Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers

Mark Bloom; Sarah Quebec Fuentes

doi:10.29333/ejmste/103571

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Mark Bloom ¹ ^* , Sarah Quebec Fuentes ²

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¹ Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, USA² Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This article describes results of a professional development (PD) program for inservice science teachers. The PD integrated experiential learning to enhance participants’ literacy regarding energy production and associated environmental costs. The PD focused on six energy sources and environmental politics that must be navigated to make decisions about their sustainability. Participants toured energy extraction/production sites including coal mines, hydroelectric dams, wind farms, and nuclear power plants. At each site, participants encountered differing perspectives on the environmental costs and benefits of the energy sources. Group discussions allowed for sharing participants’ thoughts on each perspective and mathematical modeling was used as a tool for evaluating each energy source. Data included pre- and post-content assessments and PD evaluation surveys. Analysis revealed the role that experiential learning played in changed perspectives on energy production, content knowledge growth, and impacts on the participants’ own classroom teaching.

Keywords

energy literacy
experiential learning
professional development
modeling

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2019, Volume 15, Issue 6, Article No: em1699

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

Publication date: 01 Feb 2019

Article Views: 1848

Article Downloads: 1068

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How to cite this article

APA

Bloom, M., & Quebec Fuentes, S. (2019). Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(6), em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

Vancouver

Bloom M, Quebec Fuentes S. Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2019;15(6):em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

AMA

Bloom M, Quebec Fuentes S. Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2019;15(6), em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

Chicago

Bloom, Mark, and Sarah Quebec Fuentes. "Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2019 15 no. 6 (2019): em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

Harvard

Bloom, M., and Quebec Fuentes, S. (2019). Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(6), em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571

MLA

Bloom, Mark et al. "Experiential Learning for Enhancing Environmental Literacy Regarding Energy: A Professional Development Program for Inservice Science Teachers". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 15, no. 6, 2019, em1699. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/103571