Teacher Development at Western Washington University

Teacher Preparation

Investigative Science: Course Description and Role in the Program
Investigative Science serves as an interdisciplinary capstone course for pre-service teachers who have completed the year-long Matter and Energy in Earth Systems, Physical Systems and Biological Systems sequence.
Matter and Energy in Earth Systems: Course Description and Role in the Program
This course is the earth science component of a series of courses designed to teach K-8 pre-service teachers fundamental content while modeling inquiry-based learning through an in depth understanding of the scientific method.
Investigating the Flow of Matter and Energy in Earth Systems: Course Description and Role in the Program
This course is an inquiry-based survey of Earth Science designed to give a basic understanding of the energy transfers occurring in solid Earth and the processes by which they occur.

Observations and Measurements for Understanding Isostasy: This example is a sequence of activities which lead students from making observations about Earth processes, though understanding density and buoyancy, to understanding isostasy and how global topography develops.

North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership
NCOSP is a large, regional partnership between a university, four community colleges, 26 school districts, and other regional education agencies with the goal of reforming science education in grades 3-10.
Learning Resource Center
The LRC is a large on-campus facility that houses state-of-the-art classrooms, teaching materials, over 15,000 books on science education and pedagogy, and hosts an extensive website.
Washington Earth Science Initiative
The Washington Earth Science Initiative was an intensive three-week summer institute that assisted Earth Science teachers in developing inquiry-based, environmental research projects for their students.
Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
The Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education program is responsible for the science pedagogy training of all preservice teachers at Western Washington University.
NCOSP Summer Academy
This professional development institute is used to train Teacher Leaders associated with the NCOSP program.

M.S. Degree in Science Education
This is an example of a masters student in a geoscience department who did her research on a geoscience education topic.
GK-12 Catalyst for Reform Fellowship Program: In this program, graduate students and advanced undergraduates are paired with middle school educators to act as resources.

Dr. Susan DeBari (homepage ( This site may be offline. ) )
Department of Geology
Western Washington University
516 High Street
Bellingham, WA 98225-9080
360-650-3588 (work)

Dr. Scott Linneman (homepage ( This site may be offline. ) )
Department of Geology and SMATE
Western Washington University
516 High Street
Bellingham, WA 98225-9080
360-650-7207 (work)