summer 02

http://gsaged.org/

Geoscience Education Division Newsletter, Summer 2002

A Quick Note from Your Newsletter Editor

I hope you are all having a good summer and are getting ready for the fall. My apologies for the delay in getting out the Geoscience Education Division’s newsletter. I had every intention of delivering this during the spring semester, but ended up teaching four courses, supervising 20 interns, and advising 250 majors. Time was at a premium, to say the least.

This newsletter contains all the submissions originally given to me during the spring, unless they have become outdated. Please send any inquiries, suggestions, or future news items to me at mhafen@chuma1.cas.usf.edu. Thanks for your patience!

Mark R. Hafen
University of South Florida

UMW to Pilot "One Class At A Time"

During the fall semester of 2001, The University of Montana-Western in Dillon, Montana received a Department of Education FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) grant to pilot a scheduling system where students take "one class at a time" (OCAAT) over the course of a normal 15-week semester. Each class meets for approximately 3 to 4 hours per day, five days a week, for a total of 18 days. Each course is followed by a four-day break before the start of the next class.

The purpose of the scheduling change is to reduce the amount of time students spend in lecture and to allow more focus on experiential (project-based) learning. At present, this type of scheduling is only available through the private university system. Western will be the first public university in the United States to try a system made very successful by The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO.

The geology program at UM-Western is part of an interdisciplinary program in Environmental Sciences, and will utilize the scheduling system to teach courses through field-based projects that infuse theory, practice and application to environmental problems. For more information, contact Dr. Steve Mock, FIPSE Project Director, The University of Montana-Western at (406) 683-7050 or s_mock@umwestern.edu.

Robert C. Thomas
The University of Montana-Western

Notice of Agency Change

Effective 1/16/02, the California Division of Mines and Geology has become the California Geological Survey. The web address, http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dmg/, phone numbers, etc. remain unchanged.

Theodore C. "Ted" Smith
Department of Conservation, California Geological Surve

AGI Supports Initiative to Reinstate Earth Science as a Core Science Course for High School Graduation Credit in Texas

In 1999 the Texas Legislature passed SB 103 which required that, in order to graduate, every high school student must pass an exit science examination (TEKS) in the 11th grade covering "...at least biology and integrated chemistry and physics." The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) responded by eliminating Earth Science from the list of courses accepted for core science graduation credit. SB 103 also provided that statewide testing of Earth Science comprehension would be shifted from the eighth grade to the fifth grade. These changes significantly de-emphasized Earth Science in the Texas high school curriculum. Unfortunately, the Texas Earth Science community allowed these changes to occur without objection.

Last fall the American Geological Institute, under the leadership of Marcus Milling and Ed Roy, organized a letter-writing campaign to the chair of the SBOE urging a revision of the core science requirements to reinstate Earth Science for high school graduation credit and a concomitant revision of TEKS. More than fifty individual geoscientists sent letters to SBOE members. Also, please refer to the "Comment" page (p.5) in the September 2001 issue of Geotimes "(No) Earth Science in Texas" written by Roy.

At the urging of David Dunn, Ms. Miller, Chair of the SBOE Committee on Instruction, agreed to hold a public hearing on the issues raised by the letter writers. Marcus Milling, Ed Roy, David Dunn and Stan Pittman constituted a working group to solicit testimony and orchestrate the presentations. On January 10, 2002, the hearing was held in Austin, TX. Thirty witnesses from across the State of Texas testified in favor of reinstating Earth Science as a high school core science course for graduation credit; none opposed the proposal.

Those who testified are firmly convinced that the inclusion of Earth Science in the curriculum of Texas high schools is critical to the intellectual development of our students as well as to the economic growth of the state, the nation, and the world. They represented leaders in their respective fields at the state, national, and, in many cases, international levels. Present were representatives from industries that explore for and/or produce oil and gas, coal, stone, aggregate materials, and minerals. Also present were individuals who represent water resource, environmental, and soil issues as well as those who link Earth and space, including one of America's astronauts. The education community was represented by faculty and administrators from some of the finest higher education institutions in the state, by a number of truly dedicated middle and high school teachers, and by two university geoscience students. In addition, two educators not from the State of Texas presented their views from a national perspective. The common thread that binds those who testified is their passion for seeing that the school children of Texas are properly educated in Earth Science during their K-12 education and particularly in high school.

The list of individuals who testified and their summary statements can be found on the AGI web site at http://www.agiweb.org/education/texas.html. Points stressed in the testimony were (1) the National Science Standards recognize Earth Science as a core educational requirement from K-12, in parity with chemistry and physics; (2) the Texas economy is critically dependent on the activities of earth scientists; (3) understanding many societal and environmental issues requires Earth Science input; (4) Earth science provides an improved understanding of other allied sciences in an applied context; and (5) billions of dollars in the Permanent School Fund were generated by the discovery and production of natural resources on state lands by practicing Earth scientists.

Longtime observers of the Texas SBOE hearings commented that they had never seen such a convincing presentation on an issue before, and Committee Chair Miller said she was "...awed by the status of the presenters." In her summary statement Miller concluded that Earth Science was important and that the Texas SBOE needed to determine how to implement the requested changes in the high school curriculum. She indicated that she favored the creation of a task force before the "...sunset of Chapter 19 TAC 74 on March 24th." The task force would be charged to recommend a revision in graduation requirements. Details can be found at the following web address: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter074/ch074b.html#74.12.

Additionally, Ed Roy reports that, in the opening session of this week's Texas Science Summit in San Antonio, Jim Nelson, Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), pointed out there is a legitimate concern that there will be a fall off of Earth Science under the new State of Texas graduation requirements and stated that more students need to take geology and that new courses such as Earth Science should be developed. At the same meeting, in the closing session, Grace Shore, Chair of the Texas State Board of Education, stated that the Board is now working to reinstate Earth Science in the curriculum and stressed lobbying for the Earth Science initiative must continue in order to be successful. I think you can say we have TEA's and SBOE's attention and hopefully their support for our initiative.

The efforts of the Milling-Roy-Dunn-Pittman team will now shift to the composition and charge of the proposed task force. Stay tuned for future news!

Michael J. Smith, Education Director
American Geological Institute

New GSA Councilor/Liaison/Representative

Art Green has replaced Steve Colman, who resigned from Council in March. Art will complete Steve's 2000-2003 term as Division Representative to the GSA Council. Art will also be the Councilor/Division Liaison Representative to the Archaeological Geology and QG&G Divisions.

CHAIR: Bonnie A.B. Blackwell. Department of Chemistry, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, (413) 597-3337, Bonnie.A.B.Blackwell@williams.edu

FIRST VICE-CHAIR: Thomas C. Walker. Idaho Geological Survey, University of Idaho, Moscow, I, 83844-3014. (208) 885-5204, twalker@uidaho.edu

SECOND VICE-CHAIR: Susan M. DeBari. Department of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9080. (360) 650-3588, debari@cc.wwu.edu

SECRETARY-TREASURER: William Slattery. Dept. of Geological Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, (937) 775-3455, william.slattery@wright.edu

PAST CHAIR: Nancy West. 211 Matoaka Court, Williamsburg, VA 23185-2810. (757) 229-6696, nancyww@mindspring.com

GSA Councilor/Division Liaison Representative (Appointed by the President): Barbara J. Tewksbury. Dept. of Geology, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 13323-1218. (315) 859-4713, btewksbu@hamilton.edu

Newsletter Editor: Mark R. Hafen. Dept. of Environmental Science & Policy, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-5200. (813) 974-1508, mhafen@chuma1.cas.usf.edu

Web Managers:
Robyn Hannigan. Dept. of Chem. & Program for Env. Science, Arkansas State University, State University, AR 72467-0419. (870) 972-3086, hannigan@mail.astate.edu and
Hugh Rance. Queensborough Community College/CUNY, Dept. of Biological Sciences & Geology, Bayside, NY 11364-1497. (718) 631-6336, hrance@nyc.rr.com, Website: http://gsaged.org

The session will be chaired by Jackie Huntoon (Michigan Technological University) and Gary Novak (California State University). For more information about the session, contact Jackie Huntoon jeh@mtu.edu, (906) 487-2412.

Supporting the live workshops is the E2C web site, http://www.earth2class.org. Included are on-line versions of the presentations given by the research scientists and the E2C team, particularly Dr. Michael J. Passow, who provides the background information and curriculum applications, and Dr. Cristiana Assumpcao, who shares the educational technology applications. http://www.earth2class.org also provides a wide variety of resources, mentoring, and distance-learning materials.

The National STEM Digital Library has initiated an interdisciplinary discussion of how and why we use data in our courses. Geoscientists are particularly passionate about the value of engaging students with data, either in the field, through experiment, or using the growing number of on-line resources. This discussion offers an opportunity to share what we are currently doing, the impact it has on our students, and our dreams for how such activities could be supported by on-line data access and tools in the future. Join the discussion at: http://usingdata.comm.nsdlib.org