Teacher Teams do Research Projects at Woodrow Wilson Environmental Science Institute
by Linda Padwa
The Woodrow Wilson Environmental Science Institute was held at Princeton University from 29 June to 25 July 1997. The mission of the Institute was to provide teachers with an inquiry-based experience which would allow them to sharpen their research skills, to expand their knowledge base in environmental science, and to develop pedagogical models and tools for use in their own classrooms. The Institute was funded by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
About one hundred middle and high school teachers from all over the United States participated in the Institute. Most of the participants came as members of a team, with a colleague or colleagues from the same school or school district. The intent was for these people to work together on a research project dealing with some aspect of environmental science that could easily transfer back to their local area. One reason for the team effort was so that, after the summer, the experience with the inquiry process could be brought to the home school(s) and each participant in the Institute could then serve as a resource person for other teachers in their district. Several participants in the Institute did not come as members of a team, so working groups of two or three were created to give everyone the experience of being on a research team.
Those who are familiar with previous Woodrow Wilson summer institutes at Princeton will notice that this process is a departure from previous years. The mission of this Institute was not only to convey information about environmental science, but also to have teachers perform research on their own. The specific topic of the research was not as important as the process that led to the final product. With the experience of doing research and using the inquiry method, it was hoped that teachers would go back to their schools and encourage their students to do environmental science research projects in their local area.
The Institute began with an introduction to earth system science, followed by several computer lab sessions on web page construction and an introduction to various computer programs that are used by earth system scientists (such as STELLA, Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing). Guest speakers from several universities, the US Food and Drug Administration, the National Resources Conservation Service branch of the US Department of Agriculture, GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network), and GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) provided information on various elements associated with the study of Environmental Science. The meaning and mechanics of the inquiry method were introduced by Institute faculty on the first day, with follow-up during the first week, as needed to respond to participant questions.
Following a few days of introduction, each group chose a project to work on for the rest of the Institute. Possible topics for research had been posted on the Institute home page before the program began and some teams arrived at Princeton with an idea of what they would be studying. Other groups had left the final decision about the project until arriving at Princeton. It is fair to say that many groups changed their topic shortly after getting a better feel for the time frame of the Institute, the expertise of the Institute staff, and the facilities that were available. Some equipment and test kits were provided by the Institute, and some groups brought their own equipment. The "laboratory" was the area around the University, as well as any location that was within a few hours drive of Princeton. A few groups chose to do computer modeling of environmental situations rather than field work. The majority of the projects revolved around water chemistry. However, there were many other topics as well, ranging from element cycles to ozone chemistry, from exotic species problems to microclimate study.
The final product of this Institute has been published on the World Wide Web http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/environment/institutes/1997/. When you look at the site you will notice that there is a full range of sophistication in the presentation of the material created by the groups. Some teams were very adept at web page construction and that is reflected in their final product. Others were novices at creating web documents and their pages are more simple. Similarly, some groups were masters with research methodology while others had difficulty working without a prescribed protocol.
In a sense, this group of teachers mirrored what many of us see in our classrooms each year. When we assign a project to our students, we know that some will be comfortable with an open-ended, inquiry-based project while others will not be comfortable at all. We also know that some students prefer to work alone, while others do very well with a group for support. The participants at this Institute showed the same traits. Many of the teachers were used to working independently in their classrooms and the skills needed to be a member of a functional group had to be re-learned. Some had never had the opportunity to do independent research and they found it difficult to go through the whole process from question formation to writing the final paper in the time frame of the Institute.
Despite differences in personal learning and working styles, the final product of the month's effort was a veritable cornucopia of explorations in environmental science. The final symposium, where each team presented its web page with an accompanying description of the project, was most rewarding. We had shared frustrations and concerns as the projects took shape during our time together, and at the end we felt a shared sense of accomplishment as each team presented its findings and plans for further study.
Upon return to our local areas, each Institute participant was expected to develop outreach programs to share materials and techniques that were developed at the Institute with other teachers. Several of the teams are planning to run local TORCH programs based on the model used at Princeton. These programs will be funded by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation with support from the National Science Foundation. (For information on location and dates of these institutes, contact Mary Apodaca through the home page listed above.)
This Institute combined many issues that are relevant for teaching science at this point in time. We are being encouraged to have our students do "hands-on science". What better laboratory for this type of science could there be than the environment in which we live? The use of computer technology, the Internet, and e-mail is being encouraged in every classroom. By placing the final product of the Institute on the Web, the participants in the program have provided teachers everywhere with a starting point for projects that can be done by their students. Since all of the participants can be reached by e-mail through the Woodrow home page, any questions that may arise when trying to repeat or adapt a project can be addressed to the team participants for clarification. Last but not least, by providing an opportunity to experience the inquiry method as teachers (rather than as students or researchers), the participants gained insight into how to proceed in their own classrooms when assigning project-based work to their students.
Time will tell if the different approach taken by this Institute will prove to be effective. Do teachers benefit more from the inquiry approach to learning science or from the traditional lecture/laboratory approach? That question echoes what we often ask as we plan lessons for our students. What do you think?
(Editor's Note: Linda Padwa teaches at the E. L. Vandermeulen High School in Port Jefferson, NY. She is also a Tandy Technology Scholar and recipient of a Catalyst Award and a Tapestry Grant .)
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