OUTLINING A KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR GEOHERITAGE EDUCATION

Major concepts in any field take on added dimensions as one considers how they might be conveyed through formal and/or informal education. This presentation will explore dimensions of geoheritage as they relate to and are shaped by the opportunities and need to provide geoheritage-based education in Earth and space science, especially at the pre-kindergarten through secondary school (pre-college) level. Geoheritage has a long tradition of motivating action to preserve uniquely valuable geologic features and sites, and it has emerged as a highly influential concept in the geosciences. It connects geology to a range of human values—aesthetic, cultural, economic, scientific, and others. Geoheritage is also considered to have the potential to motivate the next generation of geoscientists, as well as to encourage members of the public who are or may become committed to geoheritage values. This suggests that within the general field of geoheritage, there is a set of professional practices and concepts specific to geoheritage education. In fact, geoheritage education is a growing field that involves principles of motivation, engagement, learning, teaching, and others that are related to, overlap with, but are in important ways distinct from processes by which professionals enact geoheritage commitments at a location (e.g., identification, scientific documentation, management). Those distinctions suggest the possibility of outlining a knowledge base that is specific to geoheritage education as it is undertaken in more or less specific educational contexts. Such an outline can inform the development of resources related to geoheritage sites, thereby enabling the effective implementation of geoheritage education programs focused on those locations. Drawing on established research and practices in and related to geoheritage education, as well as principles of curriculum design, this presentation will outline components of the geoheritage education knowledge base that can inform efforts to promote geoheritage education generally and at specific sites.