Riverscapes: pre-service teachers as agents of civic engagement

In a model four courses were bound together or "SENCERIZED" to support pre-service teachers taking science teaching methods for elementary school and gaining their most in-depth clinical experience before student teaching. SENCER, Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities, is the American Association of Colleges & University's (AAC&U) National Science Foundation-funded program that connects science and civic engagement by teaching "through" complex, public issues. The following outcomes were identified: students gained a greater understanding of and reflection about their community role; how the location of their clinical placement school shaped attitudes towards the riparian ecology and the economic development of the region; and the importance of bringing these issues into the classroom of very young students.