Advancing the REVOLUTION: Using Earth Systems Science to Prepare Elementary School Teachers in an Urban Environment

Journal of Geoscience Education, Sep 2004 by Hall, Frank R, Buxton, Cory A

State-mandated high-stakes assessments with consequences such as grade retention and withholding of the high school diploma are spreading rapidly throughout the country. We recognize that improving K-6 students' knowledge of science requires improving the knowledge and abilities of their teachers. Modeling an Earth systems approach to science in our own teaching seems to be one way of changing our students' attitudes and beliefs about science. It is our hope that these changes will translate into changing teaching practices as well. At the same time, we are well aware that the current generation of teachers faces some significant barriers to the implementation of such an approach. There is a prevailing educational climate that has schools moving away from a willingness to allow teachers to make curricular, instructional and assessment decisions based on their contextualized understandings of the needs of the students in their classes. All of us involved in the preparation of science teachers must continue to collaborate and to explore the interaction of educational context and standards-based education if we are to realize the goals of the national systemic reform movement in science education. We hope that by sharing our own experiences of our collaboration across sciences and education coursework for pre-service teachers, we can contribute something to this broader discourse. We encourage faculty at other institutions to do the same.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to acknowledge Mr. Wendell Thompson for his tireless efforts is assisting us in developing the courses discussed in this text. We also acknowledge Ms. JoAnn Burke of the Lake Pontchartrain basin Foundation, the J. L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium, and students participants from the University of New Orleans. We also extend our gratitude to Dr. Julie Libarkin for her encouragement and assistance in the completion of this article. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation: NSF-0085392.

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