This article describes the use of service-learning practice in geoscience courses taught at the University of Connecticut. The stated objectives for instituting this practice are: to foster student interest in earth sciences through community service; to enhance university outreach through interactions with communities; to enhance students' learning ability by applying course knowledge to real-world ... Full description.

This article describes the results of an experiment in which high school graduates were enrolled in two summer science courses with extremely high goals. Rationale for this study was partly to evaluate the reasons for student attrition in physical sciences and partly to test the idea that setting high expectations results in better outcomes. In one instance, some of the students who attended a field ... Full description.

This article describes an Earth Systems approach that was developed to prepare preservice elementary school teachers in understanding science content and pedagogy with emphases in technology and mathematics. This approach, developed at the University of New Orleans, uses Lake Ponchartrain as the unifying theme for four courses in which students learn both scientific content and process. The authors ... Full description.

This article describes an evualuation of the effectiveness of electronic student response technologies (SRT). These wireless systems allow students to key in responses with remote control units to questions posed by an instructor in the classroom. Student responses then are displayed in real time, allowing both students and instructors to gauge student comprehension instantaneously. Researchers conducted ... Full description.

This article provides an overview of two different enrichment programs for urban high school students from the Greater Hartford Area of Connecticut that were conducted during the summer of 2002. They were designed to expose students entering the tenth grade to Earth Science as a problem solving science in a challenging and supportive atmosphere. This was done by focusing on understanding watersheds ... Full description.

NOTE: This is a large file, 81.4 mb in size! This article describes the use of an authentic regional planning public workshop activity which was modified and used to introduce the Earth surface portion of an Earth Science lecture course for undergraduate non-science majors. Students applied map-reading skills and learned about the local environment while forming opinions about how the region should ... Full description.

NOTE: This is a large file, 10.7 mb in size! This article briefly explores different aspects of creativity, and then examines K-12 teachers' reactions to exercises applied to earth science concepts in a graduate creativity class. Different types of puzzle activities centering on geoscience content include a quiz game based on Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous problems, and other exercises related to ... Full description.

NOTE: This is a large file, 77 mb in size! This article describes an investigation into how using debate as a pedagogical tool for addressing earth system science concepts can promote active student learning, present a realistic and dynamic view of science, and provide a mechanism for integrating the scientific, political and social dimensions of global environmental change. Using global warming as ... Full description.

These presentations and accompanying documents are part of a symposium for the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, which took place in Montreal, Canada, in April 2005. The Center for the Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning (CAESL) is committed to the design of new assessment systems that truly support classroom teaching and learning. Building on current knowledge ... Full description.

This article provides an overview of an Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) online professional development course for middle school classroom teachers. The course uses real-world events to develop content understandings of Earth system science, and it models best practices for age appropriate pedagogy. Topics include a brief description of the course itself and of efforts to evaluate ... Full description.