American Museum of Natural History

Climate Change

Evaluation

Inverness Research Inc. is a national, independent educational research organization that assessed the Seminars on Science program over an eight year period. Their evaluation reveals that educators achieve a deeper understanding on science through these courses, mastering significant new material, gaining a better sense of how science is conducted, and aquired valuable classroom materials.



Course Experience

Participants report that this course gives them accurate and high-quality information about climate change that they can use with their students.

"It made me more aware of how and why regulations are in place to protect the environment and why I needed to start paying attention to certain entities. I can name one that we learned a lot about, which was the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which I had written off as hokey. It has completely changed my whole view to actually read the documents, to look at some of the videos that are out there that they come out with every 2 years. I have incorporated information about that into courses to share that with students." —college science professor

Content and Resources

Of the respondents who completed the evaluation survey, 84% reported gaining additional background knowledge of science. 72% were able to use what they learned in the course to create a unit for their students. And 83% reported that the Climate Change course was more valuable than their locally available professional development.

"I think that for somebody that is currently teaching, and teaching those concepts, that needs a refresher, it is really good... It enabled me to really know more current information and talk with authority about things that are more current, rather than relying on information that I kind of just have been using... since the late 90’s."—high school teacher

Interaction and Instruction

Participants report that instructors and scientists prompted engaging discussions that were great sources of information.

"I wanted the full scope of understanding how climate change works so I had accurate information and better quality information that I could provide students... It was a perfect match to what I did, so my supervisors agreed to give it a shot and see what the classes were like... I have to tell you what—that course rock-and-rolled in terms of content! The actual instructor and the course scientist that came in and out of the course were exceptionally good at dialogue in their discussions, which is where I gathered most of my information." —college science professor

Further Reading

You can explore the complete evaluation results from Inverness Research Inc. by downloading these reports (PDF):

Seminars on Science Full Report
Climate Change Course Specific Report
Inverness Research Inc. is based in Inverness, CA and provides insight into the design, quality and effectiveness of educational improvement initiatives.

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