USING THE DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR EARTH SYSTEM EDUCATION TO IMPROVE DELIVERY IN GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a community-led effort to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels. Strategies to accomplish this include developing and providing access to high-quality collections of educational resources, including Earth data, imagery and tools. Services are available to enhance the use of DLESE materials in the classroom and to assist educators in meeting the goals and demands of educational reform and accountability. The recommendations for reform of science education are by now well known: adopt inquiry-based, hands-on approaches, use data and scientific tools, include science process as well as content and in doing so, ensure that content and skills map to mandated testing programs. Implementing these recommendations in concert can be a challenge. In their hour of prep time, teachers need to locate up-to-date resources, evaluate their scientific accuracy, organize the technology to implement them, and create engaging, student-centered activities. To support this goal, DLESE’s discovery system offers efficient access to learning materials, including a guide to mapping resource type to learning goals and levels of understanding. Teaching tips have recently been implemented, in which users share insights gained while teaching with a resource that might be of use to other educators or learners. Users can also search for resources that support national educational standards, and development is underway to expand this service to include state-based standards. In collaboration with middle and high school teachers, on-line teaching boxes are being developed to place DLESE resources in a teaching sequence, providing context and supports for interweaving into a larger curriculum. These supporting services and structures are an important component to improving classroom delivery of geoscience education.