THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMAL EDUCATION IN RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF THE GEOSCIENCES

Except when there is an earthquake or other natural disaster, the public seems unaware of the earth sciences. Even Environmental Science texts usually start with human population or ecology, ignoring the physical context that governs the biosphere. They completely ignore mineral resources, including those essential to everyone's electronics.

One way to approach this is through informal education in structured settings such as museums, in less structured settings such as summer camps and outdoor education centers, and in unstructured settings, such as conservation clubs or outing clubs. In these settings participants may follow their curiosity, and our own experience shows that the public is curious about the earth and its processes, whether these be minerals or dinosaurs or natural disasters or auroras or any other of the things that drew us in. These "hooks" can work just as well on the public as they worked on us. I have spent 47 summers working as Director of Nature Programs at a summer camp in New Hampshire. We offer, in an informal outdoor setting, many "classes" in the earth sciences. They are usually oversubscribed. As I write, 8 campers and two instructors (both geologists) are out looking at the features in the Lost River Gorge. The trip is both an adventure and a lesson in glacial geology. This, I think, is the key to success. We must mix the excitement of exploration with stories of our planet's history, the processes that created what we see, and the adventure of looking for the clues that help us turn what we see into the stories that we tell. Informal settings are the ideal place to accomplish this.

Can't spend a whole summer yourself? Then help your students to do it. What about an "internship" at a summer camp, a museum, or an outdoor education center teaching about the Earth? Your students will be forced to think about their subject in order to teach it to others. It is one of the best ways to "study" for tests to come. It could lead to a career in informal science education or even as a professional geoscientist. This has been true for many of my campers and many of my University of New Haven students too. Even if they don't make the "Earth" their career, they will still be aware of the importance of studying it. That will help them to make their communities, their countries, and our world much better places in the future.