Academy to Train Environmental Science and Technology PALMS Specialists
A collaboration with the Merrimack Education Center, Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Overview
The EcoTarium and the Merrimack Education Center (MEC) collaborated on the two-year project, Exploring the Environment: An Academy to Train PALMS Environmental Science/Technology Specialists, which ran from the June 1997 to June 1999.
Summary
Through the program,
teachers from the Northeast and Central PALMS districts received
hands-on introductions to various environmental science topics and to
a variety of computer technologies. Participants also devoted
significant time to developing new or modifying existing model lesson
units which drew upon the environmental science topics, PALMS
pedagogies, and computer technologies explored during the program.
During the summer of 1997 and the 1997-98 school year five full-day workshops and four two-hour workshops were held. These workshops addressed topics such as listservs, the types of products possible through multimedia software, and assessment of student learning in the context of biodiversity investigations. In addition teachers were given time to work in their teams to continue to revise and refine the lessons developed over the summer.
In May, at the end of the
first school year, a half-day of presentations and mini-workshop were
held. The final half-day workshop provided participants with an
opportunity to share and discuss the lessons they had developed,
student products, and their experiences implementing the ideas and
activities of the Academy into their classrooms. In addition, they
participated in an open-ended investigation which incorporated the
use of digital cameras.
The five-day 1998 summer institute was organized around the theme of "What is a System?" Teachers explored this question as they participated in a variety of activities and investigations. The institute was divided into daily sub-themes, based on the strands of the K-8 Massachusetts Science & Technology State Curriculum Frameworks: heredity, ecosystems, earth sciences, and growth and change. Each day participants engaged in investigations and activities which utilized various computer technologies, including WebQuests, multimedia software, digital imaging, spreadsheets and graphing. Teachers continued to explore these topics in two full-day workshops during the school year. In the Spring of 1999 participants presented to each other lessons they had developed or modified, modeling the integration of computer technologies into standards-based environmental education.
Through the activities and
investigations that teachers experienced first-hand, we placed an
emphasis on the seamless integration of these computer technologies
into the teaching and learning experience. However, this hands-on
experience also included some basic training on certain applications
in order to enable the participants to be able to use the technology
in their investigations.
Teachers were encouraged to look at the integration of computer technologies and environmental sciences into existing standards-based curricula being implemented by their school districts. This focus was in alignment with the direction of PALMS state-wide.
This project is funded through the support of the Noyce Foundation.