Geotimes From the Editor Earth science education is changing. New technologies, from data gathering
to distribution, and an increasing focus on Earth systems and global change
are redefining the character of earth science. National reform documents
that include earth science content standards in grades K-12 and emphasize
the evolving character of earth science have helped many state education
departments (where the rubber meets the road) to recast, strengthen or,
in some cases, reinstate their expectations for earth science literacy.
Importantly, from the local to the national level, earth science education
reform emphasizes inclusiveness, or earth science education for all students.
But as we all know, effecting change takes leadership, ingenuity, and
persistence, coupled with lots of elbow grease. This year’s issue on geoscience
education contains articles by people working at the forefront of change.
Eric Riggs of San Diego State University and Steve Semken of Diné
College seek to ensure that Native Americans factor into our concept of
inclusive earth science education. This effort entails not only being good
educators, but also understanding the scientific worldviews of other cultures.
Their article describes new curricula and programs that bridge the gap
between different perspectives on Earth and, in so doing, strengthen the
Native American community and enrich the scientific and intellectual diversity
of the geoscience community.
One participant at the first National Conference on the Revolution
in Earth Science Education, held in July, questioned whether “three geologists
could plan a two-car funeral.” The comment drew nervous laughter, because
everyone who attended the conference, organized by Ed Geary of Colorado
State University and Daniel Barstow at the Center for Earth and Space Science
Education at TERC, got the point: how easy it is for earth scientists to
meet and talk about what we need to do (especially when conferences are
held in places as beautiful as Snowmass, Colo.!) — but how hard it is to
create and enact a meaningful plan. In their article “A Blueprint for Earth
Science Education,” Dan and Ed describe how our work at the Revolution
Conference will yield a 10-year plan for enacting change and ensuring earth
science education for all students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The article provides ample grounds for optimism that the geoscience community
can in fact produce the roadmap, share the keys and arrive at our destination:
a citizenry educated about Earth. And we can reach it with smiles on our
faces.
Until recently, textbooks drove 90 percent of all K-12 earth science
instruction at the secondary level. The American Geological Institute’s
EarthComm and Investigating Earth Systems (IES) curriculum programs were
featured at the Revolution Conference as alternatives to the mile-wide,
inch-deep textbooks that dominate the market. Hundreds of people helped
to create EarthComm and IES. but the real heroes of the development process
are teachers like Cheryl Dodes of Queens, N.Y., and Lynn Sironen of North
Kingsport, R.I. Cheryl and Lynn took on the challenge of testing drafts
of the curricula (far less than perfect drafts, as this author can attest),
providing valuable feedback about how the programs affected their students’
learning of and interest in earth science, and insights on how to improve
the programs for the commercial edition. Both teachers continue their roles
as agents of change in the reform of earth science education. As graduates
of AGI’s Curriculum Leadership Institute, they are training teachers across
the country.
Finally, I hope that you review this month’s Geomedia column, which
calls your attention to the upcoming PBS television series Evolution. It’s
hard to recall a time when the inclusion of evolution within the K-12 curriculum
faced such serious threats as we see today. The Evolution series has tremendous
potential to enhance the public’s understanding of evolution and the nature
of science.
When I became a classroom teacher, it didn’t take long for me to learn
that there are actually three certainties in life: death, taxes and education
reform. Yet I hope that after reading the articles in this issue of Geotimes,
you will share my conviction that we are in the midst of something remarkable:
an education reform that the geoscience community can celebrate. This reform
embraces the earth sciences, and it embraces all citizens. Who could ask
for anything more?
Michael J. Smith Guest editor for Geotimes and director of education for the
American Geological Institute