DEEP TIME AND RATES OF CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE GRADES CLASSROOM: AN EFFORT TO INCREASE STUDENT UNDERSTANDING THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOR TEACHERS

The nature and scientific measurement of geological and cosmological time are among the most misunderstood and difficult to teach concepts in K-12 science education. To address this issue, a multi-disciplinary team of geologists, astronomers and education professionals at Western Kentucky University developed a series of professional development workshops for pre- and in-service middle grades teachers. The goals of those workshops were 1) to develop teachers' content understanding of rates of change and the ages of the earth and universe; and 2) to provide teachers with materials, activities and teaching strategies to help them more effectively educate students about deep time and natural rates of change. Each workshop was divided into two two-day sessions; one session focused on the age of the Earth, the other on the age of the cosmos. Each workshop day consisted of a blend of in-depth content discussions, hands-on activities, and classroom implementation sessions. The teachers were provided with all the materials necessary to implement the lessons learned during the workshops as well as publications pertaining to deep time and evolution. Teachers were assessed prior to and immediately after each workshop day and were required to submit a classroom implementation plan as part of their involvement in the workshops. The workshop was held twice.

We have been successful in meeting our workshop goals. The participants clearly advanced their content understanding of geological and cosmological time and the implementation plans submitted show intents to apply many of the activities in the classroom. Despite state science standards mandating coverage of concepts of deep time and natural rates of change, teachers, ironically, find that they do not have the time to fully educate their students about geological and cosmological time. We are currently evaluating the assessment results and are working to disseminate our professional development model and the workshop materials (http://astro.wku.edu/universe).