Transcript Global Geoscience Education - Geoscience Society of New

‘Global’ Geoscience Education
A selected look at the global status of geoscience education
Glenn Vallender
Teacher of biology and science at Ashburton College.
Doctoral student at Curtin University’s
Science and Maths Education Centre, Perth, WA
Contact: ge.vallender @ xtra.co.nz
25 June 2004
WHAT ABOUT IGEO?
“Promoting Geoscience Education Worldwide”
• Started in 1993, IGEO is now affiliated to the IUGS.
There is no membership fee for IGEO. Do you want to join?
• Conferences have been in :
Southampton 1993
Hilo 1997
Sydney 2000
Calgary 2003
Bayreuth 2006
There are conference proceedings available for each of the
four conferences. Does your library have copies?
• IGEO has a new website hosted by Keele University, UK.
http://www.esci.keele.ac.uk/igeo/links.htm
INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION ORGANISATION: Survey 2002
Does your country have a defined National Earth Science educational standard?
Country
Yes
No
Response Summary
Argentina
Y
No details provided
Australia
Y
No details provided
Bangladesh
Y
No specific ES curricula but mostly part of geography
Brazil
N
No specific ES curricula but part of natural sciences and geography
Canada
N
Education is a provincial responsibility
Indonesia
N
Has national standards in ‘geographical science’
Israel
Y
But not phrased in a ‘standards form’. Specific to El. Jr.High & High school
Korea
Y
For all elementary and secondary schools
Mozambique
N
ES syllabus not included in curricula at any level. Geography dominates.
New Zealand
Y
As part of the national science curriculum years 1-13
Norway
Y
For grades 1, 5 and 8
Philippines
Y
As part of the Science learning Competencies
South Africa
N
1996 revisions never implemented. 2000 revisions placed ES in geography
Taiwan (ROC)
Y
Specifically ES standards for grades 9 and 10.
UK/Wales
Y
Limited 7% ES 11-16 year olds. Phys geography a key element
USA
Y
Nat Sci Standards adopted in 1996 but not compulsory
What barriers are there in Establishing Earth Science Standards?
Response Summary
Country
Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Brazil
Canada
Indonesia
Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Lack of resources. Insufficient time.
Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Little money for upgrading qualifications.
Lack of money. Lack of trained and qualified teachers.
Low status and lack of Earth Science in curricula. Poor standard of students entering Univ.
Lack of training. Little institutional support in junior and secondary schools.
Overcrowded curricula. Lack of trained teachers. Lack of money. Lack of resources.
Israel
Reluctance of teachers to make changes.
Japan
Lack of money. Lack of resources. Systemic changes needed. ES now elective and integrated.
Korea
Fear that the number of students (schools) offering ES will decrease.
Mozambique
Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Out of date syllabus. Lack of money and resources
New Zealand
Lack of trained and qualified teachers, resources. Low historical status of ES in curriculum.
Norway
Lack of qualified teachers.
Philippines
Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Out of date resources.
South Africa
Lack of trained and qualifed teachers, resources and money.
UK/Wales
USA
Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Poor resources. Negative teacher attitudes.
No response
What changes do you expect to see
in the next three years: Selected Responses
Country
Response Summary
Argentina Finance minister will change twice but with less money each time
Australia None
Bangladesh Convince Ed ministry to introduce ES curricula into pre-college and college
Brazil Review of ES in the curricula
Canada Increased awareness in the profession that we are facing a crisis
Israel Gain more ES teachers
Korea As ES subjects become elective, enrolments in ES will decline (same for Japan)
South Africa ES is now in the geography area where 1 in 10 teachers have no science background
UK/Wales Improvements in teacher education, textbooks, syllabi and assessment
New Zealand What do you think and why?
What Are The Main Conclusions?
•
More data is needed from Africa, Central Europe and West Asian
countries. But this is difficult to obtain.
•
About 70% of countries have a national Earth Science standard
•
Historical influence of geography and low status given to the
Earth Sciences within most national (and state) curricula.
•
Lack of awareness of the importance of the Earth Sciences.
•
Lack of ES trained and qualified teachers.
•
Lack of teaching resources, funding and inservice training.
•
Teaching needs to be innovative, enthusiastic, motivational and
pedagogically sound.
A Perspective View: USA v’s NZ
www. agiweb.org/education/statesurveys
www. minedu.govt.nz/statistics
USA (2000)
NZ (2003)
K-12 enrolment
46.9 million
761,755 (K-13)
Y9 -12 enrolment
13.1 million
260,000? (y10-13)
K-12 Teachers
2.9 million
~46,000(14,000 at HS)
Average size HS
752
38% state sec >1000
No. HS graduates
2.5 million
26,636
HS ESci Teachers
13%
7% (Lee & Vallender)
HS Bio Teachers
48%
50%?
In a recent survey of Ontario, there are 80,000 students at year 13
but only 1674 or 2% study Earth and Space Science (CGN).
UK Case Study (King, 2003)
Proportion of UK National Science Curriculum Statements
Devoted to Each Subject Area
2%
3%
4%
4%
4%
3%
30%
5%
Biology
2%
3%
Chemistry
36%
29%
Physics
Space Science
31%
30%
29%
Earth Science
Environment
32%
21%
Key stage 3 (age 11-14)
32%
Key stage 4 (age 15-17)
UK Teacher Attitudes to Teaching ES
(after Lydon & King, 2003)
UK Teacher Confidence in Teaching Earth Science
45
39
40
36
Percentage
35
30
52% lack confidence and
nearly 60% said they did
not enjoy teaching ES
25
20
15
13.4
11.4
10
5
0.5
0
1
2
3
4
5
Likert Scale
UK Teacher Enjoyment in Teaching Earth Science
45
41
40
34
Percentage
35
Likert Scale 5 is
high
30
25
20
16
N = 202 teachers
15
8
10
5
1
0
1
2
3
LIke rt Scale
4
5
Some NZ Teacher Attitudes to Teaching ES
Response Rate
Teacher attitudes to teaching Earth Science, 1997
60
46
Percentage
50
40
Year 9
30
25
20
Year 10
Year 11
20
5
10
3
y9 n = 47
y10 n = 60
y11 n = 61
y12 n = 16
y13 n = 15
Note: Year 11 is NCEA level 1
(age 15)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Attitude Scale (5 is high)
Attitude scale
1 ‘hate it’
Percentage
Teacher attitudes to teaching Earth Science, 1997
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
62
2 ‘disinterested’
67
3 ‘interested’
Year 12
0 0
1
13 13
6
2
19 20
Attitude scale
4
4 ‘enthusiastic’
5 ‘Very enthusiastic’
0
3
Year 13
5
[Vallender, (1997) Royal Society Report]
Average number of hours teaching Earth
Science in the UK (Lydon and King, 2003)
National Science Curriculum Earth science teaching
10.0
8.7
Number of hours
9.0
8.0
Overall av’g = 5.1 = 2 weeks?
7.0
5.3
6.0
5.0
4.0
4.5
3.6
3.2
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Y7
Y8
Y9
Y10
Y11
Year Group
Note: UK year 10 = NZ year 11
ES Teaching Time for Some NZ schools
Teaching Time for Earth Science
Number of schools
10
8
Year 9
6
Year 10
Year 11
4
Year 12
2
Year 13
0
0
<9
10
15
20
25
>30
Time (hours)
N = 18 schools (Vallender, 1997)
Earth Science in Japan: another case study
(Goto and Shimono (2003), in Geoscied IV proceedings)




A New course of study for ES introduced in 2002.
Schools offer ES as an elective.
Decrease in Science hours means less ES.
Low numbers (about 10%) study ES because of lack
of trained and qualified ES teachers and low status
of ES within the curriculum.
 ES has compulsory fieldwork and this is a barrier
for many teachers.
 Earth Systems Education (ESE) is now offered as an
integrated science programme, but uptake is slow.
 Key for ES education is effective, relevant and
prescribed teacher training programmes.
A DEPOSITIONAL CHALLENGE
You get one shot at this challenge
• Draw a plan view of the set up and sketch the pattern
of the sand you would expect to see after the water has
been stirred and circulated.
• Explain and discuss your pattern.
Assessment:
Non achieve = no picture
Achieve
= A correct picture drawn
Merit
= Correct picture plus explanation
Excellence = Correct picture plus a discussion and
evaluation of given picture
A Bit About Conceptual Change
 Conceptual change is about how people learn and change the way they
perceive the world. It is an underpinning paradigm in educational research.
 The seminal work of Posner et al in 1982 (and argued about ever since),
identified four key factors in the process of shifting conceptions and these
can be applied to the way we think about curriculum issues, assessment
issues and management issues. These four factors are:
1. Dissatisfaction with existing conceptions
2. New conception must make some sense (be intelligible)
3. New conception must seem like it could be true (be plausible)
4. New conception must have a future (be fruitful)
 Is Earth Science as a subject at a conceptual change point?
Questions That This Forum Might Like To Consider
1. How should Earth Science as a subject be defined?
2. What are the core contents and contexts of ES?
3. How important is ES to science literacy?
4. How important is ES to a national curriculum?
5. What are the resources needed to teach ES effectively?
6. What are the relationships of ES to geography,
environmentalism, Sc.,Tech and Soc, Phys, Chem & Biol?
7. How can subject associations and the Geoscience
community develop and promote ES in schools?
8. What is a sustainable, and realistic future for ES within a
standards based curriculum framework?
Some Useful Websites
The IGEO website (still under construction)
http://www.esci.keele.ac.uk/igeo/links.htm
Earth Science Education unit (ESEU) for teachers at Keele Univ. UK
http://www.earthscienceeducation.com/
The Earth Science Teachers Association in UK
http://www.esta-uk.org/
The American National Association of Geology Teachers
http://www.nagt.org/jge.html
The current journal of the American Geological Institute
http://www.geotimes.org/current/
The Joint Earth Science Education Initiative
http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnnet/jesei/index2.htm