Using Large Marine Ecosystems and Cultural Responsiveness as the Context for Professional Development of Teachers and Scientists in Ocean Sciences

• Published in: Journal of geoscience education 2014-02, Vol.62 (1), p.25-40
• Main Authors: Sigman, Marilyn, Dublin, Robin, Anderson, Andrea, Deans, Nora, Warburton, Janet, Matsumoto, George I., Dugan, Darcy, Harcharek, Jana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alaska Native knowledge; Alaska Natives; Cultural Awareness; Culturally Relevant Education; culturally responsive; curriculum; Curriculum Development; Design; Ecology; Ecosystems; Educational Strategies; Elementary School Teachers; Faculty Development; Grade 10; Grade 4; Grants; Indigenous Knowledge; K-12; Knowledge Base for Teaching; large marine ecosystems; Lesson Plans; Marine Education; Mentors; Native students; Oceanography; place based; Place Based Education; professional development; School Community Relationship; School Districts; Science Curriculum; Science education; Scientists; Scoring Rubrics; Secondary School Teachers; Studies; Subcultures; Teacher Certification; Teacher Workshops; Teaching; Teaching Methods; traditional knowledge; Workshops
• ISSN: 1089-9995; 2158-1428
• DOI: 10.5408/12-403.1

During 2010-2012, three professional development workshops brought together K-12 educators and scientists conducting research in the geographic and ecological context of Alaska's three large marine ecosystems (Bering Sea/Aleutians, Gulf of Alaska, and Arctic Ocean). Educators successfully applied new scientific knowledge gained from their interactions with scientists through the collaborative development of lesson plans that were place-based and culturally responsive to Alaska Native cultures. Over the course of the three workshops, we refined a model for incorporating cultural responsiveness into workshop design, employed an innovative systemic traditional knowledge framework, and developed a rubric to evaluate the lesson plans in terms of cultural responsiveness. Key factors that increased the impact of a single professional development workshop on the ability of the K-12 educators to produce culturally responsive lesson plans included (1) participation of experienced teachers as mentors, (2) opportunities for workshop participants to interact with community members and culture bearers, and (3) embedding the training within a longer-term program of curriculum development and professional development in a school district for which cultural responsiveness was a high priority.