The Blog

This little fella was out and about at Cayuga Nature Center on January 31, 2012!

Upstate New York snakes tend to hide away in winter, but when temperatures warm, they'll come out and sun themselves.  And this week has been warm over a broad swath of the country, hitting 56° in Ithaca, tying the record high for the date set in 1956. Buffalo wasn't record breaking in its warmth, but the absence of snow this season certainly is unusual. Is it global warming?

In Part 1 of this two part series, I outlined the different kinds of knowledge and skills needed to teach about the Marcellus Shale. In Part 2, I'm pointing to some resources that are intended to help our readers build that set of skills and knowledge.

In the course of writing Part 2, I also realized that two parts is too few. Occasional posts will follow to address some of the gaps, but this should give you plenty to think about.

What do you need to understand to teach about the Marcellus Shale? Part 2 of 2: Resources for Teaching

I included in the first post a bulleted list of relevant topics, and asked for suggestions about what I missed. Here's that bulleted list:

• Geology;
• Technology (of extraction);
• Hydrology;
• Ecology;
• Economics;
• Cultural Issues;
• Pedagogy;
• Technology (for teaching).

Here are some suggestions about what I missed:

• The emotional components of the Marcellus Shale;
• Context, or a systems perspective (which was addressed in the text, but omitted from the list);
• Human health;
• Alternative energy;
• Climate stability/climate change; and;
• Government/Civics

Also suggested was, "proper framing of the fuel as a threat."  In this National Science Foundation funded work, we will not advocate for or against slick water high volume hydraulic fracturing, but we will do our best to identify risks.  In discussing risks, we will be attentive to comparative risks, for current energy practices also substantially and negatively impact the environment.

We strive to provide evidence-based information that is relevant to the Marcellus Shale, and provide programming and resources to help people understand that information.  Many readers like and value this approach, but a few critics on both sides of the issue express frustration that the information we provide does not always fortify their own positions.  Readers of these materials and participants in our programming can then reach their own, hopefully informed, decisions about whether to support or oppose drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

This post is intended to serve as a gateway to a range of readings and other resources to support teaching about the Marcellus Shale and the larger energy system, but before simply posting a list of linked resources, some background is needed as to the types of knowledge needed to effectively teach this content.

Part 1, this post, is the introduction to the kinds of knowledge needed to teach the Marcellus Shale.  Part 2 will include a list of readings and other resources for building that knowledge.

What do you need to understand to teach about the Marcellus Shale? Part 1 of 2: Marcellus Shale PCK

A piece of the Marcellus Shale from Seneca Stone Quarry, Fayette, NY.

The special knowledge and skills needed to teach

Effective teaching of course requires understanding of the subject matter at hand, but subject matter knowledge alone isn't sufficient for someone to become a good teacher.  Almost anyone with a college degree has sat through enough classes to have experienced at least one smart teacher or professor who knew the content well yet was simply a poor teacher.

Most of us have experience with this before leaving high school.

In order to be an effective teacher, you have to know how to teach.  To put it in the language of the discipline of education, you have to understand pedagogy.  And, you can't deeply understand pedagogy in a way that stands apart from the content you wish to teach.  You have to understand the special skills and knowledge that are needed for teaching your subject.  That's a recognition that the skills and knowledge a math teacher needs to be effective are different from the skills and knowledge an English teacher needs, and that the difference is more than a difference in content knowledge.  In the language of education, this is Pedagogical Content Knowledge, or PCK (Shulman, 1986, 1987).

Neither an English teacher nor an engineer needs to understand the variety of ways to solve the mathematical problem, 23 x 37, but a math teacher does.  A medical researcher doesn't need to know common misconceptions related to the understanding of evolution, or how to address controversial issues in the classroom, but a biology teacher certainly does.  These are examples of PCK.

New Year's resolutions -- it's that time of the year.  A resolution I'm making is to talk more about climate change in 2012 in ways that help others understand the problem better and to take steps that will help reduce environmental impact.

Sharing evidence is part of effective climate communication, but it's by no means all of it.  If that were the case, we wouldn't have much of a problem.  How can my resolve help make me (and you) better climate communicators?  This post offers some tips on framing the conversation.

In the days right before Christmas, the Climate Literacy Network (CLN) listserv has had an engaging discussion on how to handle holiday conversations that turn to climate change.  Here I'm taking some of those ideas and resources, adding some of my own and spinning the discussion toward resolving to be a better climate communicator in 2012.

There are a number of different ideas that follow -- hopefully readers will find a few that are useful.  I don't suggest applying the full suite in one dinner conversation.  I've written a fair amount, but tried to make it skimmable by highlighting key ideas.