Introduction
In 1999, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) added Earth Sciences to its 9th grade curriculum, using the Science Probe I and II textbooks. The ISTAT Earth Science project focused on working with the SFUSD to structure an Earth Science curriculum that complies with their content and performance standards
As part of this project, we have developed a scope and sequence of the Earth Sciences curriculum in order to support the 9th grade teachers. Beyond the list of topics, the scope and sequence provides references to the text and to related lessons, activities, and resources. We have also developed several course outlines. These can be used by teachers to help structure their daily lesson plan. In order to provide flexibility, developed 6, 9, and 12 week course outlines.
As part of our effort to test and evaluate these pages, we held two professional development workshops with the San Francisco Unified School District. The first focused on providing Earth Science background and an introduction to some activities in the classroom. The second concentrated more on the ISTAT scope and sequence, with the goal of providing the teachers with time and resources to plan their curriculm.
In addition to this effort, we have also started a monthly Web feature called Earth Science in the News. Announced on the 1st of every month, it takes a recent news story and puts it in perspective with related Web pages and activities. These Web pages are a collaborative project of the ISTAT 9th grade Earth Sciences Working Group:
- David Barrios, SFUSD - Galileo Academy
- Jen Fong, SFUSD - Mission High School
- Eric Lewis, SFUSD - Mission High School
- Ellen Yoshitsugu, SFUSD - Thurgood Marshall Academic High School
- Lind Gee, UC Berkeley - Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
- Anne Monk and Jen Johnson, UC Berkeley - UC Museum of Paleontology