Helen,
Some years ago, I taught a full-semester
three-credit University course for Education majors who were interested in
earth sciences as their primary area. The course was directed towards the
proposition that Geology was important because it was central to every human
endeavor that led us from life in the outdoors , trying to survive with no
tools (including no rock hammers or obsidian knives), to life in caves with
rudimentary tools to life in buildings with TV and cell phones and ball point
pens and cars, all of which are made of geologic materials. In short, Geology
is central to the development of societies and civilizations, and the course looked
at major events in history that moved this development forward and the primary role
of a geologic factor that was instrumental in the outcome.
As I said above, this was a
University-level course. I am not sure how such a course should be modified
and shortened to accommodate elementary and middle school and high school
students. But I am confident that part of the reason why Geology (Earth
Sciences) is not readily included in the curriculum at so many places is that the
critical importance of GEOLOGY IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES (the title of one of my lectures)
is generally not discussed.
I am not sure that this is the kind of
response you were looking for, but I do think that one line of research should
be how to get my observation into the consciousness of students and teachers
and principals and parents.
Art
Dr.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Earth Sciences – IUPUI
723
Phone: 317- 278-0029
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
From: GEOEDUCATION
RESEARCH INTEREST GROUP [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Helen King
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008
1:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Geoscience Education
Research Info Request
Importance: High
Hi everyone,
I have been invited
to participate in a panel discussion at a workshop conducted by the National
Academies’ Board on Science Education at the end of June. I’ve been
asked to provide a brief presentation summarizing the major findings from
geoscience education research and identifying directions for future research
(see messages below).
Whilst I feel I have
a reasonable perspective on these things myself, it would be great to know that
I’m appropriately representing the community of geoscience education
researchers. So I’d really welcome your ideas and comments under each of
these headings:
1)
Summarize
the major findings from discipline-based education research in your discipline
(geosciences).
2)
Identify
the most promising or important directions for future research.
Thanks very much for
your help and hope to see you all at GSA in October!
All the best,
Helen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr
Helen King NTF FSEDA
Helen
King Consultancy
Personal &
Professional Development in Higher Education
http://www.helenkingconsultancy.com
Tel: (001) 703 505
3358
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Hilton, Margaret
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 June 2008 13:09
To: Helen King
Cc: Schweingruber, Heidi; Krone,
Rebecca
Subject: RE: Invitation-June 30th
Hi, Helen:
Thanks so much for participating in the
panel discussion of discipline-based geosciences education research at our June
30th workshop. This panel is tentatively scheduled to last one
hour and will include 4 panelists from different disciplines. In order to
maximize discussion, I hope you will provide a brief 10-minute presentation
that will do two things:
3) Summarize the major findings from discipline-based education
research in your discipline (geosciences).
4) Identify the most promising or important directions for future
research.
The other panelists will include Bill Wood,
Biology, University of
Colorado; Joe Redish, Physics,
University of Maryland, and Art Ellis,
Chemistry, Seattle Pacific
University.
I’ll send you the agenda next week,
when it is more fully developed.
Margaret
From: Hilton, Margaret
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 June 2008 11:56
To:
[log in to unmask]
Cc: Schweingruber, Heidi
Subject: Invitation-June 30th
Dear Dr. King:
With support from the National Science Foundation, the
National Academies’ Board on Science Education is conducting a series of
two workshops on Promising Practices in Undergraduate STEM Education. The
workshops are designed to explore the evidence of impact for selected
innovations and to provide information to the
I’m writing to invite you to participate in a panel discussion
of discipline-based education research during the first workshop, to be held on
June 30th here in
If you are interested and available, we would ask you to
prepare a short presentation as part of the panel discussion.
I hope to hear from you soon about your participation in
this important workshop.
Sincerely,
Margaret Hilton
The
National Academies
202-334-1419
[log in to unmask]
Numerous and varied teaching, learning, assessment, and institutional
promising practices in undergraduate STEM education have been developed
in recent years – many funded by NSF-- but little is known about their
impact. The goal of this proposal is to begin to focus on the evidence of
impact for a selected number of such promising practices. To do this the
National Research Council (NRC) will facilitate two, one-day workshops which
will be overseen by an independent steering committee appointed by the Chairman
of the NRC. Each workshop will shed light on the state of knowledge on
the selected STEM promising practices as well as suggest areas for additional
research or where a major synthesis of existing research is needed. All
of the conceptual work described in this proposal will be coordinated with and
provide information and guidance to the work of another proposal being sent to
NSF by the