Funds are granted to the University of California - Berkeley to hold a three day workshop for pre-service and in-service teachers to inform the development of teaching modules, activities, and strategies related to the Understanding Sciences web page. The outcome of the workshop will be an online, flexible, interactive syllabus that will facilitate the integration of Understanding Sciences website material into science methods courses for pre-service teachers. The expected goals include: summarize the characteristics of science methods courses as pre-service teachers are currently being taught; articulate the resource needs of those who instruct pre-service teachers; recommend components of the Understanding Sciences website for incorporation into science methods courses and propose models for re-packaging if necessary; identify effective strategies for incorporating these resources into science methods courses; development of self-assessment materials for each section of Understanding Science 101; and determine strategies for dissemination. Attendees at the meeting will include members of the Understanding Science project, pre-service teacher educators, in-service teachers, scientists, and science educators from around the country. The workshop will take place at the University Of California Museum Of Paleontology, Berkeley in early 2012.
Through a supplemental grant to the Understanding Science (US) project, the University of California Museum of Paleontology held a three-day workshop January 11-13, 2012 in Berkeley, CA attended by 11 science educators who currently teach pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and/or in-service teachers. The goal of the meeting was to inform the development of a set of teaching resources and strategies that could be incorporated into existing science methods courses. The incorporation of US resources encourages a more accurate representation of science as a dynamic journey in contrast to the rigid, linear method typical of most textbooks and focuses on how science really works – what it is, what it is not, and what is not science. Such a portrayal makes science more accessible and provides for a more authentic and engaging science experience for our students. Attendees summarized the pedagogical knowledge that they felt pre-service teachers should acquire in a science methods class and then examined the current US resources to determine what changes and additions would better support pre-service teaching. Attendees suggested the inclusion of a special section for Teacher Educators to include: (a) a rationale for teaching the nature and process of science (NOS/POS), (b) common misconceptions about NOS/POS, (c) starting activities, (d) sample workshop activities, (e) instructional strategies, (f) assessment tools and strategies, (g) links to the various US tools and how best to incorporate them, (h) a searchable lesson database, (i) tools for modifying existing cookbook labs to include NOS/POS, and (j) research briefs. During the workshop, there was a certain level of excitement and frustration as the group recognized that much of what was discussed was critical not only to pre-service teaching, but to science teaching in general. Discussion led to the awareness that if we are truly going to shift the paradigm in the way that science is taught, then NOS/POS needs to be taught at ALL levels. Focusing only on pre-service teachers will not be fully effective as regardless of their training, pre-service teachers (once in the classroom) tend to fall back on how they were taught in their own science classes. As a result, the attendees suggested that we make minimal changes to the current website to accommodate incorporation of resources into science methods courses, and that additional funding be sought to create a modularized shell course that could be modified to provide professional development for all those who currently teach or are preparing to teach: current faculty, in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, informal science educators, graduate students, post-doctoral scholars. Recommended changes have been made and the project team is applying for additional funds as suggested. Following the meeting, several opportunities arose resulting in the development of unanticipated resources that further support the goals of the workshop: (1) The emergence of the Next Generation Science - There are strong parallels between the philosophy and learning goals of the NGSS and US. In the NGSS there is a slight difference in language and there is also the inclusion of a full STEM approach as opposed to a primary focus on science found in the US website. We have created an alignment grid between the NGSS framework and practices and the conceptual framework created within the US project. (2) With the initiation of iTunesU and iBooks by Apple, we saw an opportunity to create a pilot online course on the nature and process of science. Working with the California Academy of Sciences and other attendees from our workshop, we piloted an iTunesU course with teachers from San Francisco Unified School District. The course – How Science Works - went live in August 2013.
