NATURAL SCIENCE PROGRAM: EARTH, SPACE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR K-8 PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO

Major hurdles in developing elementary teachers who are able to effectively teach children science include 1- generally weak math and science backgrounds; 2- insecurity about their own ability to learn science; 3- insecurity in their ability to teach science and; 4- lack of real world context for science. In response to these, and other issues, the Natural Science Program (NSP) at UNM was developed to provide science classes exclusively for K-8 pre-service teachers. The NSP consists of three, 4-credit courses: Physical Science (including geology), Life Science, and Environmental Science. Classes are capped at 21 students and are longer than traditional undergraduate science classes so lecture and laboratory work can occur within the same class period. Class content is guided by federal and state science education standards as well as the content expertise of the instructors. High quality and rigorous science content is the focus for all NSP classes, but instructors also intentionally model effective teaching strategies. The NSP classes limit the use of lectures and include inquiry-based projects, group projects, student presentations, field trips and semester long projects. The combination of hands-on, inquiry-based activities with short lectures enhances conceptual development in students. Many of the investigations and activities used in the NSP classrooms are easily scaled for use in a variety of grades, thereby providing pre-service teachers with activities and lesson plans they can use in their own classrooms. For the last six semesters, we have used pre- and post- testing including a multiple-choice instrument and Likert-type questions to investigate the effectiveness of the program in enhancing science content knowledge and increasing student enthusiasm for science. Results from these investigations are encouraging: students perform remarkably better on multiple-choice tests at the end of the semester and report more interest and confidence in their own knowledge. Tracking of individual students beyond a single semester is currently underway to evaluate the longer term effects of the program.