A survey of earth science courses as a discipline in Montana secondary schools
by Richard Leland Mackin
A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE in EARTH SCIENCE
Montana State University
© Copyright by Richard Leland Mackin (1970)
Abstract:
Earth science, as a discipline, is ideally suited to play a key interdisciplinary role in the study of
environmental problems. It can provide an interesting, meaningful, relevant, and continuous type of
curriculum in which each student may become actively involved. However the course in secondary
school earth science which has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the past decade seems to be
backsliding toward general science once again. Part of the problem may be a shortage of properly
trained teachers. But, this problem is a peculiar one. Recent graduates, well trained in earth science,
find it difficult to obtain jobs because the school staffs are filled with tenured teachers trained for
general science or the biological sciences who are now teaching earth science. It also seems to be
difficult to set up programs for retraining these teachers.
There is presently, very little motivating force in the way of organizations, state or national, to get earth
science moving ahead once again. The systems of school financing, the Montana mill levy in
particular, seem to be obsolescent forms because there is an insufficient funding for the school districts
each year. Other problems are: the extremely small size of many Montana school districts;
accreditation requirements that may not be entirely adequate; secondary and college level teacher
preparatory requirements that may be unrealistic.
To seek out the answers to these problems a broad search of related literature was made. A three page
questionnaire was sent to all Montana earth science teachers. Two smaller questionnaires were devised
and distributed to physical geology students at Montana State University to get the students' point of
view. Statistical reports related to science teaching and issued by the Montana Superintendent of Public
Instruction were also reviewed. This data was examined and analyzed, and conclusions were drawn that
seem to verify the recent findings of other workers.
It was found that the trend toward earth science in Montana has indeed slowed down and may even be
retrogressing. Apparently there is no concerted program in Montana to retrain those presently teaching
out of their fields in earth science nor is there any solution in sight that is capable of solving the
financing problems of Montana school districts. There seems to be no publicized planning on the part
of state officials to implement a program that will encourage school districts to consolidate, to review
accreditation requirements, or to take Ieadership in improving the approaches to the adult world that
our children now stumble through.
It is suggested that earth science professionals continue, and increasingly so, to propagandize with
national science organizations over the relative merits of earth science as a beginning high school
science course. Educational personnel at all levels should actively seek to discourage general science as
a course and as a certifiable teaching major or minor. The obsolescent state-local methods of raising
funds should be replaced by a federal-state financing system with a minimum of federal control.
Montana, a state of vast territorial expanse and very small school districts, requires of some teachers
that they be knowledgeable in several fields.
Teachers with science majors therefore should be exposed to physics, chemistry, biology, and earth
science. A teacher in a small class III district would be more versatile and students would benefit as
well. If one teacher were hired by two or more contiguous districts it could provide some of the
economic benefits of consolidation. Principals and superintendents should try to effect a program of
sharing equipment with neighboring school districts and should also encourage their teachers to take
field trips. In p re se n tin g th is th e sis in p a rtia l fulfillm ent of the re q u ire m e n ts fo r
an advanced d eg ree a t M ontana State U n iv ersity , I a g ree th a t the L ib ra ry sh all
m ake it fre e ly av ailab le fo r insp ectio n .
I fu rth e r a g re e th a t p e rm issio n fo r
extensive copying of th is th e sis fo r sc h o la rly p u rp o ses m ay be g ran ted by my
m a jo r p ro f e s s o r , o r , in his a b se n c e, by the D ire c to r of L ib ra r ie s .
It is
understood th a t any copying o r publication of th is th e sis fo r financial gain
sh all not be allow ed w ithout my w ritten p e rm is sio n .
Signature
D ate c
-
i 27T -
j c7 l 0 _______
A SURVEY OF EARTH SCIENCE COURSES AS A DISCIPLINE
IN MONTANA SECONDARY SCHOOLS
by
RICHARD LELAND MACKIN
A th e sis subm itted to the G raduate F aculty in p a rtia l
F u lfillm en t of the re q u ire m e n ts fo r the d eg ree
of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in
EARTH SCIENCE
A pproved:
;K
Head, M ajo r Ij)e]3>artment
C hairm an, E x a m in in g C om m ittee
G raduate/D e an
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
B ozem an, M ontana
A ugust, 1970
-iiiA CKN OWLEDGMEN TS
I w ish to e x p re ss my ap p re cia tio n to D r. W illiam J . M cM annis, my
g ra d u a te com m ittee ch airm an fo r providing m uch a s s is ta n c e , su p erv isio n ,
and m any helpful suggestions in the p re p a ra tio n of this re p o rt.
Special thanks
and g ra titu d e a re also extended to D r. R o b ert A . Chadwick, D r. A lb e rt Suvalc,
and P r o fe s s o r E a rl H. F e llb a u m , who d ire c tly o r in d irec tly did m uch to m ake
th is re p o rt m eaningful.
P r o fe s s o r M ilton J . E die, Head of the D ep artm en t of E a rth Sciences
a s s is te d my r e s e a r c h by providing en co u rag em en t and fa c ilitie s fo r the
gath erin g of data.
I a lso w ish to acknow ledge the a s s is ta n c e of the o th e r m em b ers of the
com m ittee in the re a d in g and c ritic is m of this th e sis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
VITA
......................................................................................................................... ii
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T .............................................................................
iii
LIST OF T A B L E S .............................................................................. ...
.
vi
LIST OF F IG U R E S ........................................................................................
vii
A B S T R A C T .......................................................................................
viii
CHAPTER
I.
'
In tro d u c tio n .........................
I
S tatem ent of the P r o b l e m ..............................................
4
■ M ethods and P r o c e d u r e ....................................................
6
L i m i t a t i o n s ..............................................
II.
9
D efinition of T e r m s ..............................................................
10
REVIEW OF THE L IT E R A T U R E .........................................
12
L ite ra tu re R elated to M o n ta n a .........................................
12
T h e s e s R e la te d to a Study of E a rth Science C u rric u la
13
ESCP R elated L ite r a tu r e
...............................................
14
L ite r a tu r e R elated to a T ru e In te rd isc ip lin a ry
A pproach
. ....................................................................
16
L ite r a tu r e R elated to E n v iro n m en tal P ro b lem s
.
.
20
R ecent R e s e a rc h in Science T e a c h i n g ..........................
21
A G eo lo g ist's V i e w .......................... ■.
26
............................
—• y —
CH APTER
III.
PA G E
ANALYSIS OF D A T A ..................... .............................. • .
.
28
The Science T e a c h e r Q u e s tio n n a ire .....................................
28
Science T e a c h e r L is ts ...............................................................
50
Geology Student Q u e s t i o n n a i r e s ..........................................
54
S u m m a ry .........................................................................................
63
C o n c lu sio n s ....................................................................................
64
R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s ....................................................................
70
IV.
R e s e a rc h Topics Beyond the Scope of This P a p e r
SELECTED REFEREN CES
APPENDIX
.
.
.
.
75
..........................................................
78
83
—v i —
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
PAGE
D istrib u tio n of Teaching F a c ilitie s and
R elated T e a c h e r E v a l u a t i o n s ...............................................
33
T e a c h e r C o c u rric u la r In v o lv e m e n ts ...........................................
44
E a rth Science and R elated C o u rses Taken by
N o n m i n o r s ...................................................................................
47
Teaching C o m b in atio n s....................................................................
55
D istrib u tio n of A nsw ers to Q uestion I and 2 on
Geology Student Q uestio n n aire A ..........................................
VI.
57
D istrib u tio n of A nsw ers to Geology Student
Q u estio n n aire B
.........................................................
61
-v ii-
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
1.
PAGE
D iagram to Illu s tra te R elationships Among the
Fundam ental D isciplin es fro m the Standpoint
of G eneral E d u c a t i o n ......................................... ....
2.
.
.
17
P e r Cent D istrib u tio n fro m T e a c h e rs Who Take
F ie ld T r i p s ...................................................................................
3.
Changes in the N um ber of T e a c h e rs Teaching E a rth
Science and G eneral Science 1963 to 1970
4.
36
. . . .
52
Changes in the N um ber of Schools O ffering E a rth
Science and G eneral Science 1963 to 1970
. . . .
52
-Y iiiABSTRACT
E a rth sc ie n c e , as a d iscip lin e, is ideally su ited to play a key in te rd is ­
c ip lin a ry ro le in the study of env iro n m en tal p ro b le m s . It can provide an in te r ­
e stin g , m eaningful, re le v a n t, and continuous type of c u rric u lu m in which each
student m ay becom e actively involved. However the c o u rse in secondary school
e a rth scie n c e which has enjoyed a re s u rg e n c e of p o pularity in the p a st decade
see m s to be backsliding tow ard g e n e ra l scien ce once again. P a r t of the p ro b lem
m ay be a sh o rta g e of p ro p e rly tra in e d te a c h e rs . But, th is p ro b lem is a p e c u lia r
one. R ecent g ra d u a te s , well tra in e d in e a rth scie n c e, find it difficult to obtain
jobs b ecau se the school staffs a re filled with ten u red te a c h e rs tra in e d fo r gen­
e r a l scie n c e o r the biological scie n c es who a r e now teaching e a rth scien ce. It
a lso se e m s to be difficult to s e t up p ro g ra m s fo r re tra in in g th ese te a c h e rs .
T h ere is p re s e n tly , v e ry little m o tiv atin g fo rc e in the way of o rg an izatio n s,
s ta te o r natio n al, to g e t e a rth scie n c e m oving ahead once a g a in . The sy ste m s
of school financing, the M ontana m ill levy in p a rtic u la r, se e m to be o b so lescen t
fo rm s becau se th e re is an in su fficien t funding fo r the school d is tric ts each y e a r .
O ther p ro b lem s a re : the e x tre m ely sm all s iz e of many M ontana school d is tr ic ts ;
a c c re d ita tio n re q u ire m e n ts th a t may not be e n tire ly adequate; secondary and
college le v el te a c h e r p re p a ra to ry re q u ire m e n ts th a t may be u n re a listic .
To see k out the a n sw e rs to th e se p ro b lem s a b ro ad s e a rc h of re la te d
lite r a tu r e was m ade. A th re e page q u estio n n aire was se n t to all M ontana e a r th
scie n c e te a c h e rs . Two s m a lle r q u estio n n aires w ere d evised and d istrib u te d to
ph y sical geology students a t M ontana State U n iv ersity to g et the stu d en ts' point
of view. S ta tistic a l re p o rts re la te d to scie n c e teaching and is su e d by the M ontana
S uperintendent of Public In stru c tio n w ere a lso review ed. This d ata was exam ined
and analyzed, and conclusions w ere draw n th a t seem to v e rify the re c e n t findings
of o th e r w o rk e rs.
It was found th a t the tre n d to w ard e a rth scien ce in M ontana has indeed
slow ed down and m ay even be re tro g r e s s in g . A pparently th e re is no co n certed
p ro g ra m in M ontana to r e tr a in those p re s e n tly teaching out of th e ir fields in
e a rth scie n c e n o r is th e re any solution in sig h t th at is capable of solving the
financing p ro b le m s of M ontana school d is tr ic ts . T h ere se e m s to be no p u b licized
planning on the p a r t of s ta te o fficials to im p lem en t a p ro g ra m th a t will encourage
school d is tric ts to co nsolidate, to rev iew a c c re d ita tio n re q u ire m e n ts, o r to take
IeadersM p in im proving the appro ach es to the adult w orld th a t o u r ch ild ren now
stum ble through.
It is su g g ested th a t e a rth scien ce p ro fe ssio n a ls continue, and in c re a sin g ly
so , to propagandize w ith national scie n c e o rg an izatio n s o v e r the re la tiv e m e rits
of e a rth scien ce as a beginning high school scien ce c o u rse . Educational p e rs o n ­
nel a t all le v e ls should activ ely seek to d isco u rag e g en eral scie n c e as a c o u rse
and as a c e rtifia b le teaching m a jo r o r m in o r. The o b so lesc en t s ta te -lo c a l
m ethods of ra is in g funds should be re p la c e d by a fe d e ra l-s ta te financing sy ste m
w ith a m inim um of fe d e ra l co n tro l.
M ontana, a s ta te of v a s t te r r it o r ia l expanse and v e ry sm all school d is ­
tr i c ts , re q u ire s of som e te a c h e rs th a t they be know ledgeable in s e v e ra l fie ld s.
-ix:-.
T e a c h e rs with scie n c e m a jo rs th e re fo re should be exposed to p h y sics, chem ­
is tr y , biology, and e a rth sc ie n c e . A te a c h e r in a sm all c la s s III d is tric t would
be m o re v e rs a tile and students would benefit as well. If one te a c h e r w ere h ire d
by two o r m o re contiguous d is tric ts it could provide som e of the econom ic ben e­
fits of consolidation. P rin c ip a ls and su p erin ten d en ts should try to effect a p ro ­
g ra m of sh arin g equipm ent with neighboring school d is tric ts and should a lso
enco u rag e th e ir te a c h e rs to take field tr ip s .
CH APTER I
INTRODUCTION
The tre n d tow ard the teaching of e a rth scien ce in M ontana secondary
schools which was advancing noticeably in the e a rly 1960's now seem s to be
fa lte rin g .
The p u rp o se of th is p a p e r is to exam ine what has been happening
in M ontana in th is re g a rd .
H ow ever, b efo re delving deeply into the p ro b lem
som e background p e rta in in g to the re la tiv e m e rits of e a r th scie n c e a s opposed
to g e n e ra l scie n c e would be in o rd e r.
Looking back on the tw entieth c en tu ry , fu tu re h is to ria n s m ay well view
o u r tim e a s a p e rio d of tra n s itio n fille d w ith c r is is , u n re s t, and m a la ise .
P re s e n tly , th e re se e m s to be an in c re a s in g nu m b er of well in fo rm ed p e rso n s
who view the n e a r fu tu re with m o re than a vague ap p rehension.
H ow ever, it
is only fro m the vantage point of the fu tu re h is to ria n th a t one can be s u re of
the a n sw e rs.
The u n re s t th a t is so evident a ll about us see m s to a r is e fro m s e v e ra l
s o u rc e s .
By f a r the m o st overpow ering and p o tentially the m o st deadly is the
p ro b lem of m ushroom ing populations.
U nless step s can be taken very soon to
c o n tro l national and global b irth r a te s , a ll o th e r e ffo rts m ay be in vain. A n o th er
p ro b le m , second only becau se it d e riv e s fro m the f i r s t is th a t of pollution, and
again i t is of global s c a le .
And fin a lly , th e re is the p ro b le m of ra p id techno­
lo g ical change and the v e rita b le explosion of available in fo rm atio n with its p e r ­
plexing sto ra g e and r e tr ie v a l pro b lem (E h rlich , 1968; L a m so n , 1969; P itk in ,
1968).
-2 -
These p ro b lem s pose g re a t urgency fo r those who expect to be living
tw enty y e a rs fro m now.
A ttitudes of people as p riv a te individuals o r as p a rt
of the c o rp o ra te pow er s tru c tu re m ay have to undergo c o n sid erab le rev isio n .
Like it o r not, th e se p ro b lem s a re w ith us and they w ill not go away.
If edu­
c a to rs w ere to fo rm th e ir educational philosophy fro m an in tern atio n al fra m e of
re fe re n c e , p e rh a p s m o re v isio n a ry solutions to the p ro b lem s of o u r day would
be forthcom ing (B ram eld, 1965, p. 103, 116-119).
It was w ith th is global fra m e of re fe re n c e in m ind th a t an inquiry into
how e a rth scie n c e was being taught in M ontana secondary schools began.
E a rth
sc ie n c e , a s a d iscip lin e, m ay be a key educational fa c to r in m a n 's in itial e ffo rts
to c o n tro l pollution of his environm ent.
B ecause e a rth scie n c e is a study of the
lith o sp h e re , h y d ro sp h ere, and a tm o sp h ere , it is id eally su ited to a co n sid eratio n
of the u rg e n t p ro b lem s of o u r tim e.
A fir m g ra s p of key concepts such as the
ro c k c y cle , hydrologic c y cle , atm o sp h eric c ircu latio n , c ru s ta l d istu rb a n ce s,
and the con stan t tendency tow ard a flatten in g of the lan d scap e by ero sio n al
p ro c e s s e s can provide the young people of M ontana (and hopefully those e ls e ­
w here) with the e x ce lle n t tools and common p u rp o se th a t a re so vitally needed
fo r the job th a t is a t hand.
E d u c a to rs and the lay public have re c e n tly shown an in c re a s e d in te re s t
in e a rth scien ce a s a beginning scien ce c o u rse in seco n d ary education (Shrum
and Thom pson, 1966, ESCP N L-10, p. I).
E nvironm ental p ro b lem s may be
p a rtly re sp o n sib le but d issa tisfa c tio n w ith g e n eral scien ce is a lso a stro n g
fa c to r.
This is p a rtly becau se m uch of the g e n eral scien ce su b jec t m a tte r is
-3 -
being tre a te d in e a r lie r c o u rs e s and p a rtly b ecau se g en eral scien ce c o u rse s
su ffe r fro m a lack of continuity (B isque, 1966, p. I; P a u li, e t a l. , 1969, p. 50).
Since 1961, when the "Study Guide in Science fo r G rad es 7 -9 " was issu e d
by the State S uperintendent of P ublic In stru c tio n fo r M ontana, th e re has been a
lim ite d tre n d , as in su rro u n d in g s ta te s , to p lace the study of biology in g rad e
sev en , ph y sical scie n c e in g ra d e eight, and e a rth scien ce in g rad e nine.
This
tre n d in c o n siste n t with the c u rre n t educational tre n d away fro m teaching of
fa c ts (Taba, 1962, p. 211-215) which quickly becom e o b so lete, and tow ard an
in c re a s e d em p h asis on d isco v ery in the la b o ra to ry (B isque, 1966, p. I; Ladd,
1968, p. 64).
A ccording to B isque (1966, p. I) g e n e ra l scien ce c o u rs e s tend to teach
fa c ts r a th e r than concepts; they su ffe r fro m a lack of continuity; and the sub­
je c t m a tte r does not re la te to the r e a l w orld.
He sta te s :
The s tre n g th of e a r th scien ce as a d iscip lin e is in its p re sen ta tio n
of id eas in the context of ex p erien c e o r p ro b lem s th a t re la te to a
unifying them e. This th em e, a study of m a n 's env iro n m en t is the
re a lm of e a r th scie n c e (ibid, p. 2).
E a rth scie n c e then, p ro p e rly taught, fu rn ish es the fram ew o rk fo r a
c o u rse of study th a t p ro v id e s stud en ts with in telle ctu al concepts and p rin c ip le s
r a th e r than fa c ts.
It te ac h e s them to think (Taba, 1962, p. 215-220).
It a ffo rd s
them an overview of the p ro b lem s they w ill face in th e ir ad u lt w orld re g a rd le s s
of th e ir college in ten tio n s.
global p ro b le m s is exciting.
The p o ssib ility of an in te rd is c ip lin a ry approach to
Such an ap p ro ach which em p h asizes kinship r a th e r
than d ifferen c es betw een the d iscip lin es is v ita l.
But s c ie n tis ts and ed u cato rs
m u st le a rn to com m unicate with one a n o th e r and to work to g e th e r, fo r e a rth
-4 -
s c ie n tis ts cannot do the job alone.
It re q u ire s the in teg ratio n of e ffo rt by biol­
o g ists , ph y sical s c ie n tis ts , so cial s c ie n tis ts , p o litical s c ie n tis ts , e co n o m ists,
m a th e m aticia n s, and above a ll, s p e c ia lis ts in the a r t of com m unication (Hayakawa,
1964; Lucio and M cN eil, 1969, p. 196).
So f a r ex p erien ce has proven it m o st
difficult to find s c ie n tis ts with the scope and inclination n e c e s s a ry to work with
ed u ca to rs in developing a unified ap p ro ach which a d h e re s to a c o h eren t them e
(B isque, 1966, p. 2; C a rte r, 1967, p„ 2).
E a rth scien ce and o th e r d iscip lin es
need to be in te g ra te d in o rd e r to p re s e n t a m eaningful, re le v a n t, and continuous
educational p ro g ra m to young people.
It is ju s t p o ssib le than an in te g ra te d approach using le arn in g situ atio n s
th a t p e rta in to the re a l w orld, along w ith a continuing com m unications p ro g ra m
th a t plays up advantages and ben efits of a good education, m ight provide the
in te r e s t and m otivation th a t p re se n tly se e m s to lacking.
And i t is this v ery la c k
of m otivation and in te r e s t th a t see m s to be a t the ro o t of m any of o u r d iscip lin e
p ro b le m s (H oover, 1964, p. 464; R o g ers, 1959, p. 157-158; M o u stak as, 1956,
Ch. I).
STATEM ENT OF THE PROBLEM
D uring the p a s t decade e a rth scie n c e as an in tro d u cto ry high school
scie n c e c o u rse has tended to re p la ce the fo rm e r g en eral sc ie n c e cu rric u lu m .
The la tte r
a p p ea rs to be receiv in g d e c re a sin g su p p o rt in enlightened education
c irc le s (H enderson, 1969, p. 8 ; Staff R ep o rt, 1963, ESCP N L -1, p. I ; M e rrill
and S h ru m , 1966, p. 24).
H ow ever, the p a s t few y e a rs has seen a slowing
down, p e rh a p s even a re g re s s io n , of the tre n d tow ard e a rth scie n c e.
The
-5 -
p rim a ry purp o se of this p a p e r then is to exam ine what has been happening in
M ontana.
T h ere was no data availab le which would indicate what the tre n d has
been o r what the sta tu s of second ary school e a rth scien ce in M ontana was in
1969.
'
P a r t of the p ro b lem in M ontana is a s h o rt supply of tra in e d e a rth scien ce
te a c h e rs ,
But then, what does one do w ith the o v e r-su p p ly of ten u red g en eral
scie n c e te a c h e rs ? Shrum and Thom pson (1966) and M e rrill and Shrum (1966)
had d isc u sse d the p ro b lem ; they su g g est, am ong o th e r th in g s, a re tra in in g of
those not p re s e n tly qualified acco rd in g to leg al sta n d a rd s.
Howard K. R eith
(1969 d o cto ral th e s is , U n iv ersity of N o rth Dakota) re p o rts : "O v er o n e -th ird of
the s ta te s have no te a c h e r c ertific a tio n p o lic ie s in e a rth scien ce.
The su b jec t
is being taught, fo r the p rim a ry [sic] p a rt, by unqualified te a c h e rs . " The dif­
fic u ltie s en co u n tered while try in g to im p lem en t re tra in in g in M ontana will be
d isc u sse d in C hapter III.
One stagnating, econom ic fa c to r m ay be the m ill levy sy ste m which is
u sed to r a is e additional school funds in M ontana; an o th er is the ex trem ely sm a ll
s iz e of m any th ird c la s s school d is tric ts .
A c cred itatio n re q u ire m e n ts fo r the seco n d ary schools m ay not be ade­
quate (B lo sse r and Howe, 1969, p. 90).
T e a ch e rs in M ontana p re se n tly can
and do te ac h out of th e ir m a jo r o r m in o r field s without fe a r of a crackdow n
fro m a c c re d ita tio n a u th o ritie s.
On the national le v el th e re s e e m s to be no scien ce o rg an izatio n with the'
cap ab ility , m otivation, and in itia tiv e to launch a cam paign in behalf of e a rth
-6 -
scie n c e.
A nother fa c to r m ay be the m an n er in which c o u rse o fferin g s a re made
to te a c h e r candidates in o u r in stitu tio n s of h ig h e r le arn in g .
It would seem to
th is in v e stig a to r, th a t to d a y 's students face a scheduling c r is is ; they cannot
schedule enough in depth su b jec t m a tte r m a te ria l in a fo u r y e a r c u rric u lu m .
Many young people a r r iv e a t college a s p ro sp e ctiv e te a c h e rs and a re
not a t all s u re in which field they w ish to m a jo r (H olm es,. 1969, p. 142).
They
seem ed to have gained v e ry little knowledge of teaching c a r e e r opportunities
fro m th e ir high school ex p erien c e .
A fte r attending a h ig h er le v el in stitu tio n
fo r s e v e ra l y e a rs th e ir a w a re n e ss im p ro v es and th is in tu rn c au se s many of
them to sw itch m a jo rs .
F in ally , but not the le a s t im p o rta n t is the p ro b lem of lack of in te re s t
and m otivation on the p a r t of many stu d en ts in o u r seco n d ary sch o o ls.
Suspect
is o u r continuing fa ilu re to provide an in te re stin g , re le v a n t, and continuous
type of c u rric u lu m in which each stu d en t m ay becom e involved. .
METHODS AND PROCEDURE
The m o st p ra c tic a l way to s e c u re d ata fo r the p ro je c te d study of e a rth
scien ce teaching in M ontana was d e term in e d to be by q u estio n n aire.
The q u es­
tio n n a ire was dev ised to re se m b le a p rev io u s q u estio n n aire s e n t out by M cM annis
and Shenkle (1965).
It was the expectation th a t the re tu rn e d data could be com ­
p a re d and c o n tra ste d to the e a r lie r d ata.
The q u estio n n aire c o n siste d of th ir ty -
one questions and was th re e pages long (see the Appendix).
N am es and a d d re s s e s
of e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs w ere com piled fro m the " L is t of M ontana Science
-7 -
T e a ch e rs 1968-69" taken fro m the "F a ll R e p o rts" by C lark F o w ler in the office
of the State Superintendent of P ublic In stru ctio n .
F ro m th is lis t, one hundred
nineteen p o ssib ilitie s w ere se le c te d . A c o v er le tte r was included with each
in stru m e n t.
In so m e in s ta n c e s , w here it was not c le a rly evident th at e a rth
scie n c e was being taught as such, an additional le tte r was a d d re ss e d to the
scien ce d ep artm en t head re q u e stin g th a t the q u estio n n aire be fo rw arded to the
applicable te a c h e r.
S eventy-four q u estio n n aires w ere re tu rn e d which was 62 p e r cent of the
total d istrib u te d .
th is tim e.
Of th e se , six sa id they w ere not teaching e a rth scien ce a t
P le a se note th a t h e re a fte r in th is re p o rt, re fe re n c e to s ta tis tic a l
data w ill be b a se d on the six ty -e ig h t q u e stio n n aires fro m c u rre n tly active
te a c h e rs .
The questions w ere devised and o rg an ized so th a t, in a g en eral se n se ,
c e rta in groupings of data would show p a tte rn s such as the type of teaching
conditions encountered, teaching m ethods, educational background, the type of
teaching aids used , and budgetary tre n d s .
a n sw e rs and som e fo r com m ents.
Some questions called fo r m ultiple
To avoid confusion and to a s s u r e accu racy
during the p ro c e ss in g , the following sy ste m was used.
The q u estio n n aires
w ere s e ria liz e d fro m one to sev e n ty -fo u r and then divided by school d is tric ts
into c la s s I, c la s s II, and c la s s III c a te g o rie s .
In M ontana, a com m unity of
8,000 p e rso n s o r o v e r is ra te d c la s s I; a c la s s II d is tric t h as m o re than 1,000
but le s s than 8,000 p e rs o n s; a c la ss III d is tr ic t is com posed of le s s than 1,000
p e rso n s (M ontana Code, T itle 75, Section 1802, p. 155).
M ontana school
~*8*~
d is tr ic ts a r e officially s e t up on an 8-4 o r 6 -3 -3 sy ste m .
An 8-4 sy stem
sim ply m eans an elem en ta ry school fro m g ra d e one to eight and a high school
fro m g rad e nine to tw elve.
In a 6 -3 -3 s y ste m the g rad e ran g e is as follow s:
e le m e n ta ry , one to six; the ju n io r high, seven to nine; the s e n io r high, ten to
tw elve (M ontana Code, T itle 75, sectio n s 4138, 4201, pp. 318, 324).
M ontana
p ro v id es an incentive fo r the 6 -3 -3 sy ste m b ecau se it will re im b u rs e fo r ju n io r
high school students a t the h ig h e r s e n io r high student r a te .
As of th is date
th e re a re eighteen d is tr ic ts with tw enty-five o p eratin g ju n io r high schools and
153 d is tric ts op eratin g both a 1-8 e le m e n ta ry school and a 9-12 high school
(M ontana E ducation D ire c to ry , 1969).
One would expect the fig u re s to be r e ­
v e rs e d c o n sid erin g the in cen tiv e, but one d e te rre n t ap p aren tly is the c o st of
new school buildings; a n o th e r is the sm all s iz e of many school d is tric ts . A
c la s s III school d is tr ic t, in o rd e r to m eet m inim um re q u ire m e n ts fo r ex isten ce
m u st have a taxable valuation of $75,000 and no le s s than fifteen students
(M ontana Code, T itle 75, Section 1805, p. 157). A school d is tr ic t, in o rd e r to
qualify fo r the h ig h e r ra te of re im b u rs e m e n t m u st have a m inim um of 150 ju n io r
high stu d en ts, th re e s e p a ra te buildings, and th re e a d m in is tra to rs (Montana Code,
T itle 75, Section 1802, p. 155).
D ata fro m the in stru m e n ts in each school d is ­
t r i c t w ere then ta llie d fo r a total of th re e ta llie s .
To p re s e rv e th e ir value
many u n c lassifia b le com m ents w ere draw n off in th e ir e n tire ty so th at all those
p e rta in in g to a p a rtic u la r question in a p a rtic u la r school d is tr ic t could be found
on a sin g le sh e e t of p a p e r.
E ach sh ee t was identified by c la s s of the school
d is tr ic t, question n u m b er, and question.
E ach com m ent was identified by the
-9 -
s e r ia l n u m b er of the in stru m e n t.
The ta llie s of all th re e d is tric ts w ere then
to taled to g e t o v e ra ll fig u re s fo r each question..
In addition to the d etailed te a c h e r q u estio n n aire, two s h o rte r qu estio n ­
n a ire s w ere dev ised fo r the studen ts taking P h y sical Geology 101 a t M ontana
State U n iv ersity .
of 1968-1969.
The f i r s t one was d istrib u te d through th re e academ ic q u a rte rs
It c o n siste d of fifteen q u estio n s and was re la te d to th e ir seco n d ary
school e a rth scie n c e e x p erien c e , if any.
The second q u estio n n aire was m uch
s h o rte r and was d istrib u te d only to sp rin g q u a rte r 1970 P h y sic al Geology 101
stu d en ts.
Its sp ec ific a im was to d e term in e how many stu d en ts had had an
E a rth Science C u rricu lu m P r o je c t (ESCP) c o u rse in seco n d ary school and if so
what s ta tis tic a l c o rre la tio n s could be d eterm in ed fro m the d ata.
A nalysis of
the data is co v ered in C hapter III and copies of the q u estio n n aires may be found
in the Appendix.
The " L is t of M ontana Science T e a c h e rs 1969-1970" was used to m ake
s till an o th er s ta tis tic a l a n a ly sis p e rta in in g to the tre n d to w ard e a rth scien ce
and away fro m g e n e ra l sc ie n c e .
T eaching com binations, th a t is , o th e r scie n c e
c o u rse s taught by the sam e te a c h e r w ere a lso in v estig ated .
D iscussion p e r ­
taining to the la s t two a n aly se s a re a lso found in C hapter III.
W here ap p licab le, s ta tis tic a l m e an s, m edians and m odes w ere d e te r­
m ined.
They m ay be found in C hapter III, A nalysis of D ata, and in applicable
ta b le s and c h a rts .
LIMITATIONS
:
T his su rv ey was lim ite d to ju n io r and se n io r high sc h o o ls , both public
-1 0 -
and p riv a te in the s ta te of M ontana.
E lem e n ta ry schools w ere not involved
since the nam es of e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs w ere taken fro m the science te a c h e r
li s t which re c o rd s data only fro m ju n io r and se n io r high schools in the sta te .
D istrib u tio n of the questio n n aire was not c o n sid ered id eal becau se of
the p o ssib ility th a t e a rth scien ce units w ere being o ffered u n d er the guise of
g en eral sc ie n c e , s e n io r scie n c e, o r som e o th e r m islead in g title .
In som e
in sta n ce s a school d is tr ic t m ay have been in the p ro c e ss of a ch an g e-o v er fro m
a seventh g ra d e to a ninth g rad e offering.
during the tra n s itio n p e rio d .
This survey may have caught them
Some d is tr ic ts had begun teaching e a rth scien ce
and then stopped fo r no a p p aren t re a so n .
Six of the sev e n ty -fo u r q u estio n n aires
re tu rn e d fit th is la s t situation.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
E a rth Science C u rricu lu m P ro je c t (ESCP).
S ponsored by the A m erican
G eological In stitu te (AGI) and su p p o rted by the N ational Science Foundation
(NSF). F aced with a rap id ly grow ing e a rth scien ce c u rric u lu m which began in
New Y ork S tate, the AGI fe lt th at u p -to -d a te re s o u rc e m a te ria ls had to be
developed fo r te a c h e rs of second ary school e a r th scien ce c o u rs e s .
The AGI
a lso hoped to im prove e a rth scien ce te a c h e r tra in in g , and u ltim ately , to fu rth e r
the im provem ent of scie n c e education in g e n e ra l.
The ESCP p ro g ra m evolved
fro m th is in itia l e ffo rt (ESCP, 1963, N L - I).
In te rd isc ip lin a ry approach.
people.
This te rm m eans d iffe re n t things to d ifferen t
The in v e stig a to r u ses th is te rm with m eaning in the b ro a d e st se n se .
It
m eans th a t concepts in a learn in g sequence a r e approached so as to encom pass
-li­
the in te rre la tio n s h ip s , points of view , and attitu d es re fle c te d by a ll the m a jo r
d iscip lin es including the h u m an ities.
F o r an ex am p le, tu rn to the Review of the
L ite ra tu re (p. 26 ) w here a g eo lo g ist’s view is given.
ESCP com m ittee m e m b e rs
u se the te rm usually a s it applies to d iscip lin es closely re la te d to e a rth sc ie n c e ,
e .g . g e o ch e m istry , g eo physics, sp ace p h y sics. At tim e s re fe re n c e is m ade to
a conceptual fram e w o rk which includes and tie s to g eth er all a re a s of science."
H ere the re fe re n c e is to biology, c h e m istry , m ath e m atics, p h y sics, astro n o m y ,
geology, geography, oceanography, and m eteorology which m u st be d ealt with
when d isc u ssin g the m a te ria ls and p ro c e s s e s which shape o u r environm ent
(B isque, 1966, p. I).
M odular scheduling. A type of flexible scheduling.
Tim e m odules of
five to th irty m inutes a r e com bined in v a rio u s plans fo r each su b ject to s u it the
needs of d ifferen t le a rn in g a c tiv itie s and d ifferen t grouping configurations.
It
is p a rtic u la rly w ell su ite d to te am teaching situ a tio n s.
T e a c h e r function. A sp ecified way in which he p e rfo rm s o r c a r r ie s out
a ro le .
le a r n e r .
In so doing c e rta in inform atio n o r ex p erien ce is tra n s m itte d to the
The le a r n e r is a ssu m e d to a cq u ire im m ediate m eaning which he
tra n s la te s into action f o r his le a rn in g a c tiv itie s.
C H A P T E R II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
T h ere is a w ealth of lite r a tu r e th a t re la te s to the developm ent of s c i­
ence c u rric u la , environm ental p ro b le m s, and in te rd isc ip lin a ry philosophy th a t
is p e rtin e n t to th is in vestigation .
H ow ever, tim e and sp ace will p e rm it only
b rie f s u m m a rie s of the m o st im p o rtan t a rtic le s .
LITERATURE RELATED TO MONTANA
^
L ite ra tu re re la te d to the teaching of e a rth scien ce in M ontana is
re la tiv e ly s p a r s e .
\
A s e a rc h tu rn ed up the following:
"The Study Guide in Science, G rades 7 to 9, 1961", is su e d by the
State S uperintendent of P u b lic In stru c tio n , H elena, M ontana.
R esu lts of a q u estio n n aire d istrib u te d by M cM annis and Shenlde, about
D ecem b er 1964.
" L is t of M ontana Science T e a c h e rs " , 1963-64; 1966-67; 1967-68; 196869; 1969-70. T hese lis ts w ere taken fro m the " F a ll R ep o rts" p r e ­
p a re d by C lark F o w ler, Science S u p erv iso r in the office of the State
Superintendent of P ublic In stru c tio n .
T hese re p o rts a re review ed in d etail in C hapter III, A nalysis of D ata.
An a r tic le by Rex C. Haight (approxim ately 1940) d isc u sse d the p ro b lem s
th a t a ro s e while try in g to educate the r u r a l youth of the G ra ss Range school d is ­
tr ic t.
T his d is tr ic t co v ered an a re a e stim a te d by Haight to be about fifteen tim e s
the a r e a of the D is tric t of Colum bia. A t th a t tim e the only p ra c tic a l solution
seem ed to be the use of c o rresp o n d en ce c o u rs e s . A ccording to Haight the p ro ­
g ra m m e t with c o n sid e ra b le su c c e ss .
This a rtic le p roved of in te re s t p rim a rily
becau se i t gives som e h is to ric a l in sig h t into the problem of educating the young
people of M ontana.
It a lso gives the r e a d e r an ap p reciatio n of the v a st expanse
-1 3 -
of re a l e s ta te th a t is M ontana.
THESES RELATED TO A STUDY OF EARTH SCIENCE CURRICULA
R eith (1969) m ade a study of e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs and p ra c tic e s in
N orth D akota and cam e up with som e in te re stin g o rig in al r e s e a r c h data.
The
situ atio n in N orth D akota is som ew hat analogous to th a t in M ontana, but, in
N orth D akota the e le m e n ta ry schools include g ra d e s one to eight.
Since eighth
g rad e e a r th scien ce is m andatory th is m eans th at a ll e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs
have to be c e rtifie d as e lem en ta ry te a c h e rs .
R eith 's p u rp o se was to define the
w eaknesses of national and s ta te c u rric u la and to m ake reco m m en d atio n s on
the b a sis of the findings.
The re s u lts of his investigationshow ed th at e a rth
scie n c e p ro c e d u re s on a national and s ta te lev el w ere weak.
O ver o n e -th ird
of the s ta te s had no c e rtific a tio n p o licies in e a rth scien ce and c o u rse s w ere
being taught, fo r the m o st p a rt, by unqualified te a c h e rs .
A ccording to R eith , the la ck of well tra in e d e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs is
fo rcin g a tre n d back to g e n e ra l scie n c e, if not in name,, in c o u rse content.
T h ere
see m s to be no p r e s s u r e fo r qualified te a c h e rs so th a t u ltim ately th e re m ay be
no need fo r e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs a t a ll.
The situation in N orth Dakota was
g ro s s ly inadequate but i t see m s to be im proving since R eith w rote his th e sis.
The M inot State College has in stitu te d a C ooperative College School Science
P r o je c t to coordinate the ESCP p ro g ra m w ith the public schools in the a re a
(DeWayne M artin , 1970, p e rso n al com m unication).
R eith reco m m en d s th a t to
im prove the N orth D akota e a rth scie n c e p ro g ra m , the following be done:
stre n g th en te a c h e r c ertific a tio n re q u ire m e n ts; the s ta te b o ard should enfo rce
-1 4 -
e x istin g re q u ire m e n ts ; in te g ra te e a rth scie n c e c o u rse s u n d er the re sp o n sib ility
of a single te a c h e r; prom ote r e a lis tic m a jo rs a t the college le v e l; all scien ce
teaching m a jo rs should m in o r in e a rth scie n c e.
U npublished m a s te r ’s th e se s by G raham (1968) and M errim a n (1965)
g e n e ra lly su p p o rt the findings of R eith (1969), th is in v e stig a to r, and o th er
w o rk e rs in the p ro fe ssio n .
Of p a rtic u la r in te re s t was the finding by G raham
th a t the W est V irg in ia te a c h e rs su rv e y ed had a lm o st as m any c re d it hours in
biology a s those e a rn e d in a ll the o th e r scien ce fields com bined.
Science and
m a th em atics e a rn e d to taled 5,146 o r an a v erag e of tw en ty -eig h t c re d its p e r
resp o n d en t.
Biology c re d its re p o rte d to ta le d 4, 663 o r an a v erag e of tw enty-
six and one half c re d its p e r respo n d en t.
T h ere w ere o th e r c o u rs e s re c o rd e d ,
b acterio lo g y fo r e x am p le , th a t could be c o n sid e re d re la te d to biology. A ddition
of th e se c o u rs e s to the to ta l would in d icate a stro n g background in the biological
sc ie n c e s fo r the re sp o n d en ts.
G raham sta te d th a t the la r g e s t nu m b er of W est
V irginia ju n io r high scie n c e te a c h e rs a re qualified to te ac h biology but v ery few
w ere w ell tra in e d in any of the sc ie n c e s needed to te ac h e a rth scie n c e.
is no le g al c e rtific a tio n in e a rth sc ie n c e , only in g e n eral scie n c e.
recom m ended th a t e a rth scie n c e be taught as a se p a ra te c o u rs e .
T h ere
She too
These m a s ­
t e r ’s th e se s in d icate a com m on p ro b le m , lack of tra in in g and prom otional p ro ­
g ra m s , w ith no easy solution in sight.
ESC P RELATED LITERATURE
The ESCP N e w sle tte rs provide the h isto ry and m o st re c e n t data on the
evolution of the te x t "Investigating the E a rth " (1968, B oston, Houghton M ifflin .
-1 5 -
Company).
B isque (1966, p. I) w rote about the su p e rio rity of an in te rd isc ip lin ­
a ry e a rth scie n c e c o u rse o v e r g en eral scie n c e as a re le v a n t, continuous, and
m eaningful study of o u r ph y sical env iro n m en t.
In a sta ff re p o rt, Shrum and
Thom pson (1966, NL-10) d isc u sse d the p ro b lem s involved in tra in in g e a rth
scie n c e te a c h e rs and the fu tu re p ro sp e c ts fo r those thus tra in e d .
H elburn
(1967, NL-13) re p o rte d on the p ro g re s s of the High School G eography P ro je c t
(HSGP). He sta te d th a t th is p ro je c t does not o v erlap ESCP, r a th e r , both a re
com plem entary.
C o u rse'.
"H SG P's c u rre n t e ffo rt is focused on a 'S ettlem en t Theme
This c o u rse is divided into eleven units and re p re s e n ts a sy ste m a tic .
coverage of geography through the unifying them e of m an’s s e ttle m e n t-o roccupancy-of the e a rth . " C a rte r (1967, p. 2) gave a b rie f re p o rt on the sta tu s
of the B iological Sciences C u rricu lu m Study (BSCS).
He re m a rk e d about the
noticeable in te rd is c ip lin a ry re la tio n sh ip s the ESCP has with BSCS, "Although
to my knowledge th e re has n ev er been a conscious e ffo rt by those p re p a rin g
the ES CP m a te ria ls to in te g ra te th e ir m a te ria ls into the BSCS p ro g ram .
N or
was th e re any conscious e ffo rt on th e p a r t of those p re p a rin g th e BSCS m a te ria ls
to in te g ra te th e ir m a te ria ls into the ESCP p r o g r a m ." E ighteen months la te r ,
Jo sep h L . W eitz, ESCP D ire c to r, published an a rtic le in the May 1969 ESCP
N e w sle tte r.
In it he c alled fo r a tru e in te rd isc ip lin a ry ap p ro ach in the handling
of environm ental fa c to rs and effects in the seco n d ary sch o o ls.
Biology was one
of the d iscip lin es m entioned sp ecifically bu t th e re w ere no sug g estio n s as to how
such a p ro g ra m m ight be im plem ented.
As one scan s the lite r a tu r e s c a tte re d
re fe re n c e s m ay be found th a t link the N ational Science Foundation to in te rd is -
-1 6 c ip lin a ry in v estig atio n s involving the n a tu ra l scien ces and m a th e m atics.
A ll of
the afo rem en tio n ed a re signs th a t m ovem ent is in the rig h t d ire c tio n , but it is
th is in v e s tig a to r's im p re s sio n th a t p ro g re s s is m uch too slow.
LITERATURE RELATED T O A TRUE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
H olm es (1969), e x p re ss e d the need fo r a lib e ra l education in the m id st
of an e r a of sp ec ia liz atio n .
A lthough any d iscip lin e m ay s e r v e , a s a geologist
he thinks of geology a s being the id eal c e n tra l c o re of "a sy n th esizin g educa­
tio n al fram e w o rk w herein any given sp ec ia lity can be v isu a liz e d in te rm s of its
re la tio n sh ip to the whole field of know ledge" (H olm es, 1969, p. 142). A m a jo r
advantage is th a t the high school and ju n io r college students can be shown the
ben efits and advantages of such a b ro ad overview b efo re they m u st m ake any
final c a r e e r d e cisio n s.
He say s th a t e v ery s p e c ia lis t needs to see his field of
in te re s t in the context of th is w id er view of o u r c u ltu re .
As a counterbalance
to th is n e c e s sa ry p ro fe ssio n a l sp e c ia liz a tio n , a sym pathetic a w are n e ss of the
m ain a re a s of hum an thought and en d eav o r should be encouraged.
The ground­
w ork fo r all th is should be la id e a rly and constantly re in fo rc e d throughout the
school y e a r s .
F ig u re I is a rep ro d u ctio n of the d iag ram devised by H olm es.
His in ten t was to c o m p re ss the field of know ledge into the s m a lle s t feasib le
n u m b er of m a jo r d iscip lin es su rro u n d in g geology.
Holm es fe lt the m ost
effective geology te a c h e r is the one who can le a d students to see th e ir
exciting m a jo r field a s being v itally involved in all the o th e r fie ld s.
-1 7 -
'-PHILOSO- •
»
I
■ G1 ‘
'•
:
f
1 Cf) «
BIOLOGY-;• - ;
■’
E
F ig u re I .
5
M
O
/
D iagram to illu s tra te re la tio n sh ip s among the fundam ental
d iscip lin es fro m the standpoint of g en eral education.
B ram eld is a philo so p h er and ed u ca to r.
look.
;
He is in te rn a tio n a l in his out­
He su b sc rib e s to the following: (B ram eld , 1965, p. 103)
We s e e o u r fundam ental goal a s w orld civ ilizatio n and an educational
sy ste m which in all ways su p p o rt hum an dignity fo r all r a c e s , c a s te s ,
and c la s s e s ; s e lf-re a liz a tio n ; and the fu lle st vocational, civ ic, and
so cial cooperation and s e rv ic e . In achieving this fundam ental goal,
th e re m ust be understanding of and com m ittm ent to the p roposition
th at education is a p rim a ry in stru m e n t of social change and social
w elfare.
-1 8 -
B ra m eld re f e r s to a study m ade by the C arnegie C orporation.
The findings
w ere th a t the A m erican stu d en t's understanding of in tern atio n al a ffa irs is
m o re p ro v in cial than in any com p arab le country; that g rad u atin g se n io rs have
little m o re knowledge about foreign a ffa irs than they had as fresh m en ; is o la tio n ist
attitu d e s a re chronic a t all college le v e ls.
re v isio n is long overdue.
He u rg es th a t w orld civ ilizatio n s e rv e a s the c e n tra l
concept of c u rric u lu m in te g ra tio n .
p ro c e s s of education.
B ram eld su g g ests th a t c u rric u lu m
We should re c o n s tru c t th e e n tire p u rp o se and
B ra m eld say s (1965, p. 118) "m an liv e s in a p erio d
frau g h t w ith the g re a te s t p e ril he has e v e r enco u n tered ".
A t th e sam e tim e his
p e rio d of ex isten c e is one of such aw esom e disco v ery and scie n tific advance th a t
he has the capability of producing a way of life fa r m o re c re a tiv e and abundant
than w as e v e r b efo re d ream ed p o ssib le .
In such a p e rio d m uch of the in h e rite d
s tru c tu re and function of education becom e outmoded.
E ducation, m ore than
any o th e r c u ltu ra l in stitu tio n "has the re sp o n sib ility and opportunity to b rin g to
all c h ild ren and adults of all c o u n trie s the full im p o rt of the fe a rfu l and p ro m isin g
age in which we liv e " (B ram eld, 1965, p. 119).
Lucio and M cNeil (1969, pp. 316-319) d isc u sse d the o rg an izatio n al
fram ew o rk needed fo r c u rric u lu m developm ent.
T h e ir reaso n in g provides
understanding in depth re la tiv e to a tru e in te rd isc ip lin a ry approach.
They say
th a t any plan fo r in stru c tio n a l org an izatio n m u st c o n sid e r the p ro b lem s of
sequence and in teg ratio n .
Sequence is defined a s "the p ro v isio n fo r a cum ula­
tive developm ent of an im p o rtan t s k ill, concept, o r value" (Lucio and M cNeil,
1969, p. 316).
In teg ratio n is defined as being " p rim a rily one of overcom ing
-1 9 -
the c h arg e th a t schools tend to c o m p artm en talize knowledge into su b jects so
th a t the le a r n e r cannot see the in te rre la tio n of his le arn in g s o r use them in
new situ atio n s (tra n s fe r)" (Lucio and M cN eil, 1969, p. 317).
Integration then,
com bines su b jects into b ro ad fie ld s, e sta b lis h e s p ro b lem -so lv in g c o u rse s, and
develops in stru c tio n a l units which c e n te r upon the logic of a ta sk r a th e r than the
logic of a su b ject.
E ach of th e se p ra c tic e s , say the a u th o rs, is a sh ift fro m -
faithful e lab o ratio n s of a d isciplin e to one w here s u b je c t-m a tte r lin e s a re broken
down.
The o rd e r of placem en t of co n tacts o r ex p erien ces-h as in the p a st u su ­
ally been by re la tiv e d eg ree of difficulty of content.
the p rin c ip le of dependency a s an a lte rn a tiv e .
Lucio and McNeil su g g est
F o r exam ple, to u nderstand
life scie n c e depends on a p r io r u n derstanding of the n a tu re of c h em istry .
T h e re ­
fo re , schools should f i r s t o ffer p h y sics, then c h e m istry , and finally, life
■
scie n c e.
T h e re is a conflict o v e r o rg an izatio n with a p rim a ry breakdown
betw een fu n ctio n alists and d is c ip lin a ria n s .
D iscip lin arian s tend tow ard
sp ec ia liz atio n becau se they value the d ifferen tiatio n found in a p a rtic u la r know­
ledge a s im p o rtan t in its e lf w hereas fu n ctio n alists arg u e th a t th a t the schools
o rganize fo r in te g ra tio n so th a t le a r n e r s a re able to solve m o ra l and p ra c tic a l
p ro b lem s of a p e rso n a l and so cial n a tu re .
The authors feel th e re a re advantages
to both p o sitions and p ro p o se a stan d in the m iddle ground.
They state: (Lucio
and M cN eil, 1968, p. 320)
we recom m end the teaching of d iscip lin es drawn fro m the hum anities,
physical and life sc ie n c e , m a th e m a tic s , and the so cial s c ie n c e s .. .
N ew er c u rric u lu m plans in re sp o n se to so cial p ro b lem s will call fo r
p re s e le c tio n by s c h o la rs of the re s o u rc e s (for exam ple, p rin c ip le s,
c o n c e p ts, in te rp re ta tio n s) fro m the d iscip lin es which p ro m ise to be
re le v a n t to the p ro b le m s a t hand.
—20™*
H olm es and B ra m eld provide c o n sid erab le in sig h t into the need fo r a
tru e in te rd is c ip lin a ry ap p ro ach to education.
Holmes is o rie n te d m ore to­
w ard helping the c a r e e r choice of the high school o r college student in this
country w h ereas B ra m eld is concerned with the long range and w orld-w ide
a sp e c ts of education.
Lucio and M cN eil, on the o th e r hand, provide in unbiased
su m m ary fo rm , the opposing view s of both sid es in the is s u e , the d isc ip lin a ria n s
and the fu n c tio n a lists.
LITERATURE RELATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
P itkin (1968), a w rite r and le c tu r e r , has a sp ecial in te r e s t in dem ography.
His m ain them e is th a t the w orld population grow th m u st be brought under co n tro l.
He s a y s , " it is am azing th a t so m uch has been le ft to chance.
In no o th e r a r e a
a re p la n n e rs and in te lle c tu a ls m o re open to the c ritic is m th a t they a re m e re
d re a m e rs " (P itkin, 1969, p. 474).
He fe e ls th a t although we do p ro je c t fro m
p a s t e x p erien c e , o u r g rav e m istak e is in settlin g fo r w hatever happens.
P itk in
said it re a lly is n 't so m uch a m a tte r of w hether we can pro v id e fo r the in c re a sin g
populations, "but a t what so c ia l, m o ra l, and e sth e tic c o sts ? " (P itkin, 1968,
p. 476).
It is h e re th a t o u r le a d e rs , in and out of education, m u st stand.
In
the p a s t, o u r approach to so c ia l p ro b lem s usually has been to try to ignore them ;
then, too la te , the re m e d ia l p ro g ra m is found to be e ith e r inadequate o r outm oded.
"The gap fro m ap p ro p ria tio n to o b so lescen ce needs to be w idened; our pace is
too fa s t fo r our in stitu tio n s" (P itkin, 1968, p. 478).
In many c a s e s , says
P itk in , o u r p ro g ra m s m e re ly slow the p a ce , as in pollution c o n tro l, ra th e r
than im proving the situ atio n .
The b ig g est p ro b lem of all is how to m otivate o u r
-2 1 -
people to have sm all fa m ilie s in good tim e s o r bad.
P itkin does not p ro fe ss to
have the a n sw e r but it is his hope th at le a d e rs in education w ill assu m e a sp ec ia l
ro le .
"They a re the g re a t q u e s tio n - a s k e r s p e r h a p s u ltim ately the m o v ers and
sh a k e rs " (P itkin, 1968, p. 479).
Hopefully he sa y s, the d iscu ssio n once s ta r te d ,
will move out of p ro fe ssio n a l education c irc le s and into the c la s s ro o m s .
Con­
ceivably, we may find th at in the ask in g , the question will be answ ered.
L am son (1969) a p p e a rs to feel th a t man has hi s' fu tu re in h is own h an d s.
The m ain th re a ts to his fu tu re com e fro m m a n 's own c re a tio n s —his use of
technology and the c u ltu ra l in stitu tio n s he has c re a te d .
B ecau se he no lo n g e r
has th e m arg in fo r e r r o r th a t his once fe w er num bers p ro v id ed , he should take
c a re not to m anipulate his enviro n m en t in ways th at cau se ir r e v e r s ib le changes
o r th at produce p a ra ly s is of com m unication and tra n sp o rta tio n fa c ilitie s such
a s o c c u rre d in the N o rth e a st pow er fa ilu re of 1966.
Man and his environm ent
in te ra c t continuously and he should c o n sid e r the g e n e tic ,:p h y sical, and psycho­
logical effects of his actions not only on the p re s e n t g en eratio n but future
g en eratio n s a s w ell.
Through education he m u st p re v e n t fa ilu re on so cial and
p o litical le v e ls th a t would cause d e te rio ra tio n of his p h y sical and biological
su rro u n d in g s.
He u rg es scien ce te a c h e rs to convey the a ttitu d e s and sk ills
needed to p ro te c t and prom ote environm ental quality.
P itk in and L am son both
s tr e s s the im p o rtan ce of population and environm ental c o n tro ls in o rd e r to p r e ­
s e rv e our p lan et fo r fu tu re g en eratio n s and they both a g re e th a t the education
p ro fe ssio n m u st play a key ro le in effecting solutions.
RECENT RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING
~22—
A so u rc e independent of the c u rric u lu m p ro je c t co m m ittees supplies
affirm atio n fo r th e ir e ffo rts.
Lucio and M cN eil (1969, p. 131) state that
re a c tio n a g a in st the 'g r a s s ro o ts ' ap p ro ach has in c re a s e d of la te . . .
The tre n d tow ard national p ro je c ts which define content and method
p ro m ise s to re p la c e 'one of the m o st p ath etic sig h ts on the c u rre n t
educational h o rizo n — m y riad s of lo c al school co m m u n ities, whose
m e m b e rs have had little o r no scie n tific tra in in g , trying to produce
a m odern scie n c e c u rric u lu m '
H ow ever a note of caution has been voiced by W elch (1968).
He fe lt
th a t it m ay be n e c e s sa ry to evaluate the national c u rric u lu m p ro je c ts .
His
re p o rt showed th a t the av ailab le inform ation on acceptance of the P h y sical
Science Study C om m ittee (PSSC) was in co m p lete.
and lack ed a sound s ta tis tic a l b a s is .
o th e r c u r r ic u la r a re a s .
F ig u re s w ere co n trad icto ry
A s im ila r situation a p p e a rs to e x ist in
United S tates Office of Education and the National
Science Foundation-E ducational S e rv ic e s, Inc. fig u res v a rie d by a fa c to r of
two fo r the 1964-65 PSSC en ro llm en t.
W elch recom m ended th a t som e capable
group a c c e p t re sp o n sib ility and com pile and evaluate the v ita l s ta tis tic s fo r
the v a rio u s scie n c e p ro je c ts .
W elch and W alberg (1969) s ta te th a t m o st c u rric u lu m study groups have
not m ade valid evaluations re la te d to c o u rse im provem ent.
Many com m ittees
see m to confuse the te rm evaluation with achievem ent testin g .
In o th er w ords,
they a r e te stin g to s e e how well stu d en ts did in the c o u rse , and not how much
b e tte r th e ir c u rric u lu m study c o u rse is co m p ared to an o ld e r conventional
c o u rs e .
W elch and W alberg have designed an a lte rn a tiv e m odel of c u rric u lu m
evaluation nam ed P ro je c t P h y sics which they feel is m o re v alid .
They define
evaluation a s "those a c tiv itie s which p ro v id e inform ation useful in co u rse
-2 3 -
im p ro v em en t and which show how effective the co u rse is under sp ecified school
conditions" (Welch and W alberg 5 1969, p. 10).
The a u th o rs ' re s e a rc h o b jectiv es
a re threefold: to im prove the c o u rse ; to p rovide c o n su m er inform ation; and to
provide educational re s e a rc h .
th re e in s tru m e n ts .
To achieve th e se objectives they designed
The f i r s t m e a s u re s the change in stu d en ts, the second
d e sc rib e s the kinds of stu d en ts, and the th ird d e sc rib e s the kinds of te a c h e rs .
They a d m in iste re d th e se te s ts b e fo re , during, and a fte r c o u rs e s in P ro je c t
P h y sic s.
As a control te s ts w ere a lso a d m in iste re d to stu d en ts and te a c h e rs
in nonproject c o u rs e s .
They re a liz e th a t th e ir p a rtic ip a n ts a re a ll v o lu n teers
and do not r e p re s e n t random sam p les on which s ta tis tic a l in fe re n c es may be
m ade.
H ow ever, th e ir tr ia l m odel did p e rm it a tentative c o n tra s t between the
e x p erim en tal and control schools and allow ed fo r a num ber of c o rre la tio n a l
stu d ies am ong te a c h e rs and stu d en ts.
They point out th a t th e ir purpose is not
to d em o n strate the re la tiv e quality of th e ir co u rse but r a th e r to specify dif­
fe re n tia l changes th a t o ccu r.
random sa m p le s.
W elch and W alberg plan fu rth e r stu d ies using
E m p h asis thus f a r h as been on the p h y sics c u rric u lu m but
the au th o rs say th e ir r e s e a r c h may be applied to oth er c u rric u la r a re a s .
B lo s s e r and Howe (1969) analyzed re c e n t re s e a rc h a s it re la te d to the
education of seco n d ary scie n c e te a c h e rs .
They found th a t an in te re s t in scie n c e
a p p e a rs to p re c ed e an in te r e s t in teaching and th at th e re a re identifiable p e rs o n ­
ality tr a its a ss o c ia te d w ith individuals e n terin g scien ce teach in g fro m scien ce
back g ro u n d s. They a lso found th a t scie n c e te a c h e rs p o s s e s s no g re a te r d eg ree
of knowledge and understanding of scien ce methodology than do te a c h e rs of
-2 4 -
o th e r su b jec ts.
A group of philosophy m a jo rs w ere included in one in v estig atio n
and it was found th a t they d em o n strated a b e tte r understanding of the n atu re of
scie n c e than did the population of scie n c e te a c h e rs (this would see m to lend
su p p o rt to the fe a sib ility of a tru e in te rd is c ip lin a ry ap p ro ach because the non­
scie n c e te a c h e rs , a t le a s t, have an acquaintance with o th e r d iscip lin es).
T h e re
is stro n g evidence th a t an understanding of the n atu re of scie n c e and scien tific
m ethodology can be taught.
The data can be used to in fe r th a t th is a sp e c t of
the p re p a ra tio n of sc ie n c e te a c h e rs d e se rv e s fu rth e r study.
The m ost im p o rtan t
a r e a of com petancy fo r a scien ce te a c h e r was found to be th a t of effective use
of la b o ra to ry w ork to te ac h m ethods by which s c ie n tis ts have solved p ro b lem s
and have helped students to le a rn to identify p ro b lem s and solve them e m p iric a lly .
It was found, as of 1964, th at 123 in stitu tio n s in the United S tates .offered som e
type of p re p a ra tio n fo r e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs .
R ecom m endations by many
com petent p e rso n s indicated a concern fo r te a c h e r function (see D efinition of
T e rm s) and te a c h e r com petencies r a th e r than fo r c re d it h o u rs of c o u rse s in the
scie n c es o r p ro fe ssio n a l education.
H ow ever, as B lo s s e r and Howe pointed out,
s ta te c e rtific a tio n re q u ire m e n ts have not re fle c te d the function and com petency
e m p h asis.
The em p h asis is s till on c o u rse w ork and c re d it h o u rs, and the tre n d
is tow ard in c re a sin g them quantitatively.
P a u li, L a rs o n , and VandenAvond (1969) did re s e a rc h through which they
hoped to p re d ic t the e ffe ct of an ESCP c o u rse on college lev el geology.
They used
the T e st of S cientific Knowledge (TOSK) and a m odified college physical geology
exam ination;
'
The la tte r was m odified in the sen se th at the p ro fe s s o rs p e rso n a l
-2 5 -
bias (le c tu re re la te d questions) was rem oved.
T h e ir ap p ro ach seem ed r a th e r
m eticulous and the re s u lts should be of su fficien t validity a s to allay the fe a rs
e x p re ss e d by W elch (1968).
The au th o rs fe e l th a t ESCP is s u p e rio r to e ith e r
g e n eral scie n c e o r a non-E SC P c o u rse fo r stren g th en in g the scie n c e backgrounds
of students in the sec o n d a ry sch o o ls.
They say that TOSK p re d ic ts th a t ESCP
students a re b e tte r p re p a re d fo r p h y sical geology than stu d en ts without ESCP.
They a lso feel the r e s u lts confirm th a t an ex p erien ced , well qualified ESCP
te a c h e r is m o re effective than th o se th a t a r e not ESCP tra in e d .
P au li, L a rS o n ,
and VandenAvond, concluded th a t ESCP is an effective p ro g ra m fo r im proving
scie n tific understanding and a b ilitie s of stu d en ts.
Cham plin (1970) m ade a review of re c e n t re s e a rc h re la te d to ESCP.
It
had been five y e a r s sin ce the f i r s t in stru c tio n a l m a te ria l fo r ESCP ap p eared .
D uring th is p e rio d nine r e s e a r c h stu d ies and se v e ra l su rv e y s had been con­
ducted.
Six of the stu d ies d e alt with stu d en t achievem ent and th e ir findings
see m to indicate the ESCP is s u p e rio r to non-E SC P c o u rs e s .
H ow ever, a
c le a r - c u t c ase could not be e sta b lish e d due to the sm all n u m b er of stu d ies and
to the d iv e rs ity am ong them .
The D ifferen tial A ptitude T e s t (DAT) and the T e s t
of S cientific Knowledge (TOSK) w ere used.
The r e s e a r c h e r s , by th e ir cautious
sta te m e n t of outcom e, see m e d to be well aw are of the p ro b lem s re la te d to
validity a s brought out by W elch (1968).
Champlin (1970, p. 7) p laced consid­
e ra b le em p h asis on the re s e a rc h finding " th a t the com bination of the rig h t
c u rric u lu m w ith the a p p ro p ria te te a c h e r, was an im p o rtan t fa c to r in influencing
student outcom es','.
He clo sed by saying, "th e u ltim ate value of ESCP can only
■- 2 6 -
be decided through c arefu l re s e a rc h " (C ham plin, 1970 p. 38).
The foregoing
a rtic le s w ere cited becau se they give som e in sig h t into the re c e n t evaluative
r e s e a r c h re la tiv e to scie n c e c o u rse s and scien ce teaching.
A GEOLOGIST'S VIEW
G illuly (1962) e m p h asized the im p o rtan ce of geology in the life of m an;
he d isc u sse d its h is to ric a l a sp e c ts dating back to the tim e of the In d u strial
R evolution.
He a lso s tr e s s e d the point th a t m in e ra l d ep o sits a re exhaustible,
a fa c t c a rry in g with it g r e a t so cia l and p o litic a l im p licatio n s y e t one often o v e r­
looked by e co n o m ists and p o litic ia n s.
He s tr e s s e d th re e m ain points: f ir s t, the
e x tre m e age of o u r e a rth ; second, th a t environm ental conditions have been
re la tiv e ly s ta tic fo r about the la s t b illion y e a r s ; th ird , th a t we a re the su rv iv in g
end p ro d u c ts of a fa n ta stic a lly m arv ello u s evolutionary sequence of which o u r
sp e c ie s is b u t a tiny and fra g ile re m n an t.
Gilluly rem in d s us th at changes
ran g e fro m the v a s t, in te rm s of m illions o r billions of y e a rs to som e tecto n ic
a c tiv itie s th a t o c c u r in seco n d s, e .g . the D isappointm ent Bay, A laska e a rth ­
quake, a dislo catio n of forty-tw o fe e t in ten seconds.
This concept of change
is som ething all too few en g in ee rs a re aw are of. We a re in the m iddle of the
e a r th ’s geologic h isto ry , and many c u ltu ra l attem p ts to co n tro l n a tu ra l p ro c e s s e s
a re planned on too s h o rt a tim e sc a le .
He s a y s, "geology te ac h e s us of the
g re a t antiquity of o u r globe and of the life upon it.
It te ac h e s of a p e rs iste n c e
of conditions m uch lik e those of o u r day" (G illuly, 1962, p. 9).
However, it
ju s t as in siste n tly te ac h e s us th a t the lan d scap e is not p e rm a n en t, th at e ro sio n
and uplift a re ev ery w h ere about u s, and th a t we cannot hope to perm anently
■
-2 7 - '
p re s e rv e o u r su rro u n d in g s a s they a r e now.
G illulyts view s seem to lend
su p p o rt to the a rg u m en t th at a b ro ad overview of the field o f knowledge is
needed by seco n d ary stu d en ts and the g e n e ra l public.
His ap p ro ach was m ade
all the m o re in te re s tin g becau se of its h is to ric a l, p o litic a l, and econom ic
o v e rto n e s, which m akes it som ew hat in te rd is c ip lin a ry in c h a ra c te r.
C H A P T E R III
ANALYSIS OF DATA
The data re la tin g to e a rth scie n c e teaching in M ontana is fro m four
so u rc e s: the th irty -o n e question q u estio n n aire sen t to the M ontana e a rth
scien ce te a c h e rs ; a fifteen question in stru m e n t d istrib u te d to stu d en ts in
phy sical geology a t M ontana State, U n iv ersity (MSU) during the 1968-1969
academ ic y e a r; a s h o rt th re e question in stru m e n t devised fo r stu d en ts in phy­
s ic a l geology, a t MSU during the sp rin g q u a rte r 1970; and the scien ce te a c h e r
lis ts fo r M ontana fro m 1963 to 1970 (excluding those fo r 1964-65 and 1965-66
which w ere not available).
A nalysis is in n a rra tiv e fo rm ex cep t w here tab les
o r c h a rts a re m o re e x p lic it.
Appendix.
Copies of the q u estio n n aires may be found in the
The o rd e r of d iscu ssio n is g e n erally as found in the q u e stio n n aires.
U nless re fe re n c e d sp ec ific a lly , c o rre la tio n s with the M cM annis and Shenkle
R ep o rt (1965) w ere found to be not sig n ifican t.
THE SCIENCE TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE
Two questions on d is tric tin g and type of school w ere ask ed because the
population of a d is tr ic t and the population of an individual school d ire c tly
influence the a n sw e rs re c eiv e d . A breakdow n of the six ty -e ig h t q u estio n n aires
by school d is tric ts show ed 21 schools in c la s s I d is tr ic ts , 31 ,schools in c la s s
II d is tr ic ts , and 16 schools in c la s s III d is tr ic ts .
The six ty -e ig h t schools th a t
re p o rte d back included 46 s e n io r high sch o o ls, 15 ju n io r high sch o o ls, and 6
com bination ju n io r-s e n io r high sch o o ls.
of school.
One te a c h e r did not in d icate his type
—2 9 —
A nother group of questions (#3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #10) was deem ed im ­
p o rta n t becau se it gave an indication of te a c h e r load, p re p a ra tio n tim e,
p o ten tial p ro b lem s re la tiv e to span of atten tio n , and the g e n e ra l quality of
each course..
C lass p e rio d s ran g ed fro m fo rty -fiv e to seventy m inutes in
fo u rteen d ifferen t tim e sp an s.
the fifty to sixty m inute ra n g e .
The d ata showed th a t 56 te a c h e rs taught in
F o rtu n ately fo r the students,, only 3 te a c h e rs
sa id they had seventy m inute p e rio d s.
T h ere w ere 8 whose c la ss p erio d s
ranged fro m fo rty -fiv e to fo rty -n in e m in u te s, o r who had m o d u lar scheduling
(see D efinition of T e rm s ).
M ea su rem en ts with n o rm al ch ild re n have been
m ade to te s t span of attention.
They y ield ed values ranging fro m seconds to
fo rty -fiv e m inutes (M oyer and Von H a lle r G ilm er, 1955).
T h e re have been
m any o th e r stu d ies m ade re la tiv e to th is com plex su b ject and they see m to sup­
p o rt the conclusion th a t ov erly long c la s s p e rio d s in seco n d ary schools should
be u sed with caution.
A s expected , te a c h e rs in the c la s s II and c la ss III d is­
tr ic ts tended to te ac h e a rth scie n c e few er tim es a day but n e arly all taught it
four o r five tim e s a w eek.
In the c la s s I d is tric ts 16 te a c h e rs taught e a rth
scie n c e th re e to five tim e s a day.
The s tu d e n t-to - te a c h e r ra tio re p o rte d
ranged fro m a low of ten to one to a high of th irty -e ig h t to one.
re p o rte d tw enty-five students a s a v e ra g e .
Eleven te a c h e rs
O ther av erag e fig u re s th at o c c u rre d
freq u en tly w ere 30, 28, 27, 26, 20, 16, and 15 stu d en ts. A n sw ers re la te d to
the length of c o u rse in d icated th a t 60 te a c h e rs w ere on a two s e m e s te r b a sis
and 5 on a one s e m e s te r b a s is .
One te a c h e r covered the c o u rse in one and one-
half s e m e s te r s , an o th er in fo u r s e m e s te r s , and one did not com m ent.
Planned
—3 0 —
la b o ra to ry p e rio d s ran g ed fro m none to th re e .
"no la b " re s p o n se s.
lab s p e r week.
T h ere w ere, re g re tta b ly , 19
T h irte en said they held one lab p e r week; 17 had two
A ccording to M cM annis and Shenkle (1965), m o st schools
re p o rte d about twenty p e r c en t of th e ir tim e is sp en t a s lab tim e.
Surm ising
c o rre c tly th at not all e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs teach in th e ir m a jo r field, they
w ere ask ed to s ta te the to tal num b er of c la s s e s taught p e r day and the number"
of fre e p e rio d s they had p e r day.
Only 10 re p o rte d having two fre e p e rio d s, 2
re p o rte d no fre e p e rio d s , and 51 re p o rte d one fre e p erio d ; I had guidance
duties a fte r teaching one c la s s , I had fo u r to nine fre e p e rio d s (m odular
scheduling), I had le s s than a full fre e p e rio d , and 2 did not com m ent.
s u rp ris in g , the teaching load is heavy.
Not
D ata fro m question ten show th a t the
m a jo rity of the te a c h e rs had only one fre e p e rio d fo r p re p a ra tio n .
C lass load
see m e d e x c e ssiv e : 11 indicated th irty o r m o re stu d en ts, 32 in d icated fro m
tw enty-four to tw enty-nine stu d e n ts. Only 25 o r about th irty -s e v e n p e r cent
had le s s than tw e n ty -th re e students p e r c la s s .
re p o rte d they w ere on a two s e m e s te r b a s is .
About 90 p e r cent of the te a c h e rs
This is indeed encouraging sin ce
th is c o u rse cannot be taught m eaningfully in a s h o rte r p e rio d of tim e.
P e rs o n ­
nel re p re s e n ta tiv e s W inston W eaver of the B illings school d is tr ic t and R u ssell
C arlso n of the G re at F a lls school d is tr ic t both re p o rt (1970, o ra l com m unication)
th a t all of th e ir schools will be on a two s e m e s te r b a sis by the fall s e m e s te r
1970.
Q uestion eight about g rad e lev el was ask ed to g et som e id ea of how well
the study guide in scie n c e recom m en d atio n s w ere being followed.
The re sp o n se
to the g ra d e le v el in which the c o u rse was taught showed th a t the schools s u r ­
-3 1 -
veyed w ere, fo r the m o st p a rt, following the study guide.
F ifty -th re e te a c h e rs
which is about sev en ty -eig h t p e r cen t of the to ta l, taught a t le a s t in the ninth
g ra d e , 10 in the eighth g ra d e , and 5 above the ninth g ra d e .
Only one school 1
each in the B illings and G re at F a lls school d is tric ts teach e a rth scien ce in the
ninth g ra d e ; the r e s t a re eighth g rad e c o u rs e s .
The M cM annis and Shenkle
R ep o rt (1965) indicated th a t eighty-five p e r cen t w ere teaching in the ninth
g ra d e .
The tre n d see m s to be a b it u n c ertain in th is a re a .
Q uestion nine on a b ility le v els was ask ed to help a s c e rta in c la ssro o m
a tm o sp h ere .
A bility grouping is not fe lt to be advisable ex cep t under e x tre m ely
re p e titiv e situ a tio n s.
A rb itra ry grouping may c re a te u n d esirab le p re s s u re s
th a t can le a d to d iscip lin e p ro b le m s.
G rouping to achieve hom ogeneous
academ ic a b ility has alw ays been illu so ry sin ce hom ogeneity in any one re s p e c t
w ill inevitably introduce h e tero g en ie tie s in o th e rs (Taba, 1962, p. 170).
T h ere
w ere 46 te a c h e rs who re p o rte d th a t they did not divide th e ir c la s s e s into
ability le v e ls; 20 who s a id they did; th e re w ere 2 who did not com m ent.
In an a tte m p t to see if the e a rth scien ce teaching e ffo rt was badly de­
c e n tra liz e d the te a c h e rs w ere ask ed in question eleven how many o th e r te a c h e rs
in th e ir sy ste m taught e a rth scie n c e.
T h ere w ere 35 te a c h e rs in the c la s s II and,
c la s s III d is tric ts who re p o rte d th at th e re w ere no o th e r e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs
in th e ir sy ste m ; 11 re p o rte d one o th e r te a c h e r.
A nsw ers fro m c la ss I d is tric ts
w ere m o re difficult to c la ssify sin ce som e te a c h e rs e ith e r m isu n d ersto o d the
question o r w ere not s u re how many o th e rs in th e ir sy ste m taught e a rth scien ce.
H ow ever, by noting duplicate an sw ers and com paring with the "M ontana Science
—3 2 -
T e a c h e rs L is t" , it se e m s th a t the following num ber of te a c h e rs p re s e n t e a rth
scie n c e c o u rse w ork in c la s s I sch o o ls.
Anaconda
2
H elena
3
B illings
5
K alisp ell
I
G re a t F a lls
3
M iles City
0
M issoula
3
The low n u m b ers quoted show th a t the tendency fo r school a d m in is tra to rs to
fill teaching voids in th e ir faculty schedule with any av ailab le te a c h e r is not a
1
m a jo r p ro b lem in M ontana—a t le a s t not in e a rth scien ce teaching.
The next group of questions c o n sid e re d (#12, #13, #14) was posed to
find out what types of teaching fa c ilitie s w ere av ailab le.
E a rth scien ce te a c h e rs
need a room of th e ir own in o rd e r to p re p a re a p ro p e r atm o sp h ere ; they’ need a
lab of th e ir own in o rd e r to p re p a re d e m o n stratio n s ahead of tim e.
T h irty -
eight te a c h e rs re p o rte d th a t they had th e ir own c la ssro o m fa c ilitie s while 30
sa id they m u st s h a re th e ir fa c ilitie s .
17 good, 23 f a ir , and 19 po o r.
In ra tin g those fa c ilitie s 9 sa id ex ce lle n t,
T h ere w ere 49 who did not have se p a ra te la b o r­
a to ry fa c ilitie s , 17 who did, and 2 who did not com m ent.
R ating of the labs'
showed th a t 8 w ere e x ce lle n t, 8 w ere good, 12 fa ir, and I p o o r.
T here w ere
39 who did not ra te the la b s (those resp o n d en ts indicating no se p a ra te lab
fa c ilitie s ).
The M cM annis and Shenlde R ep o rt (1965) in d icated th at out of 35
re sp o n d e n ts, only I had an e a rth scie n c e ro o m fo r a lab , 8 used a g en eral p u r ­
pose room , 4 u sed a g e n e ra l scien ce ro o m , and the o th er 22 used physics o r
c h e m istry fa c ilitie s o r had none a t a ll.
The n u m b er of te a c h e rs having th e ir
-3 3 -
own lab fa c ilitie s in c re a s e d by tw enty-tw o p e r cent since 1964.
Table I gives
a c o m p arativ e a n aly sis of the foregoing data.
TABLE I
DISTRIBUTION OF TEACHING FACILITIES
AND RELATED TEACHER EVALUATIONS
T e a c h e r's
own room
T e a ch e r
s h a re s room
C lassro o m
38
30
9
17
23
19
L ab o ra to ry
17
49
'8
8
12
I
T e a c h e r ratin g s
E
F
G
P
Q uestion fifteen ask ed about annual budgets fo r e a rth scien ce because
the am ount of money av ailab le re fle c ts d ire c tly on the quality of the c o u rse.
Inflation and the som ew hat m o re so p h istica te d re q u ire m e n ts of the ESCP c o u rs e
re q u ire a f ir m e r com m itm ent of a m o re su b sta n tia l sum of money by the school
a d m in istra tio n than h e re to fo re has been c u sto m ary . Annual budgets fo r e a rth
scie n c e c o u rs e s w ere not o verly g e n e ro u s . T h irteen re p o rte d le s s than $200
p e r acad em ic y e a r; 18 ran g ed betw een $200 and $500; one p e rs o n said it v a rie d
betw een $200 and $900; one bold soul s a id "the s k y 's the lim it" ; th e re w ere 35
who e ith e r did not know th e ir budget o r s a id it was v a ria b le .
M ore definite
a n sw e rs probably would have re s u lte d had the question been m o re sp ecific.
The M cM annis and Shenkle R ep o rt (1965) showed a few with fa irly lib e ra l bud­
g ets (to a m axim um of $500 p e r y ear) but m o st respondents re c eiv e d le s s than
$100 p e r y e a r .
C om parison of the two re p o rts seem s to show only slig h t im ­
p ro v em en t in the situ atio n .
-3 4 -
The next group of questions (#16, #17, #18) w ere ask ed to g et som e
idea of the educational atm o sp h ere in the c la ssro o m , in p a rtic u la r, how the
te a c h e rs conducted th e ir c la s s e s .
When ask ed how they sp en t th e ir c la s s ro o m
tim e , 37 checked le c tu re , 52 d iscu ssio n , 20 review of tex t, and 16 com m ented
u n d er " o th e r" .
The la tte r included m iscellan eo u s la b s, group stu d ie s, dem ­
o n stra tio n s, and student in v estig atio n s.
In a c lo s e r a n a ly s is , it was found
th a t 36 te a c h e rs used e ith e r le c tu re alone o r in com bination with d iscu ssio n
o r review of text.
This was fifty -th re e p e r cen t of the to ta l.
A ccording to
M cM annis and Shenkle (1965) c la s s ro o m tim e av erag ed eighty p e r cent le c tu r e d iscu ssio n and twenty p e r cen t lab tim e .
This would seem to indicate a d e sira b le
d rift away fro m le c tu re -ty p e c o u rs e s .
A sked w hether hom ew ork was a ssig n e d , 66 said y e s , 2 said no.
th re e sa id th e ir a ssig n m e n ts w ere lig h t, 8 w ere heavy.
F ifty -
F ifty -sev e n said they
assig n e d fro m the text; 27 assig n ed outside reading; 25 a ssig n e d p ro b lem s;
th e re w ere 10 m iscellan eo u s com m ents which r e f e r r e d to scie n c e notebooks
and p ro je c ts , re p o rts , w o rk sh eets, lab re s u lts and o b serv atio n .
R esponse to the query on field tr ip s p e r s e m e s te r was ra th e r d isap ­
pointing.
F ie ld trip s a r e an im p o rtan t p a r t of an e a rth scie n c e c o u rse.
About
the only way to re a lly a p p re cia te e a rth fe a tu re s is by an in context first-h a n d
view. A dm ittedly th e re a re lo g istic a l p ro b le m s to be solved, e sp ecially when
c la s s e s a r e la rg e , but the active su p p o rt of a p rin c ip a l o r su p erin ten d en t goes
a long way tow ard th e ir reso lu tio n (Goedkin, 1969).
Tw enty-five o r n early
o n e -th ird of the group sa id they conducted no trip s ; 23 o r n e a rly an o th er th ird
—3 5 —
sa id sa id they conducted one field trip ; 10 said they conducted two field trip s
p e r y e a r; an o th er 9 resp o n d en ts sa id they took anyw here fro m th re e to tw elve
field trip s during the s e m e s te r; and one did not com m ent.
It is p o ssib le th a t
those taking in e x c e ss of th re e o r four field trip s re a lly m ean t p e r academ ic
y e a r.
F ig u re 2 shows the p ercen tag e d istrib u tio n of the field tr ip s .
The trip s
involved exam ination of lo cal geom orphic fe a tu r e s , lo cal fo rm a tio n s, lo c al
fo s s ils , lo cal m in eralo g y , glacial f e a tu r e s , and v isits to m eteorology s ta tio n s.
Since th e re is only one m eteorology d e p artm en t in M ontana, a t B ozem an, the
resp o n d en ts probably m eant U nited S tates w eath er fa c ilitie s a t lo cal a irp o rts .
One m entioned a trip to C ra te rs of the Moon, Idaho, s e v e ra l to Y ellowstone
N ational P a rk , th re e m entioned having a c c e ss to a ir c r a f t, and s e v e ra l m entioned
field trip s th at included ecological a s p e c ts .
These la s t few and esp ecially those
th a t include ecology could be r a th e r re w ard in g b ecau se the in te rre la tio n s h ip s of
the biological and geological a sp e c ts of o u r environm ent a re so m uch m ore
evident.
G eographical lo catio n , w eath er, c lim ate, and in tra sc h o o l coordination
a ll have a profound effect on field tr ip activ ity and c o u rse sequence.
The M cM an-
nis and Shenkle R ep o rt (1965) in d icated th a t about fifty p e r cen t of the te a c h e rs
take students on field tr ip s , but only a t the ra te of one o r two p e r y e a r.
conducted as many as five field trip s p e r y e a r.
A few
A co m p ariso n between two
q u e stio n n aires would se e m to indicate a s lig h t d egree of im pro v em en t.
The
re lu c ta n c e to take field trip s m ight be co n stru ed as a re fle c tio n of both inadequate
background, which tends to lo w er self-co n fid en ce, ov ercro w d ed teaching sch ed ­
u le s , and difficulty in sec u rin g school b o a rd approval to use a school bus.
P e r Cent of T e a c h e rs
-3 6 -
1.5%
1.5%
F ie ld T rip s
F ig u re 2. P e r cen t d istrib u tio n from te a c h e rs
who take field trip s
-3 7 -
Q uestion nineteen was ask ed in o rd e r to d eterm in e the actual tex t book
d istrib u tio n and the deg ree of accep tan ce of the ESCP te s t.
sponses was re c eiv e d .
A v a rie ty of r e ­
"M odern E a rth S cience" by R am sey and B urckley (MES)
proved to be the m o st popular; it e lic ite d 47 re sp o n se s.
"Investigating the
E a rth " the ESCP te x t published by Houghton M ifflin ra n second with 14 u s e r s ,
4 of which w ere in c la s s II and III d is tr ic ts .
T here w ere 10 who used "The
W orld We Live In" by N am ow itz and Stone (WWLI) and 4 who used " E a rth and
Space S cience" by W olfe, e t al. (ESS).
O ther tex ts m entioned w ere not used
by m ore than one te a c h e r and a re lis te d in the Appendix.
u sed no te x t o r w ere in a s ta te of tra n s itio n .
A t le a s t th re e e ith e r
T h ree sa id they used two te x ts,
and a t le a s t two sa id they hoped to go to ESCP in the 1969-1970 academ ic y e a r .
The fa c t th a t the ESCP te x t accounted fo r twenty p e r cen t of the to tal is an
encouraging tre n d .
The next group of questions (#20, #21, #22) w ere of a follow -up to q u es­
tion nineteen.
The te a c h e rs w ere ask ed which c h ap te rs o r units they om itted
and why; did they follow the sequence recom m ended by the a u th o r, and if not,
why not; and optionally what sequence did they follow.
The v a rie ty of re sp o n se s
due to the many d ifferen t tex ts used and lo c al conditions m ade an aly sis of the
data difficult and som ew hat subjectiv e.
Subject m a tte r a re a s had to be picked
a r b itr a r ily in o rd e r to obtain a clo se c lu ste rin g of re s p o n se s.
The re s u lts w ere
not s u rp ris in g , co n sid erin g M ontana’s landlocked g eo graphical location and many
inadequately p re p a re d te a c h e rs .
O nissions a re as tab u lated below.
-3 8 -
O ceanography
17
A stronom y
9
M eteorology
16
G eom orphology
7
C lim ate
15
T ectonics
H isto ric a l a sp e c ts
11
Rocks
E a rth m otion
, 3
2
2
F ifteen sa id they om itted nothing but judging fro m two com m ents about scanning,
th e ir depth of coverage m ay be su b jec t to so m e speculation.
T h irty re m a rk e d
th a t la c k of tim e was the m ain p ro b lem ; th is seem s to c o rre la te stro n g ly with
the data of question ten.
E ight did not com m ent.
T h ere w ere 37 who do follow
the recom m ended sequence, 25 who do not, and 6 who did not com m ent.. R ea­
sons given fo r not following the a u th o r's sequence a re as follow s:
Influenced by v a rio u s c o u rse o v e rla p s and
lo c al scheduling
16
L ack p ro p e r fa c ilitie s
I
W eather conditions
8
D on't lik e su g g ested sequence
7
A ffected by c u rre n t events
.
I
V a rie s acco rd in g to c la s s ab ility
I
V a rie s a cco rd in g to te a c h e r a b ility
I
The com m ent "d o n 't lik e suggested seq u en ce" would se e m to in d icate m ore
confidence on the p a r t of the te a c h e r and le s s dependence on the tex t.
The
com m ent " v a rie s a cco rd in g to c la s s a b ility " is d istu rb in g b ecau se evaluation
of students fro m y e a r to y e a r m ight not be, e n tire ly c o n siste n t.
Of those who
-3 9 -
follow the sequence five lik ed the tex t a s i s , one ad m itted to v ery little back­
ground, and one said "in a ru t" .
One te a c h e r who u ses "M odern E a rth S cience"
s a id he in s e rte d a m onth of p hysics and c h e m istry .
This te a c h e r has n e ith e r
'
a m a jo r n o r a m in o r in e a r th scien ce but sta te d his background was in p h y sics
o r c h e m istry .
He m ay find the ESCP te x t m o re to his liking.
When ask ed , a s
an optional question ju s t what sequence actu ally is followed, 23 sa id they fo l­
low ed the te x t (these w ere p a r t of the 37 who an sw ered in question 21), 19
com m ented in som e d e ta il, and 26 did not com m ent a t a ll.
The data on sequence
follow ed, when exam ined,did not p re s e n t any useful o r m eaningful p a tte rn s ’ and
a re not included in th is re p o rt.
The d ata com piled fo r th is question group
see m s to re v e a l c e rta in p a tte rn s .
One was a c o rre la tio n betw een te a c h e rs who
follow ed the sequence and who had a lim ite d co u rse background; this could
equate to lack of confidence. A check of the data did show som e c o rre la tio n .
T h ere w ere th irty te a c h e rs who said they followed the sequence and who had a
m in o r o r le s s fo r background.
H ow ever seventeen o th e rs who had n e ith e r
m a jo r n o r m in o r sa id they did not follow the sequence.
The evidence is not
conclusive and could be a su b ject of fu rth e r re s e a rc h by som eone with a back­
ground in psychology.
F o r those th a t did not follow the te x t, tw enty-seven in
a ll, it could m ean the te x t used was le s s than ideal.
The la rg e num ber of
units om itted by th e se te a c h e rs se e m s to re fle c t both a la c k of p re p a ratio n
tim e and a p ro p e r background.
It would s e e m th a t "Investigating the E a r th " , the ESCP te x t, is as
clo se to id eal a s one can hope to g et.
It was devised by enlightened individuals
-4 0 -
in a d em o cratic group atm o sp h ere which encouraged a m axim um of c re a tiv ity .
It continued o v er an extended tim e p e rio d because th e re was a need fo r ev al­
uation, feedback, and im provem en t.
T h ere w ere s e v e ra l p re lim in a ry copies
is su e d , te a c h e rs actually u sed them , in fo rm ed people supplied co n stru ctiv e
com m en ts, re v isio n s w ere m ade, and finally a w orkable te x t was published.
A consensus fro m many m inds should be f a r s u p e rio r to th a t which evolves
fro m one o r only a few m inds; the fe w er m inds the m o re su b jectiv e.
T h e re ­
fo re , som e of the com m ents th a t p e rta in to the te x t, and to ES CP in p a rtic u la r,
a s well a s a n a ly sis by in d ire c t m eans m ight be ra th e r re v e alin g .
Com m ents
th a t ESCP is too difficult b ecau se of m ath em atical concepts o r o th e r re a so n s ,
should not d e te r its accep tan ce.
R a th e r, a rev iew of the p r io r education of
the students in the school sy ste m m ight w ell be in o rd e r.
Those th a t object
b ecau se of the o v erlap of su b ject m a tte r m ight b e the v ery ones who need to be
brought up to c e rtific a tio n stan d a rd s o r who need th e ir w orld broadened.
The
new ESCP te x t is rev o lu tio n ary in many ways in its tre a tm e n t and organization
of su b ject m a tte r, it does not follow tra d itio n a l outlines which a re neat and s im ­
ple.
It is r a th e r one of overlapping concepts w here, fo r ex am p le, w ater is not
c o n ce n tra te d in its sp h e re o r cycle but r a th e r a s i t a r is e s in concepts of a tm o s­
p h e ric c irc u la tio n ocean c u rre n ts , ground w a ter, e ro sio n a l p r o c e s s e s ,e tc .
Many se e m to feel m ost uncom fortable with th is change.
T h ere a r e , of c o u rse ,
ed u ca to rs who feel th a t te x t book c o u rse s of any s o rt a re no good and fo r th em ,
the ESCP te x t is not the an sw er.
H ow ever, fo r the le v el of tra in in g of e a rth
scien ce te a c h e rs in M ontana c o lleg es, a te x t th at e m p h asiz es la b o ra to ry e x p e r­
-4 1 -
im entation as th is one does has m uch to reco m m en d it.
As has ju s t been shown "M odern E a rth S cience" se e m s to be popular
w here the te a c h e r la c k s a stro n g background in e a rth scie n c e.
This text is
quite well w ritten , is a ll-in c lu s iv e , has good vocabulary and rev iew question
se c tio n s, and th e re a r e num erou s e x ce lle n t c o lo r p la te s.
has re a l value a s a back-up o r re fe re n c e book.
A t the v ery le a s t it
U nfortunately, the tex ts
"Investigating the E a rth " (ESC P), "M odern E a rth S cien ce", and " E a rth and
Space S cience" (which is s im ila r to MES) w ere the only ones av ailab le in the
MSU lib r a ry ; the in v e stig a to r was unable to analyze the o th e r te x ts th at a re
being used.
To check on te a c h e r a le rtn e s s to re c e n t developm ents in e a rth scie n c e
teaching question tw e n ty -th re e ask ed about the new ESCP te x ts .
s a id they had seen th em and 23 had not.
A sked if they would lik e to use them ,
31 s a id y e s , 11 sa id no, 4 s a id m aybe, and 14 did not com m ent.
s a id he had u sed the ESC P te x t b efo re.
them to give a re a so n f o r th e ir a n sw e r.
w ere quite v a rie d .
F o rty -fiv e
One te a c h e r
An optional p a rt of th is question ask ed
The resp o n se was good and com m ents
B ecau se som e in sig h t m ay be gained fro m them they a re
included in th is re p o r t a s follow s:
W ill use next acad em ic y e a r
4
Too difficult
3
Too e lem en ta ry
I
L ack space o r la c k equipm ent
4
L ike p re s e n t te x t
3
-4 2 -
O verlap of m a te ria l is confusing
2
Too m uch lab and la ck s vocabulary
I
L abs good fo r lo w er IQ 's
I
R eq u ires additional te a c h e r train in g
I
E x c e ssiv e w ork load; lack of tim e
I
U n related to stu d en t in te re s t
2
Common concept of te x t u n n e ce ssa ry
I
We te ac h geology only
I
L acks n e c e s s a ry te a c h e r to student ra tio o r space
(This te a c h e r a v erag e s 33 students)
I
T e a c h e r leaving o r c o u rse dropped
2
A gain, a p a tte rn see m e d to e m erg e fro m th is data which was s im ila r to the
one d isc u sse d in the la s t group.
To check it out a s e a rc h of the o rig in al talley
sh ee ts was m ade fo r a ll those resp o n d en ts whose an sw ers contained the com ­
bination of: 11M ES'' te x t used; did follow the sequence in the text; and had a
lim ite d e a r th scien ce background (a m in o r o r le s s ).
Out of the grand total of
fo rty -s e v e n people who used'M ES',' tw en ty -eig h t had a teaching m in o r o r le s s .
Of th ese tw enty-eight, eighteen followed the sequence, and ten did not.
eighteen te a c h e rs seem to m ake a sig n ifican t c o rre la tio n .
The
F ro m it, one could
in fe r th a t "M ES" is a te x t p re fe rre d by th o se who m u st o r w ish to take the easy
way out.
F o r the ten not following the sequence one m ight sp ecu late in s e v e ra l
d ire c tio n s.
P e rh a p s they did not b ecau se they lacked background; then again,
p e rh a p s they had enough self-con fid en ce to strike^ out on th e ir own.
Q uestion tw enty-four on c o c u rric u la r involvem ents was ask ed to g et
-4 3 -
som e idea of te a c h e r in te re s ts and how they m ight influence school p re p a ra tio n
tim e during and outside of re g u la r school h o u rs.
was quite heavy.
e rs.
The re sp o n se to the question
T h ere w ere 46 s e p a ra te o rg an izatio n s lis te d by the 68 te ac h ­
Of th e se 13 w ere co n sid e re d to be an in tra sc h o o l type and 33 w ere con­
s id e re d to be e x te rn a l to the school.
all involvem ents.
T h ere w ere 146 m e m b e rsh ip s lis te d fo r
Of th e se , 42 te a c h e rs belonged to the in te rn a l type and 104
te a c h e rs belonged to the e x tern al type.
Seven said they belonged to the N ational
A ssociation of Geology T e a c h e rs (NAGT). D etails of th is a n aly sis a p p ea r in
Table II.
The next group of questions (#25, #26, #27, and #28) give co n sid erab le
in sig h t into the acad em ic p re p a re d n e s s of o u r M ontana e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs .
B ecause th is su b jec t is so vitally im p o rtan t in its effect on o u r ch ild ren it
will be co v ered in m o re d etail than som e of the o th e r a re a s .
A sked to lis t
th e ir d e g re e s , the re sp o n se indicated:
B. A.
20
M .A .
4
B .S .
44
M .S.
13
B .E d .
I
M .E d .
M .A .T .
3
I
It was gratifying to s e e th a t out of the 68 resp o n d en ts, th e re w ere 21 that have
m a s te r ’s d e g re e s.
T h ree te a c h e rs have a d eg ree in geology, I said he is a
geological en g in ee r, I is a m echanical en g in ee r, and I has a degree in zoology.
T here w ere 16 who sa id they have a teaching m a jo r in e a rth scien ce; 14 have a
teaching m in o r in e a rth scien ce; 38 o r fifty -s ix p e r cent have n e ith e r m a jo r n o r
T A B L E II
TEACHER COCURRICULAR INVOLVEMENTS
Name of o rg an izatio n
EXTERNAL ORGANIZATIONS
I . A m erican A ssociatio n fo r the A dvancem ent of Science
2. A m e ric an A sso ciatio n of P e tro le u m G eologists
3. A m erican C ancer Society
4. A m erican In stitu te of P ro fe ssio n a l G eologists
5. A sso ciatio n of Catholic T e a ch e rs
6. Audubon Society
7. Boy Scouts of A m e ric a (Troop C hairm an)
8. Coaches A ssociation
9. College Teaching
10. C hurch
11. D riv e r E ducation A sso ciatio n
12: Investm ent Club
13. K nights of Columbus
14. L ions Club
i s : L ocal Education A sso ciatio n
16. M ontana Education A sso ciatio n
17. M ontana G eological Society
18. M ontana Geology T e a c h e rs A sso ciatio n
19. M ontana Science T e a ch e rs A sso ciatio n
20. N ational A sso ciatio n of Biology T e a ch e rs
21. N ational A ssociatio n of Geology T e a ch e rs
22. N ational Council of T e a c h e rs of M athem atics
23. N ational E ducation A s s o c ia tio n ,
24. N ational Science T e a c h e rs A sso ciatio n
A bbrv1n.
AAAS
AAPG
ACS
AIPG
ACT
BSA
K of C
LEA
MEA
MGS
MGTA
MSTA
NABT
NAGT
NCTM
NEA
NSTA
No. of
te a c h e rs
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
9
29
2
I
I
I
7
I
23
7
TABLE II (continued)
Name of o rg an izatio n
25.
26..
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
N ational W ildlife F ed eratio n
PM D elta Kappan
Society of Lim nology
Society of M ammology
Society of V e rte b rate Paleontology
State P ro fe ssio n a l R ights and R esp o n sib ilitie s C om m ittee
T eaching of Skiing
T o a s tm a ste rs In tern atio n al
U nited S tates N aval R e se rv e (executive officer)
INTBASCHOOL & STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
I. Coaching
2. C lass Sponsor o r A dvisor
3. D ire c to r of Student A ctiv ities
4. F ie ld T rip s
; 5.. In tra m u ra l Club Sponsor
/ 6. J u n io r O ptim ists Club Sponsor
/ 7. Ju n io r P ro m Sponsor
' 8. L e tte rm e n ’s Club A d v iso r
9. P a re n t-T e a c h e r s ' A sso ciatio n
10. P e t Club
11. Photo Club
12. Play D ire c to r
13.. Science Club o r F a ir
14. Social C om m ittee C hairm an
A bbrv'n.
NWF
PDK
PR & R
USNR
PTA
No. of
te a c h e rs
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
17
9
I
I
I
I
I
I
2
I
I
I
4
I
104
42
146
-4 6 -
m in o r.
Counting w orkshops, in stitu te s and in te rd is c ip lin a ry c o u rse s (of
which th e re w ere a t le a s t 20 d ifferen t c o u rs e s involved), the 38 te a c h e rs
a v erag e d 2 .3 c o u rs e s each.
Obviously som e had m eaningful sequences in a t
le a s t a few m o re su b je c t m a tte r a re a s than this av erag e show s.
had no e a rth scie n c e c o u rs e s a t a ll.
Six said they
T h e re w ere 4 who indicated, being v ery
close to a m inor; they had a t the le a s t taken som e m ineralogy.
had a t le a s t two e a rth scien ce c o u rs e s .
Seventeen had
The data would se e m to indicate th a t any
c o u rse beyond the in tro d u cto ry ones is a som ew hat difficult hu rd le to m anage.
An a n a ly sis of the c o u rs e s in e a rth scie n c e taken by those w ithout even a m in o r
m ay be found in T able III.
When q u eried a s to w hether they taught e a rth scie n c e
by choice o r w ere se le c te d to v o lu n teer, 36 indicated ch o ice, 30 indicated s e le c ­
tion, and two did not respond.
S ev eral com m ented th a t sin ce being ask ed to
te ac h out of th e ir fie ld they found e a rth scien ce quite in te re stin g and did not
w ish to re tu rn to th e ir o rig in al field .
The M cM annis and Shenkle R eport (1965)
sa id e a r th scie n c e c o u rse w ork v a rie d fro m none to one hundred and th irty -fiv e
q u a rte r hour c re d its .
T h ere w ere about tw enty-one people who had le s s than
fifteen q u a rte r hours c re d it, seven who had betw een fifteen and th irty , and
seven who had m o re than th irty .
Since a teaching m in o r in M ontana re q u ire s a
m inim um of th irty q u a rte r c re d its it can re a d ily be seen th a t only six of the
th irty -fiv e resp o n d en ts o r about sev en teen p e r cent w ere qualified to teach
e a rth sc ie n c e .
(C ertificatio n , 1968, p. 6)., In 1969 th e re wer.e th irty people o r
fo rty -fo u r p e r cen t of the resp o n d en ts with a t le a s t a teaching m inor in e a rth
scie n c e.
This am ounts to a tw en ty -sev en p e r cent in c re a s e which seem s to
-4 7 -
TABLE III
EARTH SCIENCE AND RELATED COURSES TAKEN BY THOSE WITH
LESS THAN A MINOR
N am e of c o u rse
N um ber of te a c h e rs
EARTH SCIENCE
P h y sical geology
H isto ric al geology .
M ineralogy
G eom orphology
W e a th e r/c lim a te /m e te o ro lo g y
A stronom y
C onservation
Foundations of e a r th scien ce
P h y sic al geography
F ie ld geology
M ontana geology & re s o u rc e s
Biology & geology of the Rocky M ountains
INTERDISCIPLINARY
A nthropology
Ecology
W orld geography
Advanced biology
30
10
5
I
8
6
4
I
5
I
I
I
•
MISCELLANEOUS GROUPING
Unknown 3 q u a r te r sequence in e a r th scien ce
Sum m er In s titu te (D rake U niversity 12c re d its)
M ineralogy w orkshop
S um m er w orkshop; geology; a stro n o m y ; NSF; ESCP
P e tro le u m In stitu te
10 c re d its but did not specify which
I
I
I
I
2
I
I
5
2
I
—4 8 —
re fle c t the in c re a s e d offerings in e a rth scie n c e.
In 1964 n e ith e r E a s te rn
M ontana College n o r Rocky M ountain C ollege offered an e a r th scien ce teaching
m in o r.
Since 1968 both of th e se co lleg es began to o ffer a m in o r and both the
U n iv ersity of M ontana and M ontana State U n iv ersity began to o ffer a m ajo r.
A le tte r by the in v e stig a to r was s e n t to the C ertificatio n S u p erv iso r in the
Office of the S uperintendent of P ublic In stru c tio n req u estin g d ata on the n u m b er
of e a rth scien ce and g e n e ra l scie n c e te a c h e rs c e rtifie d sin ce the study guide in
scie n c e was issu e d in 1961.
could not be fu rn ish ed .
The re p ly was m o st c o rd ia l but the d e sire d d ata
It would have re q u ire d about fo rty m an -h o u rs of tim e
and a c le rk could not be s p a re d to e x tra c t d ata fro m the re c o rd s .
Q uestions #29 and #30 w ere a sk ed to gain som e in sig h t a s to te a c h e r
re s o u rc e fu ln e s s and hopefully to be able to d eterm in e w here te a c h e rs m ight
be helped to g et m o re m a te ria l and equipm ent.
R esponse to the query on
re s o u rc e m a te ria ls and equipm ent was quite v aried ; the g ran d talley fo r th re e
types of school d is tr ic ts is shown below.
S u rp risin g ly only one p e rso n m en­
tioned the s ta te film lib r a r y and one o th e r the lo cal m useum .
L ib ra ry (p e rso n al, school, u n iv e rsity , public)
37
A udio-visual aids (film s, f ilm s tr ip s , p e rso n a l s lid e s ,
c h a r ts , m a p s, tra n s p a re n c ie s , o v erlay s)
25
R eferen c es (NSF & ESC P m a te ria l, te x t exam ination co p ies,
AGI so u rc e book, tra d e jo u rn a ls , Holt L ib ra ry of
Science S e rie s)
10
M a te ria ls fro m lo c a l d is tr ic t " re s o u rc e c e n te r"
2
State F ilm L ib ra ry
I
L ocal M useum
„
I
—4 9 —
U niversity o r co lleg e re s o u rc e s
3
Y ellow stone N ational P a rk , C ra te rs of the Moon
3
R eso u rce P eople (U .S . B ureau of R eclam ation, U .S.
F o r e s t S e rv ic e , U .S. M eteorological Station,
U .S. S eism ological Station, m ining en g in eers
8
L ocal a re a (for fie ld trip s and re s o u rc e s )
3
D isplay c a se s
I
V ery m uch
7
V ery little
6
No com m ent
10
The type of la b o ra to ry equipm ent av ailab le to the te a c h e rs is as shown below:
Globe
62
P la n e ta riu m
20
C elestia l sp h ere
15
T opographic •m aps
■ 56
R elief m aps
42
B inocularscope
21
S tructual m odels
32
Clay m odels of s tra tig ra p h ic groups
15
D ioram a
5
S trea m table
23
M ob's sc a le of h a rd n e ss
41 .
■ ■
Rock and m in e ra l co lle ctio n —b ro ad coverage
23
Rock and m in e ra l c o llectio n — r e s tr ic te d
29
-5 0 -
Rock and m in e ra l co llectio n — did not indicate which
13
Rock and m in e ra l collectio n —no com m ent
3
F o s s il co llectio n —b ro ad co v erag e
9
F o s s il co llectio n — r e s tr ic te d
24
F o s s il co llectio n — did not indicate which
F o ssil co llectio n — no com m ent
8
27
T h ree blank sp ac e s w ere provid ed fo r each respondent in the event he had
equipm ent not lis te d .
T h e re w ere 37 e n trie s of which 7 lis te d ESCP equipm ent,
6 borrow ed ph y sics and c h e m istry equipm ent, 3 telesco p e, 2 ste re o sc o p e s fo r
a e ria l photos, 2 e a r th scie n c e c h a rts , 2 w eath er sco p e s, and I each fo r b a l­
a n ce s, g ra d u a te s, p ro je c tio n globe, b a ro m e te r, m eteo ro lo g ical equipm ent,
and contour s e t.
The o th e r 9 com m ents w ere m ore in the lin e of audio-visual
aids o r o th erw ise did not fit the question.
The M cM annis and Shenkle R eport
(1965) lis te d data th at is re m a rk a b ly s im ila r to that developed in the 1969
q u estio n n aire.
And fin ally , the l a s t question (#31) was asked to d e term in e w hether
th e re was a higher le v e l c o u rse av ailab le to those students with the in te re s t
and m otivation.
F ifty -n in e an sw ered no, seven y e s, and two did not com m ent.
T h ere was no noticeable change in tre n d sin ce the M cM annis and Shenkle
R ep o rt (1965).
THE SCIENCE TEACHER LISTS
An a n aly sis of the M ontana Science T e a c h e r lis ts fro m 1963 to 1970 was
m ade in an a tte m p t to d e te rm in e tre n d s with re fe re n c e to e a rth scien ce teaching
in M ontana and to help su b sta n tia te d ata fro m o th e r s o u rc e s .
Although the
-5 1 -
1964-65 and 1965-66 l i s t s w ere not av ailab le, som e info rm atio n fo r 1964-65
on e a rth scie n c e a p p e a re d in the M cM annis and Shenlde R ep o rt (1965).
The data show th a t fro m 1963 to 1967 a tren d away fro m g en eral scie n c e
and tow ard e a rth sc ie n c e had been e sta b lish e d .
However, re fe re n c e to F ig u re s
4 and 5 w ill show th a t in 1967-68 the nu m b er of g en eral scie n c e te a c h e rs ro s e
again fro m 176 to 207 te a c h e rs while e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs in c re a s e d fro m '
90 to 97.
This can be p a rtia lly explained by the in c re a s e in the total num ber of
sch o o ls, up fo u r fro m 211. A t the sam e tim e the nu m b er -of schools offering
e a rth scie n c e in c re a s e d fro m se v e n ty -six to eighty-tw o while the num ber of
schools offering g e n e ra l scien ce in c re a s e d fro m 100 to 105.
In sp ite of the
fo u r new sch o o ls, g e n e ra l scien ce see m e d to have the edge o v er e a rth scie n c e.
T h ere has been p ra c tic a lly no change in the data since then.
H ow ever, a c c o rd ­
ing to C lark F o w ler, S cience S u p erv iso r in the Office of the State Superintendent
of Public In stru c tio n (1970, o ra l com m unication) the data fo r the 1970-71 scien ce
te a c h e r li s t m ay show a slig h t upturn.
He b eliev es in te re s t in e a rth scien ce
and ESCP to be in c re a s in g in v ario u s d is tr ic ts throughout the s ta te .
The
tap erin g off and slig h t dow nturn fo r e a rth scien ce up to la s t fall could be ex­
plained by the la ck of adequately p re p a re d te a c h e rs .
The re c o rd s in the
student c e rtific a tio n office a t M ontana State U niversity show eleven people
have been c e rtifie d a s g e n e ra l scien ce m a jo rs and tw e n ty -th re e a s g en eral
scien ce m in o rs.
In th is sam e tim e p e rio d , .January I , 1968 to July 6, 1970
only ten people have been aw arded teach in g c e rtific a te s in e a rth science and of
th ese only th re e w ere m a jo rs .
A nother explanation could be the sm all size of
N um ber of T each ers
-5 2 -
-----G eneral Science
---- E a rth Science
'63-4 '64-5
'6 5 -6 '6 6 -7 '67-8 '68-9 '69-0
Y ears
N um ber of Schools
F ig u re 3. Changes in the num ber teaching e a rth science
and g en eral scie n c e, 1963 to 1970
G eneral Science
E a rth Science
Y ears
F ig u re 4. Changes in the num ber of schools teaching e a rth
scien ce and g en eral sc ie n c e , 1963 to 1970
-5 3 -
the school d is tr ic ts .
Even had th e re been no sh o rtag e of e a rth science
te a c h e rs it is doubtful w hether the s m a lle r d is tric ts would have been finan­
cially capable of h irin g them .
s e v e ra l fie ld s.
These d is tric ts need te a c h e rs who can teach in
Many su p erin ten d en ts have notified the P la c em en t Office at
M ontana State U n iv e rsity th a t they need "a" p e rso n to teach biology, c h e m istry ,
p h y sic s, and g e n eral scie n c e o r e a rth scie n c e (J. W. B reed en , 1970, o ral
com m unication). When one review s the re q u ire m e n ts fo r a teaching option, it
can be re a d ily seen th a t m o st p ro sp e ctiv e te a c h e rs cannot te ac h well in all of
those fie ld s.
As th is su rv e y has brought out, o v er half of the responding
te a c h e rs do not have even a teaching m in o r in e a rth scie n c e.
Several s u p e r­
intendents have e x p re s s e d a d e s ire fo r p ro sp ectiv e te a c h e rs with b a c h e lo r's
d e g re e s r a th e r than fo r those with m a s te r 's d e g re es (Montana Collegian,
Spring 1970, p. 3).
O bviously they can h ire m o re people with b a c h e lo r's
d e g re e s than they can w ith m a s te r 's d e g re es fo r the sam e m oney. A ttitudes
such a s th e se a re re g re tta b le fo r it b rin g s into question the quality of education
re c eiv e d by som e of o u r ch ild ren .
A p ro fessio n al te a c h e r who is c e rtifie d to
teach biology can and does quite freq u en tly te ac h e a rth scie n c e if he has a
m inim um of fifteen q u a rte r c re d its in e a r th scien ce (E n d o rsem en t re q u ire m e n ts
fo r a c c re d ita tio n a s of A p ril 1968, seco n d ary sch o o ls, State Superintendent of
Public In stru c tio n , M ontana).
C onversely, a p e rso n c e rtifie d to teach e a rth
scien ce can, but r a r e ly does, teach biology if he has fifteen q u a rte r c re d its of
life scie n c e.
The tra d itio n a l field s of biology, p h y sics, and c h em istry a re
recognized as re q u irin g c e rta in b a sic m inim al su b ject m a tte r background.
-5 4 -
H ow ever, many people, school a d m in is tra to rs included, think they know so m e­
thing about "the e a rth " and fail to see th a t e a rth science te a c h e rs also need
som e m inim al su b ject m a tte r background.
teaching com binations in M ontana.
See Table IV fo r an an aly sis of
T rad itio n ally , the e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs
have had a stro n g background in biology a n d /o r c h em istry (W eitz, 1969, p. 2).
T hese people have no tro u b le teaching g e n eral scie n c e.
H ow ever, a te a c h e r
tra in e d in e a rth scien ce m ay be v e ry weak in the biological sc ie n c e s.
A
d e te rre n t to m inoring in the biological scie n c es at M ontana State U niversity is
m a ssiv e s iz e of th a t teaching m in o r—a m inim um of fo rty -fo u r c re d it h o u rs.
A
te a c h e r tra in e d in e a r th scie n c e has h is choice of job lo c a le s n arro w ed down
co n sid erab ly .
If th e re a r e no v acan cies in the f i r s t c la s s d is tr ic ts he and many
young M ontana students a r e out of luck; the te a c h e r has no challenging job and
the students may be d eprived of a quality education in e a rth scien ce.
The tre n d
may v ery well be leading back to g e n eral scie n c e by default on the p a rt of
M ontana e d u c a to rs.
This change may be so gradual th a t it will not even be
recognized by an official change in nam e.
But, the p ro b lem is not so sim p le as
to be confined to the s m a lle r school d is tr ic ts .
Some f i r s t c la s s school s y ste m s ,
and B utte is a good exam ple, li s t nothing but s tra ig h t g e n eral scien ce c o u rse s.
GEOLOGY STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRES
The e a r l i e r of th e se q u estio n n aires (A) was designed to get the seco n d ary
school stu d e n ts’ point of view; the m o st re c e n t q u estio n n aire (B) was designed,
hopefully, to g a th e r som e data p e rta in in g to the effect of ESCP on college le v e l
geology.
As it tu rn ed out, the la tte r was m uch too o p tim istic an endeavor.
-5 5 -
TABLE IV
TEACHING COMBINATIONS
E a rth
scien ce
G eneral
scien ce
Biology
C h em istry P h y sics
P h y sic al
scien ce
X
X
S2
4
X
X
X
ii
X .
X
10
X
X
4
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
N um ber .of
te a c h e rs
X
X
.X
X
X
X
X
X
X
I
5 .
2
X
I
I
4
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
2
X
I
X
X ‘
X
X
X
X
X_
X
16 com binations
X
X
I
7
X
Total is
87
-5 6 -
In stru m e n t A, s e e the A ppendix, was designed to re q u ire an sw ers fo r
a t le a s t the f i r s t two questions fro m a ll resp o n d en ts.
H ow ever, a negative
a n sw e r fo r question one, "have you e v e r had a co u rse in e a rth scien ce o r
geology b efo re ?", m eant th at the r e s t of the in stru m e n t a fte r question two
would be le ft blank.
The second question ask ed w hether they had e v e r had a
c o u rse in c h e m istry befo re and if so was it a difficult c o u rs e .
Two of the
students m ade r a th e r in cisiv e com m ents about c h e m istry th a t b e a r rep eatin g .
One sa id he had not had any c h e m istry and to the question "w as it difficult fo r
y o u ? " he a n sw ered , "It probably would have been".
The o th e r student, in
a n sw e r to w hether c h e m istry was difficult fo r him sa id , " s o r t of but I think it
was m ore difficult fo r the in s tru c to r" .
A to tal of 234 q u estio n n aires of type A w ere com pleted.
Of th e se , 6
students e n te re d d ata p e rta in in g to college lev el c o u rse s; they w ere rem oved
fro m co n sid e ra tio n .
Of the 228 rem ain in g , 74 said they had had an e a rth
scie n c e c o u rse in high school and 154 sa id they had not.
It m u st be re m e m b e re d
th a t the info rm atio n given by the stu d en ts can be no m o re re c e n t than th re e y e a rs
ago, m uch of it is a t le a s t five o r six y e a r s old, and som e d ates to the e a rly
s ix tie s . Although the d ata o ffers no s ta rtlin g re v e la tio n s , it does seem to be
av erag e enough to be of in te r e s t if fo r nothing e lse but v e rific a tio n of intuitive
feelin g s.
The d ata, as b a se d on the th re e a n sw e rs to the f i r s t two questions can
be found in Table V.
Since 154 of the q u estio n n aires had a no an sw er fo r the f i r s t question,
-5 7 -
and sin ce questions #3 to #15 w ere unansw ered, they w ere rem o v ed from
fu rth e r co n sid eratio n .
The 74 rem ain in g q u estio n n aires w ere then tallied .
A nsw ers to questions #3 to #6 which re la te d to school, lo catio n , te a c h e r nam e,
and date w ere too d iv e rse to g e t any m eaningful re s u lts and a re not a p a rt of
this re p o rt.
Q uestion #7 ask ed fo r g rad e lev el and n um ber of s e m e s te rs .
TABLE V
DISTRIBUTION OF ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS I AND 2
ON GEOLOGY STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE A
A nsw er to
question #1*
A nsw er to
question #2+
N um ber of
in stru m e n ts
Subtotals
y es
y es
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
no
—
&2
34
18
74
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
yes
no
—
53
67
34
1154
A nsw ered with college c o u rse data
6
+
Total
228
*Have you e v e r had a c o u rse in e a rth scien ce o r geology b efo re ?
+Have you e v e r had a c o u rse in c h em istry ? If y e s , was it difficult
fo r you ?
The to ta ls m ade ideal random d istrib u tio n c u rv e s.
T h ere w ere 33 who had
e a r th scie n c e in g rad e nine, 8 in g rad e eig h t, 10 in g rad e ten , 4 in grade
seven, 5 in g ra d e elev en , I in g rad e six , and 2 in g rad e tw elve.
Those who
had c o u rs e s above g ra d e nine tended to be m ostly o u t-o f-s ta te stu d en ts.
T h ere
w ere 52 who sa id the c o u rse was two s e m e s te r s long, 12 sa id one s e m e s te r,
and I sa id th re e s e m e s te r s .
G rades w ere skew ed tow ard the high side; th e re
-5 8 -
w ere 10 A 's , 35 B 's , and 21 C s .
One would expect tins sin ce those students
with the b e tte r g ra d e s a re usually the ones who attend college.
A bsence of
D 's and F 's was a ttrib u te d e ith e r to a re lu c ta n c e to re p o rt a low g rad e o r to
the "n a tu ra l sele c tio n " of the m o re capable students into the u n iv e rsity .
p a rts of the c o u rse found m o st in te re stin g a re tab u lated below:
ro c k s and m in e ra ls
13
m aps (topographic)
6
w e ath e r (m eteorology)
6
oceans
2
astro n o m y and space
3
e a r th gen esis
3
g la c ia l fe a tu re s
4
geom orphology
6
vo lcan ism
4
earth q u ak es
3
s tru c tu re
2
m ountain building
3
h is to ric a l/fo s s ils
5
n a tu ra l fo rc e s
I
w eathering
I
geology
2
field trip s
I
lab e x e rc is e s
I
The
—59™
p ro je c ts
I
all p a rts
I
none (one student said the te a c h e r co u ld n 't come down
to th e ir le v e l).
3
found te c to n ic s, geom orphology, ocean c u rre n ts b o rin g
I
all except chem ical com position of ro ck s (this student said
he liked o rg an ic chem istry )
I
The wide and v a rie d d istrib u tio n would se e m to indicate th a t an e n th u siastic
and know ledgable te a c h e r can m ake any a sp e c t of e a rth scie n c e in te re stin g .
Those students who d id n 't lik e som e o r all p a rts of the c o u rse w ere negative
in th e ir a n sw e rs p e rta in in g to recom m ending the c o u rse to frie n d s and to
te a c h e r e n th u siasm .
F ifty -fiv e stu d en ts s a id they would have recom m ended
th e ir e a rth scien ce c o u rse to frie n d s and 11 s a id no.
To the question as to
how well v e rs e d the te a c h e r w as, 56 sa id y e s , 12 sa id no.
T h ere w ere 46 who
thought th e ir te a c h e r was e n th u sia stic while 19 said no he was not.
A sked about
la b o ra to ry w ork, 22 sa id they did have som e while 44 said they did not.
T h e ir
a n sw e rs fo r tim e sp en t in lab in hours p e r week a re tab u lated below:
le s s than one hour
3
two and o n e-h alf h o u rs
I
one h our
6
th re e h o u rs
2
two hours
5
th re e to four h o u rs
I
five hours
I
The question "do you have m uch h o m ew o rk ?" elic ited 28 y es an sw ers and 39 no,
a n sw e rs.
A sked, "did it help you to u n d erstan d the m a te ria l b e tte r .?" 29 sa id
-6 0 -
y e s, 8 sa id no.
The a n sw e rs given by the students re la tiv e to hom ew ork
seem ed to indicate th a t those exposed to it fe lt it was b en eficial.
do not n e c e s s a rily balance.
com pletely.
T alleys
Many resp o n d en ts did not a n sw e r the q u estio n n aire
In the c a s e of the hom ew ork question those th a t an sw ered no could
have had som e hom ew ork.
In th a t event they could s till give an affirm ativ e
a n sw er to the question about w hether i t helped them .
The v e ry low n um ber of
no re s p o n s e s , eight to be ex act, is a ttrib u ta b le to the fa c t th a t those who
an sw ered no to the f i r s t p a r t and in te rp re te d it to m ean no did not b o th er to
a n sw e r the second p a rt.
The fa c t th a t the overw helm ing m a jo rity of the te a c h e rs ,
s ix ty -s ix of them , a ssig n e d hom ew ork in d ic a tes the te a c h e rs fe lt it w orthw hile.
Eighty p e r cen t of those who assig n ed hom ew ork said the load was light.
many students re p o rte d taking field tr ip s .
The tabulation is a s follows:
two field trip s
2
5
th re e field trip s
I
fo u r field tr ip s
2
no fie ld trip s
57
one field trip
Not
V ery few could re m e m b e r the nam e of th e ir te x t books.
Five hinted at
" E a rth Science" which m ight have been the te x t by F le tc h e r and W olfe.
Only
one o th e r was sp ecific and he m entioned "M odern E a rth S cien ce". As sta te d
b efo re the data is not s u rp ris in g but p erh ap s m ay supply som e re in fo rce m e n t
fo r the intuitive feelings th at seco n d ary te a c h e rs have about how th e ir stu d en ts
p e rfo rm .
In stru m e n t B, see the Appendix, was devised with th e o p tim istic p re m is e
th a t th e re would be a c o rre la tio n betw een th o se who had had an ESCP c o u rse in
TABLE VI
DISTRIBUTION OF ANSWERS TO GEOLOGY STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE B
A n sw er to
question #1
A nsw er to
question #2
Location *
N um ber of
in stru m e n ts
G rade
•Id istribution
A
B
C
D
F
2
0
0
0
0
0
27
2
10
10
5
0
5
0
I
3
I
0
Yes
Yes
Conn. & Mont.
Yes
No
M ontana
Yes
No
No
No
M ontana
68
5
24
32
3
4
No
No
o u t-o f-sta te
22
3
6
10
3
0
' No
No
did not say
15
0
5
7
3
0
Nd
NC
A naconda
' o u t-o f-sta te
I
140 to tal
gave no nam e
—6 2 -
high school and b e tte r than a v erag e g ra d e s in the p h y sical geology c o u rse a t
M ontana State U n iv ersity .
H ow ever, of the 140 q u estio n n aires d istrib u te d to
sp rin g q u a rte r 1970 stu d en ts, only 2 s a id they had had an ESCP co u rse; one
being fro m out of s ta te .
When final g ra d e s w ere checked, th e se two c ru c ia l
students cam e out w ith D 's.
The only conclusion th at could be draw n fro m th is
data is th a t the sta n d a rd bell cu rv e fits ESCP c o u rse s too and we m u st have "
gotten students fro m the lo w e r end.
H ow ever, som e value was deriv ed fro m ■
the d a ta by s o rtin g the q u e stio n n aires acco rd in g to y es and no an sw ers and
c o rre la tin g final g ra d e s with the grouping.
The fa c t th a t the d istrib u tio n is so
com pletely n o rm al is the in te re stin g p a r t of the a n aly sis.
The students w ere
f ir s t ask ed if they had had an e a rth scie n c e c o u rse in high school and to a n sw e r
y es o r no.
They w ere then ask ed if they u sed the ESCP te x t and to an sw er
y es o r no.
The students w ere also re q u e ste d to state w here the co u rse was
taken and to sign th e ir n a m es.
D istrib u tio n of the data is shown in Table VI.
C H A P T E R IV
SUMMARY
The p a s t decade has seen a re s u rg e n c e of e a rth scie n c e o v er g en eral
scien ce a s the in tro d u cto ry high school scie n c e c o u rse .
T h ere has been d is ­
satisfa c tio n with g e n eral scien ce b ecau se i t tends to te a c h fa c ts , because sub­
je c t m a tte r is now being co v ered in e a r l i e r c o u rs e s , and b ecau se it su ffe rs
fro m a la c k of continuity.
E a rth scie n c e, on the o th e r hand, p re s e n ts id eas
in the context of ex p erien c e of p ro b lem s th a t re la te to a unifying them e.
This
them e, a study of m a n 's environ m en t m ay be the key educational fa c to r in
m a n 's f ir s t re a l e ffo rt to control en v iro n m en tal pollution.
A rev iew of th e lite r a tu r e shows su p p o rt fo r one of th e m ain contentions
of th is th e s is , th a t education can and should take the in itia tiv e in the m id st of
th is population-environm ental pollution-technological c r is is .
A tru e in te rd is ­
c ip lin a ry approach is recom m en d ed by som e v isio n ary a u th o rs a s the only way
to overcom e apathy and to ultim ately re so lv e global p ro b le m s.
The b e st way
to acco m p lish th is would be to educate fu tu re te a c h e rs and a d m in is tra to rs by
using the sam e m ethods on the college le v el; obtain the su p p o rt of fe d e ral and
p riv a te national o rg an izatio n s; use m odifications of the team teaching m ethod;
e sta b lis h and m aintain e x tre m ely good lin e s of com m unication in a school d is ­
tr i c t fro m the p rin c ip a l on down; m ake u se of freq u en t s e m in a rs and in -s e rv ic e
c o u rs e s fo r teaching sta ffs.
R e se a rc h is beginning to show th a t the co m m ittee
developed c u rric u lu m p ro je c ts with th e ir in v estig ativ e la b o ra to ry type ap p ro ach
can be f a r s u p e rio r to the tra d itio n a l le c tu re and re v ie w -o f-te x t c o u rse s.
-6 4 -
Such r e s e a r c h as has been p e rfo rm e d by th is in v e stig a to r shows th a t
tre n d s fo r e a rth scie n c e teaching in M ontana a r e not encouraging.
O ver
fifty p e r cen t of the p ro fe ssio n a l te a c h e rs now teaching e a rth scien ce a re not
adequately tra in e d in th is field .
The e x tre m e ly sm all s iz e of som e M ontana
school d is tr ic ts , the m ethods fo r ra is in g funds, and lack of v ision on the
p a r t of som e school b o ard s and a d m in is tra to rs a re ju s t a few of the stagnating
fa c to rs th a t hold the tre n d tow ard e a rth scie n c e to a s n a il's pace.
T h ere is no
o rg an izatio n al s tru c tu re in M ontana th a t is activ ely try in g to rem edy th ese
p ro b le m s .
Still u n re so lv ed a r e the p ro b lem s of how to finance th is g en eral educa­
tional e ffo rt adequately, how to p ro m o te e a r th scien ce with its environm ental
a sp e c ts on a s ta te and national s c a le , and how to p ro p e rly develop a w are n e ss
of vocational and p ro fe ssio n a l c a r e e r s a t the elem en ta ry and seco n d ary le v e ls
of schooling.
T hese p ro b le m s m u st be re so lv e d and re so lv e d soon.
It is im p o rtan t
to re m e m b e r th a t the stu d en ts of today a re th e citiz en s of to m o rro w .
If they
a re to m ake in te llig e n t p o litic a l d ecisio n s concerning environm ental p ro b lem s
they m u st be based on som e understanding of the e a rth , its life , and the
p ro c e s s e s which a ffect it.
CONCLUSIONS
' Introduction
M ontana is ideally su ite d fo r a study of e a rth scie n c e becau se of its
w ealth of in te re s tin g n a tu ra l phenom ena, esp e c ially its geology.
E xposure
-6 5 -
to e a rth scie n c e would, we hope, endow many stu d en ts with a feeling of p rid e in
th e ir s ta te and p e rh a p s m otivate them to seek a c a r e e r h e re in M ontana.
P e r­
haps th is w ill com e about, but it is h a rd to be o p tim istic in the face of a contin­
uing sh o rta g e of qualified e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs .
M e rrill and Shrum (1966,
p.. 24) and o th e rs have d isc u sse d the p ro b lem o v er the p a s t five y e a rs but both
in itia tiv e and fa c ilitie s fo r in -s e rv ic e tra in in g fo r g e n eral scien ce te a c h e rs
see m to be lacking, p a rtic u la rly in the s m a lle r school d is tr ic ts .
A dm ittedly
th e v a s t te r r ito r y of M ontana is a p ro b lem sh a re d by s e v e ra l of the w estern
s ta te s .
H ow ever, old e sta b lis h e d p ra c tic e s can also dilute the effect of new er
innovations.
It has alw ays been c u sto m ary in sm all d is tr ic ts to assig n te a c h e rs
in the c la s s ic a l sc ie n c e s to g e n eral scie n c e teaching d u tie s.
Now th a t e a rth
scien ce h as been reco m m en d ed the sam e p ra c tic e is c a r r ie d o v e r.
It is en ­
tir e ly p o ssib le th a t the school a d m in is tra to rs feel the sam e way about e a rth
scie n c e a s the g e n eral public does about education; th a t is , having been exposed
to it in a g e n eral way m akes every o n e som ew hat of an e x p e rt in the field.
The
fa c t th a t the n u m e ric a l data show th a t e a r th scien ce is lo sin g ground to g e n e ra l
scien ce se e m s to su p p o rt w hat was ju s t sa id about the attitu d e of school s u p e r­
inten d en ts.
R esponsible people in the State Office of Public In stru ctio n e x p re s s
o p tim ism th a t e a rth scie n c e is catching on bu t th is may be tru e only of ESCP
c o u rs e s and only in the c itie s w here e a rth scien ce has been s tro n g e r.
Specific
conclusions sta te d h e re a fte r will be c ate g o riz e d by the v a rio u s educational le v e ls
N ational and R egional L evels
T h ere is no national group to supply the in itiativ e needed to move edu-
-66-
cation tow ard e a rth scie n c e.
(1969, p. 43).
These w ere sen tim en ts voiced by E eith
The N ational A sso ciatio n of Geology T e a c h e rs (NAGT) has been
fighting an uphill b a ttle fo r y e a rs but it is h a rd to re a c h th o se te a c h e rs d ra fte d
into e a rth scien ce who have been tra in e d in o th e r m a jo r fie ld s. Even when the
few who a re in te re s te d and w ant to re m a in in the field a re added to the ran k s of
qualified te a c h e rs th e ir n um bers a re too few to e x e rt much p r e s s u r e .
Since
individual school d is tric ts in the fifty s ta te s a re autonom ous units it would
see m r a th e r futile to attack the p ro b lem fro m lo cal o r even reg io n al le v e ls.
D irectio n com ing fro m a c e n tra l group in flu en tial with a ll of the c la s s ic a l
sc ie n c e s m ay be the a n sw er.
O rganizations such a s the A m erican A sso ciatio n
fo r the A dvancem ent of Science (AAAS), the N ational Science T e a c h e rs ' A sso ­
ciation (NSTA), o r the N ational Science FoundatiOn(NSF), if p ro p e rly staffed,
and w orking in c o n c e rt with the A m erican G eological In stitu te (AGI) and the
A m erican In stitu te of B iological Sciences (AIBS) m ight be effective in th is a re a .
To a g g rav ate an a lre a d y in e rtia -b o u n d sy ste m even fu rth e r the upcom ing
E a rth Science C u rricu lu m P ro je c t re q u ire s even b e tte r tra in e d te a c h e rs and
m o re so p h istica te d and expensive la b o ra to ry equipm ent.
A tru e in te rd is c ip lin a ry ap p ro ach to the w o rld -sh ak in g p roblem s of o u r
day is needed in the seco n d ary sch o o ls.
Such an approach which em p h asizes
kinship r a th e r than differen ces betw een the d iscip lin es is v ita l.
Since it has
been d e term in e d th a t n o n -scien ce te a c h e rs can have as good o r b e tte r u n d e r­
standing of the philosophy of scien ce a s do scien ce te a c h e rs , then a t le a s t one
avenue lie s open fo r im p ro v ed com m unication betw een the sc ie n c e s and the
-6 7 -
hum anities.
E a rth scie n c e b ecause i t p re s e n ts id eas in the context of ex p erien ce o r
p ro b le m s th a t re la te to a unifying th em e, m an ’s environm ent, is ideally su ite d
(as is biological science) fo r the c o re of th is new c u rric u la r approach.
students of today a r e the citizen s of to m o rro w .
The
If they a r e to m ake in tellig en t
p o litic a l d ecisions concerning en v iro n m en tal p ro b lem s they m u st be b ased on"
som e u n derstanding of the e a rth , its life , and the p ro c e s s e s which affect it.
T e a c h e rs tend to s tr e s s th a t which is m o st fa m ilia l to them .
o m it quite a b it fro m a c o u rse if th e ir background is lim ited .
They
This is what is
happening to e a rth scie n c e a s it did p re v io u sly with g en eral scien ce.
T e a ch e rs
tra in e d in the o th e r c la s s ic a l scie n c es em p h asize units m o st clo sely re la te d to
th e ir m a jo r field and they tend to sk im o v e r o r skip o th e r u n its.
State L ev els
T e a ch e r c e rtific a tio n p o licies betw een the s ta te s a re not stan d ard ized .
As an exam ple, N orth D akota schools a re s e t up p rim a rily on an 8-4 sy stem
w ith e a r th scien ce m andatory in the eighth g ra d e . A f i r s t g rad e p ro fessio n al
c e rtific a te valid fo r th re e y e a rs is issu e d .
It au th o rizes the p e rso n to whom
i t is is s u e d to te ac h all g ra d e s and su b jec ts in e lem en tary and secondary
schools (Stinnett, 1967, p. 144).
In W est V irginia, sta te law re q u ire s th a t
te a c h e rs be c e rtifie d in the subjects they teach.
Even though e a rth scien ce is
taught in th a t s ta te th e re is no e a rth scien ce c ertific atio n -a v ailab le ; the
te a c h e rs have to be c e rtifie d un d er the g e n e ra l scien ce c la ssific a tio n .
Conse­
quently th e re a r e many people lacking an e a rth science background who a re
IU
H
w6 8 —
leg ally able to te ac h e a rth scien ce (G raham , 1968, p. 49).
In M ontana th e re
a re eighteen school d is tric ts s e t up on a 6 -3 -3 b a sis and 153 d is tric ts o p eratin g
on an 8-4 b a s is .
This m ean s th a t in som e in sta n ce s g ra d e s sev en and eight
m ay be taught in the e le m e n ta ry sch o o ls.
c e rtific a tio n re q u ire m e n ts.
H ow ever, M ontana has overlapping
An e le m e n ta ry te a c h e r is c e rtifie d fo r g rad es
k in d e rg a rte n to nine (K-9) and seco n d ary te a c h e rs a re c e rtifie d f o r g rad es
seven to tw elve (7-12).
Since all known e a r th scien ce is taught in e ith e r the
ju n io r o r s e n io r high school the te a c h e rs a re leg ally re q u ire d to be c e rtifie d ,
a t the le a s t, a s having an e a rth scie n c e m in o r with a m inim um of th irty q u a r­
te r c re d its of e a r th sc ie n c e c o u rse w ork.
The financial su p p o rt sy ste m s a p p e a r to be o b so lescen t.
School le v ie s
a re the only tax es on which the v o te r is able to c a s t a d ire c t b allo t.
tax p ay e r vents his fru s tra tio n by voting a g a in st the levy.
Many a
In re c e n t y e a rs an
in c re a s in g num ber of school d is tr ic ts have had to s e t up one o r m o re addi­
tional b a llo ts b efo re getting th e ir le v ie s through.
M ontana
T e a c h e rs in M ontana a re o verw orked, underpaid, and in the case of
e a r th scie n c e te a c h e rs , inadequately tra in e d .
E a rth scie n c e is fa irly new in M ontana a s a teaching m a jo r.
M ost
te a c h e r p re p a ra tio n has been in g e n eral scie n c e o r the biological sciences,.
When te a c h e rs e n ro ll fo r additional c o u rse w ork they tend to co n cen trate in
the life s c ie n c e s .
This tendency h as been v e rifie d in W est V irg in ia by
G rahain (1968, pp. 37-38).
Table VI shows the heavy co n cen tratio n of
i IL
-6 9 -
te a c h e rs w ith life scie n c e b ackg ro u n d s.
T h ere a r e a t le a s t se v e ra l qualified te a c h e rs with m a s te r 's d eg rees in
geology who p re s e n tly a re unable to obtain reasonably d e sira b le positions as
e a r th scie n c e te a c h e rs in M ontana (W. J . M cM annis and J . W. B reeden, 1970,
o ra l com m unication).
P a ra d o x ic ally , i t is the candidate with the advanced
d eg ree who finds it m o st difficult to s e c u re a teaching p o sitio n .
A dm ittedly,
the c u rre n t econom ic re c e s s io n does not help th e situ atio n , n o r does the mill
levy sy ste m which is u sed to r a is e additional school funds in M ontana.
M ill
levys fo r 1970-71 have been in tro u b le in Lew istow n, G lendive, and o th e r
M ontana com m unities (News item in th e G re a t F a lls T rib u n e, A p ril 8, 1970,
p. 13). An a u s te rity p ro g ra m was invoked by the B ozem an school d is tric t so
a s to avoid an in c re a s e in the m ill levy ra te (E d ito rial in the B ozem an Daily
C hronicle, M arch 29, 1970, p. 4).
Local L evels
The s m a lle r M ontana school d is tric ts a re unable to innovate read ily
b ecau se th e ir e x tre m ely sm a ll s iz e has a lim itin g effect on th e ir budgets.
B ecause many e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs a re re lu c ta n t and p rin c ip a ls ra re ly see m
to en co u rag e, m o st seco n d ary school stu d en ts a re being dep riv ed of the e x ce l­
le n t le arn in g opp o rtu n ities th a t can be s e c u re d fro m e a rth scie n c e field trip s .
College L ev els
T h ere a r e only a lim ite d num ber of e a r th scien ce c o u rs e s available to
the w orking te a c h e r in M ontana.
T e a c h e rs , even if they have the d e sire an d
in itia tiv e la c k the opportunity to im p ro v e th e ir background.
-7 0 -
Those te a c h e rs who do have an e a rth scien ce background m u st find it
difficult to keep up with re c e n t e v e n ts. T h e re is no c u rre n tly activ e u n iv ersity
lev el org an izatio n in M ontana, a sso c ia te d with an e a rth scie n c e d e p a rtm e n t,
th a t can m aintain open lin e s of com m unication with them .
RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
It would se e m th a t contro l and p re s e rv a tio n of m a n 's en v ironm ent is
the o v e rrid in g co n sid e ra tio n of the day.
It would also see m th a t this can only
be acco m p lish ed by a co n ce rte d and c o n c u rre n t e ffo rt of education and by con­
tro l of population.
E a rth scie n c e, a s a d iscip lin e is ideally su ited to play a
key in te rd is c ip lin a ry ro le in the study of en v iro n m en tal p ro b le m s.
It can p ro ­
vide an in te re stin g , m eaningful, re le v a n t, and continuous type of c u rric u lu m in
which each stu d en t m ay becom e actively involved.
N ational and R egional L evels
E a rth scie n c e p ro fe ssio n a ls should s triv e fo r appointm ents to the ex ec­
utive b o ard s of the national scien ce a sso c ia tio n s.
E a rth scie n c e p ro fe ssio n a ls should publish in the p ro fe ssio n a l jo u rn a ls
of o th e r d isc ip lin e s.
The a rtic le s need to s tr e s s the im p o rtan ce of an in te r ­
d isc ip lin a ry approach, e sp e c ially when teaching about p ro b lem s re la te d to
en v iro n m en t and overpopulation.
The national e a rth scie n c e o rg an izatio n s and the fe d e ra l governm ent
should o ffer s c h o la rsh ip s so as to a ttr a c t m o re able stu d en ts into the e arth ,
scie n c e teaching p ro fe ssio n .
-7 1 -
T hese sam e o rg an izatio n s should in itia te a c o n certed p ro g ra m to
influence those now tra in e d as g en eral scien ce te a c h e rs to undertake a r e ­
tra in in g p ro g ra m fo r e a rth scien ce teaching.
A fe d e ra l-s ta te financing sy stem with a m inim um of fe d e ra l control
should be sought to re p la ce education lev y s a t the lo cal le v e l.
P erh ap s som e
s o r t of " p a rtic ip a to ry dem ocracy " m ight w ork.
State L evels
T e a ch e r c e rtific a tio n p o licies betw een the s ta te s , p a rtic u la rly in e a rth
scien ce should be stan d ard ized .
B ased on a review of re la te d lite r a tu r e and fro m the re s e a rc h data th a t
has been com piled, all scien ce te a c h e rs should have som e ex p o su re to e a rth
and life sc ie n c e s.
All have a com m on m inim um background in e ith e r p h y sics
o r c h e m istry and m any have c o u rs e s in both.
Such an ex p o su re would give
secondary schooL students a som ew hat b e tte r chance fo r a quality education.
It should a lso help the scien ce te a c h e rs to be m o re re c ep tiv e to com m unication
with the o th e r scien ce d iscip lin es and hopefully le ad to an eventual tru ly in te r ­
d isc ip lin a ry education.
A m ultiple n e ste d c u rric u la was d e sc rib e d by Connally
(1966) th a t allow s fo r te a c h e r education w ithin th e e x istin g e a r th science
c u rric u lu m .
It could po ssib ly be a s ta rtin g point fo r such an endeavor.
State offices of public in stru c tio n should phase out c ertific a tio n of
g e n eral scie n c e teaching m a jo rs ; p o lic ie s th a t p e rta in to e a rth scien ce c e r ti­
fication should be co n sisten tly enforced.
-7 2 -
M ontana
The s ta te office of public in stru c tio n should enforce its certific atio n
law s e sp e c ially a s they p e rta in to the e a r th scien ce d iscip lin e.
The g e n eral scie n c e teaching m a jo r should be dropped fro m the c e r ti­
fication lis t.
A fte r a ll it is a g ro s s in co n sisten cy sin ce recom m endations of
the study guide fo r scien ce have been in ex isten c e sin ce 1961.
P e rh a p s one -
way to e ffe ct th is change would be to d e c la re a th re e to five y e a r p erio d a fte r
which g e n e ra l scie n c e would no lo n g e r be a le g al te a c h in g 'm a jo r o r m inor.
This would give the unqualified te a c h e rs now teaching e a rth scien ce am ple
i .
tim e to pick up n e c e s s a ry c o u rse s' o r to sw itch to an o th er field .
Funds fo r education a re e x tre m e ly lim ite d in M ontana.
is only about 700,000 and th e re is v ery little in d u stry .
The population
M ost school money
m u st com e fro m the school land incom e, p ro p e rty ta x es, and m ill le v ie s.
A
rev iew of re la te d lite r a tu r e and r e s e a r c h data show th a t e a rth scien ce budgets
a re inadequate.
A consolidation of n u m erous sm all school d is tric ts throughout
the s ta te would m ake m o re of the e x istin g school funds av ailab le p e r pupil
than a t p re s e n t.
L ocal L ev els
Only fully tra in e d e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs should be h ire d even though
i t m eans a resh u fflin g of teaching sta ff d u ties.
The re sp o n sib ility fo r teaching e a rth scien ce should be in te g ra te d u n d er
a single te a c h e r o r the n e c e s sa ry m inim um few qualified te a c h e rs .
School
a d m in is tra to rs should d e fe r from the expediency of filling blocks in the
-7 3 -
teaching schedule with bodies.
T h e ir p rim e re sp o n sib ility is , a fte r a ll, to
s e c u re the b e s t p o ssib le education fo r the c h ild ren p laced in th e ir schools.
R eith (1969, p. 49) sugg ested th a t w here student dem and is lig h t a
single fully tra in e d and qualified e a r th scien ce te a c h e r m ig h t be h ire d fo r two
o r m o re continguous d is tr ic ts .
This could help allev iate the p r e s s u r e fo r
" ja c k -o f -a ll-tr a d e s " te a c h e rs in th ird c la s s d is tric ts ; it m ight also be given '
co n sid e ra tio n in the la r g e r city d is tr ic ts .
A ll e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs should be encouraged.to atten d in -s e rv ic e
e a rth scie n c e p ro g ra m s .
P rin c ip a ls should provide c la s s ro o m and la b o ra to ry fa c ilitie s fo r
ex clu siv e e a rth scie n c e u se and activ ely encourage a p ro g ra m whereby equip­
m ent m ay be sh a re d with schools of n earb y d is tric ts .
T h e re is a re a l need fo r freq u en t field trip s in a c o u rse of this type.
A d m in is tra to rs should encourage te a c h e rs in th is re s p e c t.
E a rth scien ce
and life scie n c e field tr ip s a re no le s s im p o rta n t than a th le tic events fo r
which students a re excused and fo r which tra n sp o rta tio n is provided.
If tim e
can be s e t a sid e fo r pep ra llie s and g a m es, th e re seem s no ju stifia b le re a so n
why tim e fo r scien ce field trip s cannot be w orked into the schedule.
A m odification of te a m teaching m ay enable the individual school sy ste m
to e ffe ct an in te rd is c ip lin a ry ap p ro ach to environm ental p ro b le m s within the
existin g c u rric u la r fram ew o rk .
It would re q u ire th a t te a c h e rs g u e st-le c tu re
in c la s s ro o m s of o th e r d iscip lin es when a p p ro p ria te ; it m ight re q u ire an
a sse m b lag e of s e v e ra l c la s s e s in the v a rio u s d iscip lin es in o rd e r to gain
-7 4 -
com m on knowledge o r e x p erien ce.
College L evel
G eneral scie n c e should be dropped as a c e rtifia b le teaching m a jo r o r
m in o r by the colleges and u n iv e rs itie s.
C ertain su m m e r education c o u rs e s should be re q u ire d of the "ten u red "
te a c h e rs who vision has been n arro w ed by the y e a r s .
F o r exam ple, c o u rse s
such a s H isto ry of E ducation, G eneral School C u rricu lu m , C om parative
E ducation, and S y stem atic P h ilo so p h ies of E ducation.
A c o u rse such as
tre n d s in scien ce teaching should be b ro ad en ed to s tr e s s e a rth scien ce r a th e r
than g e n eral scie n c e and a tru ly in te rd is c ip lin a ry em p h asis a ssig n e d to the
c o u rse .
C olleges and u n iv e rs itie s w orking with the reg io n al accre d itin g
a sso c ia tio n should e x e rt su fficien t p r e s s u r e a t the seco n d ary education le v el
so a s to d isco u rag e continuation of g e n e ra l scien ce teaching m a jo rs.
M ore e a rth scie n c e c o u rs e s , s u m m e r q u a rte r included, should be
m ade av ailab le to the w orking te a c h e r s .
C o u rses beyond th e in tro d u cto ry
le v e l se e m to be a p a rtic u la rly difficult h u rd le fo r the w orking te a c h e r to
overcom e sin ce they a re not availab le during the su m m e r q u a rte r in M ontana.
M ineralogy-lithology fo r exam ple could p erh ap s be o ffered on a stag g e re d
b a s is to g e t th re e q u a rte rs of c o u rse w ork into two su m m e rs.
T h ere se e m s to be a tre n d a t le a s t in la r g e r school d is tr ic ts , tow ards
placing te a c h e rs w here they may teach in th e ir m ajo r fie ld s.
d e sira b le and should be encouraged.
This tre n d is
It would see m lo g ic a l, th e re fo re , th a t
-7 5 -
in stitu tio n s of h ig h e r le a rn in g re c o n sid e r th e ir policy p e rta in in g to teaching
m in o rs.
It see m s m ost illogical to s e le c t a m in o r on the b a sis of how few
c re d it ho u rs a re involved o r fo r o th e r c le a rly su bjective re a s o n s .
R ath er,
the c r ite r ia should be, does it help to develop an in te rd isc ip lin a ry point of
view and does i t supplem ent and stre n g th en th e te a c h e r in a re a s p e rip h e ra l
to his m a jo r field.
In the c ase of e a rth and life scien ce te a c h e rs th e re should
be no question as to the an sw er.
This id e a would work well even in c la ss III
d is tr ic ts , if they w ere to consolidate.
A lia iso n betw een the M ontana U n iv ersity System and the public schools
of o u r s ta te should be e sta b lish e d .
The State B oard of E ducation should re c o m ­
m ent th a t in stitu tio n s w ithin the sy ste m having the capability should s e t up
continuing coordinative bodies th a t could supply advice, re s o u rc e people,
and equipm ent.
In the c ase of e a rth sc ie n c e , m in eral k its would be an exam ple.
The in ten t would be to m aintain open lin e s of com m unication w ith the public
schools fo r they a r e , a fte r a ll, the p rim e so u rc e of o u r college students.
The em p h asis in th is p a p e r has been on the ro le th a t e a rth scien ce can
play in an in te rd is c ip lin a ry appro ach to o u r environm ental p ro b le m s . H ow ever,
a s the p a p e r evolved it becam e evident th at the id eas w ere s till too tra d itio n
bound.
It se e m s now th a t the m o st effectiv e way to im p lem en t th is in te rd is ­
cip lin ary approach is not ju s t with e a rth scien ce (or biology) a s a c o re , but
r a th e r the two d iscip lin es com bined into a two y e a r n a tu ra l scie n c e (or en v iro n­
m ental science) c u rric u lu m -, a ll of th is p re c ed e d by a y e a r of p h y sical scie n c e.
RESEARCH TOPICS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS PA PE R
Many students in the seco n d ary schools of o u r nation la c k in te re s t and
“ 76-
m otivation.
S uspect is o u r continuing fa ilu re to provide an in te re stin g , re le v a n t,
and continuous type of c u rric u lu m in which each student may becom e involved.
A study should be m ade to d eterm in e ju s t how ex ten siv e the p ro b lem may be.
A topic worthy of study is e a rth scien ce as a te rm in a l co u rse; it could
open the door to m any students fo r hobby in te re s ts which m ight aid m ental
hygiene.
The su b je c t of c a r e e r s is not adequately ex p lo red a t e ith e r the secondary
o r college le v el.
fie ld s.
A s the student develops a w are n e ss he -rriay sw itch m ajo r
Much valuable tim e can be lo s t to say nothing of the confusion in
try in g to e lim in ate c o u rse conflicts th e re a fte r.
R e se a rc h in th is a re a would
need to be d ire c te d so a s to d eterm in e what is being done now and what can
be done to provide seco n d ary school stu d en ts with a b e tte r a w are n e ss of jobs
and c a r e e r s .
An extension of this r e s e a r c h to the college le v el will probably
be n e c e s sa ry .
The le c tu re and rev iew of te x t teaching m ethods a re s till being used
by m any M ontana e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs .
the o th e r su b jec t m a tte r a r e a s .
The sam e is undoubtedly tru e fo r
C o u rses th a t use an in v estig ativ e approach,
independent student re s e a rc h , and c la s s d iscu ssio n s a r e s a id to be su p e rio r.
A study designed to m e a su re ju s t how ex ten siv ely th ese p o o re r m ethods a re
being u sed and to su g g est re m e d ie s m ight be u seful.
T h ere se e m s to be v ery little in fo rm atio n av ailab le th a t is re la te d to
e a rth scie n c e teaching b u d g e ts. Many M ontana te a c h e rs did not even know
how m uch th e ir annual budget w as.
Obviously, a beginning budget will be m uch
-7 7 -
h ig h e r than the c a r r y - o v e r budget needed fo r succeeding y e a r s . A published
guide on financial needs c ertain ly would stren g th en the te a c h e r 's p e rsu a siv e
pow er with h is p rin c ip a l.
In stitutions of h ig h e r le arn in g should continue, w ithout le t-u p , th e ir
e m p h asis on in te rd is c ip lin a ry a ttitu d e s.
An a re a worthy of r e s e a r c h m ight be
the ex ten t of o v e rla p in c o u rs e s being o ffered by the s e p a ra te d iscip lin es.
objective
The
would be a b e tte r c u rric u lu m f o r students which would provide them
with m o re education; no in c re a s e in the num ber of o v e ra ll:c o u rse s ; no need fo r
a five y e a r p ro g ra m .
c r is is " .
The e x istin g situ atio n m ight be thought of a s a "scheduling
-7 8 -
SELECTED REFERENCES
Books
B ra m eld , T heodore, 1965, Education as pow er.
and W inston. 146pp.
E h rlic h , P au l R . , 1968, The population bom b.
223pp.
San F ra n c isc o : Holt, R in e h art,
New Y ork: B allantine Books.
E lam , Stanley, and M cL u re , W illiam P . (e d .), 1967, E ducational re q u ire m e n ts
fo r the 1970’s an in te rd isc ip lin a ry ap p ro ach . New Y ork: P ra e g e r. 266pp.
H ayakaw a, Sam uel I . , 1964, Language in thought and action (2d e d .).
York: H a rco u rt, B ra c e , and W orld. 350pp.
New
H oover, K enneth H . , 1966, L earn in g and teaching in the seco n d ary school.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 543pp.
L u cio , W illiam H. , and M cN eil,, John D. , 1969, Supervision: a sy n th esis of
thought and action (2d e d .). New Y ork: M cG raw -H ill. 329pp.
M o u stak as, C lark, 1956, The te a c h e r and the child.
265pp.
New Y ork: M cG raw -H ill.
T a b a , H ilda, 1962, C u rric u lu m developm ent th eo ry and p ra c tic e .
H a rco u rt, B ra c e , and W orld. 526pp.
U dall, S tew art L. , 1963, The quiet c r is is .
■ W inston. 209pp.
New York:
New York: Holt, R in eh art, and
P u blications of the G overnm ent and O ther O rganizations
D esigning education fo r the fu tu re; an eig h t s ta te p ro je c t, 1968, R ep o rts;
vol. 6, Planning fo r effective u tiliz a tio n of technology in education.
D enver: ESEA of 1965. 372pp.
H aight, Rex C . , n . d . , Nine hundred and n in ety -n in e sq u are m ile s and sev en ty nine pup ils. M ontana State D ep artm en t of Public In stru c tio n . 6pp.
M ontana. L aw s, S tatutes e t c . , 1947, R ev ised Codes of M ontana, vol. 4, pt. 2,
Indianapolis,Indiana; A llen Sm ith Com pany., 590pp.
M ontana State S uperintendent of P ublic In stru c tio n , 1969, C ertificatio n of
te a c h e rs and school a d m in is tra to rs in M ontana (5th e d . ). Helena:
Superintendent of P u b lic 'In stru c tio n . 16pp.
. -7 9 -
M ontana. State Superintendent of Public In stru c tio n , A p ril 1968, E n d o rsem en t
re q u ire m e n ts fo r a c c re d ita tio n , seco n d ary sch o o ls. Helena: State Super­
intendent of P ublic In stru c tio n . 4pp.
M ontana. State Superintendent of P ublic In stru ctio n , 1963, 1966-1970, L is t of
M ontana Science T e a c h e rs. H elena, Superintendent of P ublic In stru ctio n .
26pp.
M ontana. D epartm ent of P ublic In stru c tio n , 1969, M ontana Education D ire c to ry
"1969^1970. H elena: State S uperintendent of Public In stru ctio n . 133pp.
M ontana. State Superintendent of Public In stru c tio n , 1961, The Study Guide
in Science, G rades 7 to 9. H elena; Superintendent of P ublic In stru ctio n .
57pp.
S tinnett, Tim othy M. , 1967, A m anual on c ertific atio n re q u ire m e n ts fo r school
p erso n n el in the U nited S tates. W ashington, D. C . : N ational Education
A sso ciatio n . 256pp.
P e rio d ic a ls
B isque, Ram on E . , 1966, Why te ac h e a r th scien ce in o u r seco n d ary schools ?
ESCP N e w sle tte r, no. 12, p p .1 -2 .
B lo s s e r, P a tric ia E . , and Howe, R o b ert W. , 1969, An a n a ly sis of re s e a rc h
re la te d to the education of seco n d ary school scien ce te a c h e rs . Science
T e a c h e r, vol. 36, no. I , p p .87-95.
C a rte r, Ja c k L . , 1967, Is th e re a m ethod to o u r m ad n ess.
no. 14, p . 2.
ESCP N ew sletter,
C ham plin, R o b ert F. , 1970, A rev iew of the re s e a rc h re la te d to ESCP.
of G eologic E ducation, vol. XVIII, no. I , p p .31-39.
Jo u rn a l
C onnally, G. G ordon, 1966, M ultiple n e ste d c u rric u la and the N-6 m ajo r.
Jo u rn a l of G eologic E ducation, vol. XIV, no. 2, pp. 54-56.
E a rth Science C u rricu lu m P ro je c t, S teerin g C om m ittee, 1963, The E a rth
Science C u rricu lu m P r o je c t, N e w sle tte r, no. I , pp. 1 -7 .
G oedldn, R onald E . , 1969, A p rin c ip a l's ex p erien ces in im plem enting the
e a r th scie n c e c u rric u lu m p ro je c t. Jo u rn a l of Geologic E ducation, vol.
XVII, no. 4 , pp. 157-158.
H elburn, N icholas, 1967, G eography p ro je c ts and ESCP a r e co m p lim en tary .
ESCP N e w sle tte r, no. 13, p .2 .
-8 0 -
H enderson, Bonnie C . , 1969, Student en ro llm e n t in e a rth scien ce 1968-69.
G e o tim e s, N ovem ber, pp. 18-20.
H olm es, C h a u n c e y D ., 1969, Geology and lib e ra l education.
G eologic E ducation, vol. XVII, no. 4, pp. 142-144.
Jo u rn a l of
K atz, Jo sep h and K orn, H arold A . , 1968, The g ra d u a tes: did they find what
they n eeded? A m erican Education, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 5-8.
Ladd, G eorge T . , 1968, E S C P .. . an in v estig ativ e ap p ro ach fo r teaching e a rth
scie n c e to students of a ll le v els of ab ility . "Journal of Geologic E ducation,
vol. XVI, no. 2, pp61-64.
L am so n , R o b ert W ., 1969, The fu tu re of m a n 's environm ent.
vol. 36, no. I . pp. 25-30.
Science T e a c h e r,
M e r rill, W illiam M. , and S hrum , John W ., 1966, Planning fo r e a rth scien ce
te a c h e r p re p a ra tio n . Jo u rn a l of G eologic E ducation, vol. XIV, no. I ,
p p .23-25.
M oyer, K. E . and von H a ller, G ilm e r B. , 1955, A ttention spans of children
fo r e x p erim en tally designed toys. Jo u rn a l of G enetic Psychology, vol.
87, p p .187-201.
P a u li, R. A . , L a rso n , A. C . , and VandenAvond, R . , 1969, P re d ic tin g the
effect of ESCP on in tro d u cto ry college geology c o u rs e s . Jo u rn al of
Geologic E ducation, vol. XVII, no. 2, p p .47-53.
P itk in , W alter, J r . , 1968, Too many people: can e d u cato rs find an an sw er ?
Phi D elta K appan, vol. X LIX , no. 9, p p .473-479.
S c h re ib e r, D aniel, 1968, 700, 000 dro p o u ts.
no. 6, pp. 5-7.
A m erican E ducation, vol. 4,
S h ru m , John W. , and Thom pson, John R . , 1966, Need fo re s e e n fo r 12,000 new
e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs by 1970. ESCP N e w sletter, no. 10, pp. 1 -4 ,8 .
Staff R ep o rt, 1970, Few a re a s im m une as job m a rk e t tig h ten s.
C ollegian, vol. XLVI, no. I , 32pp.
U dalI, S tew art L. , 1967, Our p e rilo u s population im plosion.
Septem ber 2, pp. 10-13.
M ontana
Saturday Review ,
W ilson, J . T uzo, 1969, S om e.asp ects of the c u rre n t rev o lu tio n in the e a rth
sc ie n c e s. Jo u rn a l of G eologic E ducation, Vol. XVII, no. 4, pp. 145-150.
-8 1 -
W eitz, Jo sep h L . , 1969, E a rth scie n c e education 1969.
no. 19, p p .1-3.
ESCP N ew sletter,
W elch, Wayne W. , 1968, The need fo r evaluating national c u rric u lu m p ro je c ts .
Phi D elta K appan, vol. XLIX, no. 9, pp. 530-532.
W elch, Wayne W. , and W alberg, H e rb e rt J . , 1968, A d esign fo r c u rric u lu m
evaluation. Science E ducation, vol. 52, no. I , pp. 10-16.
E s s a y s and A rtic le s in C ollections
R o g ers, C a r l R ., 1968, Significant le arn in g : in therapy and education. In
T eaching, ed. Ronald T. Hyman. P hiladelphia: J . B. L ippincott, pp. 152165.
T e ilh a rd de C hardin, P ie r r e , 1956, The antiquity and w o rld expansion of human
c u ltu re . In M an 's ro le in changing the face of the e a rth , ed. W illiam L.
Thom as J r . Chicago: U n iv ersity of Chicago P r e s s , pp. 103-112.
U npublished M a te ria ls
G raham , M ildred W ., 1968, A study of the sta tu s of e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs in
W est V irginia. U npublished M a s te r’s th e s is , The Ohio State U n iv ersity ,
C olum bus. 67pp.
G illuly, J a m e s , 1962, The p lace of geology in A m erican life , in a le c tu re
given a t V erm illio n , South D akota, A p ril 27.
M cM annis, W illiam J . and Shenlde, R o b e r t E ., 1964, R ep o rt of the co m m ittee
on sta tu s of e a r th scie n c e teaching in M ontana seco n d ary sch o o ls. (Unpublished)
To R oger J . R ee d e , co m m ittee c h a irm a n , N orth C en tral Section, N ational
A sso ciatio n of Geology T e a c h e rs. 2pp.
M e rrim a n , M arilyn H ., 1966, A study of e a rth scien ce c o u rs e s and a re q u e st
fo r su ggestions fro m e a rth scie n c e te a c h e rs . U npublished M a s te r's th e s i s ,
The Ohio State U n iv ersity , Colum bus. 83pp.
R eith , H ow ard K . , 1969, A study of e a rth scien ce te a c h e rs and p ra c tic e s in
N orth Dakota fo r the academ ic y e a r 1968-1969. U npublished D octoral
d is s e rta tio n , The U n iversity of N orth D akota, G rand F o rk s. 59pp.
N ew spapers
B ozem an Daily C hronicle, M arch 29, 1970.
—82—
B ozem an Daily C hronicle, July 17, 1970.
G re at F a lls T ribune, A p ril 8, 1970.
APPENDIX
—84—
[COPY]
May 7, 3969
M r. W ilb ert Howell
Lew is & C lark J u n io r High School
B illin g s, M ontana 59102
D ear M r. Howell:
D on't say it! Y es, th is is indeed a n o th er q u estio n n aire bu t - it is
designed to help you, the e a r th scien ce te a c h e r. Up to and including the
p re s e n t tim e , re la tiv e ly little was and is known about e a rth scien ce c u r­
ric u la in o u r State of M ontana. This sim p lified q u estio n n aire is an attem p t
on my p a r t to find out what is going on in M ontana. H ow ever, put y o u r m ind
a t ease fo r i t has nothing to do w ith a stan d a rd iz e d c u rric u lu m and all re p lie s
w ill be k ept s tr ic tly confidential. No sig n atu re is re q u ire d .
I am p re s e n tly on a leav e of ab sen ce fro m the G eneral E le c tric Company
and am a grad u ate stu d en t a t M ontana State U n iv ersity , D ep artm en t of E a rth
S ciences. I'm w orking tow ard a M a ste r of Science d egree in A pplied Science
(E arth Sciences) with a m in o r in E ducation. My u ltim ate goal is to g et a
job teaching e a rth scie n c e in a M ontana high school.
T hese q u e stio n n a ire s , when com pleted and re tu rn e d to m e w ill provide
the n e c e s sa ry data fo r my th e s is , "A nalysis of E a rth Science Teaching in
M ontana Secondary Schools". If you w ill com plete this fo rm fo r m e, I will
in re tu rn send you a re p o rt on my findings. I will try to develop som e sug­
g estions a s to how e a rth scie n c e teaching m ay be im p ro v ed in the state.
This re p o rt should prove of in te r e s t to you if the feedback on th e q u estio n n aires
has been objective and a c c u ra te . It could a lso help to m ake y o u r teaching ef­
fo r t m o re m eaningful and p erh ap s m o re effective.
S in cerely ,
R ic h ard L . M ackin
R L M /llm
e n clo su re
z -
-85-
[COPY]
May 7, 1969
To the Science D ep artm en t Head:
We a r e try in g to re a c h all schools th a t a r e offering E a rth Science
a n d /o r Geology c o u rs e s o r units in th e se su b jec ts.
Would you p le ase
have som eone rep ly to th is q u e stio n n aire even though E a rth Science is
not o ffere d a t y o u r school.
Thank you,
R ic h ard M ackin
-86-
[COPY]
QUESTIONNAIRE
1.
The school I te a c h in is in a c l a s s ________________ d is tric t.
2.
It is a (junior) o r (senior) high school.
3.
C lass p e rio d s a r e ________________ m inutes long.
4.
I h a v e ____
tim e s a week.
5.
I a v e r a g e ___________ studen ts p e r e a rth scien ce c la s s
(m inim um n u m b e r ___________ m axim um n u m b e r___________ ).
6.
I c o v er th is c o u rs e of study i n ___________s e m e s te r(s ).
7.
I h a v e ___________ lab p e rio d s a week p e r c la s s .
8.
The g ra d e le v el of th e se e a rth scie n c e c la s s e s i s ________________________ .
9.
They (are) (are not) divided into a b ility le v e ls.
e a r th scien ce c la s s e s p e r day th a t a r e taught
10.
I te ac h a to tal o f ___________ c la s s e s p e r day w ith _______ ,
p e r day.
fre e p e rio d s
11.
How m any o th e r te a c h e rs in y o u r sy ste m teach e a rth scie n c e ? ____________
12.
I (have my own c la ssro o m ) (m ust s h a re m y fa c ilitie s).
13.
How do you ra te y o u r p re s e n t c la s s ro o m fa c ilitie s ?
POOR
FAIR
GOOD
E X CELLE NT
14.
Do you have a s e p a ra te l a b ___________ ? If so, how do you ra te it?
POOR
FAIR
GOOD
EX CELLENT
15.
W hat is y o u r annual budget fo r e a r th scie n c e ? ____________________________
16.
My c la s s ro o m tim e is spen t m ainly by (lecturing) (discussion) (review of
te x t assignm ent) (other________________________ _______________________ ).
17.
Do you a ssig n h o m e w o rk ? ______ A re a ssig n m en ts (light) (heavy) ? A re
they (in text) (outside reading) (problem s) o r (_______________________ ) ?
-8 7 -
18.
How m any field trip s do you plan during the s e m e s te r ?
Would you explain b rie fly what you do ?____________
19.
The nam e of o u r te x t i s ____________________
b y _________________________ published by
20.
I o m it the following c h ap te rs o r u n i t s ______
becau se
21.
I (do) (do not) follow the sequence a s su g g ested by the a u th o r of the text.
My re a so n s fo r not doing so a re : _______________ __________________
22.
This is optional; a n sw e r if you can.
do follow ?
23'.
Have you seen the new ESCP te x ts and te a c h e r guides ? _______ . Would
you lik e to use them ? _______ . If not (and th is is optional) can you
give the re a so n . ___________________________________________________
24.
Would you l i s t y o u r e x tra c u r ric u la r o r c o c u rric u la r involvem ents'.
m e m b e rsh ip s in p ro fe ssio n a l o rg an izatio n s.
W hat is the to p ical sequence th a t you
Include
—8 8 —
25.
I hold the following college d e g re e s. _________________________________
26.
I (do) (do not) have a teachin g (m ajor) (m inor) in e a rth scien ce.
27.
If the a n sw e r to 26 is negative, w hat c o u rs e s in e a rth scien ce have you
taken ?
28.
Do you teach th e se e a r th scie n c e c o u rs e s by choice o r w ere you s e le c te d to
v o lu n teer ? _______________________________________________ ,
_______
29.
W hat re s o u rc e m a te ria ls and re fe re n c e s a re av ailab le to y o u ? ____________
30.
W hat type of la b o ra to ry and d e m o n stratio n equipm ent is av ailab le to you ?
F o r exam ple:
EZl
EZ
I I
EZ
EZ
EZ
□
Globe
P la n e ta riu m
C elestia l sp h ere
Topographic m aps
R elief m aps
B in o c u la rsc o p e '
□
□
□
□
□
'□
□
S tru ctu ral m odels
Clay m odels of s tra tig ra p h ic g roups
D ioram a
S tre a m table
M oh's sc a le of h a rd n e ss
EZl Rock & m in e ra l co llectio n (broad coverage) (re s tric te d )
I I F o s s il co llectio n
(broad coverage) (re stric te d )
31.
Does y o u r school sy ste m have an advanced c o u rse in e a rth scien ce a s a
follow -up fo r I l t h a n d /o r 12th g ra d e rs ? ___________
-8 9 -
[COPY]
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE - EARTH SCIENCE COURSES IN MONTANA [A]
I.
Have you e v e r had a c o u rse in e a rth scie n c e o r geology b efo re ? __________
-2.
Have you e v e r had a c o u rse in c h e m istry ?
fo r you ? _______
.
If y e s , was it difficult
If the a n sw e r to the f i r s t question was y e s , p le ase a n sw e r the following
q uestions. If no, stop h e re .
3.
W here ? (city of to w n )_________ .________________
4.
When ? (d a te )______________________
5.
Name of s c h o o l______________;__________ _______ ;
6.
T e a c h e r’s N a m e ________________________________
7.
G rade lev el of c o u r s e _______ ; n u m b er of s e m e s t e r s ________
8.
G rade re c e iv e d (in e a r th s c ie n c e ) _______
9.
W hich p a r ts of the c o u rs e did you find m o st in te re stin g ?
10.
Would you have reco m m en d ed the c o u rse to y o u r frien d s ? _______
11.
Did y o u r te a c h e r s e e m w e ll-v e rse d in the field of e a rth scien ce ? _______
W as he e n th u sia stic ? _______
, <■
12.
W as la b o ra to ry w ork included in th is c o u rse ? _______ If so, can you give
an approxim ation of the tim e sp en t p e r week in lab . ___________
13.
Did you have m uch hom ew ork ? ________ If so, did it help you to u n d erstan d
.the m a te ria l b e t t e r ? ________
14.
How m any field tr ip s did you have ? _______
15.
Can you re m e m b e r the nam e of th e te x t th at you u s e d ?
N am e of te x t w a s ________________________;______
-9 0 -
[COPY]
EARTH SCIENCE SURVEY
[B]
'
Spring Q u a rte r 1970
Yes
No
Have you had an e a rth scien ce c o u rse in high school ?
(If y e s e n te r the g ra d e on the line)
Yes
No
Did you u se the ESCP te x t? ESCP m eans E a rth Science
C u rric u lu m P ro je c t.
W here did you tak e the e a rth scien ce c o u rse ?
N am e of School
State if not M ontana
Town o r City
Y our Nam e
-9 1 -
TEXTS USED BY MONTANA EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS
T itle of Text
T each ers
using
Brow n, H ow ard, and o th e r s , 1958, Introduction to Geology,
Boston: Ginn & Co. 644pp.
E a rth Science C u rricu lu m P ro je c t, 1967, Investigating
the E a rth , B oston: Houghton M ifflin. 594pp.
F le tc h e r, G ustave, and W olfe, Caleb, 1959, E a rth Science
4th ed. B oston: Heath. 556pp.
I
. 14
I
N am ow itz, Sam uel, and Stone, Donald, 1965, E a rth S cience; the
W orld We L ive In, 3 rd ed. P rin ceto n : Van N ostrand. 597pp. 10
R am sey, W illiam , and B u rc ld ey, Raym ond, 1965, M odern E a rth
Science, New Y ork: Holt, R inehart:, & W inston. 664pp.
47
T h u rb e r, W alter, and K ilb u rn , R o b ert, 1965, Exploring E a rth
Science, N ineteen S ix ty -F iv e, B oston: A llyn & Bacon.
446pp.
I
W olfe, C aleb, and o th e r s , 1966, E a rth and Space Science,
Boston: Heath. 630pp.
4
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY I TRBeercc
1762 1001 4780 8
M213
c o p .2
A su rv ey o f e a r th
s c ie n c e c o u rse s as a
d i s c i p l i n e in Montana
seco n d ary s c h o o ls .