ADVANCING EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE LITERACY: THE VIEW FROM NSF

The geoscience education community stands at an important threshold in its efforts to strengthen Earth system science education in the United States, achieve broader public understanding of, and appreciation for, the geosciences, and develop the future geoscience workforce that will be so essential to our nation's prosperity and well-being. There has been a remarkable convergence within the past two years that has led to this opportunity. The Federal agencies that invest in geoscience education-related activities are working with new-found synergy. The new Obama Administration has identified a green jobs-based economy, climate change research, Earth observations, and strengthening STEM education as being among its highest priorities, thereby giving new impetus to elevating the geosciences in discussions regarding STEM education reform. Release of the many literacy frameworks that will be discussed further in this session has been extremely timely, as these documents feed into high level conversations about the need to develop consistent state science standards that emphasize inter-disciplinary content themes (e.g., climate change) and promote 21st century workforce skills, including systems thinking and global competencies. Increasingly, these literacy frameworks are being used to guide Federal grant funding solicitations related to geoscience education, both in formal and informal settings. This paper will provide a brief history of how the community has converged to this point in time, and outline some of the next steps needed for implementation of the full community vision for an Earth system science literate nation.