FACILITATING ACQUISITION OF PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE IN EARLY CAREER EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS: THE REAL EARTH SYSTEM INQUIRY PROJECT

Much has been written about the significance of getting students into the field, or of bringing students to the field via virtual field trips. Many secondary school Earth science teachers, however, struggle to provide such experiences: many have limited background in real-world Earth sciences, some have never thought of themselves as potential creators of virtual field experiences, and a number are not comfortable with open-ended inquiry about real-world applications. The “Regional and Local (ReaL) Earth System Inquiry” project is an integrated professional development program that includes field work, introduction to creation of virtual field experiences, discussion of research-based pedagogy, a “Teacher-Friendly” resource on regional and local Earth science, and a communication network among early career Earth science teachers. The program is unusual in its simultaneous targeting of support of beginning teachers and in the development of Earth science pedagogical content knowledge.

A summer institute for first to third year Earth science teachers was held in 2005 and teachers were tracked over the course of the 2005-06 school year. Samples of teacher and student work were collected and teachers interviewed at the end of the school year. Contrasts were made in the degree to which different teachers are experimenting with virtual field trips and/or participating in communications with peer teachers from the institute. These observations confirm the significance of organizational support of innovation by early career teachers, and reflect demographic variations in demands on early career teachers. The opportunity exists in the coming school year to enable teachers and perhaps their students to videoconference as Earth science content experts for classes in the other areas. A teacher resource is in development that will guide teachers in application of inquiry-based approaches to regional and local Earth systems. This work is supported by NSF grant ESI- 0455833.