Earth System Science Education Alliance: Online Professional Development for K-12 Teachers

Abstract

Colleges and universities across the U.S. are offering online Earth system science courses for K-12 teachers through NASA's ESSEA program. The three available courses-for teachers of grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12-are delivered online and feature student-centered, knowledge-building virtual communities. The courses were developed for NASA within the Center for Educational Technologies (CET) at Wheeling Jesuit University. The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and CET managed ESSEA through NASA funding. Twenty participating colleges, universities, and education organizations were competitively selected to receive funding and training for running the courses and continuing support from IGES and CET. From 2000–2006, 1,707 teachers from across the U.S. completed a semester or quarter long ESSEA course from one of the participating institutions. Pre- and post-course surveys, follow-up surveys, and case studies with course participants show that the courses have had a significant impact on teachers' content knowledge, attitudes and practices. ESSEA has also shown that the courses are capable of being sustained beyond the original NASA funding. Seventeen of the participating schools report that they will continue offering the courses and many have developed new programs that incorporate the courses or foster continued Earth system science education opportunities for teachers.