Liverpool Central School District
Earth Science @ The Annex
Publications
Journal Articles
Journal Publications
Educator's Voice - Volume VIII Spring 2015
Title - “Caution, this will NOT be on the test!” Expedition Earth Science Prepares Students for the 21st Century
* Video to left provides a summary of the article
Expedition Earth Science takes students on motivating journeys where they explore the natural world through an approach that emphasizes both the process and the development of problem-solving skills. The authors explain how collaboration, literacy, interpersonal skills, and content knowledge can be taught in a real world context and adapted by others in various settings.
Journal Publications
Journal of Geoscience Education - Volume 62, 469-484, September 2014
Title - Improving Climate Literacy With Project-Based Modules Rich in Educational Rigor and Relevance
The objective of this paper is to identify the relationships between specific attributes of project-based climate modules used in classrooms and resulting gains in middle and high school students’ climate literacy. Overall, students made modest but statistically significant gains on the cognitive (p 0.001) and the affective (p < 0.01) climate literacy subscales. Results of the fixed effects analysis of covariance showed a significant difference among classrooms on students’ cognitive (p < 0.001), behavioral (p = 0.001), and self-efficacy (p = 0.015) performance; both the teacher and the specific content taught varied among classrooms. Two specific teachers and the modules they developed and taught were defined as exemplars based on the significant climate literacy gains made by their students. Both of these modules, one middle school level and one high school level, used role- play projects that expected students to acquire and analyze historical temperature data and predictions of the future climate at various locations around the world. Middle school students played the role of an individual living in a different country and culture, while the high school students each acted as a science adviser to a political delegate attending a world climate conference. Students at both levels made highly significant gains in the cognitive subscale, and the middle school students improved their literacy in the affective, self-efficacy, and behavioral subscales. The breadth of climate issues covered and the depth of analysis of real-world data and situations were identified as critical attributes of these particular modules that led to improved climate literacy. 2014 National Association of Geoscience Teachers. [DOI: 10.5408/13-056.1]
Academic Publications
Miami University - Earth Expeditions
Title - Expedition Earth Science: An Experiential Education Program and its Impact on Student Perceptions and Attitudes Regarding Science
Expedition Earth Science (EES), an experiential off-campus and primarily outdoor education program, was designed to provide authentic hands-on learning experiences for 9th grade Earth science students at the Liverpool High School Annex, located in Central New York. The program, now in its 12th year, attempts to answer two fundamental problems in science education; how do you keep high school students interested and engaged in science education throughout high school? And, how do you get students to see the relevance and real-life applications of the content that we teach? In this study, students’ perceptions and attitudes regarding science were measured utilizing a pre and post survey instrument that collected mostly quantitative but also some qualitative data related to the EES program. It was found that preliminary data (additional data to be collected throughout the 2012-2013 school year) seems to indicate that the EES program is effective in increasing students’ perceptions and attitudes regarding science education. Therefore, this research suggests that students’ views on science education can be positively impacted by experiential education programs, like EES, that provide students with novel and authentic science experiences.