The Role of Paleontologist in Teacher Education Today
by Alan Goldstein Interpretive Naturalist Falls of the Ohio State Park Presented at Dinofest International 1998*
*With updates for the current decade Abstract Paleontology has historically been a popular, albeit minor, subject in earth science education. Earth science rarely receives the perceived importance of biology, chemistry or physics – the so called “basic sciences.” One reason would be the channeling of scientists into the medical field, where knowledge of biology and chemistry is paramount. Still, paleontological discoveries make the national news more often than those in chemistry or physics. In light of today’s environmental concerns, the role of paleontology should become more important with analysis of mass extinctions. Organisms are becoming extinct at a rate some scientists compare to “geologic proportions.” Understanding the significance of ecosystem changes before and after mass extinctions throughout geological history will help us measure today’s environmental impact. Paleontology becomes less “curious rocks” and more about “evidence of what could happen in our lifetime.” All paleontologists should develop a good working relationship with primary and secondary educators. There are many ways we can help. Teacher training is important because many earth and life science educators have never taken a college-level paleontology class. Developing exciting student activities, lessons, labs, field trips, as well as providing actual fossils are very important. Teachers need and appreciate assistance from professionals. This paper describes efforts at the Falls of the Ohio State Park and nationally through interviews and questionnaires with paleontologists. It is essential we nurture our education system. Teachers can only provide information as accurate as their text book. Not all websites contain accurate information. An educator unfamiliar or uninformed about the subject will not provide good lessons and will be more likely to gloss over topics of fundamental importance in understanding earth’s biological history and how it can be applied to understanding life today and in the student’s future. An informed public is critical! We are acutely aware of the alternative. Introduction Earth science encompasses the fields of geology, astronomy, meteorology, and oceanography. It is a subject as vast and as diverse as everything in the universe! It can be especially intimidating to educators with little or no experience in the subject. In the ideal world, every earth science teacher should have taken comprehensive classes in those subjects in college. But in the real world, this does not always happen. People take whatever opening is available and learn ‘on the fly.’ If you examine sciences in the media, earth science in general is second only to medicine in public exposure in the national news stories. How many times are dinosaurs, earthquakes, weather phenomena, and discoveries with the Hubble telescope featured? Almost on a daily basis, and certainly weekly. Public interest in earth sciences, and particularly fossils, is well-documented by large turnouts at museum dinosaur exhibits and the popularity of blockbuster movies (where special effects were really the “stars”). We had a 70% increase in attendance during a dinosaur exhibit at the state park in 2002. Professional paleontologists can fill the gap between the lack of knowledge and professional development. It is incumbent among paleontologists and educators alike to break the cycle of inadequate preparation. Better educated teachers are more likely to produce better informed students who will become adults with a greater understanding and appreciation of fossils and earth’s geological history. This is important for paleontology to remain in the forefront of public opinion and to support future research. The Importance of Paleontological Education The record of life and death, evolution and extinction is well-preserved in the fossil record. The history of diversity and the processes of evolution that create biodiversity depend on having quality paleontological data (Sepkoski, 1997). Understanding mass extinctions is another example of a pressing issue where paleontology plays a significant role. Organisms are becoming extinct at a rate some scientists compare to “geologic proportions” (Allmon, 1997). Understanding the implication of ecosystem changes before and after mass extinctions throughout geological history will help scientists measure today’s environmental impact. This moves the study of fossils away from ‘cool, but irrelevant dead creatures’ to investigating the evidence of how extinctions will affect humans in the next century. Like most sciences, translating scientific techno-babble into everyday language remains another challenge. Journalists make the attempt on a regular basis, but ask any scientist who has had his or her work publicized in popular media, and you are likely to see some cringing expression! Scientific papers are tedious because they have to explain the details sufficiently so that their peers can agree or disagree based on the evidence presented. What the typical educator or student will encounter is a diluted account of the facts, and sometimes key observations are omitted. Museums and Fossils Institute Field Paleontology Institute Teachers participate in a student Teachers collect Ordovician fossils for their classroom. activity at the Cincinnati Museum Center, This is an annual professional development offered by a joint program with Bellarmine University the Falls of the Ohio State Park. and the Falls of the Ohio State Park. How can Paleontologists Affect Change in Education? All paleontologists should develop a good working relationship with primary and secondary educators. There are many ways to help. Teacher training is crucial, because many earth and life science educators have never taken a college-level paleontology class. Some may not have taken basic geology! While copious amounts of information is available through school curriculum resource staff, text book publishers, and the “wild and wooly” world-wide web, guidance goes a long way to develop a good lesson plan. Does the curriculum include a field trip to a museum or park where fossils can be studied? Do you have access to real fossils and replicas of delicate / rare examples? Does the lesson provide real-world application of paleontology to solving modern problems? Teachers need and appreciate assistance from paleontology professionals. It is a real challenge, because everyone has a heavy work load! There are four suggestions for a paleontologist to help reach elementary or secondary education students: 1) Work directly with students. This may or may not have long-term impact. 2) Work directly with educators. Provide them with enough help to improve their instruction throughout the duration of the paleontology lesson. Be on call to answer questions by cell phone, e-mail or text message. 3) Work with curriculum development. Affect what is taught in a school district or state-wide. 4) Work with pre-service teachers. Offer a program through a college/university school of education that focuses on fossils or earth science with an in-depth look at fossils. Activities involving these four suggestions are described in “Question 3” below. Survey of Paleontologists The author sent a survey (1997) to all members of The Paleontological Society in the United States with e-mail addresses. The survey letter is reproduced in Appendix 1. Members in other countries were not surveyed because of a lack of familiarity with those educational systems. Those who were not involved were encouraged to respond. Of 131 members responding, slightly more than half (69) do some work with school teachers. Question 1: How many teachers do you advise or assist in a given year? Most responding paleontologists interact with five or fewer. Some reach over 100, but those were either an entire department (i.e. Ohio Geological Survey, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Denver Museum of Science), or represent individuals who speak at teacher conferences or head national organizations. While I would encourage all paleontologists who have the opportunity to speak at large conferences and provide information on a national scale, I believe you are most influential on a smaller scale, where participants can frequently ask questions. Question 2: What were the grade levels of the teachers with which they work? The greatest number was all levels (K-12), followed by grades 3 – 6. Primary (grade K – 2) exceeded high school. Some responded with single grades or an odd assortment (i.e. grade 4, 5, and 9) that might reflect the grades of their own children. Question 3: What to paleontologists do for public, parochial, and private teachers? To organize this, six categories were created in the survey: in-depth training, field experience, fossils / materials for the classroom, student activities, curriculum development, and “other.” In-depth training is defined as a comprehensive program as short as one day or as long as a semester. For this paper, training involves paleontology and related fields, including (but not limited to) paleobiology, paleoecology, taphonomy, field techniques, and regular instructional duties. Twenty-one of the 69 survey responses who work with teachers are involved with in-depth training. Teachers and paleontologists can work together to find local collecting or field areas where students can safely explore and study. Some community-savvy quarry operations allow organized field trips on their property. Field areas are less widespread in the greenery of the eastern U.S., but sites abound. Some schools have fossil sites on their own property or within walking distance and do not seem to be aware of it! Another option is to bring the fossil-bearing rock to the students by placing a dump truck load on the school grounds. This will enable students to have a paleontological “dig” at the appropriate time in their lesson with minimal muss or fuss. Quarries may donate rock and the school district, county public works, or even a parent might have a dump truck. The material and services may be donated as an in-kind contribution to the school for a tax deduction. If a school is located a hundred miles from the nearest “in-ground fossil” other alternatives, such as a multi-day field trip should be considered. Example: Dr. Mark Kleffner (Ohio State University at Lima) takes teachers to Hueston Woods State Park. This park allows people to keep loose fossils they find. About one and a half weeks of a four week geology program for teachers involves paleontology. They learn to identify all major groups that are represented at Hueston Woods and develop modules and dinosaurs to use in their own teaching situation. Dr. Kleffner provides fossils in the major groups to those participants who did not find them. Fossils and/or materials for the classroom include specimens, replicas, books, posters, maps, brochures, etc. This is the most common method that paleontologists use when working with teachers. Fifty-eight out of 69 responses indicate they provide materials for one or more educators. Related activities listed by paleontologists include organizing existing, but jumbled school collections, identifying fossils for the class, and handing out United States Geological Survey or Paleontological Society literature. These popular activities support educator-efforts. Student activities include worksheets, puzzles, thought-provoking items, computer-related / web-based activities, etc. Thirty respondents provide teachers with material in this area, probably one of the most difficult to support. Without specific input by educators, paleontologists are not sure what can be useful. Working closely with an educator, suitable activities can be created. Many tie in with other topics, such as language arts, mathematics, local history, geography, visual arts, and more. Example: Dr. Roy Plotnick is engaged in a program with the Oak Park School System in Illinois called “Global Village.” It involves 30 local scientists, each working with one fourth to seventh grade class in the district. Scientists meet an average of five times in the class in addition to one or two field trips. Dr. Plotnick introduces students to the common fossil groups and takes them to the Field Museum of Natural History and a local quarry. For those classes not participating in the Global Village, a half-day “Young Scientists Conference” is held for about 600 students, where he does a program on the extraordinary fossils of Mazon Creek, Illinois. Curriculum development at the classroom, team, school district, or above, twenty-four paleontologists indicated some involvement in this area. It is certainly the most complex, but far-reaching aspect of education. This can affect team-teaching (site-based learning which focuses on an individual school), education within an entire school district (affecting hundred to tens of thousands of students each year) or be at the national level (learning initiatives). Curriculum development can play an important role at the university level. Geology courses may be developed that are geared specifically for earth science educators from the pre-service to post-graduate level. Requirements for teaching professionals vary widely across school districts. Paleontologists should work closely with their school of education and the local school system when developing coursework designed for K-12 teachers. Other includes anything that doesn’t fall into the above categories by being too specific or too vague. Responses include: Assisting with in-service workshops Career day Developing a virtual field trip Distance learning Enlightening teachers Fossil identification Handling real fossils Helping teachers with their Masters thesis focusing on paleontology education Informal or formal talks to the class, relating field experiences Informal teaching Judge at the local or state science fair Providing field trip localities (works better if you take the teachers there before their entire class) School displays (most schools have a trophy case that can be ‘borrowed’ for a temporary display) Slide show on dinosaurs or other topics Speaking at regional or national teacher conferences Supervise students doing honors work, internships, or other work over the summer; mentor student projects Summer school classes Tours of a paleontologists work area / lab (Behind the scenes of museum or university is always interesting to teachers and their curious students. Explanations of on-going field work and research should be part of the tour.) Visiting / participating in school-organized activities (i.e. PTA program) Whatever the teacher requests Question 4: What have you done with teachers that provided their students with the greatest benefit? Some did not know how to answer this question. There were some recurring answers among the 69 responses, including some previously mentioned: Classroom presentation (One-time presentations rarely have long-term impact on student interest unless they are really memorable!) Field trips or finding places suitable for school groups to visit Eric Lombard indicates that taking the teacher in the field and having him/her become an integral part of the field team allows that person to participate in both the formal and informal aspects of science. “Show and Tell” related programs, including fossil identification Providing materials (including specimens) to the teacher for student use Updating the teachers’ knowledge in geological sciences and/or stimulating their interest in the subject (some educators have little experience in earth science and really appreciate help here) Other interesting responses include: Answering questions teachers feel uncomfortable or with insufficient knowledge to answer it themselves. BA in Earth Sciences geared for teachers (University of Cincinnati) Creating a web page that can be accessed and used by teachers and students Developing content material and interactive units for students Developing a state-wide earth science teachers organization (Tennessee Earth Science Teachers, Dr. Michael Gibson and Don Byerly) Guided tours of collections and research facilities and on-going field work Have geology students create fossil kits to provide for public school teachers (including picking up samples on field trips that will be identified and donated to K-12 teachers) Helping teachers develop their own classroom collections Providing a sense of the scientific method – posing questions or explanations (hypotheses) to explain some phenomenon, gathering evidence, and then re-evaluating the explanation that remain. Sieving shale for micro-fossils with an exercise of the size distribution and its relation to the types of fossils present Conclusion It is essential that we nurture our education system. Teachers can only provide information as accurate as their resources. If the educator feels uninformed about paleontology, it will play a minor role in the classroom and the overall earth science curriculum. By reaching teachers we connect with their students and the members of society who might be filling our shoes in 10 to 30 years. Students will be the basis for an informed public, and an informed public will support funding research. One paleontologist reaching one teacher with 30 to 150 students per year could benefit 600 to 10,500 students over two decades! Imagine the number of students affected if one scientist is able to reach ten educators annually! The goal is not to create more paleontologists – it is to create public citizens who appreciate and is interested in paleontology and related environmental awareness. These are the same people who may bring a rare find to the attention for a museum curator or a university professor from their own property, a job site, or while hiking in the middle of nowhere.
Acknowledgements The author wants to thank every member of The Paleontological Society who responded to the survey and express gratitude to those who provided supplementary information. Thanks to Dana Florio and Woody Henry for obtaining the e-mail list. Without it, the survey would have been less effective. The author thanks Dr. Donald Wolberg for the opportunity to present this paper at Dinofest International in April 1998. References Allmon, W. D., 1997, Learning from history: Mass extinction in the past, present, and future. Mid American Paleontological Society, Digest, 20: 1 – 10. Sepkoski, J. J., 1997, Biodiversity: Past, present, and future. Journal of Paleontology, 71: 533 – 539. Appendix 1: Survey Letter
Dear fellow Paleontological Society member: I am conducting a survey to determine how U.S. paleontologists and primary / secondary teachers work together. If you are a full-time paleontologist (university, museum or other) and work with public, private or parochial school educators, please answer the brief survey below. If you are currently NOT involved, please reply “No” so I can determine the percentage of who is and is not involved (no names will be given out without prior consent). The results will be presented at Dinofest International 1998 and will be published in the proceedings volume (note – it was never printed). 1. In an average year, how many teachers do you advise or assist? 2. What grade levels? 3. What “services” do you provide teachers – - in-depth training - field experience - fossil / materials for the classroom - student activities - curriculum development - other (please describe) 4. What have you done with teachers that provide their students the greatest benefit?
Created December 29, 2011
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