Project Profile

     UM-D has created an integrated learning experience in science for all elementary education concentrators.  A group consisting of  science educators from SOE, adjunct science educators and a core group of  scientists from the Department of Natural Sciences in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters (CASL), created a six-course sequence that not only teaches science content and science process skills but also models learning by inquiry pedagogy.  These courses include a science methods course and a unique capstone experience described in more detail below.  This six-course sequence is required of all of the nearly 500 elementary education pre-service teachers in the SOE. 

     As part of the six-course sequence, we created three new science content courses that employ inquiry-based pedagogy as the instructional mode.  These new courses were specifically designed to teach science content in life, physical and earth/space sciences, while modeling the pedagogy of inquiry-based learning throughout each course.  The previous science content courses were not focused on topics that K-8 teachers were likely to teach nor did they model current science pedagogy.  The content of the new courses is driven by the science content for K-8 as defined by Michigan Curriculum Framework for Science (MCF-S) and the National Science Education Standards (NSES).  The MCF-S and NSES are nearly identical in terms of content prescribed for K-8.  The new science content courses (NSCI 231, 232 and 233) were offered for the first time beginning with the 2000-2001 academic year and are required of all new students beginning Fall, 2000.

     Thus, all students earning an elementary education teaching certificate regardless of their major will be required to take each of the six courses below.  The capstone course is being offered for the first time in the Fall 2001 term.

·         EXPS 220: Science for Elementary Teachers (3 credit hours) (focuses on process and nature of “doing” science and serves as a prerequisite for all other courses).
    NSCI 231: Learning by Inquiry: Physical Sciences (3 credit hours)

·         NSCI 232: Learning by Inquiry: Earth and Planetary Science (3 credit hours)

·         NSCI 233: Learning by Inquiry: Life Science (3 credit hours)

·         EDD 485: Methods of Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School (3 credit hours)

·         EXPS 420: Science Capstone (2 credit hours)

     The Science Capstone, taken after completing all three science content courses, enables students to look anew at the “big ideas” they encountered in the content courses.  The intent is to deepen their understanding of the major themes connecting the sciences.  In addition, the capstone students participate in action research with in-service teachers in actual classrooms allowing them to extend their learning community.

The pre-service students will demonstrate their content knowledge and pedagogical skills by creating a web-based portfolio.  The portfolio will reflect student learning in all six courses in the sequence with contributions from each of the science content courses as well as the education courses (see http://www.umd.umich.edu/sep). 

We received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the three science content courses (NSCI 231, 232 and 233) and from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) to create the unique science capstone course (EXPS 420).  In addition, we have been awarded an Eisenhower grant from the State of Michigan to support training of faculty at Henry Ford Community College (HFCC), the source of most of our transfer students, to offer the science content courses at their campus.

 


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