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NASA Expeditionary Learning for San Francisco State Pre-Service Science & Mathematics Teachers
Each night, strong winds crashed against the loose window frames of an adobe-style dormitory building in a remote section of the Mojave Desert. A series of Pacific storms pushed cold fronts across Southeastern California, reaching this desert setting as chilling, arid blasts. The Zzyzx Desert Studies Center, located 60 miles east from Barstow on a winding dirt road, is a field station of the California State University system that accommodates up to 75 individuals. It sits just west of a desolate lake bed called Soda Dry Lake, framed by flat terrain ringed by parched mountains that appear purple in the distance. This stark setting served as a backdrop for a lively field tip, the Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 expedition, attended by the top planetary scientists, biologists, and geologists in the nation and by future science and math teachers from San Francisco State University. Their goal? To study life in extreme environments while inspiring better science education for California’s children.
By day 14 SFSU students—each working in a certificate or degree program to become a math or science teacher—met with a variety of specialized scientists whose work is supported by NASA. Dr. Chris McKay, for example, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames in Mountain View, lead the expedition. Dr. Penny Boston, a microbiologist from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, came to collect samples of microbial life living in extreme conditions. Together, the 33 Spaceward Bound members hiked up extinct volcanoes, explored a ‘field’ of ancient lava tubes, and collected samples of heat-seared crust from the desert floor. Both the researchers and their student counterparts were carrying out “Mars analog” research for our nation’s space agency. They used the extreme Mojave environment as an analog for extraterrestrial habitats and studied the adaptations of earthly microorganisms for clues as to how life may once have lived on Mars. Armed with such information about our planer’s toughest survivors, NASA scientists hope to design better remote experiments for their Mars missions.
On day two of the four-day expedition, April 7th, 2008, in the unforgiving midday sun, scientists and students sat at a crustal site on the desert floor trying to come up with a remedy for a malfunctioning device. Ashley Gam, a student in the science teacher credential program, recalls, “The device was supposed to measure the thickness of the crust, and to quantify that, it measured the amount of force necessary to break the crust.” Unfortunately, the device proved too weak for the task. In the spirit of ingenuity everyone tossed out ideas and searched around for makeshift materials to add weight to an attached bucket; sand, rock, even quarters from their own pockets. “The bucket they had wasn’t big enough,’ Gam continues, “so they tried using rocks, but they couldn’t fit them in the bucket. They partially solved this problem by using sand, which used all the space in the bucket. They then bagged the sand in zip lock bags and weighed it back at the camp.”
On day three of the expedition, April 8th, 2008, two vans full of students, scientists, and equipment, headed west from Zzyzx for a drive to Pisgah Crater. While passing through the Kelso Dune area, white sand sporadically wiped away remnants of the road and high winds raked the sides of the vehicles. Once in view of the Pisgah cinder cone, the surrounding landscape was sprinkled with small volcanoes stretching toward the horizon. We ventured up to a vista point for a briefing on geology, but walking up a steep slope of crumbling pumice stone proved its own challenge. Most of us slipped and dug into the person’s footprints in front of us to avoid skidding down. Our efforts were rewarded by a panoramic view of the Lavic Lake volcanic field. And spreading directly below the vista point we could see Pisgah’s long-solidified lava flow, scattered with large, cave like holes that turned out to be nearly 200 lava tubes.
Together we ventured into a specified tube site to look for life living in this desiccated environment. We also retrieved thermography equipment that had been collecting data on site for four days. Stephanie Cunningham, a biology major at SFSU who will begin the teacher credential program in 2009, recounts her experience in one of the lava tubes, “I took three samples. Penny Boston had a number of people do that so she had multiple samples from the same site. I’ve never done fieldwork like that before. I’ve taken samples in a lab environment where it’s very controlled. Here we were balancing on rocks in caves!”
Experiences like these were exactly the intent of the expedition’s sponsors, SFSU’s Center for Science and Mathematics Education (CSME) and NASA’s Education Division.
These groups plan to continue offering expeditionary learning opportunities to students preparing to be science and math teachers (also called, pre-service teachers) at SFSU and other California State University (CSU) affiliated colleges. Jan Mokros, CSME Director, explained how the program is funded, “The Chancellor’s office has given each of the CSU’s an allocation to develop a cadre of teachers. We used some of that money to pay for the NASA trip and we’ll do that for a future tip to Mount Lassen as well.” To “grow the program substantially,” Mokros says that NASA has submitted an internal proposal for further funding. If granted, NASA’s Spaceward Bound program will invite SFSU students on future expeditions planned for Canada, Australia, and the Arctic.
Jan Mokros became the Director of CSME in September of 2007 in an effort to research and address current problems surrounding science and mathematics teaching in California – problems that are part of a national trend. The rate of attrition for high school science and math teachers within four years of starting the profession is nearly 40% nationally. The percentages who quit are higher in economically disadvantaged districts. In addition, more than 66 percent of CSU students who begin degree programs in Science and Engineering drop out and choose other majors before graduation. Because so many students drop out of university science programs, and because so many new teachers become dissatisfied with their teaching experience, the number of credentialed science and math teachers is woefully lacking. The mission of CSME is to find successful remedies.
Jan Mokros hopes that by creating programs to stimulate interest in teaching science and mathematics, CSME will provide a support system and network of aspiring teachers. She and others have designed assessments to evaluate the new programs over the next five years to see if they will successfully generate more teachers and lower attrition rates from the profession. Mokros explains, “We have a data gathering effort that’s broader then these programs to just find out what happens to science majors. How many of them are interested in teaching? Where do they go after they leave San Francisco State? The whole idea of documenting them and following them is important, but then also there is a more qualitative part on what do they get out of the experiences.” Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 was the first time CSME or SFSU offered an expeditionary learning program.
Well in advance of such assessments, students on the expedition felt the program was extremely useful. Stephanie Cunningham first heard about Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 while involved in SFSU’s Math and Science Teaching Initiative program (MSTI), which is part of CSME. She applied for the expedition and was selected as one of the fourteen student participants. Reflecting on the experience and how it affected her outlook on teaching, she explains, “This was a life-changing experience for me.” She feels she can speak more knowledgeably about the nature of scientific fieldwork and thinks the experience will give her more credibility in the eyes of her students.
Another benefit of expeditionary learning is creating a supportive atmosphere for learning about science. Students expressed a sense of connection to the scientists and feel they now have a resource to use when science and educational questions arise for them in their classrooms. The students –most of who will be working in Bay Area school districts—also look forward to having a network of like-minded colleagues. “I think the expedition was effective because we got to know each other personally and we worked together,” Cunningham explains. “We talked about why we want to teach from different points of view and different points of science. If I’m lucky,” she adds, “I may work with some of these people one day!”
Regarding the affect of this program on pre-service teaching students, Mokros predicts, “My hypothesis is that there are two changes that are going to be the most salient: one, feeling a part of these educational communities, and two, having a better understanding of the nature of science.” It is important, she continues, to look beyond the steps of the scientific methods taught in science. Teachers and students benefit from understanding the actual “messier process” of science in the field and laboratory that involves creativity, hunches, false leads, and collaboration.
As far as using expeditionary learning as a model, Mokros explains, “It’s not all of science, but I think it’s a very powerful kind of science for teachers to be involved in, because there’s so much you can see and experience. Working in the lab sometimes takes a much longer period of time, and it’s harder to see.” Most participating students also had some familiarity with lab work from their science courses. An expedition, Mokros adds, is another way to broaden their experience and allow them to feel the adventure of discovery that is often not communicated in the sciences.
How long the Spaceward Bound program continues will depend on future funding, Mokros says. CSME’s funding is “solid for the next few years.”
Written by Jennifer Small
originally posted 5/24/08
