Science and Service Learning:

Inside Out

June 15, 2010

Thanks, Shannon, for inviting me.

Here’s the link (http://www.earthscienceeducation.org ) to this summer’s Earth Science Education courses… the objective… to be empowered to go outside and teach what you see. New this year… secondary science endorsement credit.

The PLAN today – 8:30 – 9:30 AM

1. Two stories

2. Some guiding principles

3. An Earth science service-learning dream.

4. Walkabout with a purpose… inquiry… What could we document today, as citizen scientists, that could be the basis for documenting future changes caused by a major seismic event? Meaning… let’s explore outside what you (and your students) could observe today that (a) will encourage their inquiry into Earth systems, and (b) be valuable evidence of Earth processes associated with earthquakes.

5. Discuss and evaluate the walkabout and the service-learning concept. Did you (a) observe, (b) inquire, (c) see a potential for empowerment?

I. Two stories:

(a) 1992 -- Sunrise Elementary – good school, Grandparents Day. LINK to UGS image

Lesson learned: perhaps you can teach chemistry the same way to students in New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Moab… but not Earth science.

(b) 1981 -- Advice from the State Geologist of Alaska

Good Friday earthquake: what did you do right? I assigned every friend I had… one block… to document what had changed.

II. Four guiding principles about going outside and teaching what you see.

(a) We know how to turn kids off to Earth science:

· Make it irrelevant

· Use abundant jargon

· Be boring

So…. How to be (a) relevant; (b) avoid jargon, (c) share the joys of science? Go outside and teach what you see, using language and concepts you understand. Earth science is accessible. If it’s their Earth science, it’s relevant to them. Teach the story (the science) not the vocabulary.

(b) Sense of Place

Explorations of “placed” individuals versus “placelessness.” Wallace Stegner – if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are. LINK to the quotation

· Students with a sense of place (even if not where they live now) “do better” than those without a sense of place.

· Landmarks and a sense of place.

· Sense of direction is not the same a sense of place… but can be learned.

Don’t get me started… sense of direction is a feminist issue.

Directional yoga.

Go outside and teach what you see… specifically, landmarks. LINK to BOWEN SLCounty, permission

(c) Inquiry – good scientists ask good questions.

· State the obvious.

· Embrace uncertainty.

· Encourage “why” questions.

· Go outside and ask “why questions”

(why is the terrain near here so flat – Don’t answer, just ask; why is the Jordan River where it is? Why does it flow north? Why is there a valley here? Why do Red Butte and Mt Olympus and Lone Peak look different? Why do the Oquirrh Mountains and Wasatch Range look so different? Why is Salt Lake City not up in the mountains? Where does the water in the Jordan River come from? Why does it come from the east and not from the west?

(d) Service learning gives meaning (relevant, important, and purposeful). It can empower.

Earthquakes. Disasters.

Do you intend to be a victim? Or to be part of the solution?

Two ways to approach earthquake preparedness –

(a) scare folks

(b) “USGS” approach

· Before someone will take action to prepare: BE A CITIZEN SCIENTIST AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

· Hear the message ... UTAH IS EARTHQUAKE COUNTRY. Tectonics makes topography. Understand and appreciate. PLATES

· Understand the message ... California moves west faster than Denver, Chicago, Florida STRETCH. So... Basin and Range

· Personalize the message… Salt Lake City has its faults. They have brought us our gorgeous Mountain Valley Mountain sequence.

· Then… will take action. ... LET'S understand what is known and contribute to the understanding. Utah based on California SHAKE

Utah is the BEST place to teach Earth systems. Geology controls the natural resources of an area, its topography, and its hazards. We have it all! It’s a package deal. Without the Wasatch fault and its predecessors… not have our “Greatest Snow on Earth.”

III. Service learning dream – students as citizen scientists, empowered by understanding. LINK to handout.

GOALS –Encourage students to:

· Observe deliberately

· Inquire about local and global environment

· Empower by understanding.

A DREAM –

· Document the present to understand Salt Lake County’s changing surface

THE SERVICE – Collect the evidence now to document what we want to understand after an earthquake

· Surface rupture

· Ground shaking

· Liquefaction

· Changed hydrology

· Response of constructed environment.

IIII. Let’s go outside and discuss what might change in the event of an earthquake.

What would we wish we had documented for (a) surface rupture; (b) ground shaking; (c) liquefaction; (d) changed hydrology; and (e) response of our constructed environment.

Remember… the goals are for students to (a) observe; (b) inquire; (c) become empowered by understanding.

· Count off in groups of five.

· Handout: What in the images might change?

· Activity: Notice how easily distracted we will be… how quasi-chaotic it may seem… how I may seem to “lose control” … how safety is an issue… how everyone will see things differently.

· Success will be if this exercise encourages you to (a) observe; (b) inquire; (c) feel more empowered / less helpless in the event of an earthquake.

V. Could this work? Evaluate this dream (part of your handout).

Could you imagine “adopting” your neighborhood… backyard Earth science for seismic understanding?

What would it take to create baseline documentation for your block… and the eight blocks surrounding it?

Google Earth.

Photograph:

· Fences… why?

· Flagpoles… why?

· Chimneys… why?

· Existing cracks… why?

A formatted outline of expectations?

What else would you need, or want to have your students be ready to be citizen observers in the event of an earthquake?

If you had what you think you need… would you consider this “service learning project” a worthy project for your school?

Why? Or why not?