INTEGRATING SCIENCE CLASSES FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS WITH INFORMAL EDUCATION CENTERS

Museums are frequently visited by elementary schools for field trips. Standard field trips involve students exploring exhibits with teachers, chaperones and docents who point out interesting aspects of the museum. Although these trips are a valuable out of the classroom experience, very little actual learning is accomplished. In addition to providing opportunities for elementary school children museums can also provide both content and pedagogical learning for pre-service teachers. The Natural Science Program (NSP) in conjunction with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS) and the Geology and Meteorite Museum at the University of New Mexico has developed two programs that integrate student visits to museums and science training for pre-service teachers. The goals of these programs are 1- provide elementary students focused, inquiry-based activities during museum visits; 2- provide pre-service teachers an opportunity to learn important science content; 3- provide pre-service teachers an opportunity early in their careers to work with students in both an classroom and informal setting. INQUIRY INTO NEW MEXICO GEOLOGIC TIME is a geology curriculum for 6th grade students consisting of three components. 1- Pre-service teachers in the NSP visit the classroom prior to the museum visit and guide the students through an investigation of relative and absolute geologic time. 2- During a visit to the NMMNHS, the NSP pre-service teachers meet the same set of students and lead them through a data collecting tour of the museum focusing on the geologic evolution of New Mexico. Student groups collect data on cards, which they bring back to the classroom to use in the third component. 3- A second classroom visit occurs after the museum visit where the pre-service teachers help the students develop a geologic time scale for New Mexico using data collected from the museum visit. NEW MEXICO ROCKS, MINERALS AND METEORITES is a hands-on exploration of geologic samples from New Mexico that facilitates student visits to the geology and meteorite museum at the University of New Mexico. To date this program only involves pre-service teachers working with students during the museum visit. The presentation will cover results from the Fall 2001 pilot efforts for both of these programs.