Enhanced Earth system teaching through ReaL Earth Inquiry

Paleontological Research Institute, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The ReaL (Regional and Local) Earth Inquiry project empowers teachers to employ real-world local and regional Earth system science (ESS) in the classroom. Earth systems science teachers need the pedagogic background, the content, and the support that enables them to engage students in asking real questions about their own communities. The project is developing online "Teacher-Friendly Guides" (resources) that make each of these ends more readily attainable and deepen student understandings of ESS. Tools include basic content that enlarges upon textbook principles by illustrating them in rocks, landforms, water systems, climate, and hazards specific to their region, empowering teachers to make sense of these features in light of their own knowledge of basic earth system processes and the geologic and climatic history of the region. Through Virtual Fieldwork Experiences (VFEs), the project expands classrooms beyond their four walls and engages students in inquiry. VFEs provide a framework for engagement in genuine inquiry, driven by the question "Why does this place look the way it does?" This question invites open-ended investigation of multiple Earth systems and their interactions. Teachers are able to access information in many ways, through printed materials, a website that encourages easy usage and downloads, and a database of VFEs from all over the country, which can be taken and adapted for any classroom. Early evaluation of content and pedagogic form occurs through interaction with teachers at small regional workshops. Contact is maintained over the life of the grant, from initial observations to actual classroom use of Guides and VFE's. Additionally, the project is working with the American Institutes for Research, creating a "usability evaluation" of the website navigation and identifying any issues for teachers trying to use the on-line materials as they develop lesson plans.