GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM (GEOP): USING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S GEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AS A PLATFORM TO CONNECT GRADUATE STUDENT SCIENTISTS AND K-12 STUDENTS

Southern California is a geologic ‘hot spot’ of daily earthquakes, extensive fossil deposits, widely scattered volcanoes, mountains and coastline, and wide-ranging climates and ecosystems. These provide a natural framework for teaching the significance of the Earth Sciences to southern California K-12 students. The Geoscience Education Outreach Program is a UC Riverside Earth Science graduate student-founded, volunteer initiative that seeks to teach Earth Science to K-12 students in the Riverside, CA area community. Riverside has a diverse population with a low rate of college entry. The program connects volunteer graduate students with local schools, where they teach different topics one class at a time. They provide teachers and students with up-to-date science and the enthusiasm and knowledge a scientist brings to their subject, creating a crucial personal connection with the students and teachers. Earth Science graduate students bring their research directly to the public, foster future earth scientists, serve as role models, and gain valuable experience in articulating research to the public. Graduate students selected five areas of Earth Science to create topical teaching programs: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Climate Change, Rocks and Minerals, and Paleontology. Grade level-appropriate presentations and activities were assembled that reflect the best science in each field and the experiences of southern California K-12 students with geological phenomena, aimed at making the information both interesting and accurate. In GEOP’s first three months of outreach, twenty presentations in three local schools and at UC Riverside were given by graduate students from the UCR Earth Sciences department. The number of presentations for the upcoming year is expected to reach over five times that amount, and graduate students from other departments in the university will be recruited as well. The program has used teacher feedback to improve the delivery and content of the presentations and activities. The GEOP outreach model will continue to be tested for possible expansion to other universities and community colleges in the future, in southern California and elsewhere.