IMEGS: A FIELD-BASED EARTH AND PLANETARY INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATORS IN TENNESSEE

Institutes for Middle Grade Science Education (IMEGS) is a three-year Math & Science Partnership funded partnership with eleven LEA's providing instruction in Earth and Planetary, Life, and Physical sciences, along with corresponding courses in classroom application. Two-week intensive Earth and Planetary institutes were run during the summers of 2005 and 2006, with additional meetings and instruction using Blackboard technology throughout the fall semester. Teachers were co-enrolled in a pedagogy course that tied the science content from the workshop to the participant's classroom and all institutes culminating with sponsored sessions at the Tennessee Science Teachers Association annual meeting at the end of fall semester. The workshops consisted of a series of standards-based activities in astronomy including the use of technology such as computer programs and automated telescopes, hands-on activities such as impact crater modeling, sundial construction, and nightly observing sessions, and open discussion sessions on such topics as history of astronomy, telescope basics, and the cosmological timescale. Geologic activities included mineral and rock identification tied to Tennessee resources, survey of Earth's physical and biological history with expanded field activities using selected Paleozoic and Mesozoic paleoecosystems from West Tennessee, landform development, and paleobiotic interactions. Participants were offered an optional modern marine field experience through the Dauphin Island Sea Lab as part of the follow-up activities to provide a modern analog to the ancient marine ecosystems studied in Tennessee. The teachers are assessed using pre/post testing and follow-up testing and their student's testing scores are tracked using the State's on-line data system for two-years past the lifetime of the grant.