Ripples of Learning

	Graduate - Professional Level	Ripples of Learning: A Middle School Teacher's Application of Content and Pedagogy Learned in the ESSEA Online Earth System Science Course William Slattery, Robert Myers, Kelly Kunk Received September 12, 2003 Revised November 16, 2004 Accepted November 22, 2004 Contact Information
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Win Mac UNIX		Abstract - The Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) online professional development course for middle school classroom teachers uses real-world events to develop content understandings of Earth system science, and it models best practices for age-appropriate pedagogy. The course is structured into three, weeklong learning cycles of content exploration, extension, and application. During the first week participants work together in groups to study the impact of the real-world events on the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. In the second week new teams are formed to develop interactions between the different Earth system spheres. In week three teachers apply these newfound understandings by creating classroom applications that transfer Earth system science knowledge to their K-12 students. Each time the ESSEA course is offered by Wright State University's Department of Geological Sciences, participants are selected at random for classroom visitations to determine the efficacy of the online course on teacher content understandings, on the use of classroom inquiry, and on the implementation of classroom applications developed. A case study is presented that includes: a visitation in November 2002, text from the course's threaded discussions, and video clips of students doing Earth system science in their fifth-grade classroom. Follow-up interviews with the classroom teacher indicate that she is continuing to use inquiry-based science as a tool to develop students' content knowledge. Building these understandings make it more likely that students will pass the new high-stakes tests that will be required of all Ohio K-12 students and will lead to a scientifically literate citizenry.


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Principal Editors Martin Ruzek, USRA Reviewers Sandy Beyer, Russanne Low, Alan Nelson Reviewers', editors' and authors' notes and comments Peer Commentary Read what others think about this resource or add your own comments This resource has been accessed NN times since it was published	Requirements - Web Browser and/or PDF viewer, MOV viewer Size - Article - 3.6MB (PDF) Movie clip - 22.5 MB >>Read or use this article and the case studies online<< Printable version of this article (PDF 3.6 MB) Supporting Video Clip (22.5 MB) http://jesse.usra.edu/archive/jesse04-400-06 Permanent URL of this resource for bookmarking etc.
Citation: (Slattery et al, 2004) - Slattery, W., R. Myers, K. Kunk "`Ripples of Learning: A Middle School Teacher's Application of Content and Pedagogy Learned in the ESSEA Online Earth System Science Course"`, Journal of Earth System Science Education, 1 (Article + Video), JESSE-04-400-06, 2004 http://jesse.usra.edu/archive/jesse04-400-06
Copyright 2004 - Copyright for this resource remains with the author(s). JESSE has been granted a non-exclusive right to archive a copy of this resource for educational purposes. The authors grant fair use of this resource for educational purposes only. Commercial use or sale of this resource is prohibited without permission from the author(s).

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