PAVING THE ROCKY ROAD TO PRODUCTIVE YOUTH OUTREACH AT THE PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

The multifaceted work pursued by state geological surveys is geared toward serving many public needs and the Pennsylvania Geological Survey (PaGS), with public outreach as part of our mission statement, is no different. As indicated by the American Geosciences Institute in 2020, there is a looming shortage of geoscientists due to an increase in geoscience jobs and an aging workforce, yet not enough influx of new professionals to cover the gap. Exposure to the geosciences throughout primary education is imperative in order to increase the number of young adults advancing into geoscience undergraduate programs. As a government organization, the PaGS is advantageously positioned to engage with the public and generate early exposure to the geosciences. Despite this platform, there are several barriers that the PaGS has faced with developing youth outreach programming. Outreach preparation and events are conducted in addition to full-time research workloads, which leaves little time for effective program development and results in low staff participation. Subject matter is typically focused on staff interests leading to programming that is difficult to replicate between colleagues. Traditionally, outreach opportunities, especially youth outreach, have come from individual connections and networks. Consequently, these opportunities can be sporadic, and connections are often lost when staff moves on or retires. During the last year, the PaGS has refocused its efforts in the development of youth outreach. The survey added an outreach coordinator role in 2023, which has helped to organize and alleviate some of the burden of content creation from other staff. The PaGS is actively working to make connections with schools and educators in the Commonwealth as well establishing a list of contacts and annual outreach events that PaGS staff attend. The survey is developing a systematic K-12 outreach program through the creation of outreach activity kits and presentation materials that are place-based focused and designed to meet Pennsylvania’s new K-12 science education standards. The goal of these efforts is to make outreach more accessible to the PaGS staff by reducing the amount of prep work needed. Additionally, the focus on content that meets state science standards will encourage educators to partner with the survey on outreach events from science nights to classroom visits.