AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAMS: EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF EARTH AND SPACE SCIENTISTS

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is an international non-profit scientific association with more than 62,000 members, working on a broad spectrum of scientific topics that span all of the Earth and space sciences. AGU offers an array of opportunities that expose students, educators, and life-long learners to the freshest, most accurate scientific knowledge and the excitement of discovery. This is accomplished through: education- and career-focused events at AGU’s Fall Meeting; professional development workshops for K-12 educators, early career faculty and graduate and post-doctoral students, and department heads and chairs; special programs for pre-college and undergraduate students; awards for science educators; and electronic resources.

Among the workshops and other events that will be held at this year’s AGU Fall Meeting are the Bright Students Training as Research Scientists (Bright STaRS) poster session and luncheon with leadership and volunteer mentors. Through this program middle and high school students affiliated with summer science programs present their research. Additionally, in partnership with the National Earth Science Teachers Association, AGU conducts a two-day teacher workshop on Earth and space science topics. This Geophysical Information for Teachers (GIFT) workshop allows secondary-level science teachers to hear about the latest geoscience research from the scientists making the discoveries, explore new classroom resources for their students, and visit exhibits and technical sessions of the AGU meeting, all free of charge. Another important event at Fall Meeting is the Heads & Chairs workshop, where heads and chairs of Earth and space science departments meet to discuss current issues facing higher education. Finally, AGU conducts a range of family science events including an annual public lecture on a current ’hot topic’ in Earth and/or space science and Exploration Station, an afternoon-long hands-on science program with scientists who are attending the Fall Meeting. Evaluation data indicate that participants in AGU’s Fall Meeting education events find these presentations to be of high quality and find the information and activities shared to be useful. AGU uses evaluation data from previous years to plan the methods and topics used during future events.