At GSA this October there were several sessions devoted to
teaching Earth Science content courses specifically designed for
elementary or secondary education majors. From these sessions came the
recognition that we face a unique set of challenges compared to
teaching geoscience majors courses or general introductory courses.
Several people suggested that we find a way of organizing as a
community to provide mutual support and foster collaborations between
institutions. It was even suggested that we would benefit from forming
a division within NAGT devoted to teacher education.
We would like to use this listserv as a communication portal for our
community. If you know of anyone who teaches content courses for
preservice teachers or is interested in joining the conversation -
please pass on this message. They can sign up for the listserv at http://serc.carleton.edu/mailman/listinfo/teacherprep.
If we are going to build off of the momentum from GSA, it seems
that we need to start thinking about what to do next. Here are a few
ideas, but we would like to hear of any that you may have.
- Uploading our presentations from GSA. Jennifer Anderson and John
McDaris have set up a space on the SERC website (http://serc.carleton.edu/dev/teacherprep/workshops/2011GSA.html)
for our powerpoints from GSA. (The website is currently in development,
but should be active soon.) If you gave a presentation related to
teacher ed, please send it to Jennifer Anderson and she will upload it
to the webpage.[log in to unmask]
- Should we have another session devoted to teacher ed/ el ed
courses at next year's GSA? Suggestions for a topic or theme? Who would
be interested in giving a talk in Charlotte?
- Other ideas for the "next step" for our group?
Some of this info was sent out before the Thanksgiving Break, but I am
resending it as a means of trying to "cast a wide net".
Feel free to contact myself ([log in to unmask]) or Jennifer
Anderson ([log in to unmask])
regarding this topic.
-Kyle Gray
