LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor:
Geology has always been a passion of mine since I was young. I developed an even stronger passion later for teach- ing. I consider myself fortunate to be able to merge both of my passions into my career as an Earth Science teacher in a high school in northeast Indiana. I received the National Association of Geoscience Teachers award Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award in 2020. Through that award, I receive The Professional Geologist publication and there are three recent articles (“Emphasizing Geoscience as the Epitome of STEM” (V58.1), “Thinking About Geology”(V58.2), and “The Pressing Need for Advanced Placement Geology Course in High School Classrooms” (V58.2)) that resonate with my soul. The unfortunate common trend throughout the United States is the closure of geology departments and programs in colleges and universities. There have been countless articles and con- ference sessions discussing how to address this problem. Most suggestions have been focused on improving the programs by providing more internship opportunities, more hands-on instruction, and better field camps as a way to entice future students and retain current students. While I appreciate their perspective, they are completely overlooking the most obvious issue: Earth & Space Science (ESS) has nearly been completely eradicated from high school curriculum, and therefore few students have recent exposure to geoscience before entering post-secondary training. As a secondary Earth Science teacher in northeast Indiana, I can vouch for the need to view Earth Science as an equally important and essential course as biol- ogy, chemistry, and physics. The articles by Hailey Pantaleo, Mark Schaaf, and Matthew Rhoades highlight some of these concerns as well. I make the argument that the issue regard- ing Earth Science education is more about recruiting students and exposing them to geosciences early on than it is about academia programming.
State boards of education design curriculum initiatives around current needs, which are often 5 to 10 years too late to address the issue. For example, STEM became a major initiative around 2005 to address an engineering shortage in manufacturing. Then around 2010, there was another huge initiative to address the nursing shortage by pushing and focusing heavily on biomedical sciences. Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national program many schools have adopted to meet the initiatives pushed by the Department of Education in many states. PLTW has amazing and intensive learning activities that excite students in engineering and biomedical sciences. One of the biomedical courses from PLTW starts with a crime scene setup in the classroom and students work through biomedical principles throughout the course to solve the crime scene. In one of the engineering courses, students work for several weeks to design and code an automated marble sorter that differentiates the marbles based on their color. It’s easy to see why schools and students are thrilled to incorporate programs like PLTW into their curricula.
So where does this leave ESS education? To make room in the curriculum for these initiatives, Earth Science has been relegated back to middle school. Many states don’t even offer Earth Science as a high school course. In states where Earth Science is offered as a high school course, most schools reserve the class for students who “don’t do science”. Schools also actively steer academic students away from Earth Sciences
classes and push them into courses such as chemistry and physics instead. This means that the students taking Earth Science in high school, if offered as a course, are students who struggle in the school setting and are unlikely to pursue careers in geoscience. In Hailey Pantaleo’s article, she shared that her only exposure to geoscience was environmental science, which is considered a life science (biology education certification). Matthew Rhoades discussed a push to bring in AP Geology as a possible solution, but this seems unlikely to succeed because many schools are dropping AP courses in favor of dual-credit courses. A study in 20141 tried to assess student and teacher perceptions of Earth Science education in Oklahoma. Despite Oklahoma’s vast oil and natural gas reserves, the study struggled to find Earth Science teachers as participants. Of the 39 teachers who responded, only ONE had a degree in Earth Science and that teacher wasn’t even teaching Earth Science. From the same group, 64% of the teachers said they did not enjoy teaching Earth Science and 13% of the teachers thought that Earth Science as very important. The issue of interest in geoscience as a legitimate science within schools begins with changing K-12 schools’ perceptions.
So what can be done NOW to engage K-12 students in geoscience?
1) Actively reach out to K-12 educators to speak with students.
One of my favorite resources to bring real-world sci- ence in my classroom is Skype A Scientist. Scientists register themselves to be virtual guest speakers and are partnered with K-12 educators all over the world. This is a great way to talk about programs and current research.
2) Develop partnership with local K-12 schools.
K-12 schools are in desperate need of partnerships with local universities, especially in geoscience. As stated earlier, it’s all about recruitment and engagement. Students in K-12 enjoy having guest speakers who can make the learning experience engaging and meaning- ful. Bring undergraduate students to assist in hands-on activities that get kids excited about geoscience. This could be as simple as having students complete water and soil sampling activities. Presenters could bring in exhibit items that may promote curiosity and inquiry. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it does have to be meaningful and repetitive.
3) Offer summer camps.
Similar to the partnership listed above, this is a simple way to bring students of any age group to the college campus or local parks to learn about geosciences. Transportation and cost may be an issue but there are many grants available to promote K-12 STEM education programs.
4) Promote high schools to attend professional geoscience conferences.
Attending conferences has several benefits: (1) it serves as professional development for the teacher, (2) students are exposed to higher level research, (3) teach- ers and students begin building their professional net- works. K-12 educators can deepen their understanding
1. Betzner, J. and Marek, E. (2014) Teacher and Student Perceptions of Earth Science and Its Educational Value in Secondary Schools. Creative Education, 5, 1019 - 1031 doi: 10.4236/ce.2014.511116
www.aipg.org
Jul.Aug.Sep 2021 • TPG 9
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