INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO OUTREACH AND EDUCATION USING HANDS-ON AND WEB-BASED RESOURCES

The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) offers a variety of education and outreach services for educators, professionals, and the general public. The UGS Geologic Information & Outreach Program (GIO), specifically, provides resources to teachers and interprets geology for the general public. To do so GIO must work closely with all UGS geologic program areas to create engaging, scientifically accurate geologic content that is accessible through our Website and suitable for a broad range of users.

The educational programs and services provided by the UGS include hands-on teaching kits, teacher workshops and field trips, participation in Earth Science Week activities, high-school internships, and paleontological volunteer programs. Development of Web resources is an important outreach product on its own, but also plays a vital role in distributing educational products to the widest possible audience and enhances the availability and usefulness of geoscience resources for teachers, professionals, and the general public. The Website provides an innovative way for students and teachers to learn about the geosciences and includes curricula and other materials (image galleries, virtual tours, geologic “current events”) for use by formal and informal science educators.

Over the past few years, there has been a renewed interest in upgrading and expanding our teaching kit resources, using an interactive and collaborative approach. Recent upgrades to existing kits (Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Kit, Dinosaur Teaching Kit) and the development of new kits (Ice Age Teaching Kit, Landforms and Geologic Processes Kit) have focused on integrating the kit materials and activities with the Utah State Science Core Curriculum, and working with program specialists, such as the State Paleontologist, to incorporate the latest scientific knowledge and research into the outreach program. Integrating the teaching kits with Web-based resources not only increases the number of people we can reach and expands our audience beyond the education community, but also provides opportunities to create interactive resources that will further increase the effectiveness of our outreach and education programs.