Enhancing pre-service teachers' concept of Earth Science through an immersive, conceptual museum learning program (Reconceptualising Rocks)

Abstract

The collaboration between Museum Victoria and ReMSTEP partners: the University of Melbourne and Deakin University has enabled the development of the Reconceptualising Rocks project, designed to enhance the teaching of Earth Science for pre-service Science teachers. This study sought to determine how perceptions and understandings of Earth Science can be enhanced through immersion in the contextual learning in the Museum. Furthermore, the project aimed to explore how science ideas and practices can be translated for educational purposes. The findings revealed that participants found Earth Science interesting and were able to identify links to other Science areas. These findings have implications for the teaching of Earth Science across the curriculum.

Interações Do Público Escolar Em Dois Diferentes Tipos De Museus De Ciências

“…Entre as diversas abordagens possíveis no estudo de museus e de sua dimensão educativa, são numerosos os trabalhos que têm se dedicado aos estudos de público (Hein, 1998;Cazelli et al, 1999;Falcão, 1999;Marandino, 2002Marandino, , 2005Massarani, 2002Massarani, , 2008Almeida & Lopes, 2003;Coutinho-Silva, 2005;Sápiras, 2007;Marandino & Ianelli, 2007;Marandino et al, 2009;Martins, 2011;Fors, 2013;Jardim, 2013;Schiele, 2016;Çil et al, 2016;Dawborn-Gundlach et al, 2017;Pereira & Valle, 2017) e por essa razão alguns deles são aqui comentados em ordem cronológica. Hein (1998) buscou integrar conhecimentos produzidos em estudos anteriores (Schiele, 2016), considerando os museus como locais de contato do público com o meio científico e que, por isso, precisam de estratégias não só para atrair e estimular o visitante, mas também para avaliar como ele está respondendo a elas, a fim de readequá-las.…”

“…Ao final da visita, uma das professoras comentou com o mediador: " [...] Aqui tem coisas que a gente tem nas escolas... e às vezes não se dá conta de que dá pra usar." (Situação #20 MO2, Museu tradicional 2) O estudo de Dawborn-Gundlach et al (2017) apoia essa percepção do enriquecimento de repertório de professores ao apontar que a participação de professores-estagiários em atividades desenvolvidas por instituições museais, como exibições e saídas de campo, podem contribuir à sua formação, ajudando no entendimento dessas instituições como locais para aprendizagem e enriquecendo suas estratégias pedagógicas não-tradicionais, as quais poderão aplicar em sua atuação profissional.…”

A survey to analyze the learning of geology in the Compulsory Secondary Education system of Catalonia (Spain)

“…The discipline of Earth Sciences, or Geosciences, face a more difficult challenge than many other sciences given that students do not learn geology during early stages of their academic life (Adetunji et al, 2012). In many places such as the USA (Lewis, 2008), Australia (Dawborn-Gundlach et al, 2017), some countries of northern Europe (King, 2013), Argentina and other Latin American countries (Lacreu 2017;UNESCO, 2019) and Spain (Pedrinaci, 2012) geoscience subjects are underrepresented and frequently in the optional subjects, it is selected by students who are unmotivated.…”

Trainee Teacher Experience in Geoscience Education: Can We Do Better?

“…In southern Europe (Calonge et al 2012 ) and most Latin American countries (UNESCO 2019a ), biology and geology are the two science disciplines that must share teaching time. However, currently, geology instruction is a limited, compulsory part of science and geography curricula and may be available through additional or optional courses in countries such as Australia (Dawborn-Gundlach et al 2017 ) and the USA (Lewis 2008 ). East Asian countries generally teach earth science through science classes, where it is taught mainly by earth science specialist teachers, and in some countries of Northern Europe, it is mainly only taught through geography courses (King 2013 ).…”

“…In the state of Victoria, geology as a year 12 subject ceased to exist after the early 1990s. Although it is still offered in other states, enrolment remains low (Dawborn-Gundlach et al 2017 ). At the Argentine secondary education level, geological content is almost non-existent within the Priority Learning Nucleus (NAP) of natural sciences for the common cycle of all high schools.…”