OCEANS OF OHIO: OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGING K-16 STUDENTS VIA LOCAL GEOLOGY

Recent collaboration between Ohio University geology and education faculty produced a week-long workshop for Appalachian teachers (Grades 4-8) designed to improve science instruction through explicit incorporation of literacy strategies and the 5E learning cycle. Several comprehensive lesson plan modules were developed during this project. Each of these focused on experiential learning and the most effective of which (based on participant feedback) also employed authentic data and topics of local interest. In this presentation, we provide an overview of two lessons: “Oceans of Ohio” and “The Survival Game.”

Both “Oceans of Ohio” and “The Survival Game” utilize the well-exposed marine invertebrate fossils of the Cincinnati Arch region to explore concepts in ecology, evolution, and the environment. These lessons were designed to align with the Common Core standards for Literacy and the Ohio Revised Science Content Standards, which are part of Ohio's New Learning Standards and will be fully implemented in Ohio classrooms by 2014-2015. Standards related to the history of life on Earth, species and reproduction, energy flow and ecosystem interactions are targeted to Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8. Within the 5E learning cycle, students are asked to engage, explore, explain, expand/elaborate, and evaluate concepts, which is accomplished via a series of activities that combine data analysis (from inspection of specimens, data collection from a newly launched website:www.ordovicianatlas.org, or textbook sources) and literacy skills. Literacy strategies implemented include use of a word wall, think-pair-share, developing summarizing statements, and R.A.F.T. exercises. The combination of directed educational goals and hands-on local science produced effective classroom exercises; which can be and have been modified and utilized in elementary to college classrooms as well as in public outreach with adults and children.