ENHANCING GEOSCIENCE AWARENESS AND APPRECIATION BY INTRODUCING K-12 TEACHERS TO STRUCTURED FIELD TRIPS IN METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE PARKS

Warner Park Nature Center, the oldest of four centers in the metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee, park system, typically schedules about 200 hikes, programs, and other environmental education activities in a given year. The demand for a focused geologic content for this program has resulted in a structured, illustrated, self-guiding 12-page trail guide that takes visitors to 13 well-marked stops on the 2 ½-mile Geology Trail. The stops emphasize diverse geologic features such as soil creep on steep wooded slopes (engineering geology), changes in stream channels (fluvial geomorphology), and general geologic concepts at outcrops (stratigraphy, paleontology, sedimentary environments of deposition, and scale of geologic time). The field component is essential, because for many visitors, understanding and appreciating geologic concepts are enhanced primarily by direct observation at the scales of landforms down to outcrops to hand specimens.

To further enhance geoscience awareness and appreciation and to add formal geoscience education programs, the Nature Center staff initiated a 6-hour training session for K-12 magnet-school teachers in 2007. The training, which includes lectures, posters, and field excursions, follows the general pedagogic concept of “train-the-teacher.” By educating and infusing the teachers with an enthusiasm for the science, the program has been able to teach many more individuals than can be reached by the Nature Center staff alone. The curriculum includes topics basic to introductory college courses in physical and historical geology, although terminology and subject complexity have been modified to be appropriate to the age and skill level of elementary students. Special consideration has been given to topics in the Science Academic Standards of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.

With the recent addition of three new nature centers in other established parks, Nashville has the opportunity to add more geology trails. To this end, each of these parks has been surveyed for points of geologic interest, and samples of rocks and fossils have been collected in anticipation of emulating the successful program initiated at Warner Park Nature Center.