Course DevelopmentCourse Development
The seeds of the CI4401 Community of Practice are that all current members teach the same course—CI 4401: Science and Science Teaching in the Elementary School—but it flourishes because we share a teaching philosophy that prioritizes students’ concrete experiences with science phenomena, social learning, and our on-going professional learning group. Because of this shared teaching philosophy, we meet regularly throughout the semester to discuss successes and troubleshoot problems. As a result of these meetings, we share content and pedagogy resources, have developed common course assignments, and developed a science-focused service-learning course.
Content and Pedagogy Resources:
We have been sharing science education activity ideas, books, and supplies for years. With our increased use of AsULearn in our courses, however, we created an Elementary Science Education Committee and Workgroup Course page (screenshot here)where we can share on-line resources, such as video clips, webpages, and electronic documents related to elementary science content and pedagogy. This AsULearn page has given us a space to share resources that help us target specific concepts that elementary majors have trouble conceptualizing. For example, Lisa Gross posted a link to an interactive animation that shows changing phases of matter, and Jeff Goodman shared links to educational videos from the International Space Station that demonstrate Newton’s three laws of motion.
iPad Initiative (Fall 2011)
As technology changes, the team makes every effort to participate in incentives that promote professional growth and development. Jeff, who teaches courses in media literacy, introduced and recommended that the group consider using iPads for the Design Project, a shared course assignment across sections. The team developed a proposal and submitted it for consideration. The approval of the project resulted in improved student products, an integration of technology and science (reinforcing the IDP framework), the evaluation, selection and utilization of Apps that reinforced science content knowledge and of course, opportunities for research. At present, the CI4401 team has a set of iPads that is used regularly for instruction and extends beyond the Design Project. This collaborative project is representative of Wenger’s (1998) “coalescing” stage of development. The team came together, with varying degrees of comfort and familiarity with this innovative tool and recognized its potential in improving the instructional effectiveness of the unit.
Common Course Assignments in 4401:
Science in Our Lives Photo-essay: This assignment asks each elementary major to gather and present visual images that represent science in their daily lives, their surroundings, and those of their students. These images are required to represent the range of science content areas in the Elementary Curriculum (Biology, Physical Science, and Earth/Space Science) and include images from home, school, and the community. Students use a digital camera to complete this assignment (images downloaded from the internet are not allowed). This assignment reflects our belief that experiences with science grounded in students’ personal experiences can provide a concrete connection to the content and prompt them to think about the relevance of the elementary science curriculum to students’ lives, as well as their own.
Design Technology Project (also known as Regina Vermina's Design Technology Challenge): As a part of the forces and motion unit, elementary majors develop an amusement park ride (a rolling vehicle, a rocketing vessel, or a rambling venture) that can transport a family of 3 gummy worms. In this project, elementary majors build their ride using recycled materials, test their prototypes, and collect data on the movement of their rides. Then they analyze this data to explain how various forces and energy are affecting the movement of their rides. Students use technology, such as the iPads, to collect and analyze data, as well as communicate their results. This assignment reflects our shared belief that students learn more from concrete experiences with science phenomena and through collaborative working groups, much like professional scientists.
Professional Development opportunities: Each semester, every student enrolled in CI4401is asked to attend a Project WILD/Aquatic workshop offered on campus by an educator from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. We communicate regularly with the NC Wildlife educator, Tanya Poole, to coordinate 2-3 workshops per semester for elementary majors. In addition, we ask 4401 students to attend the NC Science Teachers Association annual conference in November to interact with and learn from other science educators around the state. In Spring semester 2012, we also organized a field trip for 4401 students to Discovery Place Museum in Charlotte, NC to meet with museum staff and develop potential science field trip plans/ideas.
CI 3552: Environmental Literacy in 21st Century Schools:
Leslie Bradbury, Lisa Gross, and Jeff Goodman developed a science-focused service-learning course that is a directed-elective within the Elementary Education major. This course was first taught by Lisa Gross in the Fall semester of 2010, and then has been taught from Fall 2011-Spring 2013 by Rachel Wilson. The 4401 CoP served as a support for Rachel as she took over teaching the course so that she could keep the goals and objectives consistent with the vision for the course. The 4401 CoP members continue to support the CI3552 course in its development. For example, Lisa has provided service opportunities for a small number of students with local schools in Wilkes County. Jeff has shared his media and technology expertise to help Rachel create a new course assignment—a video production project that communicates the results of students’ environmental inquiries. Leslie and Rachel are currently working with a local elementary school to establish a school garden, which can serve as a service-learning site for CI3552 students in helping to maintain the garden and support teachers in using the garden as a learning context for science and language arts lessons.
