Slekar, T. S., Lachance, A., Klein, B. S., & Klein, K. W. (2003). The environmental thematic methods block: A model for technology immersion. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online serial], 3(1). Available: http://www.citejournal.org/vol3/iss1/science/article1.cfm
Vision Vignette

Figure 1. evTMB students investigating the forest floor with elementary school
children.
Imagine, small groups of fourth graders are scattered about the
natural area adjacent to the playground of Aldo Leopold Elementary School
located in a small town in upstate New York (see Figure 1). They are
equipped with laptop computers linked to the Internet via a digital
wireless connection. One group is identifying insects using the online
Audubon Field Guide. Another group has a microphone connected to the
laptop and is trying to record the sounds of cicadas for use in a
multimedia presentation they are creating about how insects communicate.
Yet another group has a science probe that can measure temperature. They
are working on a research project that compares the reflectivity of
different soil types with the kinds of plants and animals that live there.
Finally, another group is working on a time-lapse photography project
which is chronicling the life cycle of different plants in the area.
Ultimately, they will be preparing charts and graphs that they will share
in a collaborative project with students in a neighboring state. As they
design the research study, they determine, in real-time consultation with
their peers in the other state, some variables they need to consider for
the project. As problems arise, the students connect with their colleagues
in the other school via a video link from the Natural Area. Problems are
addressed and resolved on the spot.
As the students work, their teacher, Ms. Smith, a recent SUNY
Cortland graduate, walks around the Natural Area observing, questioning,
and advising the students as they work on their projects. As she moves to
the next group, she is pleased with what she observes. She recalls her
own preservice training at SUNY Cortland in the Environmental Thematic
Methods Block. This integrated approach to teaching elementary school
helped her to see the power of integrated learning and technology for
developing student understanding. The students seem to grasp new concepts
much more quickly when they see how many ideas, concepts, and approaches
can transcend discrete subject areas. This approach, while often seeming
somewhat chaotic, actually results in her students becoming more involved
in learning.
With this vision in mind, we developed the Environmental Thematic Methods
Block (evTMB). The evTMB involves the integration of elementary education
methods courses taken by preservice teachers. Specifically, the evTMB uses the
topic of environmentalism as a foundational theme and technology as a tool of
pedagogical inquiry and delivery to explore disciplinary connections between
science, math, and social studies. We teach the same group of 50-75 students
(depending on the semester) in order to facilitate the development of learning
communities. In addition, the course content is connected by emphasizing
similar themes and disciplinary connections. The evTMB is designed to prepare
preservice elementary teachers to expand traditional disciplinary and
professional boundaries.
Context
The State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland is a public institution
located in rural upstate New York. The college is the largest preparer of
elementary education teachers in New York State and is one of the top 10 in
the nation. Over 60% of its 7,200 students are seeking some form of teacher
education credential. Our campus is currently in the midst of preparing for
review by the following governing bodies: Middle States Accreditation, New
York State Department of Education, and the National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education. These external reviews require us to define what we do
and then defend why we do what we do. We see the evTMB as one model to
accommodate these external reviews. More importantly, however, we see this
model as a catalyst for reform.
In what follows, we provide a glimpse of the literature that informed the
theoretical foundation of the evTMB model and a glance at the evTMB in
practice. There are three theoretical sites that inform the evTMB model:
technology and teaching, disciplinary/content integration, teaching and
learning community construction. The evTMB Mission Statement can be viewed at http://tmb.cortland.edu/CITEARTICLE/evtmb.htm.
Technology Immersion in the evTMB Model

Figure 2. evTMB students working with wireless technology during class.
An interesting phenomenon appears in the literature concerning teaching and
learning with technology. While most 1st-year teachers believe that using
technology with instruction is important, a large portion of graduating
preservice teachers report being poorly prepared to use technology (Strudler,
McKinney, Jones, & Quinn, 1999; Topp, 1996; Willis, Austin, & Willis, 1994).
In response, some teacher education programs offer a stand-alone educational
technology course (Strudler et al., 1999). However, the impact of these
courses is typically diminished because of their isolation in relation to the
content teachers will be teaching (Bitter & Yohe, 1989; National Council of
Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997; Novak & Berger, 1991; Willis &
Mehlinger, 1996).
These findings indicate the need for teacher educators who can provide models
of technology integration for preservice teachers. The evTMB uses this
research as support for the heavy emphasis of technology immersion it places
on preservice teachers (see Figures 2 and 3).
evTMB in Action

Figure 3. An evTMB student presenting the results of a scientific inquiry
prompted by a children's book.
Traditionally, Cortland offers EDU 314 - Teaching with Computers as a
stand-alone course to teach the basics of computer usage in the classroom.
However, in the evTMB we identified essential software applications and
designed projects that relied on the various applications. This way, instead
of EDU 314 serving as an isolated skill-based course, our preservice teachers
brought assigned projects from math, science, and social studies and used the
course (EDU 314) as a laboratory in which they investigated the various tools
(hardware and software) at their disposal. Also, Karl Klein (EDU 314
professor) was able to assume the role of facilitator.
The Virtual Fieldtrip

Figure 4. evTMB students working with a digital camera to prepare their
virtual reality scene.
One project that was completed by the evTMB students required them to conduct
historical research and use Quick Time VR Authoring Studio to showcase an
historical site. SUNY Cortland owns Huntington Memorial Camp in the
Adirondacks. Huntington was originally Camp Pine Knot and was one of the first
"Great Camps" designed by William West Durant. Pine Knot is where Durant
experimented with the architectural style that came to dominate Adirondack
design. Also, Durant's "rustic" style became a common attribute of other camps
built in the Adirondacks by the wealthy.
Having Camp Huntington as a resource proved to be an asset to the evTMB. In a
sense, the camp serves as an extension of the Cortland campus and provides
students the opportunity to study environmental issues, conduct historical
research, engage in leadership training, and enjoy the out-of-doors.
In support of the evTMB mission, a three day excursion to Camp Huntington
occurred in late September for fall semester students and in late February for
spring semester students. Along with a host of integrated learning
experiences, our preservice teachers were required to complete an historical
inquiry into one of the camp's original buildings. They used primary
documents, oral history techniques, on site interviews, and library research
to craft a short narrative about the building. Our preservice teachers were
also instructed on the use of digital photography and Quick Time VR Authoring
Studio (Figure 4). These applications were used to create a panorama scene to
be displayed with the narrative. To view a a completed project, go to
http://tmb.cortland.edu/CITEARTICLE/chalet/chalet.htm.
The following week we were back on campus revising the narratives and cleaning
up the VR scenes. Once completed, the VR scenes were used to develop a virtual
field trip of Camp Huntington.
Because of the literature cited earlier, we designed the Virtual Fieldtrip to
address some of the stated concerns. Our preservice teachers were required to
use technology as a curricular tool. The skills needed to complete the task
were not taught in isolation of content. Also, the virtual field trip serves
as a model of the possibilities for use of technology in K-12 classrooms.
Integration of Content, Pedagogy, and Discipline Areas in the evTMB Model

Figure 5. evTMB students working with elementary school children at Lime
Hollow Nature Center.
The vast body of literature on teacher education suggests (a) that elementary
school teachers often have weak understandings of the content they are
teaching (Ball, 1990; Eisenhart et al., 1993; Post, Harel, Behr & Lesh, 1991;
Simon, 1993); and (b) that despite the efforts of teacher education
institutions, the most influential force in preparing preservice teachers to
teach content is their "apprenticeship of observation" (Lortie, 1975; Slekar
1998). As Lampert and Ball (1998) put it:
Because of their many years of schooling, teacher candidates come with
extensive exposure to teaching and the practice of teaching. They have
watched their teachers over the years and constructed ideas about practice
from their own perspective as students. They have observed what teachers do
and are prepared to teach as their teachers taught — to stand at the board,
to assign problems, to check homework from the key. (pp. 24-25)
The evTMB attempts to face both these challenges by integrating content into
our teaching of methods and by modeling teaching that is inquiry based.
For example, we use a joint text, Acid Rain, Acid Snow (Slade, 1999), which
discusses the impact of air pollution and resulting acid rain on the
ecosystems in New York's Adirondacks. On a subsequent, 3-day trip to SUNY
Cortland's Camp Huntington in the Adirondacks, evTMB students meet with the
author of the text to build further content knowledge and develop a sense of
political advocacy. Other activities during this trip include, (a) discussion
of the physical and chemical processes influenced by acid rain, (b)
development of an understanding of the pH scale and the statistics associated
with acid rain, and (c) investigation of the acid levels of local lake and
stream water.
A second example of integrated content and pedagogy that evTMB uses involves a
group field trip to Lime Hollow Nature Center, a local resource only 5 miles
from SUNY Cortland (see Figure 5). During this field trip, evTMB students walk
the paths of the nature center, looking for clues as to the historical use of
the land. They also participate in several environmental education activities
that encourage students to use scientific process skills (observation,
measuring, estimating, etc.). Some of these activities involve simulations,
such as the population growth and decline of various animal populations.
Students "act out" this process through a game called "Oh, Deer!" (Western
Regional Environmental Education Council, 1986), track the growth and decline
of the population through the rounds of the game, and then graph the data.
The activities conducted on the field trips to Camp Huntington and Lime Hollow
become the backdrop and reference points for the rest of the content of evTMB.
From these field trips, generally held early in the semester, evTMB students
immediately begin to understand how interdisciplinary study fits quite
naturally in a variety of contexts. In particular, the environmental theme
used in the evTMB makes obvious the presence of social studies, science, and
math when inquiry in natural settings occurs. By modeling such
interdisciplinary inquiry in our teaching, evTMB faculty members enable
students to observe how such content-based activities can be created and
implemented.
In addition, the field trips are simply a starting point for the work of evTMB
students in thinking about interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Several
other activities connect to the field trips. Later in the semester, evTMB
students host local elementary school children on a field trip to Lime Hollow
Nature Center. Working in small groups, the evTMB students must plan and
implement an entire day of instructional activities. This enables evTMB
students to use their familiarity with this setting as a means to apply their
understanding of interdisciplinary teaching.
One of the final activities for all evTMB students is to create a set of
interdisciplinary lessons for another informal teaching situation. Students
must choose an "informal" context (such as a nature center, state park,
science center, farm, etc.) and come up with instructional goals, activities,
and assessment procedures that can be used to help children learn in the
associated context. Activities must include both before and after activities,
to prepare and provide closure for the teaching "off-site." In addition,
activities must be connected to state and national standards in science, math,
social studies and language arts, so they must be interdisciplinary.
In introducing students to interdisciplinary content and pedagogy, the evTMB
faculty create a series of activities in which students can participate and
experience interdisciplinary learning for themselves. Then the faculty push
students to build on these experiences by asking students to apply what they
have learned through these experiences. Such a process encourages students to
start thinking about content and investigation of content in an
interdisciplinary way. Because students' own experience within the
environmental, interdisciplinary settings are generally positive, evTMB
students tend to be eager to create and provide such powerful and enjoyable
learning experiences for their future students.
Development of a Learning Community in the TMB Model

Figure 6. evTMB students sharing a meal in the dining hall at Camp Huntington.
A third body of literature on school and learning communities informs this
work. Research on school change suggests that peer collaboration and support
is crucial for teachers to be successful in restructuring their classrooms and
their schools (Gilmore, 1995; Levine & Lezotte, 1995). In addition, there are
a multitude of studies suggesting that teacher collegiality and professional
communities are often hallmarks of successful schools (Little, 1982;
McLaughlin & Yee, 1988; Rosenholtz, 1989; Westheimer, 1998).
In evTMB, preservice teachers are exposed to professional and learning
communities in two ways. First, we (the faculty) plan and team teach. This
serves as "professional community" model for our students. We meet each week,
either formally or informally, to plan and schedule activities, as well as to
troubleshoot and share insights. We also share with students our varying
perspectives and processes for making decisions and creating curriculum.
Students often observe us meeting together, eating lunch together, or simply
sharing anecdotes in the hallway. Thus, students are made aware from the start
of evTMB that we as faculty members work as a cohesive team, sharing jointly
in the planning and implementation of the evTMB.
While the cooperative work of the faculty certainly models a type of
"professional community" for students, students probably learn more about
professional communities by actually participating in one. The structure of
evTMB encourages the development of learning communities among its students,
because all evTMB students are members of a given cohort. Students participate
in all course activities with the same cohort. Sharing 11 hours of class time
per week with the same group of students helps evTMB students become very
familiar with their peers.
In addition, the evTMB courses stress group work, and many class activities
and assignments must be completed in pairs or small groups. At the beginning
of each semester, for example, students participate in several "team building"
activities (Figure 6 and 7). Generally, they are given some kind of problem
each small group has to solve. Solutions are shared with the larger group. In
this type of activity, students get to observe the different perspectives and
contributions of both individuals and small groups in their cohorts. They get
to see and appreciate the different ideas and approaches of their peers. For
some examples, see http://tmb.cortland.edu/CITEARTICLE/raquettelake2.html.
This cooperative group activity continues throughout the semester. Students
often are encouraged to work together on assignments or projects. Generally,
students are required to present their products to their evTMB classmates for
constructive critique. Because students tend to get to know each other fairly
well, students tell evTMB faculty that making presentations in evTMB classes
is easier than presenting in a non-evTMB class. Thus, they come to enjoy and
value the exchange of ideas, which is a characteristic of evTMB classes.
Technology also helps evTMB students share with and support each other. The
evTMB has a listserv that allows any member of evTMB to send an email message
to the whole evTMB group, including students in all the cohorts and faculty.
Faculty use the listserv to update students on assignments or activities,
answer general questions, or share news. Students also use the listserv to
share information with each other. They offer advice or discoveries they have
made. And the listserv provides just one more way for students to get to know
and support one another. For example, during the 2nd week of the evTMB
classes, one of the students posted this message to her colleagues on the
evTMB listserv:
Hey everyone, my name is [student name] and I am a junior transfer student.
On the first day of classes, I was a little overwhelmed with the curriculum
we were presented with, but knowing that I have many classmates who are
available for support and encouragement leaves me feeling excited to be part
of a well recognized program. I hope everyone has a wonderful semester and
let me know if I can do anything to help you out :)
Such continued working and sharing together creates an interesting phenomenon
in evTMB. As the semester continues, and more outside assignments become due,
students turn to each other for assistance. They begin to see each other as
"experts" and "consultants" and will often go to their peers for assistance
before seeking faculty advice. For example, at the end of the semester,
students must present a webfolio as a culminating project for evTMB. The
webfolio includes samples of work they have done all semester long. This work
must illustrate how the students have met the objectives of each course in
evTMB. To view a sample webfolio, go to
http://tmb.cortland.edu/CITEARTICLE/simoes/splashscreen.htm.
The webfolio is a huge project for students and they spend many hours in the
college's computer labs working on this project. However, because students
have developed such a learning community, they rely on each other for
assistance as they work on this project. When someone "loses" something on
disk, several peers assist the "victim" by trying to recover the lost item.
When someone cannot figure out why a link will not work, a peer will be
consulted to try to fix the problem. From student stories of antics and
heroics in the computer lab, it is evident that evTMB students rely on and
support each other outside as well as inside of class. By the end of the
semester, they have clearly developed a learning community whose members look
to each other for advice and expertise.
Research in Progress
With every educational reform movement seems to come a call for increased and
improved preparation for teachers. Unfortunately, while the literature
concerning the need for professional preparation is extensive, how to conduct
successful professional preparation to enact reform throughout the entire
pre-K to 16 system remains somewhat of a mystery. As Simon (1996) pointed out,
Descriptive research on teaching and teachers' development generates
accounts of what is in place currently. However, the current reform ...
requires ... the reinvention of teacher education. Therefore, research must
contribute to understanding a process that is largely unrealized at this
time. We seem to have a "catch twenty-two;" we are unable to foster adequate
teacher development because we don't sufficiently understand the
developmental processes, and we are unable to understand the developmental
processes because we do not have situations to observe where teachers are
developing this expertise. (p. 507)
We believe the evTMB is a means to "reinvent" teacher education, and it is a
situation in which future teachers are developing the knowledge,
understandings, and skills they will need to operate in "reformed" classrooms.
Since our program is only a year old, we have limited evidence on its impact.
However, both the anecdotal and formal evidence we have suggests evTMB has had
a significant impact on students' views of content and pedagogy.
For example, evTMB was offered for the first time in the Fall of 2000. During
their time in evTMB, this "inaugural" group of students was often frustrated
with evTMB and its faculty. They were not used to learning through inquiry or
relying on technology so heavily. The "creative" scheduling of evTMB (to
accommodate field trips and other "events") confused them, and they longed for
the days when they could depend on having the same class at the same time each
week (i.e., every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10-10:50 a.m.). They felt
the evTMB required too much work of them and that the faculty's standards and
expectations were too high. Needless to say, we as faculty were somewhat
concerned about the impact we had on our students. This was not the reaction
we anticipated.
However, the next semester, spring 2001, when that first group of 72 evTMB
students moved on to new education classes, we started getting incredibly
positive feedback. Former students came back to us saying that they missed
evTMB. They missed the hands-on classes, they missed knowing their peers so
well, and they missed learning in the type of environment that TMB created. In
their new classes, they felt disconnected from their peers and their
instructors. And worst of all for them, none of their classes seemed to be
connected or interrelated, as they had in evTMB.
At the same time, our colleagues who were now teaching our former evTMB
students were telling us that there was a distinct difference between the
evTMB and the non-evTMB students they had in their classes. The evTMB students
tended to be more vocal. While many of our colleagues appreciated this
characteristic, some instructors felt that evTMB alumni had an "air of
entitlement" and complained too much about how courses were structured or how
the college system worked. (Of course, we, as evTMB faculty, saw this as
political advocacy!)
Colleagues also suggested that evTMB students shared many positive examples
from evTMB during their class discussions. In one class, called Measurement
and Evaluation, the instructor asked students to share positive evaluation
experiences they had had in their school career. One by one, the evTMB alumni
in her class brought forth assessment procedures used in evTMB. They
appreciated the use of rubrics and peer assessment in determining grades for
their work. They appreciated the fact that not all of their grade was
determined by performance on written work, but by the quality of presentations
they made to peers or the reflections they completed on their work with
children.
Finally, many of them spoke of the impact of the webfolio on their learning.
As a culminating project, students felt the webfolio allowed them to choose
and exhibit their best work. It also forced them to reflect on all they had
learned throughout the semester, and then demonstrate that learning to
themselves and their instructors. Finally, the webfolio made them use the
technological skills they had developed throughout the semester. Thus, to
students, the webfolio seemed a powerful and authentic means for them to show
what they had accomplished all semester. As faculty, we are elated with this
feedback. This was the kind of result we hoped we would have.
We hope that analysis of more formal data we collect will support the great
body of anecdotal evidence we have gathered. Unfortunately, while we have
collected some data (through surveys and work samples) on students'
experiences with the evTMB, we have not yet finished analyzing most of this
data. However, there is one small set of data that has recently been analyzed
and illustrates some of the effects an innovation such as evTMB can have.
The data are open-ended responses to a survey for college students called the
Measure of Epistemological Reflection (MER; Baxter Magolda, 1992; Baxter
Magolda & Porterfield, 1985). The MER is meant to develop the level of
intellectual development of college students by asking them about their
perspectives on five domains related to learning: the role of the learner, the
role of the instructor, the role of peers, the role of evaluation, and the
nature of knowledge. In a small pilot study involving 60 students, we
administered the MER to three groups of undergraduates: Group I consisted of
students majoring in a liberal art or science, Group II consisted of
elementary education majors who did not participate in evTMB, and Group III
consisted of elementary education majors who participated in evTMB in fall
2000. All students in all three groups were juniors. All three groups were of
similar composition in terms of gender, race, age, and GPA.
In analyzing student responses, a significantly larger percentage of evTMB
students had reached higher levels of intellectual development than students
in the other two groups. None of the evTMB students were in the earliest
stages of development, compared to 25% of the liberal arts or sciences majors
and 10% of the non-evTMB elementary education majors. At the other end of the
scale, 45% of the evTMB students were at the highest level of intellectual
development seen in this study, whereas only 15% of the arts and sciences
majors and 30% of the non-evTMB elementary education majors were at this
level. In short, this means evTMB students were more likely to see learners
as needing to think for themselves, as opposed to gaining knowledge from the
instructor. The evTMB students were also more likely to believe peers should
be serving as sources of knowledge as opposed to being simply a means to share
materials. In terms of the role of the instructor, evTMB students were more
likely to feel instructors should be promoting students to think independently
as opposed to communicating knowledge to learners. Evaluation should thus
reward such thinking as opposed to showing the instructor what was learned.
Finally, evTMB students were more likely to see knowledge as uncertain and
open to interpretation as opposed to being certain and absolute.
Although this is a small study, the results do indicate that evTMB has an
effect on how students think about knowledge and teaching. We hope to
replicate these results in the next year, so that we can further analyze what
components of evTMB have the greatest impact on student learning and thinking.
In addition, we hope to follow the first group of evTMB students as they begin
student teaching in the fall of 2001 to see in what ways, if any, their evTMB
experience affects their classroom teaching.
Conclusion

Figure 7. TMB faculty informally discussing plans at Raquette Lake.
The evTMB faculty believe that by integrating course content, developing
deeper relationships with and among our students, and using technology
throughout our teaching, our preservice teachers will be exposed to a model of
teaching and learning better suited to the classrooms of the new millennium.
Early indications from both formal and informal evidence suggest that evTMB
students do recognize that the learning environment created through evTMB
activities and relationships is one that supports student growth and
understanding. We believe evTMB is an experience our students want to simulate
in their own teaching. We hope that by following evTMB students through their
student teaching and first teaching jobs, we will begin to see how the evTMB
experience gets translated into elementary school teaching.
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Tim Slekar
Penn State Altoona
email: tds12@psu.edu