CATASTROPHIC EVENTS IN SEATTLE: COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EARTH SCIENCE WORKSHOP FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

A middle school teacher’ workshop on the topics of earthquakes and volcanoes was developed at the University of Washington, Seattle, as a collaborative project between instructors from the Earth and Space Sciences Department, the College of Education, and the NSF-funded, interdisciplinary Middle School Science Systemic Change Partnership. Instead of the teachers attending a regular undergraduate college course, they took part in this pilot program that was designed to incorporate up-to-date, relevant and standards-based content knowledge as well as pedagogical content knowledge critical in transforming subject matter into “useable forms” by 6-8th grade students. The workshop was based on a new curriculum called Catastrophic Events published by the National Science Resources Center. Washington State educational standards in earth sciences are closely aligned with the national standards, and our perceptibly active tectonic setting makes this a highly successful combination. The need for qualified science educators in middle and high schools has been highlighted by recent national findings of the Glenn Commission, U.S. Department of Education (2000). Over half the science courses are taught by out-of-field teachers and one in five science teachers lack even a minor in their teaching field. Erudite earth science teachers are particularly underrepresented because this subject has long been ignored by secondary schools. The lack of content expertise is especially acute at the middle school level where teachers with K-8 generalist certifications are often asked to become science or mathematics specialists in their schools. At the same time, science education in schools is now being directed towards inquiry- or project-based learning. Teachers who lack content knowledge are less able to manage inquiry-oriented instruction or effectively scaffold learners’ knowledge construction. Our goal in developing collaborative workshops is that modeling constructivist teaching for middle school earth science teachers at the university level will finally result in their students becoming scientifically literate and increasing the undergraduate enrollment in our university departments.