EDUCATOR’S CORNER Good News:
Earth Science is most popular with the Public
Rasoul Sorkhabi, Ph.D.
Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi is a professor at the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute, Salt Lake City. Email:
rsorkhabi@egi.utah.edu
How popular is Earth Science? How important is Earth
Science education? How important is Earth Science itself? There are various ways to assess the place of Earth Science in our education and society. In 2013, the American Geoscience Institute collected data on high school science graduation requirements for all states in the USA. The survey found that while 22 states accepted an Earth and Space Science course for graduation, only two states required a year-long Earth/ Environmental Science course whereas the number of states for required Life Science and Physical Science courses for graduation were 50 and 30, respectively.1 Overall, earth sci- ence education is underrated in our middle and high schools. As practicing geologists, we hope that earth science becomes an integral part of secondary (K12) education in the country. There are many reasons for this. According to a joint position statement by the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), teaching Earth Science “offers experience in a diverse
range of interrelated scientific disciplines; it is closely related to the student’s natural surroundings and offers students subject matter which has direct application to their lives and the world around them.”2
The good news is that the public has an enormous interest
in Earth Science. This is evident from the coverage of science news by the mass media. For example, the popular science magazine Discover publishes, in its January-February issue each year, the “100 Top Stories” of the previous year. I usu- ally read these issues. Recently, I tabulated the Discover’s “100 top stories” for the past six years (2012-2018) under nine categories (Table 1): (1) Mathematics and Physical Sciences, (2) Space Science and Astronomy, (3) Earth, Environment and Energy, (4) Archeology and Paleontology, (5) Medicine and Life Sciences, (6) Neuroscience and Behavioral Sciences, (7) Technology as related to Culture and Entertainment, (8) Policy issues, and (9) Other. Of these, “Earth, Environment, and Energy” category as well as “Archeology and Paleontology”
Table 1. “100 Best Discoveries of Science” reported by the Discover magazine (January-February issues, 2013-2019)
Disciplines
Math & Physical Sciences Space & Astronomy
Earth, Environment & Energy Archeology & Paleontology Medicine & Life Sciences Neuroscience/Behavior Technology & Society Policy Other
2012 5
18 11 11 33 6
14 1 1
2013 9
15 13 8
23 13 9 4 6
2014 11 15 14 11 19 11 13 6 0
2015 8
17 11 19 23 10 5 3 4
2016 7
16 9
17 24 13 7 8 1
2017 10 14 13 19 24 8 8 4 0
2018 8
17 22 15 19 6 5 9 0
1. Education in the Earth and Space Sciences in U.S. Secondary Schools: Key Indicators and Trends. Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding, the American Geoscience Institute, 2013.
https://www.americangeosciences.org/sites/default/files/education-reports-SecondaryES_Report.pdf.
2. The Importance of Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Earth Science Courses. National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) and National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) Joint Position Statement, April 2015
http://www.nestanet.org/cms/content/policy/nestaposition#imp. 44 TPG •
Jul.Aug.Sep 2019
www.aipg.org
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