EARTH SCIENCE WEEK: OUTREACH FROM AGI AND PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

Earth Science Week is the American Geological Institute’s (AGI) major effort in geoscience outreach to the general public. The goal of Earth Science Week is to raise awareness of the importance of geoscience in everyone’s lives. In collaboration with its 41 member organizations, as well as partners such as U.S.Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.), the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation, and the National Park Service, AGI celebrates the week (Oct. 12 – 18, 2003) in a variety of ways. The Outreach Department of AGI assembles and distributes educational kits to teachers, geoscientists, museums, and other organizations and individuals. Each kit is designed to support the particular week’s theme, which, for 2003, is Eyes on Planet Earth: Monitoring Our Changing World. AGI develops some of the kit materials, such as the official Earth Science Week poster, folder, career poster, and special topic poster, but also works with partner agencies to procure additional theme-appropriate materials. These include CD-ROMs, fact sheets on geoscience topics, posters, brochures, and bookmarks.

There are also special Planners’ kits for those who are organizing Earth Science Week events. The Planners’ kits provide ideas and support for how to organize events and use the kit materials to maximize their impact. Earth Science Week events include web quests; contests for students, teachers and the general public (photography, essays, visual arts, and lesson plans); local workshops organized by geoscientists and others; open houses in museums; seminars; field trips; and much more. The Earth Science Week web site is www.earthsciweek.org.