ONLINE OUTREACH PRESENTING GEOLOGY CAREERS TO UNDERREPRESENTED OR RURAL COMMUNITIES

Outreach in person has clear advantages, however it is not always possible for underrepresented or rural communities to have the same access. Technology today has corrected this problem. Through online outreach, there is now a greater dissemination of knowledge. Communities that were once overlooked can now hear from scientists across the globe due to an influx and ease of video web chat services.

One benefit to online outreach is students can hear about geology and different geology careers that they might not know about otherwise. Geology is not considered to be a core class in high school, and many high schools do not even offer geology as a class. How do we expect to fill the upcoming new geoscientist jobs when many students are not aware of them? By using online outreach to present these students with a look at the exciting jobs in geology, we can start to mend the bridge between what geology is and how it is applied to the real world.

For my online outreach, I use a slide presentation that describes what geology is and I dive into what type of jobs are out there. Careers included are planetary scientist, paleontology, volcanologist, and environmentalists. For planetary scientist, I show NASA’s Curiosity Rover, a robotic geologist. Volcanologists can be shown with a picture of a scientist taking a lava sample. These photos can break stereotypes that geologists only look at rocks readily available. Presentations can vary based on allotted time and age group. I also mention some of the benefits that some geologists have: traveling, being outdoors, breaking rocks, and hiking. By putting it into perspective, the students can see why rocks are important to earth’s history, but also our future. To gauge effectiveness, I ask two questions before and after the presentation: “How many know what geology is?” and “How many are thinking about being a geologist?”. The results of the survey will be released once more data has been collected.