UNDERSTANDING EARTH SCIENCE THROUGH SCIENTIFIC MODELS

In California, as in other states with prescribed academic standards, elementary school teachers are expected to teach particular science subject matter in a specific grade. One overarching challenge in elementary science education is that teachers often lack sufficient science background to recognize which standards are most fundamental to the science, or to recognize the important principles underlying any given standard. Lacking this perspective, many elementary teachers teach science as rote fact from the textbook if they teach science at all. Our goal at the Sacramento Area Science Project, a site of the California Science Project, is to help teachers achieve a profound understanding of fundamental science. By this we mean that teachers deeply understand apparently simple concepts that are useful in explaining more complex phenomena. Our approach incorporates several strands, including 1) identifying useful models in science that underlie more complex phenomena; 2) framing science as models, in a framework of identifying phenomena, gathering data, identifying patterns, constructing models, and applying or revising models with further experience; 3) providing rich experiences with simple materials that can be replicated in elementary classrooms; 4) using alternative assessments to measure teachers’ content knowledge and provide examples of useful assessment techniques for their classrooms; and 5) helping teachers sort through standards, identifying the crucial scientific models that support the standards and developing appropriate instructional activities. Our pre-assessments have revealed a surprising level of misunderstanding about such apparently simple concepts as the nature of convection; the structure of solids, liquids and gases; and the role of energy in phase changes. Post-assessments indicate that teachers not only have a better factual grasp of the concept, but are adept at invoking an appropriate model to explain their understanding.