Using DLESE: Finding Resources to Enhance Teaching Holly Devaul Shelley Olds 17 March 2004

Overview What challenges do educators face when searching for resources? What is the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)? How can I use DLESE to find resources that help my teaching and support FOSS kit instruction offer ideas for a field investigation project Hands-on exploration of DLESE Report out/reflection

Challenges in finding resources How can I find good “stuff”? Can it be integrated quickly? Is it versatile? Will it motivate students? Is it aligned with skills I’m expected to teach? Is it reliable? Impact the authority of the teacher in the classroom

Why use a digital library? Provides efficient discovery of quality materials Provides safe environment and “boundaries” on the web Acknowledges the current reliance on the Internet for information “About 75 percent of students said they used the Internet first, then went to a professor or librarian for assistance, and consulted print sources last.”

Digital Library for Earth System Education Resources that support Earth System Education: Emphasizes interdisciplinary approach to science Includes processes, states, cycles, and interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and space from a global to local perspective, across time scales Highlights materials that bring the Earth system into the classroom or learning situation, and that demonstrate the application of science to solving real world problems

What does DLESE offer? Learning resources about the Earth System Lesson plans, computer and lab activities, data, instructor guides, visualizations, virtual field trips… Themed collections about a specific topic Reviewed collections http://www.dlese.org – Select Browse Resources and Collections to see the full breadth of DLESE resources Resources contributed and described by educators and scientists

DLESE also offers Services to help users effectively create and use materials Search by educational standards Read and contribute teaching tips and reviews Community connections Attend workshops, summer institutes, and events Learn about funding sources Participate in discussion groups on a wide range of topics Receive DLESE monthly electronic newsletter Interfaces and tools to allow exploration of Earth data sets (coming soon!) http://www.dlese.org – Select Browse Resources and Collections to see the full breadth of DLESE resources

Making use of resource types Level of learning or understanding* You want students to be able to: Relevant resource types (there may be others) Sample problems and resources Analysis (distinguish, classify, or relate assumptions, hypotheses, evidence)  Analyze a problem Case study Activities (classroom, computer, lab, field) Datasets Lesson plan Project Tools (calculators) Problem: How is water quality determined? Resource type: Case study Resource: Exploring the Environment: Water Quality http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq/waterq.html Synthesis (originate, integrate, and combine ideas) Prepare for a discussion, role play, or debate on an issue, etc. Dataset Presentation/demo Services Tutorial Text Visual (illustrations, etc.) Problem: Develop and defend a possible solution to global warming. Resource type: Classroom activity, computer activity Resource: Global Warming Project, http://www.letus.nwu.edu/projects/gw/index.html Help guide and streamline search process: Diversity of Life: diversity, then “diversity of life” then Middle (6-8) + Computer activity Earth History: “plate tectonics” + Planetary Science: Grades: 6-8 + Resource type: Visualization Weather and Water: cloud + Grades: 6-8 + Field activity Mixtures and Solutions: * Bloom

Discussion questions What are some concepts that have been difficult to teach? Are there areas that the FOSS kits don’t cover? Concepts that could use enhancement? How might technology assist with these situations? Enhance the teaching of a topic Show different activities/ examples, so what kind of resources could enhance the teaching Add the table into the presentation

Explore DLESE Pick a topic/concept: Goals: To enhance a module or to help build a field investigation Begin searching for resources Write down URLs of interesting resources Goals: Find resources that will be useful to you Report back to group on what you find or don’t find!

Tools on your desktop Worksheet Web browser opened to www.dlese.org Topic Grade level URLs, etc. Notes Web browser opened to www.dlese.org

Post-exploration discussion What topics did you explore? For what grade level? What kinds of searches did you do? Did you find what you were looking for? Why or why not; suggestions for broadening a search