A NATIONAL SURVEY OF EARTH SYSTEM EDUCATION OFFERED BY MUSEUMS AND SCIENCE CENTERS

Informal Earth system education is carried out in exhibits and programs by hundreds of museums and science centers nationally, reaching tens of millions of visitors each year. Yet little systematically collected data exists that reviews the amount of Earth system education going on at these venues, the human resources devoted to it, the content most frequently covered, or the related challenges these organizations face. As part of a yearlong project to document the status of Earth system science in museums and science centers, we sent short written surveys to about 300 organizations considered most likely to have Earth system programming, and received about 75 responses.

The responses were representative of known size distributions of science museums, with a few large museums and a majority of small museums that are 1/10 the size of the larger ones. The median exhibit space devoted to Earth systems is 20%, about the same as the relative amount of educational programming and of educational resources (e.g., websites).

Among Earth system topics, paleontology receives the greatest attention, followed by geologic features and processes. Environmental sciences and energy and mineral resources are next most commonly addressed. Earth systems per se, glaciers, and remote sensing are the topics least addressed among those listed in the survey, which is notable in this time of global change. In our sample the typical science museum had only one geoscience-trained staff member, and about ¼ of the organizations had none at all.

Within the next five years most surveyed science museums expect to make significant changes to their Earth science exhibits, though slightly fewer intend to change their approach or increase remote sensing and visualizations. Many museums think they might use free exhibits if offered, but were less sure they would use free exhibit designs or web-based resources. Development of a network of informal geoscience education providers is of great interest.