GETTING TEACHERS IN THE FIELD: A STUDENT PERSPECTIVE OF THE 2018 GSA GEOLOGY OF ARIZONA GEOTEACHERS WORKSHOP

Over two dozen teachers from across the United States spent five days in northern Arizona in July 2018 for GSA’s Geology of Arizona GeoTeachers Workshop, exploring the geology of the region during three days in the field and participating in classroom-based lectures and activities. Field sites included the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, and Sunset Crater. Classroom activities included presentations by geoscience education researchers, a Navajo cultural ambassador, and an informal educator with the National Park Service. The participants took home knowledge, connections, rock samples, resources, and photographs that will directly impact the thousands of students nationwide whose teachers attended the workshop.

As a geoscience student, observing the teacher participants of the GeoTeachers Workshop was an enlightening experience. Students appreciate when their teacher is passionate about their subject, and when a teacher uses their own photographs, rock samples, or stories from experiencing a geological location, this makes the students more willing to listen and learn. This is exactly what happened during the workshop, with teachers learning about the geology of a given place, then capturing a small piece of that place to share with their students, whether in digital or physical form. Collaborations like this workshop between teachers, geoscientists, and informal educators have a far-reaching impact, and are important to the future of geoscience.