CROSSING DIVIDES: EARTH SCIENCE TEACHER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS

Earth science teacher preparation programs often consist of a series of courses in geology and education and may not significantly integrate pedagogy and content, producing teachers who may know the content material but cannot readily transmit it to their students. In addition, geology majors may be required to study material that is not part of local K-12 curricula, yet never become familiar with content that they are required to teach, such as meteorology and space science. Earth science teacher preparation at Brooklyn College has developed partnerships between the School of Education, the Geology department and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) that support the full integration of content and pedagogy throughout the teacher preparation coursework, and recognize and draw upon the unique resources of the museum, including collections, exhibitions, educators, online resources and scientists. Collaborative efforts between faculty in education and geology, such as course development and sharing of ideas for instruction and assessment, has led to strengthening of courses in both departments; content has aligned more closely with national standards for science teaching and learning and New York State Earth science standards, and pedagogy has been improved. Teacher Renewal for Urban Science Teachers (TRUST) is a collaboration in Earth science teacher preparation between the AMNH, Brooklyn College and Lehman College of the City University of New York funded by the NSF. Through TRUST, we have developed courses taught in collaboration with museum educators and scientists that provide access to teaching collections and content expertise beyond the faculty at the college. Our collaboration with the museum extends further to include program recognition of the online Seminars on Science courses developed by the museum and offered to students in the City University of New York. The online courses utilize rich video, and online interactive simulations. They are co-taught by an educator and a museum scientist and address both content and pedagogy. Brooklyn College recognizes three Seminars on Science graduate courses in the earth and physical sciences; Earth: Inside and Out, The Ocean System and Space, Time and Motion. For Brooklyn College students, the AMNH is an extension of our campus.