REFLECTIVE WRITING IN FIELD-BASED COURSES FOR IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

Successfully teaching inquiry-based science requires both strong content background and authentic personal inquiry experiences. However, many in-service science teachers have not had the opportunity to participate in authentic research opportunities, especially field-based experiences. In response to this need, the Science Education Institute of the Southwest (SEIS) has offered a variety of field-based, graduate-level science courses for in-service teachers. In the summer of 2005, reflective writing was used in a co-taught, one-week, field-based course on rivers as a method to obtain timely feedback, promote instructor-participant communication, and allow teachers to synthesize course content. Because both instructors and participants felt that reflective writing was successful at achieving these goals, SEIS incorporated reflective writing into the 2006 summer program. At the end of each field day, teachers wrote answers to daily reflective writing questions in their field notebooks. Instructors provided feedback on both field notes and reflective writing each evening. Teacher responses were used to make mid-course corrections, clarify concepts, or address uncertainties students had concerning the process of science. Teachers wrote a final paper in which they summarized course content, predicted effects of the course on their future teaching, and evaluated the reflective writing exercises. Pre- and post-test scores as well as statements from participants, obtained from their writing and through post-course interviews, demonstrate that reflective writing is an effective teaching and learning tool in fast-paced, field-based courses.

Gems and Minerals course, 2006: “Looking at rocks in the lab is great, but [the field component] really solidified my knowledge and confidence about the minerals.”

Geobotany course, 2006: “Our reflective writing enabled us to step back and focus upon the entire day's events and to view it as a whole. It allowed us to see the forest [as well as] the trees.”