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MAT Graduates Reflect on Pioneering Program

American Museum of Natural History. (2013, December 23). MAT Graduates Reflect on Pioneering Program [Video File].

Author/Presenter

American Museum of Natural History

Year
2013
Short Description

In this video, find out more about the Museum's Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program from five MAT graduates in the class of 2013, who are now teaching in New York City's public schools. The MAT program with a specialization in teaching Earth Science is a unique 15-month fully paid teaching fellowship that includes learning experiences in the Museum's world-renowned collections and teaching residencies with experienced science teachers in partner schools.

Teaching Science Teachers

Cascarano, C. & Koirala, S. [New York Times]. (2013, December 15). Teaching Science Teachers [Video File].

Author/Presenter

Chris Cascarano

Snigdha Koirala

Year
2013
Short Description

New York Times Video on the American Museum of Natural History's master's degree program in teaching, part of a broad national campaign to add 100,000 science, technology and math teachers by 2021.

The Missing Ingredient in Science Teacher Preparation: The Role of the Senior Specialist

The traditional model for supervision of pre-service science teachers during the field experience within teacher preparation programs includes the appointment of a university supervisor who is often a retired teacher and/or adjunct faculty and a school-based co-operating teacher who rarely receives training from the university to be a mentor. This can lead to a disconnect between the university supervisor, co-operating teacher, and university, and a disjointed experience for the pre-service teachers.

Author/Presenter

Julie Contino

Natasha Cooke-Nieves

Year
2013
Short Description

This paper describes a residency model that includes faculty members who serve as Senior Specialists – mentors in school residency rotations, advisors in teaching as a profession, and co-instructors in academic courses and portfolio development. The Senior Specialist acts as the linchpin between the youth programs, science practicum, and courses as well as a support structure and anchor to the five high need, low achieving partner schools with the ultimate goal of strengthening the pre-service teachers’ experience.

Supporting Mentor Teachers in the Assessment of and Inquiry into High-Leverage Science Teaching Practices

While the scholarship examining the teaching of high leverage teaching practices in the context of pre-service teacher education is continuing to grow (Ball & Forzani, 2009; McDonald, Kazemi, & Kavanaugh, 2013; Windschitl, Thompson, Braaten & Stroupe, 2012), fewer teacher educators have been examining how to bring those who mentor pre-service teachers, sometimes called cooperating teachers or pre-service mentor teachers, into this effort.

Author/Presenter

Karen Hammerness

Elaine Howes

Julie Contino

Natasha Cooke-Nieves

Ro Kinzler

Maritza Macdonald

Cristina Trowbridge

Year
2017
Short Description

This paper reviews the literature on mentor teachers’ learning in relationship to high leverage practices and summarizes existing research on mentoring and experienced teacher learning that might help inform the design of our model of mentor teachers’ learning.

How can museums help teachers with the NGSS?

Released in 2013, the Next Generation Science Standards have the potential to revolutionize science education in the United States, requiring a very different way of thinking about learning and teaching science. Now is the opportune moment to prepare teachers for these new approaches to science instruction and classroom assessment and introduce them to the types of curriculum resources needed to implement the NGSS successfully. What are these teaching resources and professional development needs?

Author/Presenter

Jim Short

Year
2014
Short Description

This article describes the role of museums in supporting schools and teachers in addressing the demands of the NGSS.

Resource(s)

Preparing new science teachers for high-need schools

In 2012, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City launched the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Urban Residency Program. The AMNH recruits Earth science majors from across the United States who are motivated to teach in high-need schools in New York State. Developing a teacher preparation program from scratch is a tall order, and the museum is learning a tremendous amount from its pilot effort.

Kinzler, R. & Macdonald, M. (2014, January-February). Preparing new science teachers for high-need schools. Dimensions Magazine, 27.

Author/Presenter

Rosamond Kinzler

Maritza Macdonald

Year
2014
Short Description

In 2012, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City launched the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Urban Residency Program. Developing a teacher preparation program from scratch is a tall order, and the museum is learning a tremendous amount from its pilot effort.

A balancing act in third space: Graduate-level earth science in an urban teacher-residency program

This article describes a museum-based urban teacher-residency (UTR) program's approach to building subject-specific content knowledge and research experience in Earth Science teacher candidates. In the museum-based program, graduate-level science courses and research experiences are designed and implemented specifically for the UTR by active Earth and Space research scientists that account for almost half of the program's faculty.

Author/Presenter

N. Alex Zirakparvar

Year
2015
Short Description

This article describes a museum-based urban teacher-residency (UTR) program's approach to building subject-specific content knowledge and research experience in Earth Science teacher candidates.

Informal science institutions and learning to teach: An examination of identity, agency, and affordances

Informal science education institutions play an important in the public understanding of science and, because of this are well-positioned to positively impact science teacher education. Informal science institutions (ISIs) have a range of affordances that could contribute to learner-centered science teacher identity development. This article describes research from a clinical experience in a museum where teacher candidates engaged visitors in learning dialogs around objects on a moveable cart in an exhibit.

Author/Presenter

Jennifer D. Adams

Preeti Gupta

Year
2015
Short Description

This article describes research from a clinical experience in a museum where teacher candidates engaged visitors in learning dialogs around objects on a moveable cart in an exhibit. We describe how working in informal settings and learning to use the affordances of that setting supports aspiring teachers to connect theory to practice in ways that developed Spielraum in that is student-centered, responsive to the needs of learners, and allows for the imagination future selves and classrooms that are conducive to maintaining these identities.

Breaking Dichotomies: Learning to Be a Teacher of Science in Formal and Informal Settings

This chapter examines the affordances of museum resources in informal settings and how they shape science teacher identity. More specifically, this chapter discusses how residents learning how to teach in school settings leverage experiences of learning to teach in museum settings. 

Gupta, P., Trowbridge, C., & Macdonald, M. (2016). Breaking dichotomies: Learning to be a teacher of science in formal and informal settings. In L. Avraamidou & W. M. Roth (Eds.), Intersections of formal and informal science (pp. 178-188).New York, NY: Routledge.

Author/Presenter

Lucy Avraamidou

Wolff-Michael Roth

Year
2016
Short Description

This chapter examines the affordances of museum resources in informal settings and how they shape science teacher identity.

High School Students’ Evaluations, Plausibility (Re) Appraisals, and Knowledge about Topics in Earth Science

Evaluation is an important aspect of science and is receiving increasing attention in science education. The present study investigated (1) changes to plausibility judgments and knowledge as a result of a series of instructional scaffolds, called model–evidence link activities, that facilitated evaluation of scientific and alternative models in four different Earth science topics (climate change, fracking and earthquakes, wetlands and land use, and the formation of Earth’s Moon) and (2) relations between evaluation, plausibility reappraisal, and knowledge.

Author/Presenter

Doug Lombardi

Elliot S. Bickel

Janelle M. Bailey

Shondricka Burrell

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2017
Short Description

Evaluation is an important aspect of science and is receiving increasing attention in science education. The present study investigated (1) changes to plausibility judgments and knowledge as a result of a series of instructional scaffolds, called model–evidence link activities, that facilitated evaluation of scientific and alternative models in four different Earth science topics (climate change, fracking and earthquakes, wetlands and land use, and the formation of Earth’s Moon) and (2) relations between evaluation, plausibility reappraisal, and knowledge.