Students design, create earth science models for classrooms

Five SUNY Oneonta students are having a direct, hands-on effect on the future of science education this summer by designing and creating their own instructional models for use in classrooms.

The students are part of the Earth Science Model and Design Institute, which gives pre-service Earth Science teachers the chance to design and build their own models of particularly complex or abstract Earth processes and concepts. Project leaders are Dr. James Ebert of the Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Department and Dr. Paul Bischoff of the Secondary Education Department.

Participating students, who were selected from a pool of applicants, will spend four weeks designing and building the models and will work throughout the year to tweak and perfect them.

The models are made using everyday items such as plastic bottles, rulers, wooden dowels and index cards, so that they can be easily replicated. Bischoff said the experience gives students a more in-depth understanding of the research process and lets them see the creative components to teaching. The students receive a stipend, in addition to room and board.