The Peabody Fellows Earth Science Program is a professional development opportunity for middle school educators that is focused on the interpretation of landforms that result from constructive and destructive geologic forces. The project is producing curriculum resources for wide-spread dissemination, that includes lesson plans, content information, model student assessment instruments, hands-on specimens, and field trip activities. Resource development teachers are working with Museum staff and researchers to produce materials that are both aligned with national and state standards and based on current research and that encourage inquiry-oriented and place-based learning. Through summer institutes and year-round workshops, participating teachers will gain content knowledge in this area, learn how to use the curriculum materials, develop their use of inquiry-oriented and place-based instructional techniques, and increase their use of field sites. The project also has an informal community education component in the form of family event days for Museum visitors and the production of a 'mini-exhibit' for use in outreach programs. Program partners are the two urban public school districts of New Haven and West Haven, and the sixth-year certification program, the 'Institute of Science Instruction and Study' at Southern Connecticut State University. The program is also collaborating with the Connecticut Department of Education.
Project Outcomes and Findings The Peabody Fellows in Earth Sciences was a professional development opportunity for 50 Grades 5 to 12 science teachers from public school districts across Connecticut to enhance their knowledge of, and teaching skills in, the Earth Sciences. It included summer institutes, academic year workshops and other ongoing support, production of curricular materials, and a substantial evaluation program. ?Intellectual Merit: Independent evaluation of the program indicated that teachers demonstrated significant increases regarding their confidence in teaching students to analyze and interpret Earth science data and to make observations of and inferences about geological features. Similarly, the teachers reported they had increased their knowledge of various areas of the Earth sciences. They also responded positively to the programs focus on developing relationships with their peers, felt it had increased their commitment to build their knowledge of the Earth sciences, and were enthusiastic about bringing new materials into the classroom. ?Identical student tests, including both multiple choice and short answer questions, were administered three times during the program. The first, the baseline post-test, was administered in the teacher?s classroom during spring 2009, prior to attendance at the institute. This first test provided data regarding how a (presumably) typical class would respond to the test in the absence of the teacher having participated in the program.? In the following academic year the teacher administered the test to their class twice, once as a pre-test at the beginning of the school year and again as a post-test after having taught the curriculum.? Post-test scores were compared to both the pre-test, to examine score increases as a function of having taken the class, and to the baseline post-test to examine increases compared to what might be expected at the end of the year in the absence of Peabody Fellows? lessons. The student test results were extremely encouraging and indicate that the program had impacted students? understanding and knowledge of topics in the Earth sciences. Students performed significantly better in the post-test than pre-test. Even more encouraging was the analysis of the pre- and post-tests from 2009 to 2010 in comparison to the baseline post-tests. For the majority of teachers the pre-test scores were the lowest, followed by the baseline post-test scores, and the post-test scores were the highest. The differences are highly statistically significant. Assuming the student groups were comparable from one year to the next (as is likely in the same school) the results indicate that the students both learned the material (since they did better on the post-test than on the pre-test) and they learned it better than they had the previous year (since they scored better than the students who took the baseline post-test). ?Broader Impacts: The Peabody Fellows program impacted approximately 1,000 students during the grant period. The impact on the participating teachers will continue to promote the Earth sciences to Connecticut students for years to come. In addition, the materials and activities developed during the program continue to be used by the Peabody Museum as a basis for ongoing programming in the Earth sciences for both teachers and students. Other Products: The program produced a Curriculum Guide that includes information and classroom activities on the following topics: Geologic Time; Structural Geology (plate tectonics, faulting/folding, ancient volcanic activity in Connecticut, glaciation, drainage basins); and Current Landforms in Connecticut and illustrative field sites (plate tectonics, faulting/folding, volcanism, glaciation, drainage basins). A classroom kit was created for teachers to use in their school that includes: the curriculum unit guide and resource materials; stream tables and other activity supplies; at least 12 different rock samples from throughout the state with site photos and descriptions; hand lenses or loupes; guides to Connecticut geology; a DVD of tectonic history from the Peabody Museum?s Hall of Minerals, Earth, and Space; and thumb drives with powerpoints on various related topics. There is also a program web site at: http://archive.peabody.yale.edu/education/fellows_earthscience.html ? Additional Information In the near future the PIs are planning to submit a paper about the program evaluation results to a peer-reviewed journal ?
