IN-SERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AN ON-LINE EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE COURSE

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has been offering on-line Earth System Science coursework to in-service teachers in Nebraska since 2002 through the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA). ESSEA involves more than 40 universities across the country. The goal of this UNO-related course is to increase teacher content knowledge in Earth Science, introduce them to Earth System Science, and have them experience cooperative learning. This effort represents a close collaboration between faculty and students from the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Education, with the periodic assistance of local schools.

Recent changes to the science curriculum in the Omaha Public School (OPS) system have created a new demand for such a course. Whereas previously, Earth Science was an optional and seldom taught topic in secondary school science curricula, all OPS ninth grade students will now take a course in Physical Science, which will include a significant amount of Earth Science. This change has created a need for Earth Science content courses to allow current OPS science teachers to attain their Physical Science endorsement, needed to teach the high school course. Our on-line Earth System Science course has been and will be used to help with in-service teacher professional development, by offering graduate credit for this course.

In a recent follow-up study related to ESSEA coursework, UNO examined the perceptions of teachers who have taken the course and the potential benefits of the ESSEA courses for their own educational settings. The study was descriptive in design and included an online survey and a focus group. The results of these assessments indicated that the teachers felt very positive about what they learned in these courses, and in particular, how they could incorporate cooperative learning, inquiry based activities, and Earth System Science interconnections in their own classrooms. Problems identified by the teachers included a perceived lack of time to be able to integrate the learned material into their science curricula and a lack of computer and/or technological resources in their classroom settings for taking full advantage of the course content with students.