HOW EARTH SCIENTISTS CAN REACH OUT TO TEACHERS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FROM THE BAY AREA EARTH SCIENCE INSTITUTE

Today's students are tomorrow's voters and policy-makers, yet traditional earth science curricula do not typically include the interdisciplinary study of global systems that forms the basis for informed decisions about human interactions with the environment. Scientists can help infuse Earth systems science into education by speaking to one class at a time, but a more efficient strategy is to work with teachers who reach dozens of students each day. Earth science is often poorly represented in the pre-college curriculum, and even teachers who have studied it are unlikely to have encountered an Earth system approach. Scientists can make a lasting contribution by helping teachers to engage students in systems-based inquiries about our planet.

An effective model for scientist-teacher collaboration has been developed by the Bay Area Earth Science Institute (BAESI), a teacher enhancement program supported since 1990 by the National Science Foundation, Chevron Corporation, and a consortium of community partners. We have discovered that teachers are eager students who, despite their heavy workloads, welcome the opportunity to interact with scientists and are willing participants in flexible programs designed to meet their needs. The following steps will help scientists to create an effective outreach program in any community: 1) establish partnerships with local universities and offices of education to find out how earth system themes fit into the curriculum of your area's schools; 2) perform a needs assessment to assure that your program addresses the concerns and interests of teachers; 3) offer a series of weekend and evening workshops that present Earth system concepts and research in concert with practical suggestions for teaching about them (your educational partners can help with this); 4) arrange to offer appropriate incentives such as inexpensive university credit to your participants.