BUILDING BRIDGES THAT CONNECT STUDENTS TO GEOLOGY AND THE EARTH SCIENCES

In order to connect general education students to geology and the Earth sciences, it is essential to build bridges between students' general knowledge and geological knowledge. Melding students' diverse backgrounds and skill levels with geology/Earth science learning requires building a bridge that joins the two knowledge sets. The first bridge is built by connecting geology to students' everyday knowledge. Second, to help students cross over into scientific thinking and geologic concepts, a bridge of hands-on learning activities and "5-minute" fieldtrips can be used. Finally, a bridge is only as good as its construction and design. Therefore, the third bridge is helping students organize their geological knowledge into a coherent structure within their own minds. Building bridges across knowledge divides can improve student access to geology and the Earth sciences.