Florida A&M Geosciences Education: Workshop on Improving Undergraduate Geosciences Teacher Preparation Using Micro Spiral Methodology

Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) supports conferences and workshops that seek to increase the research and education capacity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and faculty at HBCUs. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University will hold a workshop on October 18-19, 2018 to improve the preparation of pre-service earth science teachers at HBCUs. About fifty pre-service teachers and faculty will attend. The workshop provides hands-on activities and reflection sessions to equip college faculty in using the micro-spiral approach in their geosciences courses at the undergraduate level. The objectives are to: transfer geosciences concepts, knowledge and skills to pre-service and in-service teachers; support pre-service teacher education programs; and support in-service teachers in their quest to educate future geoscientists. The workshop will focus on training in the communication of culturally and regionally relevant geoscience knowledge, and on providing a geosciences tool capable to give support to pre-service teachers in Earth Science Standards content and National Science Teachers Association Standards for the Science Teacher Preparation Certification process. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.