This one-year project led by Oklahoma State University brings together faculty from the Department of Geology, science educators from the School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadership, and eight in-service high school teachers in authentic geosciences experiences focused on Oklahoma's groundwater geochemistry. Non-Earth Science high school teachers from schools serving a large population of Native American and low socio-economic status students will participate in a 10-day program of laboratory and field experiences to expose them to key concepts, scientific questions, and techniques in geochemistry. Because the Earth Sciences are the most under-represented science in Oklahoma high schools, this project aims to equip non-Earth Science teachers with the tools needed to incorporate Earth Science content into their Chemistry, Biology, and Physics classrooms. Evaluation activities will document the extent to which teacher geoscience content knowledge improves and how this improved understanding translates to classroom practice.
provided seven high school science teachers who did not teach and Earth science class with 10 days of authentic, field and laboratory geosciences experiences. The content of the program focused on aquifer geochemistry. The teachers completed field trips to collect water samples across the state and conducted tests on those water samples when their returned to the laboratory. Teachers study the geology of Oklahoma while visiting many aquifer/spring sites across the state. In particular, the teachers went to Turner Falls, the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, and the Tar Creek Superfund site. Teachers worked with science education faculty to incorporate these experiences into science lessons for their biology, chemistry, and physics classrooms. As a result of G.E.T. in the Field, teacher increased their geology content knowledge and the presence of geology in their non-Earth science classrooms. Further, G.E.T. in the Field allowed teachers to move past the idea that geology was just "rocks in a box" and gave them a better appreciation for the complexity and connectivity of the geosciences. G.E.T. in the Field was a novel pilot program in that it targeted high school science teachers for Earth science professional development. The vast majority of Earth science teacher professional development is provided to those teaching the middle grades since the concentration of Earth science specific curriculum standards are in those grade levels. Most high schools do not offer courses in the Earth sciences and few teachers are prepared to teach the Earth sciences. This project provided evidence that non-Earth science teachers are eager to learn the Earth science material and how to incorporate it into their classrooms. Many participants indicated that learning Earth science provided them with a new context with which to teacher their biology, chemistry, and physics classrooms. A further impact of this project was the collaborative partnerships that developed at our institution and our state as a result of this effort. This project has sparked additional collaborations between the School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadership and the School of Geology. Further, the project supported a state-wide summit of geosciences education stakeholders that included classroom teachers, science education faculty, science faculty, science education outreach providers, and geoscience industry leaders. This summit focused on the importance of Earth and space science education in the state and provide a forum, the first of its kind in Oklahoma, for all of these individual to come together and voice their concerns about the state of Earth and space education in the state.
