Florida A&M GEOSCIENCE Education: Improving Undergraduate GEOSCIENCE Teacher Preparation using the Multiplication Factor of Micro Spiral Methodology Workshop

Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

This project will provide pre-service and in-service educators with strategies toward training their undergraduate and graduate students on usage of the multiplication factors of Micro-Spiral Methodology (MSM) to improve K-12 understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts. The workshop will provide participants with the protocol of the MSM effective teaching method for grades K-12 to increase knowledge of future educators and students in the STEM areas with emphasis in geosciences. The workshop will use the Spiral Curriculum that has been used for decades in the transfer of concepts, knowledge and skills. Training in this methodology could be beneficial at multiple levels of an educational system that is currently in transition due to a global pandemic. The overarching goal of the Geoscience MSM is to increase Geoscience content knowledge and create Critical-thinkers as well as lifelong learners. Specific goals include teaching educational stakeholders like university faculty at HBCUs, teachers (in-service and pre-service), as well as administrators about the protocol of the MSM and the benefit of the Multiplication Factor of the MSM. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Geoscience Micro-Spiral programs can deliver a multidimensional strategic solution to professional development for teachers and educational coordinators to improve access to the geosciences. Specific workshop objectives include: 1) increasing the knowledge and understanding of the geosciences so concepts can transfer to future students, 2) supporting pre-service teacher education programs by enriching their knowledge and understanding of geoscience content and 3) supporting in-service teachers by increasing their knowledge in the geosciences so that they can assist in the training of future geoscience professionals. 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.