Through my previous involvement with the New York City museums and science centers, I realized that these non-formal science sites had rich educational programs and resources that could be better utilized by public school science and mathematics teachers to supplement and enhance their classroom teaching. Using my relationship with these institutions, I developed and began to teach a course that would introduce future science and mathematics teachers to this rich educational resource and the educational staff and program involved.
This course E14.2050: Using New York City's Non-formal Resources to Teach Science, was developed under the auspices of te New York Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (NYCETP). This is an elective course for the Masters in Science and Mathematics Education. In this class, students are able to take advantage of the multitude of scientific resources in New York City. The course is offered both during the academic year and in the summer. The non-formal science sites that are visited vary from semester to semester but have included in the past the New York Hall of Science, the Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, the Children's Museum, the Museum of Natural History and the U.S.S. Intrepid Sea Museum.
The course involves three components that are mutually supportive: informal, non-structured visits to see the educational exhibits and programs that are offered to the general public; structured group visits during which the students meet with a member of the site's educational staff to learn how the resources and programs can be assessed by classroom teachers; and seminars at NYU during which the students and their instructor can discuss the sites, their programs and resources, and their usefulness to classroom teachers.
Each visit exposes the students to the rich educational resources that can be used by classroom teachers to facilitate mathematics and science learning in their own classrooms. The structured workshops, in particular, take place at five different sites around the city and entail meeting at the designated site and spending four to six hours looking at and discussing the exhibit. Students keep journals of the visits and email their comments on the usefulness of the site to a classroom teacher and to the course instructor following each workshop.
Combining theory, practical application and using the city as a "living lab" teeming with educational and instructional resources is the focus of the course. Allowing future teachers to make connections with the educational staff at these institutions helps both bridge the gap between public schools and non-formal institutions and to make these science resources more readily available to novice teachers.
