Development and Publication

Earth System Science in the Community

ORIGINS

• National Assessment of Educational Progress

• AGI Earth Science Content Guidelines: Grades K-12

• Standards and Benchmarks

• National Science Foundation

National Assessment of Educational Progress

• Regular studies by NAEP and NCES reveal…. – Low levels of achievement in math and science– High percentage of teachers without

specialization– Lack of school support for teacher enhancement– Decline in high schools offering earth science

Earth Science Content Guidelines: Grades K-12

• AGI 1991– Essential Questions

– Key Ideas

– Seeking Answers

• Content Domains– Solid Earth

– Water

– Air

– Ice

– Life

– Earth in Space

Standards and Benchmarks

• National Research Council• AAAS Project 2061

– Promote depth and understanding in curriculum

– Focus on the needs of all students

– View reform as systemic change

– Emphasize role of inquiry in learning

– Contain Earth and Space Science as Separate Content Domain

National Science Foundation

• Provides funding for:– Standards-based curriculum– Teacher enhancement– Implementation centers

• Funded AGI to produce:– Investigating Earth Systems (1994)– EarthComm (1995)

Goals…

1. Develop modular, comprehensive program for grades 9-12 that is based upon the National Science Education Standards.

• Engage students through community• Promote inquiry• Emphasize Earth systems

2. Establish teacher enhancement programs to support implementation.

DEVELOPMENT and TESTING

• Drafted by university faculty-teacher teams in 1998

• Pilot tested by 30 high school teachers in Spring 1999

• Revised by Members of NESTA in Summer 1999

• Field tested by 76 high school teachers in 27 states in the 1999-2000 school year.

Evaluation Results“When all the sources of information from the field test

were considered it became clear that Module 1 of the EarthComm curriculum worked effectively in the field test classrooms. Almost all of the field test teachers were very favorably impressed by the high quality of the science content, the module components, many of the hands on activities, the inquiry approach, the group work, and the relevance to the community. Most teachers also reported student interest in the overall program to be moderately high and very high in many of the activities. Furthermore the data collected indicated that the students had learned the material and accomplished many of the goals covered in Module 1.”

Independent Project Evaluator’s Report, April, 2000

PUBLICATION

• Publishes only NSF-funded and field tested programs.

• Supports implementation with teacher workshops, software, and Materials kits.

Other IAT Programs:

TEACHER ENHANCEMENT

Exxon Education Foundation• Four universities: geoscientist-science educator

workshop teams.

• 167 teachers and administrators

• Goals/outcomes:– new geoscience content

– ways to promote classroom inquiry

– how to use technology to obtain resources

– new methods of assessing performance

– improved knowledge of standards

TEACHER ENHANCEMENT

Additional Outcomes

• 80 teachers tested EarthComm in their classrooms and provided feedback for the commercial edition.

• 15 teachers will become workshop leaders.• A training manual was prepared for future teacher

enhancement programs.

IMPLEMENTATION• Summer leadership institutes to prepare future

workshop leaders• Variety of workshops to meet diverse needs of

schools and districts.• Web support and CD-ROM for geoscience

content and access to data and resources.• Web-based forums to promote dialogue amongst

teachers and between teachers and geoscientists. • Create professional development videos

FURTHER INFORMATION

It’s About Time

• 1-888-698-TIME

• www.its-about-time.com

American Geological Institute

• www.agiweb.org/education/