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Situated Learning in Environmental Education: Using Geospatial Technologies with Preservice Secondary Teachers

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The Inclusion of Environmental Education in Science Teacher Education

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Abstract

Current national reform recommendations in the United States have largely neglected nature study and place-based learning as an explicit component of scientific content and literacy. The role of nature study needs to be expanded in both science instruction and science teacher preparation. One way to do this is to use a curriculum grounded in nature study and ideally contextualized in the local environment to address a number of current reform movements in science education. This chapter describes how situated learning using Geospatial Information Technologies (GIT) in preservice teacher education courses can be used to study the environment. GIT has become more prevalent in our everyday lives and is commonly used in natural resources management. Web-based applications such as Google Earth allow easy-to-use access to all types of environmental data. Nature study and GIT were used in preservice science teacher courses on campus and through field experience courses offered at Ossabaw Island in Georgia, Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, and in Brazil. It was found that through collaborative learning communities, students became immersed in the natural world and were able to investigate their own questions. GIT helped students to visually see and analyze relationships in the environment. Through discourse, collaboration, and shared experiences, the teachers were able to apply what they had learned to their own science classrooms.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For more information about the Grandfather Mountain and Ossabaw Island course and to see examples of student projects go to http://web.utk.edu/∼start8/506.

  2. 2.

    For more information about Brazil and Grandfather Mountain workshops go to http://www.ncsu.edu/scilink.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Tennessee, A404 Bailey Education Complex, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Rita A. Hagevik

  2. Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, College of Education, & c/o GIS Program, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, 7106, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7401, USA

    Harriett S. Stubbs

  3. CALS Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology Education Specialist, North Carolina State University, 7510, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Diane C. Whitaker

Authors
  1. Rita A. Hagevik
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  2. Harriett S. Stubbs
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  3. Diane C. Whitaker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rita A. Hagevik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , College of Education, Lehigh University, Research Drive, A113 Lacocca Hall 111, Bethlehem, 18015, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alec M. Bodzin

  2. SUNY Cortland, Cortland, 13045, New York, USA

    Beth Shiner Klein

  3. Seidel School of Education and Professio, Department of Education Specialties, Salisbury University, Camden Ave. 1101, Salisbury, 21801, Maryland, USA

    Starlin Weaver

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Hagevik, R.A., Stubbs, H.S., Whitaker, D.C. (2010). Situated Learning in Environmental Education: Using Geospatial Technologies with Preservice Secondary Teachers. In: Bodzin, A., Shiner Klein, B., Weaver, S. (eds) The Inclusion of Environmental Education in Science Teacher Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9222-9_20

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