K - 12 EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATION AT A CROSSROADS

Earth Science topics form significant portions of national and state science education standards at the K - 4, 5 - 8, and 9 - 12 grade levels. Precollege educators have created many exemplary classroom- and field-oriented programs. But the past and coming decades form a “crossroads” in K - 12 Education. As new Core Curricula and assessments have been introduced in many states, veteran teachers who began teaching during the "Space Race" and ESCP era are retiring, often replaced in classroom by the first of the "Information Age" teachers raised with computers, and by career-changers entering the classroom after other experiences. Teacher-training programs that have been effective in forming the skills and knowledge of this new generation of geoscience educators will help this transition, but changes will not be easy. Finally, new technologies have opened a variety of effective approaches to learning and teacher-to-teacher interactions. These include a myriad of web sites, DLESE, list-servers, GIS-based experiences, and educational DVDs and CDs. The impact of these resources on teacher training will be great, but must be managed properly.