PLACE-BASED TEACHING AND LEARNING IN AN URBAN RESIDENCY EARTH SCIENCE TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAM

To address the shortage of Earth science teachers in NY State, the American Museum of Natural History launched a pilot MAT program in 2012 with the aim of producing ~50 new certified Earth science teachers by 2014 (two cohorts of 25). With encouraging results from the first 2 years, the AMNH has extended its pilot through 2015 with 2 additional cohorts, reduced to 15 each, due to the challenge of recruiting academically strong Earth science majors with the dispositions to be successful in high-need schools.

Place-based teaching and learning (Semken, 2012) are key components of the design of the 15-month program. The MAT curriculum emphasizes masters level Earth science content explicitly linked to the greater New York City region. MAT candidates also learn pedagogical approaches that utilize secondary students’ understanding of the city, and how to enrich their students’ experiences and knowledge through the use of local resources. To begin the program, candidates complete their first summer working with youth and other visitors to support their learning in the context of Museum exhibits including the Rose Center of Earth and Space featuring the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, the Ross Hall of Meteorites and cultural halls such as the Hall of Mexico and Central America. Candidates use objects related to the Halls to engage visitors in conversations to deepen their engagement with the exhibits. This experience introduces candidates to the challenges of teaching people with a range of ages, science knowledge and native languages. While co-teaching with their mentors in the 10-month academic year school-based residency, candidates take field trips to learn the geology of the city in several NYC parks, design and implement lessons that engage their students in experiential learning at the Museum and are connected to their school’s curriculum, and complete graduate coursework that includes learning in the exhibits. In their second summer, candidates engage in a science practicum that includes ~2 weeks of regional geology field trips. Candidates collect samples, photos, video and maps that they can use to connect their future students with their local and regional geology. Because the MAT is literally based in the AMNH, the Museum serves as a focal point to link the science, the residencies and the schools with the city and its geology.