INTEGRATED SCIENCE FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS

Original Narrative Submitted to NSF

M. Gunter, S. Gammon, B. Kearney, D. Oliver

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Background

The state of science education in the United States and the public perception of science is appalling. As numerous publications have pointed out (Durant, 1989; Volpe, 1984; Sharnos, 1984), science education in the United States is in a crisis. Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has called for a major increase in the scientific literacy of all Americans through programs which require a dramatic strengthening of the quality of science education in the nation's schools. Although there have been major efforts to develop curricula for use in the classroom and to upgrade the knowledge and skills of classroom teachers with in-service programs, one major component of the teaching equation, the pre-service elementary education. major, seems to have been largely overlooked. These young people who are preparing to enter the teaching profession carry with them the same educational preparation (or lack of preparation) that has characterized the last generation of teachers. The present proposal seeks support for a five year program that will develop and implement an integrated science course designed to help teachers address the science content of grades one through eight as proscribed by state guidelines in the Pacific Northwest and California and help teachers understand how to teach that content.

Women and minorities (in Idaho this group consists mostly of Native Americans and Hispanics) are traditionally underserved populations who are directly and indirectly addressed by the proposed program. Young women make up the vast majority of students majoring in elementary education. Their education in science is often weak, yet this is exactly the population which cycles back into the schools to educate the next generation. The proposed course focuses substantial resources and an extraordinary group of concerned research scientists onto the problem of upgrading the overall quality of the science education received by these students in their pre-service courses. The course is also structured to demonstrate how this knowledge can be bridged into the classroom. It is the intention of this course to impact and fundamentally alter science education for teachers, a population which will have the longest and most lasting impact on future generations of students.

The practicum portion of the course will create "Science Clubs", first in the Moscow Public Schools and then in regional school districts. We are particularly interested in placing these satellite programs on the Coeur d'Alene and Lapwai Indian Reservations that are within driving distance of Moscow.

At present, elementary education majors at the University of Idaho are required to take

one- semester courses in science. These courses, which are to be selected from the physical, biological, and earth sciences, provide the elementary education majors with an introduction to several areas of science. However, this traditional mode of teacher training tends to fail in two specific areas. First these courses do not prepare the elementary school teachers for the life- long learning experience that will be necessary for them to stay current in science and technology. Second, these courses, because of their historical, disciplinary roots, teach science as separate, defined, isolated subjects, while science, as experienced by working scientists, is dynamic, flexible, and interdisciplinary.

A review of state science curricular guidelines reveals that the authors of those documents envision science as being presented as an organic whole, virtually devoid of disciplinary boundaries, and incorporating topics such technology and the environment into the fabric. Frankly, teachers of elementary science are being expected to teach integrated science having never taken a course that stretched across two, much less four (biology, chemistry, geology, and physics) disciplinary boundaries.

Goals and Specific Objectives

The proposed course will be specifically structured to address these two limitations. First, science will be taught not as a cluster of facts (although many facts will be communicated) but rather as a process for studying and analyzing the world around us. It is our opinion that if we can get the students to understand and be comfortable with the integrated biology, chemistry, physics, and geology of a group of important topics, they will develop a perspective of science that will give them a firm foundation in scientific thought. With this knowledge base and the confidence that comes from really understanding important scientific topics, they should be more comfortable in mastering the curricula that is needed to teach science in the elementary grades. The second limitation, the artificial compartmentalization of science into traditional disciplines, will be bypassed by largely ignoring the partitions between fields. For example, if one needs to understand the chemistry to appreciate the basis of a particular biological response, this course will teach the chemistry and biology together without attempting to separate the topic into disciplines.

The practicum experience that enhances the content course is being developed with the close cooperation and advice of the Moscow Public Schools. During the first two years of classroom trials, a selected panel of teachers drawn from the four elementary schools and one junior high school will not only serve as mentor teachers for the practicum experience, but will also cycle through the course as Master Learners. In years four and five when the project is fully implemented, the group of Teacher Leaders will be augmented by teachers from surrounding districts, notably those on regional Indian Reservations. These Teacher Leaders will provide an experienced, professional resource for the students and faculty.

If we expect our students entering the teaching profession to utilize a technology- rich environment in the classroom, they must be exposed to these technologies as part of their undergraduate experience. The course seeks to draw on the extensive resources which have been developed by other groups for interactive computer programs, video and laser disk displays, computer graphics, and database access. Students will be exposed to technology, not as a fad, but as a resource to use when appropriate. Through the use of laser disks it is possible to illustrate a discussion with a video of an experiment that is impossible to carry out in the classroom. Computer graphics and visuals can be used to enhance student understanding of otherwise complex subjects. Additionally, teachers will need to be fluent in the use of databases and electronic mail to remain current in an environment of rapid scientific and technological change.

The emphasis on technology also extends to the practicum course. Teachers participating in the practicum will be provided with a battery of equipment to use in the classroom and in the practicum. The cost of this equipment is being shared with Moscow Public Schools as part of their contribution to the development of the course.

A goal of this course is to facilitate the transfer of technology into the elementary classroom. That technology being modeled by the faculty will be used in classroom learning situations by the faculty and students and then actually demonstrated by the students in the practicum. By closing the loop in this manner, we believe that the students will be more comfortable with the use of technology and be more inclined to incorporate technology into their own teaching practice.

Development of the proposed course is being undertaken by a team of biology, chemistry, geology and physics faculty. The Principal Investigator is the Program Coordinator for an NSF/University of Idaho Research Experience for Undergraduates Site in the Department of Chemistry and teaches a summer workshop on Chemistry for Elementary Teachers. Other members of the Development Team are also involved in summer workshops for teachers or with programs for pre-college students. In addition to their technical expertise within their fields, each of these faculty bring to the course solid reputations for excellence in science education and innovation in the classroom. This team will be assisted on topics of methodology and assessment by members of the College of Education, and on real- life classroom application by a panel of teachers from the Moscow Public Schools.

Science For Elementary Teachers - Course Content

The proposed course, "Science for Elementary Teachers," will consist of two, semester long four credit- hour segments which will be supplemented by two, one credit- hour practicum. The four credit hours (officially three credit- hours of lecture and one of lab) will be scheduled for two, three hour blocks each week. Within these blocks, hands- on laboratory experiences will be blended with discussion and lecture in order to reinforce the learning of concepts. A single classroom will be employed so that students can easily move from a hands- on lab to a group or general discussion. Students will be grouped into five person teams who will work together for labs and group projects. Each student team will include a Teacher Leader who will also serve as the practicum Mentor Teacher.

At the start of a three hour block, the groups will perform an experiment that is designed to illustrate some topic. Many labs will be structured so that brief observation periods will be separated by discussions of the phenomena being introduced. In early labs, students will be introduced to the importance of making both qualitative and quantitative measurements. In later labs, students will have to decide which properties are important to understand the phenomena. The discussion periods will be used to allow the groups to share their observations, after which the groups may return to the experiments to look for features which they might have missed.

Interspersing discussion with the experimentation in the lab breaks down the "cook book" aspect of laboratories since each portion of the lab builds on the last. The technique also makes it possible to have groups "check" a result which seems to be in contradiction to expectation or other observations. This, of course, mimics the sequence of observation, publication, and verification which is one of the foundations of modern, experimental science.

Using this flexible format, it is possible to intersperse formal lecture with live demonstrations, video demonstrations, hands- on labs, and small group discussion. Such a multimedia presentation requires substantial planning, testing, refinement, and evolutionary growth which makes the development of this course somewhat more involved than the typical lecture or even laboratory course. Further, this course involves some joint teaching done by Moscow School District and University of Idaho faculty - the practitioner and the scientist. This interaction must be based on joint planning and preparation.

Science For Elementary Teachers - Practicum

The experience of several of the Development Team faculty with in-service teacher workshops indicates that most new ideas that are taught in workshops are never implemented back in the classroom because the teacher has not achieved the necessary comfort level for independent action. Science demonstrations are particularly difficult for many teachers because there is always the chance that the experiment will "fail" leaving the teacher embarrassed and the class frustrated. Such a situation is sad because experiments "fail" constantly and some of the most important discoveries have been made while analyzing these "failures".

As a mechanism for reinforcing the skills and concepts taught in "Science for Elementary Teachers," we propose the development of a parallel practicum experience in which students will work under Mentor Teachers in the setting of after school Science Clubs. This practicum, which has been jointly developed with the Moscow Public Schools, serves as a bridge between the pre-service elementary education major and experienced, in-service mentors. After the first two years of testing in the Moscow School District, participation in the practicum will be expanded to other regional school districts, particularly those on the local Indian reservations.

As presently envisioned, a panel of teachers (teams of two from elementary and junior high schools) will be selected from applicants from the schools to participate in the program. Details on the numbers of teachers involved in a given year are presented in the Time Line below. Again, a team approach has been selected because experience with similar programs points to the importance of cooperative reinforcement between teachers. The participating teachers will be paid a modest stipend to compensate them for the substantial time commitment which will be associated with involvement in the program. These teachers will enroll in "Science for Elementary Teachers" under a graduate course number, and serve as Science Teacher Leaders. In this capacity, both the students and the faculty of the course will draw on their knowledge of teaching science to children of all grade levels.

The after school Science Clubs will be created as a science supplement to the regular school curriculum, hence spreading the benefits of the program immediately into the community. Children from all grade levels will be invited to join the clubs without cost. The clubs will meet for one to two hours once a week and will structured to include hands- on activities as well as multimedia discussions. Several activities will be proceeding simultaneously so that different age and ability groupings can be served.

The presentations will be the responsibility of university students who will work under the supervision of the mentor teachers. The practicum will be structured using cooperative teams based on the work of Johnson and Johnson (1987). Each member of the team will have an assigned role: presenter, observer, leader, data collector, etc. While we anticipate that the majority of student participants will be those enrolled in "Science for Elementary Teachers", there is a growing interest in science education among graduate students and undergraduates majoring in the sciences. These students would be encouraged to participate in the practicum as a way of bringing fresh ideas into the program.

Mentors and students will meet after the Science Club to evaluate the day's demonstrations. The evaluation will include time for the team to "process" their activity, utilizing data collected by their observers. This process time will enable students to see the impact of their activities, identify areas of strength and weakness, and plan for the next activity based on those observations. These meetings will make it possible to immediately fine tune an experiment or demonstration while it is fresh in the minds of the participants. A monthly meeting will draw together all of the mentors and students for discussion and evaluation of the program. Children and their parents will be asked to provide monthly evaluations of content and presentation quality so that high standards of effectiveness can be maintained.

As part of this proposal, funds are sought to provide each mentor teacher with a workstation and peripherals, so that the video and data access capability being modeled in the course can be translated into the classroom. The Moscow School District is fully committed to participation in the proposed program. The District has authorized a $30,000 match over the term of the grant to help purchase the workstations for classrooms, and has agreed to provide release time for mentor teachers to permit them to attend the course.

Technology And Facilities

One of the goals of the proposed course is to expose pre-service teachers to a technology rich teaching environment that will stimulate their imaginations for future uses and application. It

is not the immediate purpose of the current proposal to develop new software or new laser disks, but rather to pull together the extensive resources which are already in existence and demonstrate how they can be used by the classroom teacher. As an obvious spin- off, the university faculty and teachers participating in the program also gain experience with this technology and will be encouraged to explore applications to their other courses.

The advent of small, powerful, and inexpensive computers and high density laser disk storage hold forth the potential to revolutionize the classroom. Short video segments can be keyed into a discussion. An experiment or an animated sequence illustrating a key point can be replayed as needed to allow students to fully appreciate the new concepts. Students can work on their own with tutorial programs which employ combinations of video explanations and self-paced questions. The computer can satisfy the necessity for monitoring drill and practice, leaving the classroom teacher free to work with small groups or individuals in optimal learning situations. In this setting, the computer is a versatile tool, empowering teachers to do what they do best: teach.

The workstation packages to be used in this course will consist of a computer, laser disk player, and CD ROM. For the lecture, two laptop computers equipped with videodisk player, CD ROM, and full color projection system will be used. A VCR and television monitor will allow use of the extensive library of films in the VCR format. Several laser printers will be included for use in the classroom. The computers in the classroom will be networked together, and will have access to the University mainframe and outside data bases via modem. Similar packages will be provided to the schools which will serve as sites for the "Science Clubs". These remote sites will have access to the University mainframe via modem to facilitate exchange of information by electronic mail.

One microscope with television monitor is requested to allow class observation of samples during the lecture and discussion periods. A video camera and editing equipment will facilitate the production of tutorial packages.

The course will share a large classroom in the College of Education with the science methods courses. This classroom has good facilities for the intertwined hands- on activity and discussion format. Ideally this course would have a large dedicated classroom, but severe space limitations at the University of Idaho make this unrealistic at this time.

Project Time Line

Year One

University of Idaho Development Team members will begin the project by reviewing the grade one through eight curricula of the Pacific Northwest states and California to identify specific items which should be incorporated into the course. (Note: The course outline presented in the current proposal is based on the Idaho guidelines only.) Team members will then work individually and in small groups to write general course plans which draw together topics in a reasonable order. Working with a group of master teachers from the Moscow Public Schools, the Development Team will begin the process of identifying existing computer and video resources for use as supplements to lecture and discussion. A bibliography will be developed for the course that will include existing curricula materials, articles in current science magazines, and books. We will draw heavily on the extensive curricular resources which are available on the University of Idaho Campus [See Appendix A]. In parallel with this effort, a set of graduate assistants will be working on validating existing laboratory experiments and developing new experiments unique to the course. As the experiments are certified for use in the course, the graduate assistants will prepare video introductions which will acquaint students with any new terminology or techniques to be learned during the lab. Detailed videos of each laboratory exercise will be prepared. These are not intended for classroom use, but rather as references for the students when they begin teaching. Graduate assistants will also begin development of tutorial programs for self study.

Years Two and Three

Year two of the project will see the first experimental class of twenty to thirty students taking the course. These students will become full partners in the refinement of the course, making suggestions for change in labs and discussions, and proposing new topics for the course. For the faculty and participating in-service teachers, this first year will allow a trial of the presentation formats and an opportunity to debug those technical difficulties which are invariably going to arise. The practicum course will be offered on a reduced scale at three schools (junior high school and two elementary schools), again with the intent of gaining working experience with the presentations and labs. At the end of this year, detailed summative surveys will be taken which will be used as the basis of a summer review and modification of the curriculum.

In year three the class size will be increased to fifty (the maximum feasible for one section and about half of the students majoring in elementary education in a given year). Again, students, faculty and teachers will work closely to identify continuing shortcomings and to expand the library of laboratories and media resources. Additional schools in the Moscow School District will be added to the practicum. It is fully expected that by the end of year three the course will exist in a tested format and will be ready to proceed into full implementation. The primary feature of full implementation is that the course becomes a required science course for all elementary education majors in the College of Education. This decision will be based upon the success of the first two years and will be made by the Dean of the College of Education in consultation with the college faculty.

Years Four and Five

Years four and five will see full implementation of the course at the University of Idaho. Transition to a full two sections will involve certain administrative growing pains because of the increased numbers of persons involved in the course. Course improvements will continue to be made on a regular basis and new topics will be introduced to take advantage of expanding knowledge.

In year four, the practicum program will be expanded to include schools on the Coeur d'Alene and Lapwai Indian Reservations. Faculty from these schools will be invited to participate in the course as Teacher Leaders who will be in a position to immediately transfer course ideas into their classrooms on the Reservations.

During years four and five we anticipate preparing major publications and conference presentations describing the course and its content as a model for similar programs to be developed elsewhere. It has already been suggested that an interdisciplinary course along the lines of "Science for Elementary Teachers" might be created as a core science offering for all students at the University of Idaho. During the early years of the project we will discuss the course with colleagues at other campuses in Idaho and encourage the creation of similar courses at the other state schools. We shall also present seminars on this course at regional meetings of school superintendents, science teachers, and members of the State Board of Education. This effort will intensify in years four and five with a proposal to the State Board of Education to mandate such a course in the preparation of elementary education majors.

Assessment and Evaluation

Formative and summative evaluation tools for use in the course will be developed in collaboration with the College of Education. Since it is our premise that students will have a better preparation for classroom teaching as a result of their exposure to an integrated science course, we are interested in developing a tool which compares the basic science understanding of students who have taken the "Science for Elementary Teachers" with those who have taken the traditional set of required courses. Similar tools for use in the practicum will be developed.

Units which have been developed for this course will be given a "pre- Broadway run" in the several workshops for in-service teachers which are taught by members of the development team. Toward the end of the development year the team will practice lectures incorporating various technologies to learn how the use of these techniques alters the flow of the traditional lecture format. Consultants from the School of Communication will be retained to work with faculty in optimizing the presentation techniques.

University faculty tend to be content specialists with an intuitive, but not formal, knowledge of teaching methodology. Because this course will bring them into the fore of modem methodology as well as content, a series of workshops will be scheduled jointly with the Moscow Public Schools and regional school districts to examine modern issues in performance assessment, collaborative learning, science education, and learning styles, among others. A workshop will examine cultural and gender differences in the perception of the scientific enterprise. These workshops, which will extend across the full five years of the program, will be open to all of the members of the campus community as well as teachers from the public schools.

Administrative Considerations

The highly interdisciplinary nature of the proposed course is its greatest strength, but is also the source of potential administrative complexity. The Development Team is drawn from five departments and three colleges (Letters and Science, Agriculture, and Mines and Earth Resources) and will be interacting on a regular basis with a fourth college (Education) and includes faculty and administrators from the Moscow School District and regional districts. Since the course is a content course, not an education course, it was decided that it will be offered with a University Interdisciplinary Course number under the general administrative oversight of the Dean of Letters and Science who is also the Director for Interdisciplinary Studies.

The size of the Development Team (six faculty and three teachers) is large compared to groups creating a more traditional new course. We justify this on the basis of the magnitude of the problem of attempting to integrate a very imposing body of knowledge into a meaningful course which can realistically be taught in one year. Each of the faculty participants is a research scientist who brings extensive content knowledge of his discipline as well as a broad appreciation for science and science education. Collectively their areas of expertise overlap to cover all of the major topics which are common to the elementary curriculum and hence each represents a critical piece of the overall puzzle. Similarly, the three teachers who will work on the development portion of the project have broad experience in elementary and junior high school education and an impressive knowledge of curriculum content and availability of resources. The Curriculum Director of the Moscow Public Schools has been an integral participant in the planning of this course and will maintain an active role in its development and implementation.

In the first year of the project all members of the team will be participating in the creation of the course. For this period, funding is requested for replacement faculty to cover one class per semester for each member of the team. Those faculty who are not on twelve month appointments will receive one month of support during the summer to work on the course. Teachers will be paid a stipend ($5,000) for the academic year and one month of the summer. Graduate assistants will be on twelve month appointments.

Beyond the first year, three faculty per semester will be released from teaching in their departments. For years two and three, all faculty team members not on twelve month appointments will be supported for one month of the summer to work on course revisions. After this time summer support will depend upon the areas which need attention.

Mentor teachers will be provided a stipend ($1,000) from the program. The Moscow Public Schools will provide release time to permit teachers to attend classes. Tuition will be provided for these teachers. A stipend ($1,000) will be provided for the Director of Curriculum who will serve as liaison and as coordinator of the practicum program in the schools.

Course Outline

Content Themes

Since the goal of this course is to improve the presentation of integrated science, the content will be developed along thematic lines and not disciplinary lines. We have chosen as our overall working theme the concept of scale, in which we explore the world about us as we slowly shrink (first semester) or grow (second semester) in size.

First Semester

Classifications: Morphology and Systematics

We will begin with a discussion of science and the scientific approach to problem solving, stressing the importance of observation and measurement, and the types of problems that science can and cannot answer [See Appendices]. Implications of scientific discoveries on our society will be discussed, and the frequent inability of science to deal with societal problems pointed out. An example might be recent advances in molecular biology which allow us to predict whether a person might be at risk for certain diseases later in life. Once known, how will the person and society deal with the problems that will then undoubtedly answer, such as getting a job, having children, or securing health insurance? Science is a powerful tool for problem- solving, but it cannot address every issue.

We will then examine the diversity of the mineral, plant, and animal world, seeking to understand how scientists classify things into categories and how these categories might dictate how we then think about the things [See Appendix B]. The emphasis in these discussions will not so much be on learning lists of categories, but in recognizing the attributes which are compared in order to make this classification, and that these categories are artificial and imposed upon the natural world by us.

One consequence of classifying living things into species is that similarities between species suggest larger patterns of relationships which unify our view of life. Evolution is a central theme in the biological sciences and one which will be emphasized throughout the course. At the beginning of the course, we will discuss the significance of Darwin's observations and a theory of evolution driven by natural selection to explain the diversity of living things. We will use the phenomena of industrial mechanism and bacterial resistance to antibiotics as the evidence that evolution occurs, and discuss the debate regarding the mechanism by which the diversity of life evolved. We will consider the arguments used by creationists and discuss their scientific validity.

We shall examine rocks and minerals as examples of further classification schemes as well as an introduction of the concept of mixtures and pure substances. Elements will be introduced as examples of pure substances and the periodic table will be introduced as yet another very powerful classification scheme.

The Organism: Starting Where The Students Are

Living things play a central role in the curriculum of the elementary grades. Questions about life range from profound questions such as "What is life?", and "When and how did life originate?" to simpler observation based questions such as what characteristics are shared by all living things, and what strategies have living things developed to survive in a range of habitats. Students will observe the behavior of live animals and will be encouraged to delve into the large video libraries which have been developed through the auspices of National Geographic and public television for additional examples of animal behavior. Student assignments will involve viewing and summarizing several video excerpts and then synthesizing broader underlying biological principles, such as universal responses to temperature extremes, role of behavioral flexibility in response to environmental change, adaptive coloration, etc. In addition to using video as a tool for exposing students to experiences that would be difficult to experience directly, the students will be evaluating and developing critical judgments on the usefulness of video in their teaching efforts.

After the students have been challenged with how the diversity of living things arose, they will discuss how the major characteristics of individual species somehow remain the same throughout generations. The transmission of genetic information from one generation to another will be considered and reasons why sexual reproduction is so important for maintaining the genetic variability that natural selection operates upon. Using simple Drosophila mutants, students will make crosses and compare their results with outcomes predicted on the basis of single- gene and sex- linked characters.

The organism, largely the human body, will be introduced as a mechano- chemical device that is controlled and limited by the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology. After discussions on how evolution under the constraints of physical laws has resulted in the specific construction of joints the attachment points for muscles, the height to weight ratios, the methods of locomotion, etc. We will examine the similarity of biological features such as joints and simple machines such as levers. As we move down in scale from the organism to the organs, tissues, and cells from which it is composed we will introduce more and more of the chemistry of life.

Dissections always represent a problem in the elementary classroom because of limits of resources and questions about the morality of the process. Students in this course will carry out dissections on small animals such as frogs, fish, and insects and will then compare this experience with that of watching a video of a dissection. In this way it will be possible to illustrate the comparative strengths and weaknesses of hands- on and video presentations, allowing students to discuss and intelligently assess how these two methods can be used in the classroom. As a further illustration of the importance of probing inside of things to understand their workings, students will be presented with a simple machine or appliance and asked to disassemble the machine and explain how it works.

Our analysis of the visible world will move to studying the physical and chemical basis for the biological processes observed. Physical properties to be studied will include phases of matter, surface tension, density, refraction of light and color. Chemical properties such as solubility, acid and base reactions, and pH will be qualitatively introduced. The role of chemical reactions in living organisms will be illustrated by studying photosynthesis [See Appendix C], sugar metabolism, nutrients [See Appendix D], enzymes, hormones and pheromones [See Appendix E].

The generation of electric current by chemical reactions will be used as the basis of a discussion of biological communication by nerves. Students will construct voltaic cells and measure their potential. Using batteries, students will learn how to construct simple circuits and how the introduction of switches, resistors and capacitors alters these circuits.

A demonstration of nervous transmission will include mosquitoes that have had their ventral nerve cords surgically transacted. By doing so, the stretch receptors that monitor abdominal distention during blood feeding are unable to send their nervous messages to the brain that normally terminate feeding when the abdomen begins to swell. Students will watch on a TV monitor as the surgically altered mosquitoes "explode" while feeding under a microscope.

The relationship between magnetism and electricity will be introduced and used to develop the idea of motors and generators. Commercial generation of electricity will be discussed. A field trip to the nearby Dvorshak Dam will illustrate the use of water power to produce electricity. Alternate energy sources, such as solar power, will be identified, explored and assessed.

Another class field trip will take advantage of the geologically and biologically- rich environment around Moscow. Concepts of classification presented in the classroom will be taken into the field and tested in natural settings where students can begin to appreciate the relationship between the individual plant, tree, animal or mineral and its setting in nature. These relationships will be more extensively explored in the second semester. After the students go on the field trips, there will be a presentation and discussion by the mentor teachers about "field- tripping" with kids. Mentor teachers will provide information about activities to do before, during, and after the trip. This will include a check- list of "do's and don'ts" and discussion about ways to make field trips both educational and fun, rather than only the latter.

Beyond The Visible World

Moving from the world of our experience, students will consider how we extend our senses to examine the world of the microscopic and below. Building upon the topics of refraction introduced earlier, students will experiment with light sources, lenses and prisms to build telescopes and microscopes. The relationship between these lenses and the eye will be discussed. Using microscopes, they will be asked to reexamine the minerals, plants and animals which they had observed on a gross scale earlier. These microscopic observations will open up new dimensions of detail in these samples, and hence new questions about the purpose of scales on butterfly wings and the presence of single cell organisms in a drop of pond water. Using their new tool, students will study the fine structure of cells. Their observations will be supplemented by discussions of the parts of a cell, use of a microscope mounted monitor, and video displays of cellular detail as seen using electron microscopy. At the opposite end of sophistication, students will use magnifiers and blister microscopes, typical of materials available in elementary classrooms, to make observations and develop an appreciation for the limits and applicability of these tools.

Cellular division as observed under the microscope will serve as a starting point for a broad discussion of reproduction and growth at the cellular level. Video presentations of fertilization, cell growth and division, cell differentiation, development of the fetus and birth will be incorporated in discussions of reproduction across species.

The Submicroscopic Building Blocks

The microscope is also a powerful tool for examining minerals and the fine structure of microchips, but it reaches limitations of its resolution long before it can resolve the details of molecules and atoms. Students will carry out experiments on Brownian motion which provided some of the earliest evidence for the existence of atoms. Classic experiments such as those of Franklin on electricity and the Thompson cathode ray tube will be used to develop the concept of the atom as an assemblage of charged particles. Building upon earlier discussions of light and refraction, students will use lenses and prisms to compare the light from hot sources (black bodies) such as light bulbs with those from neon, argon, and helium lamps. These and other experiments, such as the Millikan oil drop experiment or the Rutherford gold foil experiment, which are difficult to demonstrate in the classroom will be discussed and shown on video to assemble the evidence which lead to the modern theory of the atom.

A simple model of the atom will be used to discuss the periodic table and simple compounds. The bonding of a few simple molecules such as the diatomics of hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen will be presented along with structures of more complex molecules such as water, acetic acid, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide. Structures of some of the important molecules of life, such as sugars, amino acids, and DNA will be illustrated using models and computer displays. This discussion will be used to return to the topic of reproduction, only this time from a molecular standpoint. The standard model of DNA replication will be presented using 2 combination of models and videos. The idea of the genetic code and how it is translated into proteins and how these proteins ultimately affect the living cell will be presented.

Moving to the level of the atomic nucleus, students will be introduced to isotopes, the neutron, and its role in atomic stability. Experiments using Geiger counters to measure the radioactivity of natural rocks will be followed up with discussions of the effect of radioactivity on molecules such as DNA and hence on changes in the genetic information.

Second Semester

The second semester course concerns itself with increasing in scale and with understanding how specific elements within the world interrelate. For example, the first semester course deals with issues such as species and diversity. In the second semester, a broader view is taken to examine how many species fit together into a community, and an understanding of population genetics.

Ecosystems - Populations Interacting

The understanding of individual species developed in the first semester will serve as a point of departure for an expansion into ecosystems of interacting species. A fish tank is a simple model for a small, self- contained community in which many species must interact cooperatively in order for the tank to be a stable habitat. Student groups will be responsible for maintaining aquaria and for studying the consequences when species are introduced or removed. Observations made on these small, closed communities can then be discussed to see whether it is possible to extrapolate to a larger, open ecosystem.

The diversity and existence of living things on earth depends to a large extent on the shape and movement of the planet and the manner in which solar energy reaches it. The relationship between the physical properties of water (heat of vaporization and melting) and weather will be presented [See Appendix F]. The dependency of ecosystems on climate and the ways by which climate has shaped the responses of plants and animals will be discussed. The elements of meteorology will be introduced. Experimental observations of temperature, rainfall, cloud cover and wind for Moscow will be shown to be part of global weather patterns [See Appendix G]. Taking advantage of database resources available through the federal government, students can access on- line weather information and even satellite imagery.

Although doing experiments with the weather is not possible, it is possible to compare the weather of earth with that of our neighboring planets. Runaway greenhouse effects on Venus, dried river beds and global dust storms on Mars, and planet sized hurricanes on Saturn and Jupiter allow for discussions and "what if" questions to be addressed. The production of greenhouse gases, acid rain, and chlorofluorocarbons will be discussed as examples of technology- based problems that have potential technological answers. Emphasis will be placed on the uncertainty in science and the interactions between science and politics.

Understanding of the water cycle will be developed starting with a review of phase changes and the heat requirements for water to melt or evaporate. By introducing the energy component of the water cycle, students will be better able to understand phenomena such as tropical storms and El Nino effects.

The relationship between land-forms and weather should evolve naturally from the students personal experience, their knowledge of the geography of the Pacific Northwest, and the study of national and global weather maps. The Pacific Northwest provides an excellent natural laboratory for understanding the effects of mountains on rain distribution because the Cascade mountain range serves as a barrier to clouds approaching from the Pacific, resulting in a rich, wet coastal zone and an arid interior. Moscow is situated on the western side of the Rockies, thus a second mountain barrier results in substantially higher rainfall for Moscow than for areas a short distance to the West. The biological consequences of this increased rainfall can be seen in the increasing diversity of plants and animals as one moves from the Washington desert to the forests of Idaho.

The interrelatedness of human populations and their environment are well illustrated by a number of eco- political problems which are attracting global attention. Issues such as the extensive pollution of the air and water, global warming, and ozone depletion will be covered in some detail with particular consideration to chemistry of the reactions involved and effects on the biosphere. Global modifications that tend to balance some of these problems such as carbon dioxide fixation by plants and oceanic sequestering of carbon dioxide will also be discussed.

The basic concepts of rocks and minerals introduced in the first semester are further developed in the second by examining mineral deposits and land-forms as clues to the geologic history of the region. Special emphasis will be placed on the biological basis of geological formations including the role of bacteria in metal deposits and oxidative weathering, the biological basis of coal and oil deposits, and the role of photosynthetically produced- oxygen in the chemistry of the earth's surface. Again this course will be able to draw on the extraordinary diversity of the region by using field trips to sites such as the Clarkia Fossil Deposits, the garnet deposits, and columnar basalt outcroppings, to develop a picture of how the region has changed over time.

Moving from the regional to the global, major geological processes such as mountain building, ocean spreading, and plate tectonics will be discussed. As this subject deals with the evolution of planetary land-forms, it is also an appropriate time to discuss the plant and animal fossil record. The evolution of life as seen through the fossil record takes advantage of nature's long term experiment in life.

Students will learn about life as it evolved through the major geological periods. The emphasis in this unit will be less on memorizing the names of new and interesting extinct animals as on appreciating the kinds of organisms which populated the various epochs. Modern theories of the various extinction events will be discussed along with the evidence and contradictions. Evidence such as the iridium deposits along the K- T boundary which have been attributed to a meteor will be discussed and used to illustrate the application of chemical analysis to solving historical problems.

The fossil record associated with human evolution will be presented. This topic is particularly useful in discussing the difficulties associated with attempting to draw broad conclusions from a fragmentary record. Drawing on discussions in the first semester, students will be shown how specific features in the fossil samples are used to establish the species and to develop evolutionary trees.

The Earth as an Island in Space

In keeping with the theme of slowly expanding the scale of observation, students will be taken on a tour of the moon and the solar system using the extensive NASA resources which are available on campus. Using video programs developed by NASA, students will visit the surface of Mars and Venus, and compare the cratering of the Moon and Mercury with that of Mars and the Earth where weathering by the atmosphere has erased many of the crater features.

Using the solar system as a giant model, we shall discuss gravity, doing simple experiments such as the classic Galileo drop test. The distinction between weight and mass is easily seen when dealing with the weight of objects on the earth, the Moon, and in the weightlessness of space. Again, NASA has developed extensive video libraries taken during Moon walks and various space missions which illustrate these points.

The theory of gravity as developed by Einstein can be readily understood using computer graphics. Otherwise difficult concepts, such as the curvature of space, can be visualized in this way. The example of placing a satellite into orbit can be used to develop the ideas of gravity wells and escape velocities.

Moving beyond the solar system, the distances become so great that even light requires substantial time to travel between stars. The speed of light is an important universal constant which can be measured with surprisingly simple equipment. This experiment will be presented as a video. Some of the features of Einstein's special theory of relativity can be understood by a beginning student and will be discussed. Most notable of these is the concept that the speed of light is a universal speed limit and hence provides important information about the size of the universe.

An evening laboratory will be used to permit students to work with a small telescope to observe the moon, planets which may be in view, and selected stars and galaxies. This hands- on experience will be supplemented with views from ground- based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope which provide high resolution pictures of the heavens. The course will sample some of the more interesting and important new discoveries with the intent of encouraging the students to go beyond this sample in their reading and study.

The course will end with a bang, the Big Bang. Modern theories of the origins of the universe will be presented and the students will be exposed to some of the areas for which there are presently no answers.

The course which began with observation thus ends with questions. This seems fitting, as this is the way that real science operates. Students, particularly those who will go on to be teachers of the next generation must come to understand that science is not a closed book with rigid, well understood laws. Science is a fluid enterprise which makes progress because of its firm reliance upon observation, hypothesis testing, and verification. Theories in science are rarely the last word and only serve to organize the information which we have until the next, more inclusive theory comes along. New science is being discovered every day by bright young people. The frontiers of knowledge are much closer than many in the general public appreciate. If this course exposes prospective young teachers to some of the excitement and mystery of science which they can then transmit to their students, it will have accomplished its goal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Science for All Americans. 1989. Project 2061. Amer. Assoc. for the Adv. of Science.

Durant, J.R; Evans, G.A. and Thomas, G.P. 1989. The Public Understanding of Science. Nature 340: 11.

Hazen, R.M. and Trefil, J.S. 1991. Achieving Chemical Literacy. J. Chem. Ed. 68:392.

Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, R.T. 1987. Learning Together and Alone. Prentice Hall. Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ. 2nd Ed.

Kagan, S. 1989. Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning Educational Leadership. Dec.

Moore, J.A. 1989. A Conceptual Framework for Biology, Part I, Amer. Zool., 29:671.

Phillips, D.B. 1984. A Comprehensive Science Education Program for Preparing Elementary School Teachers, JCST.

Shamos, M.H. 1984. Exposure to Science vs. Scientific Literacy JCST.

Volker, E.J. 1983. Teaching Science to Future Elementary School Teachers. JCST.

Volpe, E.P. 1984. The Shame of Science Educalion. Arner. Zool. 24:433.

APPENDIX B

Observation in Science

The art of observation is probably the single most important skill for success in science. It is a skill that is intuitive with children and one which can be improved with a little practice. A classic example of a way to teach observation is the Faraday candle experiment. Faraday originally encouraged his students to make as many observations as possible using a simple candle. Depending upon the sophistication of the class, the list may range from dozens of items to hundreds. For the present course, we shall expand upon the Faraday candle experiment to include an inanimate object, a plant and an animal. Students will be grouped into teams of three, and each team member will be presented with an inanimate object (rocks, fossils, silly putty, ice), a plant (marigold seedlings, small ferns, molds), or an animal (white mice, Madagascar cockroaches, frogs or snakes) so that each group has one of each. The students will be given five minutes to examine their specimen, after which the class will assemble for a short directed discussion on the use of measuring instruments in making observations. The instructor will discuss the importance of quantifying length (or size) when describing a specimen, and the students will directed toward sets of metric rulers. The students will be asked to trade specimens within the group and make quantitative measurements on their samples. After five minutes, the class will then reconvene and discuss the importance of mass when making observations. The students will again trade samples and be directed toward a set of balances with instructions to measure the mass of their samples. At the end of this process, each group will be given an opportunity to merge their observations, and list them on large sheets in preparation for a general class discussion. This discussion will be directed not only toward comparing observations between groups having the same specimens, but also describing some of the experimental difficulties in measuring the length of a wriggling snake, or establishing the mass of a frog that doesn't wish to sit still on the balance pan. Students will be asked to describe how they solved these problems, and how they might approach the problem if they had any resources which they needed. Finally, the role of subjective observations, color, hard and soft, hot and cold, will be discussed with students making suggestions as to how these properties might be quantified or at least made relative to some agreed upon scale.

This laboratory has a number of general goals in addition to being a fun and painless way to introduce the importance of observation. Students are guided through the process of observation starting with qualitative, visual and tactile, to quantitative observations on mass and length. They begin to appreciate the limitations on measurement when dealing with real world questions. They are exposed to the idea that for observations to be meaningful they must be described in terms which are universally understood. This may require agreement on a color scale (the 64 color set of Crayola crayons works well here), or a scale of relative hardness (rocks, wax, and silly putty). Finally, the students learn that working in teams takes advantage of each participants skills.

APPENDIX C

Classification in Science

Science attempts to create order from apparent disorder. Before we are able to make generalizations that can be used to predict outcomes, facts and objects must be arranged in some orderly fashion. For example, after we have classified clouds into certain categories, we can generalize and predict, given a certain cloud cover, whether it may rain. Although classification permeates science, it is important to understand that the classification is arbitrary and is solely for the convenience of the classifiers. We are imposing our own strategies and criteria for putting things together upon a natural system that sometimes defies classification. Ideally, the best methods of classification consider "natural" categories that also reflect natural relationships. With over one million species of animals identified, some classification scheme must be imposed on this group in order to make sense of it all. It is important for students to understand that this classification scheme is arbitrary and often changes as taxonomists become aware of new information that reflects natural relationships between animals. This exercise will attempt to demonstrate the importance of classification as well as its arbitrary nature. After a short discussion of taxonomy and systematics, homologous and analogous structures, and primitive and specialized characters, students will each receive a bag of screws, bolts and nails. From this collection, they will have to assemble a phylogenetic scheme, arranging the hardware into a system that reflects "evolutionary" relationships. Is a Philips head screw more primitive or more advanced than a slotted screw? Is a threaded screw more primitive or more advanced than a nail? Once they individually determine these relationships, the students will be organized into small groups with the assignment that they must agree on a classification scheme that can be presented and justified to the entire class.

APPENDIX D

Nutritional Requirements for Grain Beetles

In these days of fast food and artificial ingredients, students tend to discount the importance of an adequate diet for growth and survival. Although the domestication of grasses early in the evolution of humans helped solve the constant problem of obtaining food, proteins can only be synthesized by an organism if all the component amino acids are present, and plant proteins are often deficient in one or more of these amino acids. Early classical experiments with rats demonstrated that animal proteins such as milk are sufficient for growth, whereas the exclusive consumption of plant proteins did not sustain this growth unless they were supplemented with certain amino acids. We will discuss the nutritional requirements of humans, the evolution and development of agriculture, and our reliance on plants and animals for protein. Because human experimentation is precluded, we will demonstrate the effects of diet in the grain beetle, Tribolium confusum. Early in the semester, defined diet components will be weighed and prepared by the students and assembled into different experimental treatments. Controls will consist of the basic diet plus casein, lipid- free brewers yeast, lipid- free wheat germ, wheat germ oil, and cholesterol. In each treatment, one major component will be left out. Ten adult Tribolium will be introduced to small vials containing the various diets, and the vials covered with cheesecloth. After 40- 50 days of incubation, students will count the adults, larvae, and pupae from each vial, tabulate the results, and determine any statistical significance between treatments and the control. Results will be graphed and the students will discuss the implications of nutritional requirements on Tribolium survival and reproduction.

APPENDIX E

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis has traditionally been an area of study that has been approached from a broadly interdisciplinary prospective. Physiologists, ecologists, chemists, and physicists have joined forces to understand this complex biological process. Because the study of photosynthesis is so multifaceted, it makes an excellent example for teaching integrated science to teachers. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use the energy from sun light to fix atmospheric CO2 into carbohydrates. At the same time it oxidizes H2O to O2. The carbohydrates are the source of all dietary carbon and, therefore, essential for feeding all non- photosynthetic organisms on the planet. Similarly, the O2 evolved is essential for all aerobic life on the planet. The process of photosynthesis is essential for life in two ways and is an important area of study. The purpose of these exercises are to study the two key reactions of photosynthesis, CO2 fixation into carbohydrates and O2 evolution from H2O. At the same time an important chemical concept, oxidation and reduction, will be investigated along with exercises to investigate the nature of light. This will be done with three overlapping simple demonstrations.

Oxygen evolution by Elodea: Elodea is a common seaweed that is readily available in pet stores. When exposed to strong light, it will photosynthesize with the release of O2 into the water around it. Because of the low solubility of O2 in water, the O2 produced forms as small bubbles on the leaves. The rate of bubble release is a quantitative measure of the rate of photosynthesis. The bubbles can be trapped and analyzed to show that the bubbles are O2. Colored plastic sheets can be placed between the light source and the Elodea to determine the efficiency of different light qualities on the photosynthetic rate. A striking demonstration involves using a large prism with a powerful light source and placing a number of plants in the spectrum produced by the prism. This allows a detailed evaluation of the ability of different light wavelengths to drive photosynthesis. Many of our students will have experience with agriculture and agricultural chemicals. They would be interested in a simple experiment to see which herbicides inhibit photosynthesis as opposed to other processes.

Carbohydrate production by photosynthesis in beans: The production of carbohydrates as a photosynthetic product is shown directly by detecting the starch produced with iodine. The leaves are exposed to bright direct light, the excised leaves are decolored by boiling in alcohol, and the starch stained black by iodine. Simple manipulations include shading the leaves to show the need for light, covering the stornata where CO2 enters on the bottom of leaves with petroleum jelly to show that CO2 is essential, and covering the leaves with colored plastics to show that the same light quality responses are needed for CO2 fixation that were evident for O2 evolution. These experiments have been done with younger children and involve no hazardous chemicals.

Oxidation and reduction reactions: The concept of oxidation and reduction reactions is essential to chemistry but, since the electrons that are passed between chemicals are hard to visualize, students often have difficulty understanding how these reactions proceed. Photosynthesis, as with all life, is driven by redox reactions. The removal of electron from H2O to yield O2 and the donation of these electrons to CO2 to reduce it to carbohydrates is the core of photosynthesis. Redox reactions can be demonstrated by the reduction of blue dichlorophenolindophenol to its clear product with ascorbate. Once this concept has been communicated the students will use this redox indicator with the Elodea plants to show that the plants are absorbing light and using the energy to drive electron transfer to the dye. Photosynthesis is an important part of life on this planet and that can be studied directly in a manner that requires minimum equipment. Because of the strong chemical and physical basis needed for understanding photosynthesis it is an ideal subject area for introducing students to the interdisciplinary nature of scientific study.

APPENDIX F

Animal Communication and Mating Behavior

Many animals communicate with chemicals, which, when used between two members of the same species, are classified as pheromones. Pheromone communication is particularly prevalent among insects, and is employed in various ways. The most important way is to serve as a means of bringing the two sexes together for mating. In this exercise, students will examine the cues that male house flies use to identify females. In addition to chemical pheromones, many insects initially use visual cues such as size and shape to identify potential mates, and then rely on the perception of contact pheromones as a final indication that the object in question is indeed a member of the opposite sex. A good example of this is the male house fly, Musca domestica, which at first is not very discriminating and will often attempt to copulate with other males, dead flies, or small objects that resemble flies. Once an object is identified visually, however, the males respond to contact pheromones present in the female and do not continue the act unless these chemicals are also present. Students will first prepare "pseudoflies" made of knotted shoelaces of various colors that have been closely cropped to provide an appropriate visual target that looks like a fly. The first hypothesis to be tested is that visual cues alone can initiate copulatory behavior. Previously unmated male house flies will be introduced into a test arena along with the shoelaces. Observations over 10 minutes will record how attractive the shoelaces are by themselves and what colors are preferred by the males. The second hypothesis is that a chemical in female flies communicates information to males. Students will prepare a simple ethanol extract of female flies and apply it to a set of new shoelaces of the preferred color. After another 10 minute observation period the number of attempted copulations with the treated pseudoflies will be recorded and compared to pseudoflies treated with ethanol alone. Statistical tests will determine whether, the null hypothesis, that the extract has no effect on male mating behavior should be accepted or rejected. From this experiment, students will have performed a simple chemical extraction, observed the behavioral effects of pheromones, and determined if there is a statistically significant difference between the responses of experimental groups and controls.

APPENDIX G

Chemistry and the Atmosphere

A major portion of the second semester course with the theme of "Increasing in Scale" deals with the atmosphere. Topics include classical meteorology with storms, tornadoes, drought, monsoons, thunder and lightening, coupled with the water cycle, and more detailed concepts such as the jet stream, regions of the atmosphere, ozone holes and El Ninos. An integrated approach to these topics would fold a number of chemical subjects smoothly into the discussion, making the relationship between the fundamental chemistry and the dynamics of the atmosphere as natural as they are in the real world. Some of these points of merger are indicated in this section.

Phases of Matter, Water, and Weather

Much of the language we use to describe the weather (wet or dry, rainy, snowing, foggy, cloudy, clear) relate to the presence or absence of water, or to some form of water in the air. In order to understand weather then we must have some appreciation of water, its properties, and the various states of water. First, water is a very simple compound consisting of hydrogen and oxygen. [Question: How do we know that? Carry out an electrolysis experiment to split water into its constituent elements. If the apparatus isn't available in a schoolroom for this, demonstrations of electrolysis are available on video disk.] Water is one of the most abundant compounds on earth and is found in space in comets. [Suggested reading on water in comets from studies conducted in the Fly- by's of Comet Halley.] Water exists in three forms (called states) under normal pressure conditions. These are the solid, ice, liquid water, and the gas, water vapor. Since much of the weather on earth concerns these three forms, it is important to understand how water is transformed from one state to another. Students will carry out simple experiments in which they watch as water crystallizes into ice. The students will observe the formation of ice dendrites in a plastic petri dish in a freezer and compare these crystals with those of similar shape which they have observed in the first semester [lessons on crystal growth associated with mineralogy]. Ideas on formation of snowflakes and shapes of snowflakes will be used to illustrate the patterns of these crystals. Freezing or melting constitutes a change of phase which requires that thermal energy be absorbed or released. Students will carry out an experiment in which they record the temperature of crushed ice as it warms up from freezer temperatures (typically at - 10deg.C) to room temperature. Plotting these temperatures on a graph against time will produce a curve which shows a long flat section in the region in which ice and water coexist. This experiment will be used as the basis for a discussion of heat of fusion (melting) and the fact that heat must be added to the solid to get it to melt. A similar experiment can be done with boiling water to illustrate the heat of vaporization. An understanding of the heat associated with a phase change is critical to an appreciation of the role of energy release when water droplets form in storm clouds such as hurricanes. Other associated topics include evaporative cooling of alcohol and water, formation of clouds when water vapor condenses into droplets, and the operation of steam engines.

Ozone and The Atmosphere

Modern chemistry is intimately involved in the continuing debate and concern about the apparent depletion of the ozone in the upper atmosphere as a result of chlorofluorocarbons. Unfortunately, no aspect of this chemistry lends itself to safe demonstrations which can be done on the elementary level. There is a wealth of articles which have been written on the subject of ozone depletion which can be used for the basis of teaching future teachers how to use library and database resources to build lesson plans for issues in science and society. A combination of lecture and video presentation will be used to present the basic chemistry of ozone and chlorofluorocarbons. Topics such as photochemistry will be related to more easily understood subjects such as chlorophyll and sunlight cracking of plastics. The mechanism of the catalytic decomposition of ozone is easily understood and is a wonderful subject for "acting out" of a chemical reaction. [The Chemistry Department at Idaho presented a skit in the local Mardi Gras parade in which the destruction of ozone was acted out. Not only was it fun, but a sampling of the bystanders along the parade route indicated that the skit was understood by the average public.] Student teams will be directed to develop a short lesson using articles on ozone depletion

in the popular media (newspapers, news magazines, and popular science magazines). In particular, students will be asked to identify the points in the media presentations which seem contradictory and which lack substantiation. They will then be asked to identify ways in which they might be able to obtain more information.

APPENDIX H

Global Weather on Computer

The Canadian Space Agency has recently announced the release of a set of interactive software titled "Geoscope" which contains more than 150 data sets and satellite images of weather related phenomena. The package allows the user to animate some data sets to view changes over time, and to view in detail regions of the world. Groups of students will study a tutorial package in the use of Geoscope and become proficient in the use of the data bases. They will then be asked to examine some feature of the world's weather patterns and to develop a short presentation using the computer and full color LCD display to illustrate their talks. This program will be employed in several places in the course as it provides images of ozone concentrations and El Nino effects among others.