WITH A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR THE MEDICINE GOES DOWN: USING AN EXISTING INTEREST TO INITIATE GEOSCIENCE ENGAGEMENT

To engage an audience find something people value in their lives that is relevant to the geosciences. Then develop a program around it that an audience can participate in. This can result in spin-offs that yield other valuable activities. Three examples from my recent experiences come to mind.

Before and during the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 2004-06 millions of people retraced the steps of the explorers. My wife Anne and I followed their route across the Great Plains and located places on public land near where the explorers made their geologic observations. We produced two books about these geologic features and where to see them, prepared and delivered talks, and developed signage for a Nebraska state park.

A second example arose from our interest in art, especially that of Georgia O’Keeffe. People from around the world love O’Keeffe’s art, including her landscapes of northern New Mexico. These landscapes provide the opportunity to explain the stratigraphy, structures, and other geologic features that she painted. I put together a talk about this for the university speakers’ bureau.

Another project began when I saw pastel drawings of fossils by paleontologist Erwin Barbour. These drawings formed the basis for the mosaics on the floor in the rotunda of the Nebraska State Capitol. Each year thousands of school children and other visitors view this depiction of evolution. I used images from the drawings and mosaics in a coloring book that includes information about the fossil plants and animals. Teachers from a school for blind and sight-impaired children transformed pages from this book into Braille text and images that the children could use during their annual trip to the capitol.