What do future teachers need in an introductory

course?Maximizing the value of your introductory

course for future K-12 teachersA workshop at the Earth Educators’ Rendezvous

July 16-17, 2015Anne E. Egger

Some statistics• In 2011, 103,992 students obtained

Bachelor’s degrees in education (compared to 4671 in geosciences)

• About 60% of those degrees are in elementary education

• As of 2002, 83% of practicing elementary teachers had at least 1 semester course in Earth science– Better than chemistry (53%) and physics (62%)…– …but not as good as life science (92%)

• But perhaps even more important…

54% had ONLY one course

Can that one course really prepare someone to teach

about Earth?

How we commonly teach science

How we expect them to teach

What we teach

• Plate tectonics• Minerals• Igneous rocks• Sedimentary

rocks• Metamorphic

rocks• Weathering

• Soil• Deserts• Glaciers• Mountain-building• Volcanoes• Earthquakes• Running water• Etc.

What we expect them to teach

Our introductory courses may be the only opportunity that future

teachers have to learn about Earth, and to prepare to teach the Next Generation Science

Standards. How and what we teach

matters.

How we teach

• In table groups, list all the things you think are most important in the way a science course with lots of future teachers is taught.

• Don’t think about content.• Then choose your top three

strategies.• We’ll make a list at the end.

Some ways to better serve future teachers

• Develop content courses specifically for future teachers that incorporate pedagogy

• Offer special lab or discussion sections

• Pair content and pedagogy courses • Implement course changes that

improve learning for all students and benefit everyone (like universal access)

Collected research on learning

Research on learning

All freely downloadable from the National Academies Press:

http://nap.edu

Key findings for all students

• Students come in to our classes with preconceptions, not blank slates

• Students must have the opportunity to develop a conceptual framework that facilitates retrieval and builds on deep knowledge

• A metacognitive approach helps students monitor their own learning and become better learners

• Promising practices: – Developing (and using) learning outcomes– Engaging students in activities during class, in

groups– Organizing content in scenarios, with context– Get and give feedback with formative assessment

Research on learning

Research on learning

Specific to future teachers:Pedagogical Content Knowledge

…embodies the aspects of content most germane to its teachability: • the most useful forms of representation of the most

regularly taught ideas,• the most powerful analogies, illustrations, examples,

explanations, and demonstrations • an understanding of what makes the learning of

specific concepts easy or difficult• the conceptions and preconceptions that students of

different ages and backgrounds bring with them to the learning

Shulman, 1986

Part of PCK:Geoscientific thinking

• Methods of investigation in Earth science– Observation >> experimentation– Physical and computer-based models

• Habits of mind– Spatial thinking – Temporal reasoning– Geographic facility– Systems thinking

Metacognition and Self-efficacy

Hold that thought.

What we teach

• Compare middle-level NGSS performance expectations to the content in your syllabus.– Quick primer on reading the handout– 10 minutes or so on your own– 20 minutes or so with your group– Summarize your findings– Take a break–We’ll report out when we come back