Essential Science for Teachers
Earth & Space Science
Exploring topics that range from soil to the solar system, Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science provides participants the opportunity to increase their science content knowledge and develop new understandings of how this content connects to K - 6 classrooms.
This course is composed of eight sessions, each with a one-hour video program addressing a topic area in Earth and Space science that emphasizes the science content that is likely to be part of any elementary school science curriculum.
Posing the question "What is Earth’s structure and its place in the universe?", the course begins by looking at soil, the top layer of the solid Earth and interface between rock, water and atmosphere. We then explore the nature of the dynamic Earth and the internal and external processes that are continually at work shaping the planet. Moving on from the Earth, the course continues with an investigation into Earth’s neighborhood in space. Video examples, colorful graphics, lively animations, models, and other visual strategies are used as learning tools to bring meaning to the content being addressed.