Preservice Teachers' School Stories and How They Matter

Abstract

In order to address national standards for educational technology, science teaching and science teacher preparation (including diversity standards), preservice teachers instruct children from around the world via the Internet in the MOON (More Observations of Nature) Project. First, children in the fourth to eighth grade and preservice teachers independently observe the moon for 10 weeks. Then for 6 weeks in Blackboard CourseInfo, discussion groups composed of one preservice teacher plus 8–10 children report observations and seek patterns in their data. This article describes how the MOON Project has been carried out for five semesters and how modifications have been made in response to each semester's experience.