ED34A-01 INVITED 16:02h
The QuarkNet Collaboration: How "Doing Science" is Changing Science Education
QuarkNet is a national initiative to involve high-school teachers and their students in real scientific research. Students and teachers assist in seeking to resolve some of the mysteries about the structure of matter and the fundamental forces of nature It is supported by the Department and Energy and the National Science Foundation. This long-term project, beginning its sixth year of implementation, has provided a successful framework that might be adapted to similar endeavors. It is an international collaboration of universities, high schools and research centers including CERN in Switzerland, and Fermilab, LBNL, and SLAC in the United States. The goals of this program include the involvement of students and teachers in authentic scientific research projects. By actually "doing science", they gain first hand knowledge of the research procedure and the inquiry method of learning. Teachers increase their content knowledge and enhance their teaching skills by solving scientific research problems through the inquiry method of learning. Students involved in this program learn fundamental physics and research-based skills through the analysis of real data. Particle physicists also benefit by being exposed to some of the current issues in science education. Through an understanding of National Science Education Standards, physicist-mentors are made aware of the needs of local science education and gain a better grasp of age appropriate content. The QuarkNet program was developed while consulting with research physicists throughout the United States. There are three main program areas that have been established-teacher research experiences, teacher development programs, and an online resource that makes available numerous inquiry-based activities. Select teachers are given eight-week appointments allowing them to gain first hand experience as a part of a scientific research team. Those teachers become lead teachers during the following summer and, along with physicist mentors, work with other teachers on a short research scenario or activity over a period of several weeks. The scenarios can then be adapted for classroom use at virtually any level. The QuarkNet website provides a wide variety of resources for teacher and student use including- samples of experimental data for use in inquiry based activities, venues for communication and collaboration between students, teachers and physicists, student publication areas where ideas can be exchanged, and numerous other resources, activities, and simulations. Currently, the QuarkNet program involves over 50 research institutions and hundreds of teachers. This year, we have also added a student research component at several of the centers. This component will be expanded in the coming years so that many more students will have the opportunity to become an active part and contributing member of a scientific research team.
http://quarknet.fnal.gov/
ED34A-02 INVITED 16:22h
Hands-On Universe Teacher Courses and the NASA Kepler Mission Outreach
The NASA Kepler mission has elements that serve a variety of audiences: formal education (elementary, secondary, and colleges), informal education (planetarium shows and museum exhibits), and public outreach (broadcast TV, radio, website, CD-ROM, and toolkit for amateur astronomers). The Kepler Cam program will provide minority colleges with CCD cameras and training systems for ground-based observations of exoplanet transits. Kepler Cam is closely tied with the Hands-On Universe (HOU) project that aims to have high school students actively involved in research projects such as asteroid discovery, supernova searches, cataclysmic variable observations, and studies of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Last fall (2003), HOU completed an NSF funded study in the relative effectiveness of online and face-to-face professional development courses. The evaluator for the project was TIMSS (Third International Math and Science Study). Findings, based on student performance, indicate that online teacher courses are as effective as face-to-face courses in teacher professional development. Details are in this paper.
http://kepler.nasa.gov
ED34A-03 16:42h
From Distance Learning to Research Experience: a Successful Model for Best Practices in Research-Based Science Education
Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE) is an NSF-funded Teacher Enhancement Program hosted by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ. Consistent with national priorities in education, TLRBSE seeks to retain and renew middle and high school science teachers. Within the exciting context of astronomy, TLRBSE integrates the best pedagogical practices of Research Based Science Education with the process of mentoring. The main means by which participants are provided training in astronomy content, research pedagogy, image processing and leadership skills is through a 15-week distance-learning course and an in-residence, two-week summer institute at Kitt Peak National Observatory and the National Solar Observatory. At the observatories, teachers are the researchers on one of four research projects. In preparation for the research experience on Kitt Peak, the distance-learning course addresses the transition of the educational environment into an authentic research center and describes how best to prepare teachers to become part of scientific research teams. The DL course achieves this by successfully modeling best practices in research-based science education in three investigations. Subsequently the teachers' experience and knowledge gained through the distance-learning course and the summer institute are transferred to the classroom, where students learn science by doing science and mentees are mentored. Staff support by astronomers and education specialists continues with efforts to sustain a professional learning community that outlives the research experience. Further observing experience is available during the academic year. Students submit research papers to the RBSE on-line journal. Teachers and their mentees present at national NSTA meetings. During the AGU presentation, the focus will be on aspects of the distance-learning course, outcomes, lessons learned and future directions.
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/tlrbse/
ED34A-04 16:55h
Teacher Observing Experiences: Deepening Teacher Professional Development
The Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE) professional development program has been successfully running through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory for the past four years, providing training in research in the classroom, mentoring, and leadership. During the 2003-04 observing season, we have experimented with a new component of the program, Teacher Observing Experiences, in which teachers who have already received training through either the RBSE or TLRBSE programs in using professional telescopes at Kitt Peak, are invited back to Kitt Peak for an observing run with one or two of their students. The objectives of the program are to re-involve our teachers at a higher level in the program than originally designed to help build the TLRBSE community, to provide a professional research experience of a higher order that they had in the original program, and to involve a few of their best students in a hands-on observing experience. To participate in the program, teacher had to work with a small team of students to design an observing project, and then submit a proposal to a TLRBSE evaluation committee for competitive selection for observing time on one of three professional telescopes. The teams were provided help in preparing their proposals, including online support materials and telephone conferences with the astronomer in charge of each telescope. Once selected, the teacher/student teams came to Tucson, made their run (including the vagaries of weather faced by all astronomers), returned home with their data, and then provided us with their scientific reports and any TV or print news articles. In this talk, we will describe our first year's experiences: what worked and what didn't, and describe changes for the upcoming year.
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/tlrbse/sy_observing.html
ED34A-05 17:08h
History of Winter (HOW): A Field Science Teacher as Scientist (TAS) Training Model
Each year the NASA (Goddard )History of Winter (HOW) program allows teachers to understand the consequences of one segment of the orbit of the tilted earth in its path around the sun. Scientists from NASA, CRREL, and Michigan Tech, supported by the Whiteface Observatory, and the science program at Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York use the weather and the stratigraphy in the ice and snow, that are the consequences of the weather changes, as "teachers" in a team study of the winter record. Snow in the air and on the ground, ice, its crystal structure and axial orientation, and the ecosystem consequences of snow and ice constitute the weeklong content package. Teacher Professional Development Standards A, B, C, and D were the guiding principles in developing HOW. The content structure was formulated as sets of protocols that could serve as inserts into lesson plans and inquiry guidelines. The concept of HOW within NASA is to provide understanding of the "WHY?" and "WHAT?" of satellite remote sensing. The content is appropriate ground validation. Techniques presented in protocols are identical to those used by professionals who study snow pits, evaluate features in snow metamorphism, and study thin sections of ice cores drilled in ice caps and glaciers. Tools that are used, such as the I-button thermochron, polarizer sheets, and density tubes are taken back to the schools to be used throughout the year in a variety of ways that are described in the weeklong HOW event. The HOW Teacher as Scientist (TAS) model is a flexible model. HOW enables teachers who are required to use inquiry-based facilitation in the classroom to experience inquiry themselves. Teachers with little science content background as well as those with Science degrees have participated in HOW with accommodations for differentiation of instruction so that each group leaves with a mastery of the content that is appropriate for the transition to presentation in the classroom. Each year builds on the previous year ensuring a time series record of the history of winter-by itself a learning experience. http://www.blueiceonline.org http://www.historyofwinter.org
http://howexcite.gsfc.nasa.gov
ED34A-06 17:21h
A Model for Teacher Professional Development Using Mapping Technologies to Foster Authentic Research in Earth/Environmental Sciences
Within the framework of the 5-Step Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Leadership Model, developed by Stubbs, Devine and Hagevik, this study addressed the effectiveness using new mapping technologies to provide authentic research experiences for teachers in Earth/Environmental Science. The 5-Step Model is cumulative, with each step increasing in complexity, taking the participant from learning a base of computer skills and earth/environmental science concepts all the way to independently conducting field research. Through a problem-solving approach, teachers build upon their own understandings and share them with their students. Online learning, support systems, research scientist collaboration, and direct pedagogical instruction are the essential components of this program. For example, in the second step of the model, teachers and students use the online Mapping Our School Site (MOSS)c curriculum and CITYgreenc GIS to investigate their school campuses. A support system of Teacher Leaders, scientists, and community collaborators has been established through electronic communications and site visits. Scientific content and pedagogy is infused into the steps of this model in the direct teaching of spatial thinking skills to the teachers and strategies on how to transfer these skills to their students. The success of this approach results in teacher expertise and a new found confidence in conducting authentic scientific research using new mapping technologies. This study confirmed that a significant number of teachers proceeded to implement authentic student research using mapping technologies to teach earth/environmental science in their classrooms up to two years after completing the professional development.
http://www.ncsu.edu/scilink/studysite
ED34A-07 17:34h
Diving Into the Ocean Sciences: Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers
Graduate students from the College of Marine Science, at the University of South Florida, are collaborating with teachers in Pinellas County schools to bring the interdisciplinary field of oceanography into the classroom. Through the National Science Foundation's GK-12 OCEANS program, a series of three full-day professional development workshops are being offered to familiarize teachers with ocean science concepts and allow them to devise ways to incorporate inquiry based, hands-on ocean science lessons into primary and secondary curricula. As scientists participating in active ocean science research programs, we hope to use the professional development forum to begin to bridge the gap between teachers and scientists and to build teacher confidence in science. Through the GK-12 infrastructure, teachers are supported in the K-12 classroom to implement the concepts learned through professional development. Teacher's participation in the workshops will include collection and analysis of samples and completion of a wide range of ocean science labs and activities designed for use with their students. The workshops will focus on the Tampa Bay estuary, the Gulf of Mexico, and the deep sea, and will incorporate the disciplines of earth, life and physical sciences. Our goal is to encourage teachers to engage students in science and the scientific process by tapping into the natural resource that surrounds them, the ocean.
ED34A-08 17:47h
Developing a Successful High School Science Research Program via Teacher Training, Student Internships, and Community Support
The purpose of the Science Research Program is to allow students to perform authentic scientific research in disciplines of their choosing over a period of 3 years. The success of the program has allowed for expansion including community involvement, student mentorship, and a series of professional development programs. Through state and national competition and community symposia, student research is evaluated, showcased, and subsequently supported both idealistically and financially by local government and industrial partnerships. Student internships and university/industrial mentorship programs allow students to pursue research topics and utilize equipment exceeding the scope of the secondary science classroom. Involved teachers have developed and delivered professional development workshops to foster the successful implementation of scientific research programs at additional high schools throughout the state.