EARTH CORE: A PROGRAM GEARED TO HELPING 6TH GRADE SCIENCE TEACHERS IN THE ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS IMPLEMENT NEW EARTH SCIENCE STANDARDS

We describe a new Earth Science program (Earth Core) for 6th grade teachers in Atlanta Public Schools (APS). This program was developed in response to a change in state education standards that shifts earth science to 6th grade from the 8th grade, and is part of an NSF- funded, state-wide initiative to improve science and math education (Partnership for Reform In Science and Mathematics, PRISM). It involves a set of field trips, a week- long academy, assessment, and action research by the teachers.

The program began with a short field trip to Stone Mountain, a local batholith and popular public school field trip destination. The trip provided an opportunity to informally gauge the comfort level of the teachers with the subject matter (in this case, earth materials), as well as a bonding opportunity for the teachers. A subsequent week of instruction linked to the annual PRISM summer academy fulfilled a goal of increasing teacher confidence in both presentation and understanding of the new earth science material. The instruction included content and materials but emphasized implementation and practice activities geared to web- based resources. The teachers were also supplied with a set of materials including mineral and rock kits, maps, hand lenses and reference materials. Undergraduate assistance was made available to provide in-class assistance to the teachers during the school year. The academy was followed by a second field trip.

An inventory of attitudes towards both learning science and teaching sciences was administered to the teachers at the start and end of the program, and an age- appropriate inventory will be administered to the teachers' classes this fall. A subset of teachers committed to developing plans for action research focused on the implementation of the new standards. These research goals will be implemented during the academic year and presented at next year's GSA meeting. The authors are grateful to the National Science Foundation for support of the PRISM project through award ID 0314953. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors.