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‘Operation Magpie’: Inspiring Teachers' Professional Learning Through Environmental Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2012

Yvonne Zeegers ,
Kathryn Paige ,
David Lloyd  and
Philip Roetman
Yvonne Zeegers*
Affiliation:
School of Education, University of South Australia, Australia
Kathryn Paige
Affiliation:
School of Education, University of South Australia, Australia
David Lloyd
Affiliation:
School of Education, University of South Australia, Australia
Philip Roetman
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Yvonne Zeegers, School of Education, University of South Australia, St Bernard's Road, Magill SA 5072, Australia. Email: yvonne.zeegers@unisa.edu.au
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Abstract

Operation Magpie was a citizen science project that involved the community in collecting data about magpies. This article describes one aspect of the project from an education perspective. The study began with a collaboration of teacher educators, environmental scientists and a local radio station. After an initial workshop with 75 teachers, three teacher educators met regularly with 13 primary teachers who each volunteered to plan and teach a unit of work on birds. Meeting regularly in focus groups, the teachers shared their pedagogical strategies that supported students to connect with their local environment. Findings include the importance of focused professional learning for teachers through ongoing, needs-based support during the planning and teaching of the unit, and the innovative ways that teachers approached the unit. One unexpected finding was that teachers tended to identify student learning in terms of the English curriculum rather than the science curriculum.

Keywords

professional learningenvironmental scienceCitizen Sciencepedagogyprimary education
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 2012 , pp. 27 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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