BUILDING GEOSCIENCE WORKFORCE SKILLS AND AWARENESS: RESOURCES FOR GEOSCIENCE INSTRUCTORS

We created a set of web resources titled “Building Geoscience Workforce Skills and Awareness” in the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Teach the Earth collection to help instructors better prepare students to enter the geoscience workforce. Our goal is to provide background information and ideas for easy-to-implement strategies to help develop students’ workforce skills.

The website (search “workforce skills” from the Teach the Earth website) includes three components: Getting Started, Strategies, and Activities. The “Getting Started” page provides an overview and linked resources to help geoscience instructors understand the variety of industry sectors that employ geoscientists, the skills and dispositions needed in the geoscience workforce, the requirements for professional licensure, and the training expectations of government agencies.

The “Strategies” page is divided into three sections with each section describing strategies instructors can use to: 1) Build students’ awareness of geoscience jobs and careers (start early, share career profiles, ask everyone to talk about their career path, help students build their network); 2) Connect to workforce skills in your courses (incorporate skills and dispositions into your learning outcomes, focus on specific skills that are most desired, simulate the workplace, address skills and dispositions across the degree program); and 3) Help students reflect on, plan for, and communicate their workforce readiness (use reflection prompts, use planning templates or individual development plans, incorporate resume and interview preparation, offer a career planning course). Each strategy description includes an overview, ideas for why you might use the strategy, tips for success, and links to resources and examples.

The “Activities” page is a work in progress that will collect example assignments and class activities that support the development and awareness of students’ workforce skills. We encourage members of the community to submit activities to this collection by using the Teach the Earth activity submission form available from the Teach the Earth home page by clicking the “Community, Join, Contribute” link.