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…

A sample of 43 Mississippi school counselors was surveyed regarding resources they use in career counseling, as well as resources they believe are effective in informing students about STEM careers, particularly the geosciences. Participants were asked a number of questions about their knowledge and perceptions about STEM majors and careers. The…

A survey with nine meteorological charts, maps, and images from a 2015 significant weather event was administered to meteorologists (N = 93) to identify which spatial thinking skills they report using with each chart, map, and image. Results reveal high reported use of mental animation (74.6%), disembedding (72.4%), and perspective taking (71.6%)…

The online learning environment can add substantial advantages to learning such as continuous access to material and the ability to foster learning through additional visual supplemental materials, but it can also add further challenges that may not be as evident when teaching traditional, face-to-face courses. An individual's place affiliation…

By the end of the nineteenth century, the momentum for the idea of a more practical education better suited to life in a modern, technological world brought the first educational reform movements in the nation. Concurrent reform efforts at the state and national levels influenced both the historical development of Earth science education and the…

Summer camps have proven to be effective tools to engage students in the geosciences. Findings from this study highlight perceptions and experiences of middle school students from predominantly African American school districts in Mississippi who attended a 3-d residence camp focused on increasing interest in the geosciences through an earth…

Knowing an individual's geographic affiliation may be useful in evaluating a student's previous knowledge. To test this hypothesis, students in an online master's program were given presurveys to evaluate their previous knowledge in meteorology and geology, as well as geological and meteorological sense-of-place surveys.

The presence of geosciences in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools in Argentina has been highly dependent on educational policies that change frequently under political circumstances. Subjects related to geology, geophysics, meteorology, and astronomy make their appearance and disappear under the influence of educational initiatives…

This paper describes a new severe weather laboratory exercise for an Introductory Weather and Climate class, appropriate for first and second year college students (including nonscience majors), that incorporates inquiry-based learning techniques. In the lab, students play the role of meteorologists making forecasts for severe weather. The…

This study developed two testing devices, namely the animation-based test (ABT) and the graphic-based test (GBT) in the area of earth sciences covering four domains that ranged from astronomy, meteorology, oceanography to geology. Both the students' achievements of and their attitudes toward ABT compared to GBT were investigated. The purposes of…

The Jurassic Coast is Britain's only natural World Heritage site, a tangible time-line that takes one through 185 million years of history in 95 miles of coast. It provides individuals with a world-famous educational resource and an unrivalled outdoor classroom that has played a key role in the study of earth sciences. The author is keen to ignite…

The year's volcanic activity is summarized. (BB)

Antarctic drilling and mapping projects are reported on. (BB)

Describes the use of modern research equipment (electron microscopes, seismographs, and solar telescopes) for education from primary to upper secondary levels in a county science center. (AL)