EARTH SCIENCE OUTREACH TO K-12 SCHOOLS

Located about 40 miles north of downtown Chicago, the College of Lake County has an enrollment of over 17,000, of which 32% are ethnic and racial minorities. The Earth Science Department offers various courses in geology, oceanography, meteorology and astronomy. Since May 2006, we have implemented a multifaceted Science Outreach Program dedicated to supporting and improving science education in local K-12 schools. The program has so far assisted more than 100 K-12 earth science teachers and their students through interactive workshops, school presentations, field study trips, dual credit programs, and graduate training courses for science teachers.

Data shows that over 87% K-12 school earth science teachers in Illinois have never received any formal training in the subject area. Thus, the training of teachers has been one of the focuses of our science outreach program. Our biannual science outreach workshops have provided the participating K-12 school science teachers the opportunities to improve and update their knowledge and teaching skills in earth sciences through teaching demonstrations and effective lesson plans. Along with the outreach workshops, we have also offered local teachers the opportunity to attend some local field trips as well as a study trip to China. With the support of a potential NASA grant, we plan to double the frequency of the workshops and offer an intensive summer field study program on climate change to selected science teachers. Partnering with Northern Illinois University, our outreach team has developed a Master of Science in Teaching (MST) degree program (focusing on teaching earth science) and has successfully offered three graduate level courses since 2007. In order to promote earth science education to local high schools, we have established a dual credit earth science program through which over 200 qualified high school students have successfully completed earth science courses at the college level. Recently, we established an earth science center that is equipped with operating seismic and weather stations as well as various hands-on displays/programs. Beginning fall 2010, the center will be open to local K-12 school students via school field trips and will enable us to effectively promote earth science education.