HR: 0800h
AN: ED51A-0122    [Abstracts]
TI: Expanding the Reach of the Coastal Ocean Science Classroom to Teachers through Teleducation
AU: * Macko, S
EM: sam8f@virginia.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, United States
AU: Szuba, T
EM: tomszuba@ntelos.net
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, United States
AB: In a first of its kind connectivity, using high speed internet connections, a summer class in Oceanography was live, interactively broadcast (teleducation) to Arcadia High School on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, allowing teachers in the Accomack County School District to receive university credit without leaving their home classrooms 250 miles from UVA. This project was an outreach and education program with a partner in the K-12 schools on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It endeavored to build a community knowledgeable of the importance the ocean plays daily in our lives, and our own impact on the ocean. By establishing teleducation linkages with the Eastern Shore High Schools we were rigorously testing the live-Internet-based classroom with earth science teachers enabling them to remotely participate in University of Virginia classes in Oceanography. The classes were designed on a faculty development basis or to allow the teachers to acquire NSTA certification in Earth Science Education. While not without small problems of interruptions in connectivity or the occasional transmission of hardcopies of materials, the approach was seen to be extremely successful. The ability to reach school districts and teachers that are in more remote locations and with fewer resources is clearly supported by this venture. Currently we are planning to link multiple classrooms in the next iteration of this work, intending to offer the expanded classroom in more distant college-based classrooms where Ocean Sciences is a desired portion of the curriculum, but is presently only occasionally offered owing to limited resources.
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
DE: 0830 Teacher training
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting