BRINGING RELEVANCE TO EARTH SCIENCE EDUCATION: USING REAL LIFE DATA

As a Earth Science teacher at a time were Earth Science does not seem popular or treated as a important science by administration, I feel that showing students the important concepts of Earth Science has meaning and relevance to real life situations and jobs. Through a project funded by NSF I partnered with an outside corporation to develop curriculum modules that connect Earth Science concepts with real data and situations that are found in the workplace that makes the information taught more valuable and relevant. I found that as a teacher the more relevance shown the more interest and appeal the students find. By making a connection with students hopefully this will increase the number of high school graduates that will take an interest the geological science as possibly a career. As a educator we need industry to help provide information or data that will make Earth Science concepts more real to the 21st century learner.