The global outbreak of COVID-19 brought an unprecedented influx of official and semiofficial geographic information to individuals worldwide, primarily in the form of geospatial and numerical data. Maps specifically played a key role in the conveying of information and guidelines to the public in relation to the pandemic. Yet to fully understand…

Climate change education is a challenge for teachers, as they must have appropriate content knowledge to teach the topic adequately. Every teacher is confronted with both their own knowledge and non-knowledge, as well as with scientific knowledge and non-knowledge. The uncertainty about this knowledge depends on individual perception and can have…

This study investigates students' conceptions of the causes and processes that form eskers and erratics, types of glacial and glaciofluvial landforms which to date have been little researched in geoscience education. The data collected for the study included 134 responses to an assignment completed by 12- to 13-year-old students in the Swedish…

In the Australian state of Victoria, the city of Melbourne endured the world's longest number of lockdown days, with severe government health orders and travel restrictions in place for extended periods of 2020 and 2021. In common with others, we found the provision of field teaching in introductory geology, structural geology, and volcanology,…

Ventura, California's 2023 winter storm activity underscored the impact that runoff has on recreational water quality and public health. To examine public perception of stormwater runoff, coastal water quality, and community decision-making toward recreating in polluted water, an online survey of the Ventura River watershed community determined…

Geological skills such as interpreting outcrops are often taught during fieldwork. However, recent advancements in digital technologies and the demand for more inclusive and accessible learning has provided an opportunity to teach these skills in virtual field trips (VFT). The Iceland VFT was developed to teach students about volcanic features and…

Bicultural research is important for disaster education in Aotearoa NZ. Historically, deficit-based perspectives of Western Science underrepresent Maori knowledge. However, culturally grounded research partnerships have potential to revitalize engagement with Maori by braiding Indigenous Science and Western Science narratives to improve our…

We developed and implemented the Galapagos Volcanology Field Camp, a 3 week, 3 credit hour course for upper-level university students with a major course of study in geology. The course is offered by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, is open to any student, and is usually populated by students from many universities across the U.S.…

Geographic context is important for Earth Science education but different places have different geological complexities and effectively establishing geoscientific context can be difficult. Well-designed videos can help geoscience educators introduce geologically significant places to undergraduate geoscience students. However, there is no…

The geosciences consist of multiple disciplines including geology, oceanography, and atmospheric science. Significant work expended to understand spatial thinking skills important to teaching and learning geology has advanced our ability to support students in geology courses and to achieve increased student success, retention, and diversity in…

The nature of field trips in geoscience lends them to the application of social learning theories for three key reasons. First, they provide opportunity for meaningful practical experience and promote effective learning afforded by no other educational vehicle in the subject. Second, they are integral for students creating a strong but changing…

Multidisciplinary field investigations courses offer exciting alternatives to traditional learning. They offer a more holistic view of Earth and an opportunity for students to experience the relationships between all of the different elements instead of just one individual segment. We designed a multidisciplinary field investigations course for…

Active, student-centered pedagogies such as project-based learning (PjBL) can offer significant potential for engaging undergraduates with complex sustainability issues. Driven by institution-wide curriculum changes and informed by educational theories and evidence from previous studies, a trial PjBL activity was designed and delivered on three…

Intelligent behavior in everyday contexts may depend on both ability and an individual's disposition toward using that ability. Research into patterns of thinking has identified three logically distinct components necessary for dispositional behavior: ability, inclination, and sensitivity. Surprisingly, sensitivity appears to be the most common…

The oft-repeated phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" supposes that an image can replace a profusion of words to more easily express complex ideas. For scientific visualizations that represent profusions of numerical data, however, an untranslated academic visualization suffers the same pitfalls untranslated jargon does. Previous…