Elizabeth A. E. Roland Assistant Professor e.roland@moreheadstate Jennifer M.K. O’Keefe

1. Pre-service Elementary and Middle Grades Students’ Factual Retention after an Inquiry or Direct Instruction Earth and Space Science Course Elizabeth A. E. Roland Assistant Professor e.roland@moreheadstate.edu Jennifer M.K. O’Keefe Assistant Professor j.okeefe@moreheadstate.edu Department of Earth and Space Sciences Morehead State University

2. Rationale Numerous studies have reported that in-service teacher knowledge in science is below that which would be considered acceptable (Krall, Lott, & Wymer, 2009; Rice, 2005). While professional development opportunities can assist with this problem, pre-service education should be realigned to address content gaps before entering the profession.

3. Many studies report the design and implementation of undergraduate Earth and Space science courses targeting pre-service elementary and middle grades students (Apedoe, Walter & Reeves, 2006; Gosselin & Mocklem-Hurst, 2002; McConnell, Steer, & Owens, 2006). The studies discuss how the courses were revised (McConnell, Steer & Owens, 2006), and provide limited, end of course evaluations (Apedoe, Walter & Reeves, 2006; McConnell, Steer & Owens, 2006).

4. In addition, education programs are often assessed based upon PRAXIS scores which includes a content area knowledge test (EPSB, 2010;ETS, 2010). While inquiry courses tend to focus upon teaching conceptually, questions have been raised about student performance on factual tests.

5. Research Questions • Does an inquiry earth/space science course result in retention of factual knowledge? • Do students in a methods course retain factual knowledge over the semester? • Do students completing the inquiry course have and retain a different level of factual knowledge than those who do not?

6. Methodology Data collected occurred within a science methods course taken after completion of the Earth/Space course. 220 students completed both portions. A 60-item multiple-choice instrument was designed collaboratively among the science education faculty (content and methods).

7. Three content areas: Biology, Earth/Space, and Physical Science; represent the three pre-service inquiry content courses required by all elementary and middle grades science teachers. The instrument is administered at the beginning and end of science methods. Students are provided with one hour to complete it.

8. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, gain scores, ranges and means for subtest scores, sub-test gains, and ranges were obtained. Frequency counts with percentages are tabulated for each test item. The pre- and post-test response by student are compared in a crosstabs table.

9. Crosstab tables were then subdivided by treatment. A two-tailed independent t-test was run for the pre-test distribution.

10. Results

16. Conclusions/Implications Do the students retain knowledge? Yes, but at a lower level then desired. We established the desired level at 75%. Do students retain knowledge over the semester? Yes, and in some cases it increased suggesting that outside influences or course influences upon student content knowledge.

17. Is there a difference between treatment? Yes, there is a difference, but it does not always favor inquiry, though more frequently it does. Students are able to recall factual knowledge and students from the inquiry conceptual course generally performed equally or surpassed those in the traditional course.

18. Results were disappointing as very few items had 75% of the students answering correctly, and several items were below 40%. This suggests revisions are needed in the inquiry course, specifically with content delivery in Astronomy, Plate Tectonics, and Rocks and Minerals. The results do support the use of inquiry-based content courses for pre-service teachers for improving student knowledge of standards based topics.

19. Future Research To date, we have not been able to connect our students exit performance from the inquiry courses. This is a priority based upon the results of the methods study. Studies of pre to post knowledge improvement is needed to solidify suggestions for content improvement in the inquiry courses.

20. Finally, student profiles of knowledge development over the entire 4-course science education sequence is needed to develop additional support for the reform.

21. References Apedoe, X.S., Walker, S.E. & Reeves, T.C. (2006). Integrating inquiry-based learning into undergraduate geology. Journal of Geoscience Education, 54, 414-421. Educational Professional Standards Board (2010). Annual State-only Institutional Data Report. http://www.kyepsb.net/teacherprep/AnnualStateOnlyDataReport.asp.  Educational Testing Service (2010) Praxis II Test Content. http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/?vgnextoid=1e636790bd4fe110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=dc87c267942fe110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD. Gosselin, D.C. & Macklem-Hurst, J.L. (2002). Pre-/Post-Knowledge Assessment of an Earth Science Course for Elementary/Middle School Education Majors. Journal of Geoscience Education, 50, 169-175. Krall, R. M., Lott, K.H., & Wymer, C. L. (2009). Inservice elementary and middle school teachers’ conceptions of photosynthesis and respiration. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 20, 41-55. McConnell, D.A., Steer, D.N., & Owen, K.D. (2006). Using conceptests to assess and improve student conceptual understanding in introductory geosciences courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, 54, 61-68. Rice, D. C. (2005). I didn’t know oxygen could boil! What preservice and inservice elementary teachers’ answers to ‘simple’ science reveals about their subject matter knowledge. International Journal of Science Education. 27(9), 1059-1082.

22. Acknowledgements NSF: Start-MSP 0831901 Morehead State University The methods students who have participated in the study semester after semester.