GERM (GEOCHEMICAL EARTH REFERENCE MODEL) APPLIED TO EDUCATION

The GERM initiative is a community wide effort in geochemistry that works towards a complete chemical characterization of the Earth in all of its geochemical reservoirs: core, mantle, crust, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The GERM website is conceived as an up-to-date display of geochemical reference information as well as an active workplace for the geochemical research community. Currently, one of the most important aspects of GERM is the process of working towards such a model - since there is no general consensus on the composition of all geochemical reservoirs of the earth. The goal is to offer a straw-man model that can be tested against new data from geochemistry and geophysics in order to improve the straw-man, in an iterative fashion that will finally converge on the best possible model that is consistent with all the evidence available.

The GERM website is hosted by EarthRef.org and it contains largely geochemical synthesis information that is delivered on a range of expert levels, currently ranging from research papers and literature reviews to student papers summarizing keynote review papers at GERM meetings. This information can be (and should be) relatively easily “distilled down” to levels that are intellectually accessible to users of a wide range of expertise, from expert geochemist to educators and students from grade school to college. All GERM contents are flagged with respect to their expert level in their metadata that comprises a scale from 1 (grade school level) to 9 (expert research level). We are currently preparing for a major educational effort that makes accessible the GERM information, to educational audiences. We will emphasize discovery based learning, the use of data in the class room, and we will offer a complete learning environment, where a student can enter at any expert level and advance to the highest possible research level, limited only by the student's desire to learn or her intellectual limits.