey the success of this partnership, we illustrate and discuss four interdependent components. First, costs and benefits to the science teacher are discussed through case studies, survey results, and descriptive categories. Costs and benefits to the scientist are discussed through the use of case studies, surveys, and observations. Third, student learning outcomes from a case study are presented. It is argued that the partnership created the opportunity for the integration of imaginative tools of science (specifically GIS in the case study) and authentic science inquiry. The last component is the discussion of the various tools of science utilized by the scientists for their research, taught to the science teachers by the scientists, and then taught to the students by the science teachers. At each step the technology was modified to fit the levels and applications of the specific science teacher, the grade level taught, and the content area taught. Examples of imaginative tools utilized include Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Google Earth, time-lapse photography, digital microscopy, and Excel. In summary, by examining this collaborative partnership through the lens of the scientists, the science teachers, and the science teachers' students it is evident that this partnership has created new science education specialists and can ultimately improve scientific literacy in K-12 students. Reference: NRC (2005). How Students Learn. The National Academies Press. Washington D.C.
DE: 0830 Teacher training
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting