Higher Education Pre-Workshop Survey

Penn State University, State College, Pa. 3-13-00

This data was gathered from a pre-workshop survey that was included in participant's registration forms.

Summary of results:

What would you like to learn about teaching EE to pre-service teachers?

Standards

• Proposed standards, way others have incorporated them into pre-service courses, what courses, etc..
• Recent techniques and/or methods to address standards.
• State standards-integrated into the curriculum.
• What's the current college curriculum- meeting EE standards.
• Mostly about which standards are viewed as most important for general knowledge of EE in pre-service preparation.
• Understanding new PA standards for environment and ecology and how these will "fit" in to traditional curriculum.

Field Studies

• The importance of 1) field trips to appreciating understanding of environmental situations, and 2) laboratory experiences that we based on field situations.
• What do you do if you cannot leave school property (no EE sites)?
• To what extent are field stations, local parks, etc. used in these programs? How much lab aspect is utilized?
• Field experience in collaboration with basic education.

Integration

• Ideas for integration with other subject areas and specific strategies.
• Learn about specific EE issues that must be integrated into college science methodology courses.
• Elementary grades application coordination with other courses in sec. Ed.
• I am specifically interested in the integration of these standards with elementary social studies.

What Others Are Doing?

• What do other institutions do? What's the plan?
• What are other folks doing?
• What are other schools doing in this field?
• What are others doing in this state?

Activities

• Hands-on activities for pre-service teachers in elementary education.
• Technology application.
• I would like to learn some ideas for presenting this information to pre-service elementary education teachers.

Resources

• I need more materials for reading and copies of previous EE programs used across the state and country, like PLT and others.
• Resource materials and other programs.
• Critical curriculum, praxis content (EE).

Other

• Who is and is not being reached by current efforts?
• What are the current content gaps teachers feel?

What EE issues and concerns would you like to address during the workshop?

Specific Activities

• Program designs or implementation.
• Biodiversity
• Cultural diversity
• Environmental ethics and conservation practices.
• A.M.D., energy consumption, suburban sprawl issues.
• Best sequence of information, experiences and attitude formulation in EE.
• Is a fishing license needed for stream studies. What can teachers do legally as part of a stream study? Topics to discuss in a history course on EE since I teach that at WCU!
• Recommended pedagogies, issues (EE); strip mining, mine fires, deforestation, etc.

Integration

• How to incorporate issues/concerns into existing science curriculums.
• Integration of EE issues into a very full elementary curriculum.
• Recommended practices for the incorporation of EE in K-12 curriculum.
• How to implement interdisciplinary curriculum at the university level.

Standards

• I'd like to focus on state issues.
• How are standards organized for presentation, in which order, or what grade levels, etc.?
• What is being done to assure school districts are paying attention to PDE mandates and or assessments?
• What source(s) are best for teaching about legislation and what depth is intended in standards?

Other

• I'm there to learn.
• How to convince higher education administrators the need to expand EE.
• Coordination of efforts-collaboration among folks who teach teachers in order to reach the most teachers and not duplicate efforts.

Resources

• Available curricula/recommended texts, texts that also address science education (since in our program that's probable one way standards will be met).
• Materials for elementary children.