TEACHER ACADEMY IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES (TANS): IMPROVING MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS' GEOSCIENCE CONTENT THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Teacher Academy in the Natural Sciences (TANS) instructs middle school teachers (grades 6-8) in a three-year professional development program. Because our past experience with professional development science teacher programs revealed greater familiarity and comfort for life sciences, the TANS program opted to rotate middle school teachers (N = 60) through 3 years of physical science content (geosciences, chemistry, and physics). Practicing teachers attend the 2-week summer academy, three professional academic workshops, and the state Science Teachers Association conference. Teachers also complete online science modules that focus upon their annual content.

A geologist and meteorologist serve as TANS geosciences instructors, and provide in-depth instruction on tectonics, geologic time, Earth resources, weather, and climate. Field excursions to local outcrops, museums, and visualization centers provide additional informal learning opportunities for participants. Learning is extended through online science modules that focus upon plate tectonics and ocean currents/weather. Additionally, the TANS instructors visit each TANS teacher’s classroom to co-teach geoscience content with him/her. TANS teachers are also required to provide science professional development to their non-TANS colleagues, and to the community in which they teach for greater impact of the professional development program.

TANS completed its first year in June 2011. Paired pre- and posttests revealed that middle school teachers who participated in the TANS program showed significant gains in geoscience content knowledge. A petrified wood survey instrument revealed that TANS geosciences participants scored higher than their TANS physics/chemistry colleagues in several geological constructs. We are currently in the process of analyzing control teacher performance (both teacher content knowledge and their students’ performance) against our TANS teacher gains. Content analysis of exit surveys also demonstrated that teacher participants are more confident in teaching geoscience content, particularly weather and plate tectonics. Thus far, data indicate that the TANS professional development program is successful for improving geoscience content knowledge in middle school science teachers.