Alan R. Berkowitz
Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Through our Schoolyard Ecology for Elementary School Teachers (SYEFEST) project we had the opportunity to explore some of the constraints that limit the teaching of ecology in elementary schools, and to explore the role of a professional development program in addressing these constraints with a group of teachers in diverse locations around the country.

Our paper summarizing results with teachers at four case study sites shows that teachers' individual school contexts, their backgrounds and prior teaching practices, and their experiences in the SYEFEST program all influenced the way they taught ecology subsequently. In addition to highlighting the value of a supportive professional development experience where teachers had the opportunity to be inquiry learners and then to develop plans for their own teaching, this paper includes frameworks for categorizing teachers' science teaching styles and their schoolyard ecology pedagogy that are applicable to other ecology teaching contexts as well.

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