Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Integrating Climate Change for Elementary Pre-Service Teachers: Tales from the Field
Department
Geology Department
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2012-2013
Disciplines
Life Sciences
Abstract
We will discuss the successes and challenges we have faced in developing and teaching an integrated science course for elementary preservice teachers on global climate change. This inquiry-based, interdisciplinary course is co-taught by a geologist and biologist, focusing on earth science concepts such as natural and anthropogenic influences of climate change and the evidence and impacts of climate change, and life science concepts such as biomes, biodiversity, evolution, ecosystems, and phenology. We explicitly teach nature of science and science process skills throughout the course. Several challenges remain: (1) some students dislike switching between two professors throughout the semester; (2) logistical difficulties result from working with multiple instructors each semester; and (3) students resist quantitative elements of science. Our experience, and data collected, suggests that our approach could be used as a model for institutions interested in applying a collaborative, team-teaching, and integrated approach to science course development for preservice elementary teachers.
Conference Name
National Science Teachers Association
Conference Location
San Antonio, Texas
ScholarWorks Citation
Miller, Heather and Dobson, Chris, "Integrating Climate Change for Elementary Pre-Service Teachers: Tales from the Field" (2013). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 1127.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/1127
