Fall 2005 Elementary Science Methods Course

This semester has presented pre-service teachers with an inquiry approach to science education. Students have researched and implemented the Learning Cycle Lesson design format. Several discovery field trips are planned this semester. We visited the Las Cruces Water Treatment Center and got to see primary and secondary water treatment systems. Students observed the city's incoming sewer water. Once the inorganic materials are separated, the water is given an opportunity to have the solids settle out. This provides a rich nutrient compost that is free to farmers and other interested citizens for use as a fertilizer. The compost is seperated from the water and allowed to dry prior to being spread on the west mesa or given away at the plant. Water is then infused with more "digester" mibrobes and prepared for treatment with chlorine to kill most other microbes. The chlorine must then be newtralized with sulfur dioxide and then the water is released into the river. Water is analyzed in the lab to be sure the treatments are effective. Students are enthusiastically engaged in discussion after the field trip.

The next week, students visited a cannulated cow from the NMSU Agriculture Department. Dr. Shanna L. Ivey toured us from the corrals to the laboratory. Graduate and undergraduate students reached into the rumen and removed samples of food. Under the microscope, they found similar microbes assisting digestion to the ones found in the Water Treatment Center. We visited the only rumen research lab west of the Mississippi and heard how DNA analysis aides in research with the cannulated cow.

Two weeks later, we went on our final field trip to the NMSU Energy Co-generation plant. Students were given a tour of the generation unit and got to see the control room full of technology. We were then taken down stairs to get a glimpse of the 4 miles of tunnels that run under the univesity. Students saw where steam is routed to heat and cool the building on campus.

All of this was intended to show students the power of "being there" experiences. This context places learners in real world situations where science is happening at every turn. This should spark an interest and perhaps when these pre-service teachers have their own classrooms, they too will share meaningful experiences with their students. It is easy to work from student questions generated from these immersions.

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