This proposal provides support for middle and high school teachers to attend the Geophysical Information For Teachers (GIFT) workshop at the 2005 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. The goal of the workshop is to 1. Shorten the time between discovery and textbook 2. Provide materials for teachers that can directly implement in the classroom 3. Provide participants with first hand accounts of the excitement of scientific discovery. The 2005 Fall GIFT workshop theme " Journey to the Center of the Earth" is organized by the AGU in partnership with the VGP section of the AGU. Travel support will only be available to teachers who are from outside the Bay area, i.e. more than 100 miles from the workshop site. The teachers that will receive support will have to show proven leadership in improving science education. We intend to recruit teachers from Research Experience for Teachers programs in existence at many earth science institutions.
The Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has extensive experience with professional development of teachers as well as curriculum development. The PI is using CIRL extensively to organize the workshop and to advertise it to teachers. The GIFT workshop will also be beneficial for the presenters as it requires them to focus on the important recent discoveries, which will ultimately allow them to better and more succinctly formulate new research goals. Teachers with a positive belief in their ability to competently present knowledge and guide student learning, tend to select and effectively use instructional activities that involve learners in higher-order thinking skills, and deliver more inquiry-oriented lessons. The proposed activity expands the reach of AGU and encourages more teachers to become involved in AGU activities.
Teachers funded to attend the GIFT workshop will be placed in direct contact with active researchers, thereby shortening the time between discovery and classroom. Participants in the workshop have to be willing, on return to their school districts, to share the information with other district teachers, implement the GIFT workshop observations into the classroom and report on their improved teaching performances, based on the attendance to the workshop. The presenters at the workshop will share their presentations and they will be made available over the World Wide Web as well as on CD-ROM. Studies have shown that students of teachers that participate in these programs perform better in class and in tests, and are more enthusiastic about science. It is expected that we can support the attendance of approximately ten teachers.
