EARTH SCIENCE MINI-LESSONS: A SERVICE-LEARNING STRATEGY

Science instruction in elementary school classrooms is frequently lacking in the United States. One factor that impacts the amount and quality of science instruction is teacher attitudes toward science. The Earth Science Mini-Lesson Project is a strategic program created to help improve preservice elementary school teachers' attitudes toward science in a one-semester college class. Students participating in this project create earth science mini-lessons on topics taken from the Utah Core Curriculum Standards and teach them to elementary students at a local Title I grade school. Attitude survey results from both semesters showed that this service-learning outreach program positively affected students' attitudes after minor adjustments to the project organization. This is a simple, inexpensive, yet effective, project that can be implemented in a one-semester college science course for preservice elementary teachers that can help improve their attitudes toward science.