ENHANCING INQUIRY-BASED EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE EDUCATION AT MULTIPLE LEVELS: IMPLEMENTING GLOBE HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS

Responsibilities for preparing K-12 Science Educators in higher education settings typically involve separate Colleges of Education (for “Science Methods”) and Arts & Sciences (for “Content”). Cooperation between these elements may range from excellent to marginal. A GLOBE Earth Systems Science Education Teacher Training Partnership can serve as an outstanding tool to energize cooperation and enhance collaboration. The GLOBE Partnership at the University of West Georgia has developed inquiry-based, hands-on Science Education "content" courses at multiple levels. Science faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and Science Education faculty from the College of Education have worked together to create three courses focused on the needs of Early Childhood, Middle Grades Earth Science, and Secondary Earth Systems Science majors, for both pre-service and in-service teachers. Each course has a laboratory component involving GLOBE Earth Systems Observation protocols and learning activities that are tied to state standards at appropriate grade levels, as well as inquiry-focused projects that involve gathering data across the Earth Systems, data processing and analysis, reporting, and presentations using GLOBE guidelines. Course objectives, learning goals and format will be presented for these courses, along with examples of projects and assessments. In addition to creating quality courses, quality partnerships were also facilitated among faculty in different Science Departments and between faculty in the two Colleges. Pre-service and in-service teachers also get the opportunity to form partnerships with Science Department and Science Education faculty from both Colleges, who can serve as future mentors and research partners.