Title: Goescience Education: A Recommended Strategy - NSF 97-171
Date: October 20, 1997
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Geosciences
Geoscience Education:
A Recommended Strategy
A Report Based on an August 29-30, 1996, Workshop
from the Geoscience Education Working Group
to the Advisory Committee for Geosciences
and the Directorate for Geosciences
of the National Science Foundation
NSF 97-171
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) provides awards for
research and education in the sciences and engineering.
The awardee is wholly responsible for the conduct of such
research and preparation of the results for publication.
NSF therefore does not assume responsibility for the
research findings or their interpretation.
NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists and
engineers and strongly encourages women, minorities, and
persons with disabilities to compete fully in any of its
research- and education-related programs. In accordance
with federal statutes, regulations, and NSF policies, no
person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national
origin, or disability shall be excluded from participation
in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving
financial assistance from the National Science Foundation.
Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with
Disabilities (FASED) provide funding for special assistance
or equipment to enable persons with disabilities
(investigators and other staff, including student research
assistants) to work on NSF projects. For more information,
consult the program announcement (NSF 91-54) or contact the
program coordinator at 703/306-1636.
The National Science Foundation has Telephonic Device for
the Deaf (TDD) capability, which enables individuals with
hearing impairment to communicate with the Foundation about
NSF programs, employment, or general information. To
access NSF TDD, dial 703/306-0090; for FIRS, dial
800/877-8339.
September 1997
In recent years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has
increased emphasis placed on education while maintaining
its strong commitment for research support. Special
attention now is being given to the integration of research
and education, a term that recognizes that one of the best
ways to advance scientific educational reform at all levels
is to involve students actively in scientific research.
Because of its long-standing relationship with the U.S.
academic research community, NSF is especially well
situated to engage researchers at the nation's universities
and colleges in this effort. NSF also can exert leadership
by working with other agencies to advance the highest-
quality scientific education and training for all
Americans, as recently expressed by the National Science
and Technology Council.
The mission of NSF's Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) is
to make the strongest possible contribution to the
advancement of the geosciences. Traditionally, this has
meant the funding of research by leading scientists as well
as graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and others who
assist them in the conduct of their research. But amidst
concerns regarding mismatches between the supply of and
demand for individuals in many academic fields, the need
for reform of traditional educational systems, and the
tenuous understanding of science by the public, it has
become clear that GEO's responsibility for the health of
the geosciences must embrace a broader definition of
geoscience education.
Both GEO and the Advisory Committee for Geosciences
(AC/GEO), a group of 18 leading scientists drawn from
academia, industry, and other government agencies, have
made the improvement of geoscience education one of their
top priorities. GEO and AC/GEO agreed that geoscience
education needed to be addressed more fully within the
context of GEO's long-range planning process. As a result,
GEO and AC/GEO established a Geoscience Education Working
Group (GEWG) consisting of representatives of the
geoscience research and educational community, including
some members of AC/GEO, and NSF staff from GEO and the
Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The
GEWG was chaired by Richard Somerville, an AC/GEO member
from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University
of California-San Diego.
The GEWG addressed geoscience education needs and
opportunities during a workshop convened at NSF on August
29-30, 1996. Intensive and substantive discussions
regarding GEO's future role in geoscience educational
activities were based on the premise that the health of the
geosciences would benefit from enhanced integration of
research and education at all levels. The consensus of the
group during those discussions, including a set of
recommendations for specific actions that the Directorate
for Geosciences might undertake on its own or in
partnership with others, is presented in this report.
Since that workshop, AC/GEO has reviewed a draft of this
report, and GEO staff have evaluated the working group's
recommendations. Early in 1997, the working group's
recommendations had been integrated at a general level into
the GEO Science Plan for FY 1998 to FY 2002. In addition,
more specific plans for implementation of geoscience
education programs were developed by the GEO Education
Team, which consists of staff from all three GEO divisions
who have been given special responsibilities with respect
to education. In developing their plans, GEO Education
Team members were aware of the many competing demands of
GEO funds and the likelihood of fairly stable budgets in
the foreseeable future. They therefore set priorities for
the most effective use of GEO resources. Their
recommendations were discussed at the May 1997 meeting of
AC/GEO. One direct result of the discussions engendered by
the workshop and report has been the development of a
special competition for "Awards to Facilitate Geoscience
Education." The Announcement of Opportunity for this
competition is published as NSF 97-174; it also can be
accessed from the GEO and NSF Web sites.
We invite all geoscientists to review this report and to
engage in ongoing discussions regarding the improvement of
geoscience education and the enhanced integration of
research and education. Please consult the GEO Website for
updates on planning as it proceeds, and submit comments and
suggestions regarding geoscience education improvements to
<geoed@nsf.gov>.
Robert W. Corell William P. Bishop
Assistant Director for Chair, Advisory
Geosciences Committee for Geosciences
Geoscience Education Working Group (GEWG)
Richard Somerville, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Chair,
GEWG; Member, AC/GEO, 1994-1996)
William Bishop, Desert Research Institute and U.S.
Department of Energy (Chair, AC/GEO, 1994-1997)
Lawrence Braile, Purdue University
Susan Cook, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Linda Duguay, NSF Division of Ocean Sciences
Judith Hannah, Colorado State University
Ramon Lopez, University of Maryland-College Park
Nancy Marcus, Florida State University
Michael Mayhew, NSF Division of Earth Sciences
Joan Mitchell, NSF Division of Ocean Sciences
David Mogk, Montana State University
Theodore Moore, University of Michigan (Member, AC/GEO,
1994-1996)
Jewel Prendeville, NSF Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Robert Ridky, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education
Robert Ryan, WRC-TV, Washington, D.C.
Perry Samson, University of Michigan
John Snow, University of Oklahoma
Denise Stephenson-Hawk, Clark Atlanta University (Member,
AC/GEO, 1997-1999)
Pam Stryker, Barton Creek Elementary School, Austin Texas
Marilyn Suiter, American Geological Institute (Member,
AC/GEO, 1994-1997)
Peter Wilkniss, NSF Directorate for Geosciences
Advisory Committee for Geosciences (AC/GEO), 1997
William Bishop, Desert Research Institute and U.S.
Department of Energy (Chair, AC/GEO)
Marcia McNutt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Vice Chair,
AC/GEO)
Don Anderson, California Institute of Technology
Susan Avery, University of Colorado-Boulder
Eric Barron, Pennsylvania State University
Stephen Cox, Colorado State University
Robert Duce, Texas A&M University
Robert Gagosian, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Kate Hadley, Amoco
George Hornberger, University of Virginia
James Knox, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mario Molina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alexandra Navrotsky, Princeton University
Joseph Pandolfo
David Schimel, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Sharon Smith, University of Miami
Denise Stephenson-Hawk, Clark Atlanta University
Marilyn Suiter, American Geological Institute
Geoscience Education:
A Recommended Strategy*
Executive Summary
The Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) of the National
Science Foundation (NSF) has long been successful at
funding the research of the best scientists in its fields.
Today, many forces are pressing the Foundation and this
Directorate to change traditional priorities so as to
emphasize education, broadly interpreted, as well as
research. Some of these pressures stem from the wider
world of policy and politics, such as the need for a
scientifically literate general population. Other forces
stem from the demographic realities of the science
community itself, such as the overproduction of Ph.D.
scientists relative to the ability of the traditional
research marketplace to absorb them. Even if every new
Ph.D. recipient could pursue a career in research, the
nation would still want a large number of U.S. citizens to
have a high degree of scientific understanding. Thus,
strengthening geosciences education is an investment in the
future of the nation and indeed the world, as well as in
the future of the geosciences themselves. This report of
the Geoscience Education Working Group enthusiastically
embraces NSF's increased emphasis on education, endorses
the principle that research and education should be well
integrated, and seeks to provide guidance for developing a
strong education program for the geosciences.
Science education itself is in the midst of a wide-ranging
reform movement in the United States. The geosciences are
well suited to lead in this reform, beginning in the pre-
college phase, because the geosciences provide a natural
window on the world of science. Children display an innate
curiosity about the physical world, and everyday events,
such as weather forecasts, can be powerful examples of
science in action. To be effective, education in science
must begin early and take advantage of this curiosity
before it is lost. Many young people emerge from the K-12
educational experience largely ignorant of science and
frightened by technology. We know that many K-12 teachers
lack an adequate background in science in general, and in
geosciences in particular. GEO has an essential role to
play in helping to train teachers, in supporting outreach
by geoscientists to teachers, and in providing educational
training for geoscientists themselves. A strong pre-
college component provides a crucial foundation for
geoscience education at all subsequent levels:
undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral, as well as for
the general public.
Education in the geosciences is multifaceted and includes a
broad spectrum of activities. Geoscience education for
undergraduates is far more complex than simply training
relatively few students in the traditional geoscience major
fields. It includes exposing a wide range of
undergraduates to scientific principles and practices
through discovery- and inquiry-based learning. Geoscience
education at the graduate and postdoctoral levels is more
than supporting research assistants who will be molded in
the practices of their advisors. It includes providing a
strong foundation in the geosciences for professionals
destined for diverse careers including law, business,
public policy, and education. GEO's support for faculty is
more than funding research. It includes enabling faculty
to participate in public outreach, in teacher training, and
in improving the educational skills of the faculty
themselves.
In this report based on a workshop held at NSF on August 29-
30, 1996, the Geoscience Education Working Group (GEWG)
makes several concrete recommendations. The simple step of
proclaiming education a high priority for GEO will send a
clear signal to the geosciences community that times have
changed. GEO must energetically enhance its partnership
with NSF's Directorate for Education and
Human Resources (EHR) while recognizing that EHR is an
unknown to most research geoscientists. GEO can help
produce a document that explains EHR programs to
geoscientists and guides them in submitting proposals to
EHR. GEO can actively promote the educational aspects of
the many university-level consortia which it sponsors, and
GEO can facilitate the optimal educational use of the
institutional networks associated with these consortia.
In addition, we recommend that GEO make small awards,
sometimes in the form of supplements to research grants, to
support promising outreach activities of individual
scientists. We recommend that GEO and EHR both support
research in geoscience education, helping geoscientists to
work with colleagues in fields such as education and
cognitive psychology, in order to facilitate development of
a new generation of geoscience educators. We suggest that
GEO engage administrators in the geoscience community by
co-sponsoring a high-level conference to discuss the
present and future of geoscience graduate education and
implications for education at all levels. We encourage GEO
to continue to strengthen its efforts to correct the under-
representation of women and minorities in geosciences. We
call for the establishment of fellowship and traineeship
programs, and we endorse undergraduate research experience
programs. We point out opportunities for the educational
use of GEO-supported facilities. We think that GEO and EHR
should jointly support computer-based geoscience teaching
labs. We ask GEO to help teachers to work with
geoscientists in a variety of settings and to help train
geoscientists in educational issues. We encourage GEO to
promote a number of avenues leading to increased geoscience
outreach to teachers, students and the public.
Underlying the details of these and other specific
recommendations is our deeply held conviction that GEO and
the geoscience community it supports must change. For too
long, research has been such a dominant priority in this
community that scientists have neglected the need to
communicate with people other than themselves. Now it is
clear that a better and broader public understanding of the
science and its significance is truly essential, and that
education is the only route to achieving this goal.
______________________
* Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this report are those of the participants
in the workshop of the Geoscience Education Working
Group.
Richard C. J. Somerville
Chair, Geoscience Education Working Group
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
Geoscience Education:
A Recommended Strategy*
I. Overview
The American educational system has long been under stress
at all levels, but movement toward reform -- especially
reform of science education -- is gaining momentum. In
response to this movement, the National Science Foundation
recently has reaffirmed the significance of science
education along with research as the agency's
priorities.1,2,3 NSF's education programs operate within
the framework of government-wide emphasis on advancing the
highest-quality education and training for all Americans,
as recently expressed by the National Science and
Technology Council.4,5
The Geoscience Education Working Group (GEWG) was convened
in response to two conclusions drawn by the Directorate for
Geosciences (GEO) and the Advisory Committee for
Geosciences (AC/GEO). First, the geosciences have much to
offer in the daunting task of science education reform.
Second, GEO has the responsibility to engage the geoscience
community in this process. This change in perspective
parallels similar reassessments that are reaffirming the
significance of both research and education on university
campuses.6 Before turning to recommendations about ways
that GEO can effectively and efficiently do this, we
briefly review some of the underlying problems.
Problems at the various education levels from K-12 through
postgraduate studies differ. They are outlined separately
below, but some common threads run through them. First, at
each level the fundamental question, "What are we educating
students for?", needs to be asked explicitly, but often it
is not. Second, the modern view of the importance of hands-
on experience and constructivist learning applies at all
education levels.7
Postdoctoral Level
Postdoctoral appointments can be a unique opportunity for a
first-rate scientist who recently earned a Ph.D. to
solidify research skills, build a track record, establish
peer relationships, and acquire professional self-
confidence. On the other hand, more Ph.D. students prepare
themselves for an academic career than can be supported by
the job market. As a result, postdoctoral appointments
often serve as "holding patterns" for young scientists
unable to find jobs as professors.
Many recent Ph.D. recipients are narrowly trained in the
same specialties as their advisors, and they remain so as
postdocs. Thus, when they enter the labor force, they
compete directly with their former mentors for NSF funds.
Given the overwhelming focus on research and grant-getting,
the direction for a postdoc intending an academic career
tends to be narrowly focused research. The postdoctoral
appointment does little to prepare them for many aspects of
scholarly life, including teaching.
Graduate Level
The traditional mode of operation of NSF disciplinary
programs has been to fund graduate students as a basic part
of grants to principal investigators (PIs) for specific
research projects. The tacit assumption is
that the student will conduct research under the
supervision of the PI and pursue an academic career like
that of the advisor. There is no shortage of "best and
brightest" graduate students with these characteristics,
and there is no personnel shortage for world-class academic
researchers. On the contrary, there is a problem of
overproduction of specialized doctoral scientists, few of
whom have received substantive training in the educational
practices they will need in future academic positions.8
______________________
* Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this report are those of the participants
in the workshop of the Geoscience Education Working
Group.
It is now widely recognized that a new system of graduate
education is needed to prepare students for broad
competence and flexibility in the workplace. There are
calls for replacing some of the current support for
graduate research assistantships with internships and
fellowships intended to extend students' experience outside
of funded research projects, and especially in work
settings. A solid geoscience education can be excellent
preparation for "non-traditional" career paths in fields
such as law, business, and education.
Undergraduate Level
There has been much discussion about the need for
improvement of undergraduate education in general and in
the geosciences in particular, as well as a recognition of
the difficult path to reform. Formidable institutional
problems remain, such as how to educate (and evaluate) very
large classes, a shortage of up-to-date facilities and
technologies, and faculty reward systems that often fail to
emphasis educational excellence.
Recognition also is growing of the need for new pedagogies
and related curricula and instructional tools, along with
training of faculty in their use. Too often the potential
benefits of geoscience education at the undergraduate level
go unrealized, as occurs in other areas of science.9 The
problem is complex because of the diversity of the
undergraduate population. If one asks what an
undergraduate education in geoscience is for, there is not
one answer.
The only path through undergraduate education with which
GEO has traditionally had any real (though limited) concern
is that of the student who is headed for a geoscience
program at the graduate level. But this is a small
fraction of the undergraduate population. All
undergraduates, and ultimately the public at large, would
benefit from improved geoscience education.10
Besides the range of careers that would benefit from a
geoscience education, there is the important, if
intangible, goal of training undergraduates (as at all
levels) in "scientific habits of the mind," "scientific
practice," and "reasoning from evidence." These qualities
generally are developed through some form of "hands-on,"
discovery-based, or inquiry-based learning across a broad
curricular front.11
Finally, it is well-recognized that scientific literacy,
interest, curiosity, and internalization of the process of
discovery and analysis begins in elementary school, and
that too often that is short circuited by inadequate
teacher preparation. Students training for careers in pre-
college education need help at the undergraduate level in
understanding the process of science and becoming
scientifically self-confident. GEO's role in these
fundamental infrastructural and pipeline issues deserves
careful consideration.
K-12 Level
GEO's traditional "educational" focus has been on training
graduate students for an academic career, with some
attention paid to those undergraduates who intend to follow
this career path. Although GEO has not previously placed
emphasis on K-12 education, the quality of students
entering college -- their knowledge base, their ability to
solve problems and present results, their intellectual self-
confidence, and their open-yet-skeptical habits of mind --
are formed during their progression from Grades K-12.
Colleges and universities can play a fundamental role in
bringing about widespread reform at the K-12 level.12
Important elements are development of (1) closer
relationships between education schools and science
programs, (2) partnerships with local school systems, and
(3) hands-on science education programs. Many universities
are making advances in all three areas. Some of these are
member universities of GEO-sponsored consortia and involve
geosciences content. A critical element of GEO's future
planning with respect to improving geoscience education is
determining appropriate ways through which GEO can use its
resources, particularly its contacts with a substantial
university network, to nurture and advance these
initiatives.
Informal Education
Much attention has been given to the report on Science and
Engineering Indicators - 1996, which noted the American
public's low level of understanding of the facts and
concepts of science, despite the pervasive use of the
products of science.13 Ironically, the same report
disclosed widespread public interest in science. Part of
GEO's responsibility is to further public understanding of
the content of geoscience and the process of science in
general.
In the long run, public understanding of science in general
and active processes of nature in particular -- and
ultimately public support of the scientific enterprise --
will depend on the quality of public education. This is
why geoscience education, both in school and out of school,
deserves GEO's attention. The geosciences have a natural
advantage in the arena of discovery-based learning, and it
is in this community's interest for geoscientists to be in
the vanguard of the educational reform movement.
Faculty
Although much of the focus of education is on students, the
need also exists for providing support for teachers. This
is especially true in colleges and universities, where
faculty members serve in critical capacities as both
researchers and educators. Faculty need assistance to
transfer their professional expertise to the K-12
classroom, to help train present and future teachers, and
to provide continuing education for the community at large.
We believe it is essential that GEO does all it can to
foster a significant change in the prevailing university
culture. Rather than viewing educational activities as a
dilution of focused research efforts, we should consider
education to be an investment of time, energy, and
resources that adds value to the research mission through
greater application, understanding, and appreciation of
science by a wider audience.
"Changing the culture" is a formidable long-term challenge
that will depend on the actions of many individuals.
Faculty need help in connecting with existing educational
programs that work. Such programs involve "best teaching
practice," student-centered learning, discovery and
inquiry, new pedagogies, research on how students really
learn, and evaluation and dissemination of educational
activities and materials.
II. General Recommendations
This section contains some general recommendations that
resulted from GEWG discussions. Those recommendations
considered by the GEWG to be of the highest priority are
highlighted in boxes.
Leadership
The GEWG recognizes that GEO already is providing
considerable support for geoscience education. This
primarily has taken the form of student support through
regular research grants, although GEO has also participated
in established programs at the agency, directorate, and
division levels.
The current pattern of GEO's support for education has
developed largely in an ad hoc way. To a great extent, GEO
has deferred to the Directorate for Education and Human
Resources (EHR) for support of educational activities.
This document is testimony to the fact that GEO now sees
itself assuming greater responsibility for support of
geoscience education. To fulfill this responsibility,
leadership is of paramount importance:
GEO can do much for the community for little cost
simply by publicly establishing education as a
directorate priority, by communicating an intellectual
framework within which education programs which it
sponsors should operate, and by facilitating the
diffusion of quality education programs.
Partnerships
Resources are limited now and for the foreseeable future.
Thus, an important element of GEO leadership is to
proactively enhance its partnerships with other
organizations, each of which has its own programs,
networks, resources, and special expertise that can
contribute toward improvements in geoscience education.
The following paragraphs describe some of the ways that GEO
has worked with different partners to advance geoscience
education.
NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources
The NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources has
provided substantial funding for geoscience and
environmental science education projects. Total support
for the period from FY 1990 to 1996 exceeded $100 million.
This support generally has come as the result of favorable
reviews of proposals submitted to EHR; GEO has played
little if any role in most funding decisions. EHR support
for geoscience education has taken place largely within
three divisions; a description follows.
Programs of the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
regularly fund undergraduate educational projects in the
geosciences, environmental science, and geography. The
geoscience community receives substantial benefit from
these programs. Working with DUE, the American Geophysical
Union conducted a major workshop on November 15-17, 1996,
to help lay the groundwork for a special initiative within
EHR devoted to the geosciences.
Within the Division of Research, Evaluation, and
Communication (REC), the Application of Advanced Technology
Program funds a number of high-quality geoscience projects.
Examples include (1) the University of Michigan's Weather
Underground, which provides K-12 students with Internet
access to environmental and real-time meteorological data;
(2) the University of Colorado's Kids as Global Scientists
program, which also uses Internet telecommunication of
meteorological data in conjunction with middle school
curricula in 50 locations worldwide; and (3) the Princeton
Earth Physics Project, a collaborative effort of Princeton
University and the Incorporated Research Institutions for
Seismology (IRIS), which puts user-friendly seismometers
and associated software in classrooms around the country
and links them via the Internet with each other and with
IRIS's Data Management Center in Seattle.
The Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal
Education (ESIE) funds a range of projects in the
geosciences. Examples are (1) participation of pre-college
teachers in Earth Sciences Research Experience for
Undergraduates Sites; (2) Project LEARN, a middle school
teacher training program located at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and (3) Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory's EarthView Explorer, which distributes large
data sets via the Internet.
EHR's programs "push the envelope" with respect to systemic
reform, course and curriculum development, faculty and
teacher enhancement, instructional materials development,
instrumentation and laboratory improvement, and informal
education, through participation by teachers, professors,
scientists, and science educators. It is important that
geoscientists in education have access to these resources.
It is widely perceived by geoscientists that EHR funding is
difficult to obtain, but this impression largely results
from the inadequate information that most geoscientists
have about EHR programs and the rules under which EHR
program officers operate. GEO can provide an important
service by brokering interactions between EHR programs and
scientists and educators working in the geosciences.
GEO, with help from EHR, should produce a document for
geoscientists that gives information about EHR
programs. This document should contain a practical
guide describing what it takes to produce a successful
proposal and descriptions of a number of previously
funded projects.
University Consortia
GEO sponsors a number of large consortia, each of which
supports attractive educational programs. Chief among
these consortia are the following:
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR),
which has 62 member universities and 19 affiliate members
within the U.S. UCAR supports a large number of
educational programs aimed at the full range of educational
levels, including public outreach. UCAR's Web site
[http://www.ucar.edu] summarizes these programs and also
provides links to education programs of member
universities.
UCAR's Unidata program provides a widely used system for
accessing on the Internet real-time meteorological data as
well as analysis and management tools. Approximately 140
universities constitute the formal Unidata network. The
system is widely used to access data for educational
purposes. Unidata is establishing a mini-grants program to
foster the creation and sharing of educational materials
among Unidata members. The Unidata Web site is
[http://www.unidata.ucar.edu].
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)
has a network of more than 90 members. IRIS remains active
in the development of the Princeton Earth Physics Project
(PEPP). New classroom seismometers were developed
specifically for the project by private vendors. These
instruments and Web-based curricular materials will be
distributed to K-12 classrooms by university members of
IRIS. Schools will access seismograms from the IRIS Data
Management Center and will contribute their own data to the
international network via the Internet. More information
about IRIS is available from its Web site
[http://www.iris.edu]. The PEPP Web site is
[http://www.lasker.princeton.edu].
Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) is a multi-
university Science and Technology Center co-funded with the
U.S. Geological Survey. Its Education and Knowledge
Transfer programs are co-funded with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. SCEC has an ambitious educational
outreach program that emphasizes hands-on learning and
participation of non-traditional students. At the pre-
college level, partnerships have been developed with
several education organizations, including the Palos Verdes
School System. At the undergraduate level, a large number
of students have worked directly with scientists through
SCEC's intern program. SCEC's Web address is
[http://www.usc.edu/go/scec].
Center for High-Pressure Research (CHiPR) is a Science and
Technology Center centered at SUNY-Stony Brook. Other
participating institutions are the Geophysical Laboratory
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Princeton
University. CHiPR has been running a very successful
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site in the
technically demanding field of high-pressure mineral
physics. At the pre-college level, CHiPR offers a teacher-
training program designed to integrate student research
projects into the curriculum. Several other programs
targeting student groups, individual motivated students,
and the public focus on the geology and hydrology of Long
Island as well as studies of the Earth's deep interior. A
new program features Web-based interactive learning and use
of Java tools. The CHiPR Web site is
[http://sbmp06.ess.sunysb.edu].
The Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS)
is a Science and Technology Center at the University of
Oklahoma. Its educational outreach program through the
Oklahoma City Public Schools includes (1) a fifth-grade
program featuring a variety of science projects,
(2) presentations to teachers and students, and (3) a
junior high research experience in microclimate in the
Arbuckle Mountains. CAPS offers an undergraduate
fellowship program that allows students to work with Center
scientists. A Research Experiences for Undergraduates
(REU) site is operated by the university's Weather Center,
a partnership of several organizations, including CAPS and
NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory. The Web address
for CAPS is
[http://www.uoknor.edu/tornado/CAPS.WWW/tornado.html].
The Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate (C4) is a
Science and Technology Center based at the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-
San Diego. Other members are Oregon State University, the
University of Maryland-College Park, NCAR, the California
Space Institute, SeaSpace Corporation and three European
institutions. In addition to special educational efforts
at the graduate and undergraduate level, C4 has developed
an innovative set of activities focusing on K-12 and
informal education in cooperation with the Stephen Birch
Aquarium-Museum at Scripps. Products of this effort
include Forecasting the Future, a classroom curriculum and
activity guide focusing on global climate change with an
associated teacher-training program, and "Next Wave," an
interactive environmental education center that teachers
and students can access via the Internet. The C4 Web site
is [http://www-c4.ucsd.edu]; the "Next Wave" can be
accessed at [http://aqua.ucsd.edu/nextwave/].
The institutional networks associated with GEO-
sponsored consortia represent an enormous educational
resource, especially when viewed collectively. GEO's
promotion and facilitation of the optimal use of these
networks would in itself have huge educational benefit
nationwide.
Professional Societies
Another set of partners that share GEO's goal of improving
geoscience education are professional societies that serve
many segments of the geoscience community. Together, these
societies constitute a large geoscientific network. Many
have ambitious educational outreach programs. GEO already
has close ties with these organizations, which are a
valuable potential resource through which GEO can serve its
community. These professional societies can play
especially valuable roles in stimulating collaborations
among scientists and educators and in outreach to the
public. Among the major professional societies with whom
GEO has substantive interactions are:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS)
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- American Geological Institute (AGI)
- American Meteorological Society (AMS)
- American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
- Geological Society of America (GSA)
- The Oceanography Society (TOS)
- Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Other Organizations
Like the professional societies, numerous other
organizations have innovative educational programs and
networks. Some of the other organizations that GEO will
look to work with are:
- Council on Undergraduate Research
- National Academy of Sciences
- Coalition for Earth Science Education
- American Academy for Liberal Education
- Project Kaleidoscope
- Keck Geology Consortium
- Association of American State Geologists
- Sigma Xi
- National Geographic Society
- American Chemical Society
The amount of staff time needed to nurture effective
partnerships with such organizations should not be
underestimated, but the rewards for geoscience education
may be considerable.
Other Federal Agencies
Other federal agencies have strong educational programs,
including:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Office of Naval Research (ONR)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- United States Geological Survey (USGS)
GEO can build on the cooperative research programs it has
established through its partnership with these agencies,
most notably the U.S. Global Change Research Program, as it
focuses more attention on the education arena. The GEWG is
aware that an NSF-wide Environment and Global Change
Education Program already is under development, and this
seems a natural vehicle for interagency cooperation in
education.
Teacher- and School-Based Organizations
To effectively inform students and the public about the
nature and importance of new geoscience knowledge,
researchers need to seek the help of those who know best
how learning is achieved -- teachers. Scientists have much
to learn from pre-college teachers and undergraduate
instructors. Even with the best intentions, many
researchers failed to communicate effectively with external
audiences. Effective integration of the outcomes of GEO-
funded research into classroom instruction needs effective
partnerships with teacher and school organizations such as:
- National Science Teachers Association
- National Association of Geoscience Teachers
- National Earth Science Teachers Association
- National Marine Educators Association
- National School Board Association
To succeed in improving geoscience education, GEO also
needs to work with state-based networks. Such partnerships
will facilitate the development of curricular materials,
teacher training, the dissemination of research findings
via exhibits and other media, and many other activities.
Small Grants to Facilitate Educational Outreach
Many geoscience researchers take education seriously and
devote considerable personal energy to it. They typically
have a scientific curiosity about the learning process.
Some would like to develop innovative educational
activities at a relatively "local" level, but to do so
incurs some real costs. These researchers commonly are
frustrated by the fact that support usually is not
available for such educational activities from either GEO
or EHR.
GEO should establish a program of small awards to
support educational outreach activities of individual
geoscientists that seem particularly promising. Awards
may commonly take the form of supplements to active
research grants.
Scientists can and should become involved in science
education, yet there is only modest external incentive for
these efforts, and many scientists need substantial
education and training themselves to be effective
contributors. An important, if intangible, effect of the
recommended program would be to foster the cultural change
that will help those scientists who want to engage in true
education reform.
This kind of program should be highly selective. GEO would
fund a limited number of activities following a rigorous
review of applications. Although these activities might
directly impact relatively few students, they would offer
promise of substantial positive outcomes. As a result,
many of the scientists may be eligible for enhanced funding
from EHR. An important criterion would be the degree to
which researchers engage teachers and/or science educators
in the work; another would be incorporating mechanisms for
sharing the results of the activity widely in the
community, for example via the Worldwide Web. The program
could serve a number of different purposes:
Undergraduate Course and Curriculum Development
Small awards would provide seed money for initiating
development of innovative course and curriculum materials
at the undergraduate level. Successful projects would be
in a good position to approach the Course and Curriculum
Development Program in the Division of Undergraduate
Education for full development. Such projects would
involve translation of real-time data, large databases, and
analytic tools into meaningful classroom activities.
Partnerships with appropriate colleagues in science
education and cognitive psychology would ensure that the
materials are being developed at appropriate levels for the
intended audience, and that the impacts on student learning
are adequately evaluated. GEO can facilitate engagement
with those who have been successful in curriculum
development. Discovery is essential in both the research
and the educational enterprises, and this should be
emphasized through direct research by students and through
such delivery mechanisms as modeling, simulation,
visualization, quantification, and other graphical
representations.
Awards should be made to a variety of academic institutions
ranging from research universities to liberal arts
colleges, small state colleges, and community colleges.
Programs should be designed so that they impact future
teachers as well as students.
Bringing "Cutting-Edge" Research Into the Education
Mainstream
Researchers with a particular interest in integrating
science and education and whose projects have an attractive
educational application at any level should be encouraged
to develop an outreach effort as an "add-on" to their
research proposal. Supplemental funding would provide
support for appropriate dissemination of information to the
public, possibly through museums, videos, or nature
centers, or additional funds might facilitate training for
teachers in topics related to the researcher's project.
Including science educators and/or teachers as partners in
the development of an education component of a research
project would be essential. An excellent approach is to
involve teachers on an individual basis or through summer
institutes or "one-day workshop" programs. The outreach
efforts of many universities can be successful projects
requiring only modest outside support. Researchers and
educators who form coherent teams and conduct successful
projects would be well situated to seek support for future
efforts from appropriate programs in the Division of
Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education or other EHR
divisions.
Partnerships To Implement the National Science Education
Standards
Academic researchers play a crucial role implementing the
National Science Education Standards. They will need to
work in partnership with individuals and organizations that
have considerable expertise and experience in K-12 and
informal education, including teachers, education
departments, education societies, science societies engaged
in educational outreach, school boards, museums, and
aquariums. Developing and sustaining such partnerships
likely will require some additional funds; however, a
little funding often goes a long way. Efforts to help
implement the standards will take many forms, such as
workshops in local areas or at education conventions where
innovative curriculum projects like Blue Skies or Seismic
Sleuths may be demonstrated.
Geoscience Education in Two- and Four-Year Colleges
Though not usually recipients of GEO research support,
community colleges and small four-year colleges play an
increasingly important role in the education of
undergraduates. A program of small grants could be quite
valuable in supporting exploration of how dispersed
learning technologies could connect geoscience academic
programs at research universities with small college and
community college networks.
Web-Based Resources
For geoscientists, the world is a laboratory. Direct
experience in the field is important to students at all
levels. Although most would not want to trade the real
world for a virtual one, multimedia technology will play an
increasingly important pedagogic role in geoscience
education in the coming years.
It is important to recognize that the virtual university
will be a rapidly growing phenomenon in the near term, and
the Worldwide Web will facilitate new forms of
communication and interaction.14 It will become
increasingly possible to deliver content-rich geoscience
courses, based in a real-world research context, involving
high-quality real time or archive data, and aimed at
promoting analytical reasoning and critical thinking
skills. A prototype is the Geographer's Craft and Virtual
Geography Department project at the University of Texas at
Austin.15
A valuable component of a small grants program could be the
support of partnerships that can initiate the development
of innovative Web-based projects in the geosciences. Many
of these projects would have the potential for later full-
scale support from EHR or other organizations. To maintain
high quality, materials posted on the Web will need to be
mindful of the importance of appropriate indexing,
abstracting, and hyperlinking of materials. Long-term
maintenance of Web sites also will be needed, as will easy
access so that students and faculty will readily be able to
find useful materials.
The Promise of Communications Technologies
The imagination of the public has been captured by movies
such as Twister, Dante's Peak, and Jurassic Park, by
television such as the Nova series and National Geographic
specials, and by videos, for example those on The Weather
Channel. This popular interest stems from the inherent
fascination that people have with the power and fury of
nature and its potential impact on our lives. The
challenge for geoscientists is to build unique educational
opportunities that take advantage of this public interest
without compromising the integrity of the science. Given
the traditional lead of the geosciences in scientific
telecommunications, for example space sciences and
meteorology, we should explore the integration of virtually
instant information exchange into our national science
education efforts. The geosciences are ideally situated to
aid reform in science education through the use of new
communications technologies that facilitate more project-
based learning opportunities for all ages.
GEO major goals with respect to education are consonant
with a recent report from the Office of Technology
Assessment titled Teachers and Technology: Making the
Connection.16 That report outlines five strategies:
- Create Internet tools that are intuitive, that are
relevant to "real" life, and that offer an engaging means
of delivering rich material.
- Make this new technology accessible to an ever wider
community of practitioners and education curriculum
developers, guiding and supporting quality curriculum
development.
- Use the technology to promote project-based
experimentation, field measurements, and data
interpretation.
- Create and support an environment wherein students and
teachers can build on the powerful communication aspects of
the Internet for the development and support of vertical
collaborative communities.
- Develop new models for training the rapidly growing
community of researchers and practitioners in technology,
educational reform, and content issues.
Technology that can drive educational reform is evolving
rapidly, and it is crucial that GEO help the scientific
community to position itself at the cutting edge. A
government initiative to develop the "Next Generation
Internet" has been announced. President Clinton has
proposed that every school and library in the U.S. be
provided with free access to basic Internet services. The
implications for educational innovation are clear; the
geoscience community needs to fully embrace the
opportunities.
NSF has made initial awards in the new Collaborative
Research in Learning Technologies (CRLT) program aimed at
frontier research on integration of technology with
learning at all educational levels. CRLT supports basic
research by multi-disciplinary teams employing state-of-the
art applications of artificial intelligence,
telecommunications, and other technological tools. In
FY 1997, CRLT will become part of a broader effort on
Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS). GEO can be
instrumental in helping the geoscience community take full
advantage of these initiatives.
Research On Geoscience Education
Reform of science education must be predicated on research
on learning and teaching materials and practices that are
developed from that research. The geosciences currently
have a much weaker research base than a number of other
fields, such as physics. Several physics education
research groups have been established in universities that
grant discipline-based Ph.D.s. The National Science
Education Standards places geoscience on a par with the
physical and life sciences.17 This development provides
opportunities for a major educational breakthrough, but it
also offers challenges:
- If the geoscience community does not respond with
excellent materials and training, the geoscience standards
will be ignored. This will weaken the implementation of
the standards as a whole, because the Earth and Space
Sciences component is not a modular block but rather a
critical component of an integrated science education
curriculum.
- There will be a huge need for teachers who are well
trained in the geosciences to implement that component of
the standards, but there are very few education schools
that provide substantive geoscience training. This
contrasts with the physical and life sciences, where there
are significant numbers of science educators.
- Uncertainty exists regarding which practices work
best in the classroom to promote better learning about the
geosciences. We do not have a sound pedagogical
understanding of how students learn about the geosciences
effectively at any level. As a result, we rely primarily
on anecdotal information.
- Almost all elementary school teachers and most middle
and high school teachers need an integrated "geoscience"
perspective, because they must cover all aspects of the
Earth.
A program of research on geoscience education is needed to
address these challenges. Such a program constitutes a
formidable challenge in its own right, because such
research is more demanding in many ways than is research
about the natural world.
Working with EHR and other organizations, GEO should
establish a program of support for research on
geoscience education that will engage geoscientists
with colleagues in education, cognitive psychology, and
other fields, thereby forming the basis for a new
generation of geoscience educators.
Engagement of Administrators
The nature of graduate education is changing as the social
contract between science and society changes. A
conversation involving leading members of the geoscience
community is needed to explore the implications of these
changes.
GEO should work with geoscience professional societies
and distinguished bodies such as the National Academy
of Sciences to convene a high-level conference of
administrators to discuss the present and future of
geoscience graduate education and implications for
education at all levels.
A high-level conference focusing on the future of graduate
education in the geosciences would include deans, center
and program directors, and department heads. If
successful, such a conference could take place every two or
three years. Precedence for such a conference may be found
in the May 1995 Physics Department Chairs Conference
[http://www.aps.org]. Another good model is the biannual
Meeting of the Heads and Chairs of Atmospheric Science
Programs. A similar gathering of geoscience administrators
could produce a report to provide a foundation for future
action on this topic.
Geoscience Education and Underrepresented Groups
Students do not all arrive at the kindergarten door with
equal experiences, opportunities, and aspirations. Social
and economic realities begin their impact long before that
time. By society limiting, even inadvertently, access to
the full range of opportunities for science learning, many
students fail to gain the skills necessary to assess the
validity of evidence or the logic of arguments, and they
frequently are misinformed about the nature of science
endeavors. Our nation is producing a generation of students
who cannot take full advantage of the benefits of science.
This problem is especially severe for many minority
students, which reduces their pursuit of scientific
careers.
GEO should continue to recognize the problem of
underrepresentation of minorities and women in the
geosciences and should increase its efforts to correct
this problem by encouraging participation of people
from these groups in all of its programs.
Greater exposure of minority students to what geoscientists
do and to the possible careers in geosciences is critical
to increasing the representation of minorities in the
geosciences. This may be most appropriately done at the
primary, secondary, and undergraduate levels, but it should
also carry over into graduate and postgraduate educational
settings.
Enhanced recruiting efforts need to begin at an early age
and continue on through to college. Efforts need to be
aimed at retention. There has to be continuity,
information flow, and links among programs at various
levels so that talented students continue in a pipeline
that will lead them to careers in the geosciences. To some
extent, a competition exists among disciplines for talented
members of underrepresented groups, and if the geosciences
do not do a better job of attracting and retaining a
significant number of capable and interested individuals,
they likely will be lured away by well organized programs
in fields such as the biomedical sciences. At the
undergraduate level, for example, capable students who
begin a course of study in the geosciences at the freshman
and sophomore levels can be given the opportunity to work
as interns; during their junior and senior years they can
gain experience as a members of a research team.
The infrastructure problems and culture of minority
institutions also need to be addressed. For example,
undergraduates who do not have ready access to the Internet
and Worldwide Web do not have full access to the real world
of "doing science." Well planned outreach and networking
activities are essential. GEO should continue to support
activities that introduce students to the broader world and
help them to establish a network of contacts. Support for
programs such as the 1995 Hampton Diversity Conference and
the Hampton-ASLO Minorities in Aquatic Sciences Mentoring
and Meeting Participation Program for Students is vital.
The majority of African Americans who receive a doctoral
degree received their undergraduate degree from a
Historically Black College or University. However, no
state-of-the-art, viable undergraduate geosciences programs
exist at any of the 117 historically black institutions of
higher education. This situation must be remedied if the
number of African Americans pursuing careers in the
geosciences is to increase.
GEO should pursue an initiative with EHR and with
geoscience-oriented federal agencies to establish state-
of-the-art geoscience programs at a few institutions
with large minority student enrollments.
One of the most critical elements of career development is
the availability of role models. Though the situation for
women has improved, there are few role models for minority
students at many institutions. GEO should encourage
professional societies to develop programs to help graduate
students attend their meetings, because the professional
society meetings enable female and minority students to
interact with many more female and minority scientists than
they normally would encounter at their home institutions.
The participation of women and minority students should be
encouraged by providing travel awards for graduate and
postdoctoral students.
Publicity
The GEWG believes that it is important for GEO to
communicate directly with many audiences about the most
exciting things going on in geoscience education, as well
as in geoscience research. GEO should give serious
consideration to determining how best to do this. Four
possible avenues are:
Annual Geoscience Research-as-Education Workshop
An annual workshop series featuring the best examples of
projects that integrate geoscience research and education
could be established. These workshops would become a
vehicle for researchers and educators to meet and develop
connections among themselves. Complementing the workshops
could be a high-quality workshop report series and the
posting of examples on the Worldwide Web, making use of
multimedia whenever possible. Such products would be
useful to education professionals and public audiences.
An Education Link on the GEO Web Site
Public access to the Worldwide Web is increasing at a very
rapid pace. The addition of pages focusing on geoscience
education to GEO's Web Site could provide an organic,
informative, useful, and exciting means of sharing the
results of the best geoscience education projects and
future opportunities. Education pages on the GEO Web Site
and links to sites elsewhere would constitute a valuable
resource for teachers, students, scientists, and the
general public.
Colloquium Series
GEO should consider establishing a special colloquium
series to encourage geoscience departments to conduct at
least one education colloquium each year. These colloquia
would build an infrastructure for education research with
specific application to the geosciences and encourage
acceptance of education as an important responsibility for
geoscientists.
Video Production
The whole world is the laboratory for geoscientists, who
travel to the most interesting places on Earth to make
observations in order to understand how the Earth system
functions. Where we cannot go, we have clever tools to
help us probe and sample remotely. The images associated
with both direct and remote observation make for
fascinating video presentations, which capture the
imagination of the public. There is much potential benefit
to the science from partnerships among GEO, video
companies, television stations, and corporate sponsors to
increase the output of high-quality geoscience-related
videos.
III. Recommendations by Educational Level
Geoscience stimulates interest in science for students of
all ages. Nearly everyone is interested in the natural
world with which we interact every day. Furthermore,
societal needs in the critical areas of energy, the
environment, and natural hazards are strongly related to
the geosciences.
High-quality geoscience education is essential for the
future health of the geosciences because it directly
affects the attraction and training of future scientists.
It is equally important in developing scientific literacy
among all members of society and for increasing awareness
about, interest in, and enjoyment of the Earth for all
people. Science literacy and broad competence in analysis
of scientific issues require the geosciences to reach the
broadest possible audience. This is why it is essential
for GEO's education program to address each educational
level -- graduate and post-graduate, undergraduate, pre-
college, and public.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Education
At the graduate level, faculty researchers have focused
their efforts on the training of students for careers in
research. But many of these students have not found jobs
in research, and many incoming graduate students now are
looking at alternative careers that do not emphasize
research. While it is important for these students to
develop a sense for research and the scientific process, it
is also important to provide them with additional training
and skills. This might take the form of internships with
industry, museums, non-profit organizations, or government
agencies. The current system of grant support does not
foster such a hiatus in training, however, because research
projects depend on students as workers. Current realities
clearly make alternative forms of graduate student support
a necessity. The same is true for postdoctoral support.
Mechanisms need to be developed for funding students
directly via traineeships and fellowships. These forms of
support would shift more responsibility to the student.
Partnerships with industry and other organizations should
be developed to improve communication among students,
academic departments, and future employers regarding the
jobs that are and will be available and the training
required for individuals to fill those jobs.
Changes also are needed at the masters level, which
increasingly needs to be considered as the "professional
degree" for many students, because about three-quarters of
all M.S. recipients will be going into non-academic jobs.
Increasingly, industry will require masters-level
professional training.10
GEO should establish a fellowship/traineeship program
-- ideally in partnership with EHR -- that would
provide students with solid grounding in
interdisciplinary geoscience, while making them
flexible, innovative, and broadly competent in the
workplace.
New mechanisms for graduate and postdoctoral support might
include the following:
GEO Postdoctoral Fellowships
Awards made to individuals would encourage innovative
independent projects. Fellowships could involve novel
cross-disciplinary research, mentoring, pedagogical
development, or educational technologies as well as
industrial or international connections. For those seeking
new approaches to the integration of research and
education, mentorship by both a scientist and an educator
would be appropriate. Cost-sharing should be expected from
the university.
GEO Graduate Traineeships
Traineeships would be made to individuals or departments
and would support innovative interdisciplinary or dual
professional degree programs. The aim would be production
of a cadre of exceptionally competent and versatile
professionals, who are intellectually well grounded in
geoscience research. Programs for individuals could
involve multiple institutions. Traineeships could involve
innovative educational components, such as new pedagogies
or the use of technology in education. A traineeship
program would be consistent with the recommendations of the
National Science Board Task Force on Graduate and
Postdoctoral Education.
Masters Degree Fellowships
GEO might play a useful role in developing prototypes of
masters fellowships programs that produce technically
competent and adaptable professionals. One type of program
could follow the REU-Site model, where groups of students
work in teams that expand and diversify their knowledge and
skills through the conduct of multidisciplinary research
activities in real-world settings.
Certain programs could explicitly involve a dual-career
framework, in which students could combine geoscience
training with applications in areas such as law, economics,
planning, journalism, or international affairs. Other
kinds of programs could support students pursuing masters
degrees in preparation for teaching at the pre-college
level. Fellowships should be available to experienced
teachers wishing to increase their geoscience expertise.
Retooling for Education Fellowships
At the same time that geoscience Ph.D. recipients find it
harder to fill traditional academic positions , there is a
huge and growing need for educators with strong knowledge
of the geosciences, both in the K-12 teaching arena and in
the conduct of geoscience education research. GEO should
provide a path for those who want to make the transition by
providing Retooling for Education Fellowships to recent
Ph.D. and M.S. recipients. A number of these fellowships
might also be made available to more senior scientists who
wish to shift fields but need some additional resources in
order to do so.
These fellowships would provide limited support to the
recipient while she/he carries out a predetermined program
to achieve the goal, whether it be teacher certification (K-
12) or a program of geoscience education research.
Partnerships should be developed with EHR and the National
Science Teachers Association (for the K-12 component) to
ensure timely and accurate information that proposers could
use in developing their plan.
GEO Research Training Groups (RTGs)
RTGs integrate research and education in a
multidisciplinary context. GEO should consider
establishing its own RTG program or participating in a
cross-directorate effort within NSF that follows the RTG
model established by the NSF Directorate for Biological
Sciences. Awards would be made to groups formed from
multiple disciplinary organizations and would be focused on
significant multidisciplinary problems. The central
objective would be broad training of students in an
excellent research environment. RTGs could include
undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs. Award
budgets would involve a broad range of activities
supporting student participation, but the expected outcome
of the projects would be advances in significant problems
in the geosciences. An RTG program would be a logical
point of entry for GEO into efforts now underway to develop
a coherent NSF-wide strategy for promoting environment and
global change education. [Editor's Note: Starting in
FY 1998, GEO will participate in the NSF-wide Integrated
Graduate Education Research Training (IGERT) competition,
which uses the RTG model.]
Undergraduate Education
Over the last year, EHR has conducted a major review of
undergraduate education. The results of that review are
reported in Shaping the Future: New Expectations for
Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics,
Engineering, and Technology.18 There are important
recommendations within this report that will have an impact
on undergraduate education into the next century. Perhaps
the most significant recommendation is one that calls for
all undergraduate students to have the opportunity to learn
science in relevant contexts through direct inquiry. A
related recommendation calls for all students to be
empowered through the development of life-long learning
skills. A parallel study by the National Academy of
Sciences reached consonant conclusions.19 GEO can advance
the goals articulated in these reports in a number of
specific ways:
Expanded and Diversified Support for REU Sites
Fieldwork is a defining aspect of the geosciences. It
therefore needs to assume a central role in undergraduate
geoscience education. One of the best vehicles for
providing undergraduate students with field opportunities
is the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
program. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the REU program
has been notably successful in providing hands-on
experience and cooperative learning - both in the field and
also in the laboratory. It has attracted numerous young
people to the geosciences, including many from
underrepresented groups, and has also proven to be an
important cornerstone for many others who have gone into
other professional fields. Many of the skills that
students acquire through research experience are useful
during the rest of their lives, even if they do not pursue
careers as researchers. The REU program is of clear value
to the goal of producing a geoscientifically literate
populace, and it has been of value in encouraging the
integration of research and education at undergraduate
institutions.
GEO should expand and diversify its participation in
the REU program (and possibly other REU-like programs)
for a number of purposes, such as encouraging dual-
profession programs, engaging teachers, attracting
minority students, and organizing collaborations among
undergraduate institutions with complementary
expertise.
Through REU awards or similar vehicles, students may
simultaneously benefit from interactions with colleagues
and scientists at a distance through evolving technology
while "doing" science locally as individuals or in small
groups.
Educational Use of Geoscience Facilities
Some facilities supported by GEO can be used for
educational purposes more extensively than has been done in
the past.
In cooperation with other organizations, GEO should
help identify and acquire additional funding for GEO-
supported facilities that would increase the use of the
facilities available for educational purposes.
To provide additional support for facilities while
expanding their use for educational purposes would be a
"win-win" situation. Students would have the opportunity
to gain hands-on research experience, often with state-of-
the art hardware, while the facilities would obtain
additional funding to sustain educational and other
activities. Additionally, some students who use the
facilities and then assume positions in industry likely
would want to continue making use of the facility, thereby
providing an additional source of revenue through user
fees.
Educational Technology in Undergraduate Settings
Much more needs to be done to take advantage of new
technologies when presenting the geosciences to students.
In many respects, the geosciences are the most visual of
all disciplines. They also may be among the least amenable
to the traditional lecture format of teaching. The need to
display and manipulate large databases is an important
characteristic of the geosciences that should be an
integral part of undergraduate education. Some excellent
computer-based educational materials are becoming
available. NSF will do a great service to undergraduates
by continuing to develop and make use of these materials,
thereby encouraging both science and computer literacy.
GEO should explore with EHR the possibility of joint
support for state-of-the-art computer-based teaching
labs uniquely tailored to the geosciences.
Small Grants for Undergraduate Institutions
The relative lack of research facilities and opportunities
at many predominantly undergraduate institutions,
particularly the smaller state institutions that teach the
majority of college students, limits opportunities to
integrate research and education. A model for change might
be a "small grants for undergraduate institutions" program,
which would allow faculty at undergraduate institutions to
apply for modest awards that could be used to purchase
small equipment, provide student stipends, finance travel
to field or lab sites, or pay laboratory user fees.
Alternatively, such awards could facilitate collaboration
with colleagues at research universities. Such
collaborations could be an effective means for overcoming
the isolation often experienced by faculty at small
undergraduate colleges. Direct inclusion of undergraduate
students in such activities is a natural complement to
faculty efforts, but it should not be required. Such a
program might be carried out through the Research in
Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program, including the
Research Opportunities Awards (ROA) component. The
challenge for GEO would be to ensure rigorous review while
avoiding the administrative burden of numerous small
grants.
While faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions
often need special help with maintaining active research
programs, it must be recognized that some such institutions
have developed an ongoing commitment to high-quality
geoscience education, application of advances in our
understanding of how students learn, and outstanding new
approaches to educating not only geoscience majors but the
general citizenry. Faculty at research universities stand
to benefit from this expertise, and it is important that
GEO foster collaborations with undergraduate institutions
that are mutually beneficial.
Mid-Career Faculty Support
Unless teaching is elevated and rewarded at the same level
as research within the universities, education will remain
a distant priority for tenured faculty. The present NSF-
wide CAREER program, which is directed toward faculty in
the first years of their academic appointments, is intended
to address this problem. An alternative program worthy of
GEO's consideration would be directed toward tenured
faculty, many of whom have the interest and job security to
undertake innovative educational activities. Annual
"Distinguished Educator Awards in Geosciences" would convey
to geoscientists and to academic organizations the
importance of integrating of research and education at all
levels. Funds provided through such awards would also
enable enhanced efforts of experienced researcher-
educators.
Pre-College Education
The pre-college years mark the beginning -- and for many
students, the end -- of interest in science. The K-6 years
are especially important. The elementary and middle school
experience will largely determine whether a child grows up
feeling empowered to participate in an increasingly
technological environment. The primary goal of education
must be to engage students in the thoughtful and creative
exploration of science as a means of gaining knowledge,
skills, and intellectual self-confidence they will use
throughout their lives. Because it is of such fundamental
importance, the GEWG believes that GEO should make pre-
college education one of its highest priorities. The
following statement by one of the GEWG members, Bob Ryan,
expresses the collective view of the group:
There is reason for deep concern about the general
public's lack of understanding of science and the
continuing message in our elementary and secondary
schools that "science is only for the bright kids." We
are facing a watershed generation, and, yes, a social
crisis in the country, which has its roots in the
ability of today's young people to find a place in an
increasingly competitive science- and technology-based
world. It is critical that we do everything we can to
ensure that everyone has an opportunity for a
productive future. That means making sure that every
young person has an understanding of science, what it
really is, and why it is important. The "window" on
this new world is most naturally the science of the
world around us -- the geosciences. The only contact
most Americans have with science or someone who is or
tries to be a scientist is the daily TV weathercast.
Science's basic message is that one forms a conclusion
only after a careful, rigorous process that tests an
idea and that involves a search, be it by experiment or
some personal investigation, that leads to
understanding. What a wonderful message for young
people, whether they go into the sciences (in its
broadest meaning) or not. This is a message and a view
of what science really is that will serve individuals
well throughout their lives. It is a lesson that
should be very easy to teach, but that, unfortunately,
few teachers ever convey. We have an obligation to
make sure that every young person, particularly the
disadvantaged, have an understanding of what science is
and an opportunity to discover for themselves and to
see the joy of making the conclusion the last step
rather than the first step. No science offers this
opportunity of discovery like the geosciences.
There is no higher priority for geoscience education
than using this vehicle to open the world of science to
the young people of the country. We now have a
generation of adults ignorant of science and frightened
by the technological revolution taking place. In an
ever-more competitive world, we cannot afford to lose a
second generation. We must critically look at the K-6
programs (7-12 is too late), select the most
successful, find out what makes them successful (use
the scientific method if all else fails), expand on
them, get the word out, and develop more teacher
"networking" programs. Make successful investigators
actively reach out to the educational community, and
publicize what works and why. Use the network of NSF-
supported scientists to get to work at the grass-roots
level to share successful educational efforts so that
every school district knows about these programs and so
that every young person can have a chance for a bright
tomorrow by at least having been exposed to what
science really is.
In the view of the GEWG, GEO can contribute substantively
in three ways: by supporting the development of strong
education programs that will produce teachers competent in
the geosciences, by supporting outreach by geoscientists to
teachers, and by providing training in education for
geoscientists.
Geoscience Education Programs
Although the geosciences have long been a component of pre-
college curricula, they almost universally have been
overshadowed by the life and physical sciences. At the
elementary level, teachers have traditionally been trained
in the humanities, not in the sciences. Thus, the
instructional implications of the new National Science
Education Standards are enormous. A large cadre of
teachers well-trained in both geosciences content and
pedagogy will be needed. For geoscience majors, this
represents an employment opportunity; for the education
community, this is an opportunity to add teachers well-
trained in the geosciences.
At present, most undergraduates interested in careers in
both the geosciences and in teaching must choose between a
geoscience major and an education major. Further, large
introductory courses commonly represent the only training
in science offered to prospective teachers, especially
those aiming for elementary or middle school. Large
lectures model precisely the wrong approach to geoscience
education and do little to excite a student, especially one
who harbors some fear of science. In light of the new
National Science Education Standards, teachers must better
educate themselves in order to educate their students
effectively.
The program of research on education recommended in an
earlier section could respond to these problems. High-
quality interdisciplinary programs of this type could
develop new paradigms for effective geoscience education,
while engaging a cadre of students who could deliver them
to pre-college classrooms. The GEWG reiterates its view
that GEO sponsorship of such a program would pay high
dividends, both through the institutions supported and the
models they would establish for others.
Outreach to Teachers
The GEWG recommends that GEO exercise leadership, make
careful investments, and establish partnerships that
provide initial stimuli to encourage individual geoscience
researchers to reach out to K-12 teachers as part of their
research programs. Efforts would ideally involve the same
teacher(s) over a period of years, have a significant field
experience component, and be structured not only to build
the geoscience skills of teachers in a particular area but
also to provide opportunities for the teachers to translate
their experiences to activities for use in their
classrooms. The initial goal would be the establishment
and nurturing of many small efforts nationwide in which
individual researchers work with K-12 teachers. In the
long run, these "grass-roots" efforts will do much good for
K-12 education and change the "culture" of the geosciences
with regard to the relationship between university
researchers and K-12 teachers. A few of these efforts
undoubtedly would grow into larger sets of activities, many
of which would attract support from EHR and other sources.
Through these partnerships, teachers would become better
equipped to implement the National Science Education
Standards. The likely vehicle for supporting such
partnerships seems to be the "Small Grants to Facilitate
Outreach" program recommended above.
"Hands-on, minds-on" science is best at all levels. Even
as adults, we need practical experiences for conceptual
development. Internships and joint projects are imperative
for this, but they could also be further developed to
include classroom teachers. Projects such as Teachers at
Sea and Science in the Stratosphere have teachers working
with scientists. These kinds of programs provide eye-
opening experiences of how science is really being done.
Teachers reenter their classrooms with new insights and
excitement about science after participating in them.
GEO should work with EHR to expand opportunities for
teachers to participate in GEO REU Sites and to explore
other vehicles for teachers to work with geoscientists.
We also recommend that GEO explore mechanisms for
supporting, through the societies, workshops based on
current geoscience curriculum projects that could be
conducted by geoscientists in local areas or at educational
conventions such as NSTA. Through their members, consortia
such as IRIS, with appropriate training and preparation,
could conduct workshops for teachers in their local areas.
Workshops could cover important topics such as plate
tectonics, the global climate system, and ocean chemistry.
These workshops would include connections to current data,
fundamental science principles, and technology. Teachers
would also receive curriculum and support materials.
Education of Geoscientists
If geoscientists are to become meaningfully involved in
science education reform at the pre-college level -- and
also at other levels -- they must have an understanding of
the issues commensurate with their desired scope of
involvement. Geoscientists need training in pedagogical
terminology, best practices, and evaluation so that they
can better communicate with education partners. There are
organizations that can provide excellent training. A
notable example is the National Association of Geoscience
Teachers, which has been running workshops on effective and
innovative teaching for faculty and graduate students at
national scientific society meetings.
GEO should help sponsor regular workshops for training
geoscientists in educational issues that address a
range of level of scientist involvement.
Workshops to educate geoscientists about education can take
a number of different forms. For those seeking basic
guidance, one-day or half-day workshops (possibly held in
connection with scientific society meetings) may be
appropriate for conveying "how to" advice. This kind of
information also can be disseminated through publications
and/or Web sites. For those interested in more significant
levels of involvement, two- to three-day workshops targeted
at specific topics, such as teacher workshops or curriculum
development, would be of great value. Several workshops
could be held regionally each year. Finally, those seeking
in-depth involvement might participate in week-long
institutes that prepare geoscientists to play proactive
roles in systemic reform efforts involving entire school
districts or larger entities. These extended workshops
would be stand-alone meetings drawing participants from
across the country to a site where an exemplary reform
effort can be showcased.
State-Based Alliances
One possible vehicle for implementing many activities aimed
at improving pre-college geoscience education emphasizes
partnerships at the grass-roots level.
GEO should provide leadership by forming a small
consortium of key geoscience-oriented federal agencies
and professional/scientific societies to develop state-
based alliances for geoscience education.
State-based alliances could be a valuable mechanism for
implementing the National Science Education Standards 17.
Models are provided by the Network of Geographic Alliances,
sponsored by the National Geographic Society, and the
Teacher-Scientist Alliance Institute, sponsored by the
American Physics Society. In keeping with the theme of
integrating research and education, the alliances should be
anchored in academic geoscience programs at the major
research universities. They should be led by individuals
who are competent in the pedagogy of the geosciences, who
have experience in working with pre-college teachers, and
who are committed to the program over the long term.
The state-based alliance approach recognizes that K-12
education in the U.S. is inherently a state and local
function that differs considerably from state to state.
The alliance approach can be structured to address the
current lack of geoscience educators on the faculties of
colleges of education. The alliances can be provided with
block funding (perhaps on a matching basis with the state)
and be charged with developing programs that bring together
geoscience researchers, teachers, and community
organizations to implement the science education standards
in their states. The alliances could play a role in
awarding small supplements to GEO-funded researchers
desiring to work with teachers. They should involve all
individuals and groups interested in geoscience education
within the state, including instructors of the lower
division (freshman and sophomore) classes at two- and four-
year institutions.
Establishing a network of alliances would be an ambitious
undertaking, but it would not have to be done
instantaneously. Indeed, it should start small, do things
right, and grow. It would require long-term support, just
as the entire process of improving geoscience education
requires a long-term commitment.
Data Collection by Pre-College Students
One significant way in which students can learn about the
geosciences is to collect data that is used in geoscience
research. Data collected by students can contribute to the
research effort, often providing observations over a much
larger geographic area than would otherwise be feasible.20
Such programs therefore make for good science and good
education. Two examples of successful geoscience research
programs that effectively make teachers and students
members of research teams are The Princeton Earth Physics
Project and Weather Underground. Both of these programs
are supported by EHR but make use of GEO-funded facilities.
Working in cooperation with EHR, GEO should explore
ways to encourage the development of programs that
involve pre-college students in data collection. GEO
could play a particularly valuable role in facilitating
the dissemination of student-collected data via
consortia member institution networks.
Public Understanding of Science
Better understanding by the citizenry of how the Earth
works is vital to the future health of society. Without
this understanding, we will lack the political will to take
steps to counter growing environmental stresses. It is
also true that
there is a great deal of interest, even hunger, for
[geoscience] knowledge on the part of the average
person. Many regret not having had [geoscience
courses] in school.. If you ask the average 3rd grader
what (s)he is interested in the answer typically
includes dirt, rocks, volcanoes, earthquakes,
dinosaurs. People are naturally attracted to the
Earth.... Yet most of us live in urban areas
surrounded by our own edifices and out of touch with
nature. Traditionally, teachers have been ill-prepared
to teach science; what is taught is esoteric, certainly
not Earth-based, and hard to apply to daily life.
Certainly there is no overarching view of the natural
world. What is the result? Though people generally
express faith in the ability of science to solve
societal problems, ignorance of science is widespread
-- only 6% of U.S. adults are science literate.21
Most people's knowledge of science is spotty and
idiosyncratic, which probably accounts for the growing
frustration of the public with the claims of
scientists.22
Informal science education is an excellent vehicle for
conveying the sense of wonder embodied in science and for
exciting people of all ages with the prospect that they can
learn more about what they see in museums and other such
settings. Moreover, the geosciences are blessed with an
abundance of beautiful images that can stimulate the public
imagination and interest. To this end, GEO should
encourage the creation of exhibit projects that feature
geoscience themes. To do so will require several actions.
GEO will have to build a partnership with the EHR Informal
Science Education Program. GEO will also have to collect
information on development of good informal science
projects and disseminate that information to researchers
and educators.
GEO can invest seed money to allow scientists to create
pilot museum projects that could help launch larger and
more ambitious efforts. An example of this is the Electric
Space project, a 750-square foot pilot project jointly
funded by GEO and the NASA Space Physics Division. The
experience gained from that project led to a much larger
effort funded by the Informal Science Education Program. A
new 3,800-square foot exhibit about the solar-terrestrial
space environment (featuring beautiful images of the Sun
and aurora, plus many hands-on interactive displays) will
be seen by an estimated 2 million to 3 million people
during its three-year tour.
GEO should work with EHR and other organizations to
establish a program of support for development of
geoscience exhibits in museums, aquariums, science
centers, marine laboratories, and other appropriate
public settings.
Awards could take a variety of forms, including planning
grants and prototype development. Workshops could also be
sponsored to enable interested geoscientists to learn from
the experience of their peers and from those with expertise
in organizing public exhibits.
EHR's Informal Science Education Program has established a
new mechanism in which supplements to existing awards would
be made competitively to facilitate the wide dissemination
of scientific research results. It will be important for
GEO to advertise this opportunity widely in the community.
More generally, it is important that GEO engages the
professional societies in a program to take the exciting
output of geoscience research to the public by establishing
alliances with science educators and institutions such as
museums, aquariums, science centers, and the media. The
program ideally would involve communication with Parent
Teacher Associations, school boards, and other broadly
based groups to make them aware of innovative programs and
materials that are being developed.
GEO should conduct an annual competition designed to
enhance public outreach by professional societies.
Geoscientists traditionally have spent most of their time
communicating with other scientists in language that only
scientists understand. It is time for geoscientists to
communicate the significance of their work to a broader
audience. Such an effort ultimately will pay substantial
dividends in building support for their work by their
ultimate patrons -- the public.
References
1. NSF in a Changing World: The National Science
Foundation Strategic Plan, 1995.
"As part of its mission to promote the progress of
science and engineering, NSF supports individuals and
groups to undertake activities that ensure a
technologically literate populace with the
understanding and skills needed for the workforce of
the twenty-first century as well as a well-trained
cadre of scientists and engineers for the present and
future."
2. National Science Board Task Force on the Environment,
1993.
"NSF must lead in educating and training scientists,
engineers, and technicians who participate in these
complex, multidisciplinary challenges. Educational
initiatives must encompass all levels of the
educational enterprise: students from kindergarten to
graduate school, teachers in primary and secondary
schools, faculty at two and four year colleges and
universities, and the general public."
3. A Foundation for the 21st Century: A Progressive
Framework for the National Science Foundation, Report of
the National Science Board Commission on the Future of the
National Science Foundation, 1992.
"The Foundation is chartered to support improved
education in mathematics and science throughout all the
school years, from kindergarten through graduate and
post doctoral studies. The two most critical areas
needing improvement are K-12 education and
undergraduate education."
4. A Strategic Planning Document for Meeting the 21st
Century, National Science and Technology Council, Committee
on Education and Training, 1995.
5. Assessing Fundamental Science, National Science and
Technology Council, Committee on Fundamental Science, 1996.
6. Boyer, E.L. Scholarship Reconsidered. The Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1990.
"...the most important obligation now confronting the
nation's colleges and universities is to break out of
the tired old teaching versus research debate and
define, in more creative ways, what it means to be a
scholar. It's time to recognize the full range of
faculty talent and the great diversity of functions
higher education must perform."
7. Holliday, W.G., M.M. McMahon, and R.W. Ridky. Straight
Talk About Research to Geoscience Teachers. J. Geosci.
Edu. 44, 54-56, 1996.
"Emphasizing cognitive (and constructivist) research-
based approaches can help make geoscience teaching more
consistent with the spirit and character of scientific
inquiry and values. The geosciences are especially
endowed with opportunities to motivate students to
engage in high-level thinking, including problem-
solving activities, in contrast to the often-observed
tedium of non-thinking students memorizing and
regurgitating boring and useless science knowledge of
questionable utility."
8. Greene, R.G., B.J. Hardy, and S.J. Smith. Graduate
Education: Adapting to Current Realities. Issues in
Science and Technology, 59-66, Winter 1995-96.
"The system that educates doctoral scientists in the
United States faces a serious problem: There are many
more graduates than there are academic and research
jobs, and recent graduates are finding the transition
to other types of jobs extremely difficult....[T]he
problem is that there is little relationship between
the supply of doctoral scientists and the demand for
them. Doctoral supply is governed by the need for
university teaching assistants and the level of
research funding. Demand is at best loosely coupled to
the drivers of supply. The work activities of
scientists are increasingly diverse and increasingly
removed from the basic research skills that earn a
doctorate."
9. Denton, D.D. Systemic Reform in Undergraduate
Education. AWIS Magazine, 25, 31-32, 1996.
"...students intending to major in science often leave
because they believe they will get a more intrinsically
interesting education elsewhere on campus. This
represents a failure on the part of science faculty to
communicate to students the enthusiasm and excitement
of science as a way of knowing about the natural
world....[S]tudents leaving are not in general less
capable academically than their peers who stay."
10. Stout, D.L., E.W. Bierly, and J.T. Snow. Scrutiny of
Undergraduate Education: Is the Viability of the
Geosciences in Jeopardy? Chapman Conference Proceedings,
American Geophysical Union, 1994.
"Awareness that a variety of career paths in the
geosciences can help solve pressing human problems
should be gained by all undergraduates. Students
should be exposed to a variety of careers for which a
geoscience background can be valuable, including, but
not only traditional fields of geologic research (e.g.,
exploration and production of energy and mineral
resources) but also fields such as K-12 teaching, law,
land-use planning, agriculture, and environmental
protection."
11. Rutherford, F.J., and A. Ahlgren. Science For All
Americans. Oxford University Press, 1990.
"...students cannot learn to think critically, analyze
information, communicate scientific ideas, make logical
arguments, work as part of a team, and acquire other
desirable skills unless they are permitted and
encouraged to do those things over and over in many
contexts."
12. Haycock, K. Thinking Differently About School Reform.
Change, 13-18, Jan./Feb. 1996.
13. National Science Foundation. Science and Engineering
Indicators - 1996.
14. Noam, E.M. Electronics and the Dim Future of the
University. Science, 270, 247-249, 1995.
15. Foote, K.E. Promoting the Educated Use of Spatial
Data: the Internet, Worldwide Web, and NSDI. Mapping
Science Committee, Federal Geographic Data Committee,
Workshop Background and White Papers, The Future of Spatial
Data and Society [http://www2.nas.edu/besr/2226.html],
April 24-25, 1996.
16. Office of Technology Assessment. Teachers and
Technology: Making the Connection, U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1995.
"Student enthusiasm for technology is a powerful
incentive for teachers to use it. Teachers who are
technology users often report that technology can make
learning more relevant to `real' life and more engaging
and motivating to students."
17. National Research Council. National Science Education
Standards. National Academy Press, 1996.
18. National Science Foundation. Shaping the Future: New
Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science,
Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology, 1996.
19. National Research Council. Report of a Convocation:
From Analysis to Action, Undergraduate Education in
Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology.
National Academy Press, 1996.
20. Tinker, R. Keynote address at Student-Scientist
Partnerships Conference organized by TERC/Concord
Consortium, Washington, D.C., October 23-25, 1996.
"Science has a long-standing problem: there is a wide
range of important scientific projects that are simply
not even contemplated because their costs outstrip
available funding if undertaken by professional
scientists.. As a result, the data for many important
issues is surprisingly thin....Students and teachers
could be deeply involved in such projects, gathering
data, spotting trends, and even launching their own
investigations."
21. Sarewitz, D. Frontiers of Illusion: Science,
Technology, and the Politics of Progress. Temple
University Press, 1996.
22. Moores, E.M. Geology and Culture: A Call for Action.
Presidential Address, Geological Society of America Annual
Meeting, Denver, 1996.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) promotes and advances
scientific progress in the United States by competitively
awarding grants for research and education in the sciences,
mathematics, and engineering.
To get the latest information about program deadlines, to
download copies of NSF publications, or to access abstracts
of awards, visit the NSF Web site at:
http://www.nsf.gov
Location:
4201 Wilson
Boulevard
Arlington VA 22230
For general information about NSF,
contact
the NSF Information Center: 703/306-1234
TDD (for the hearing-impaired):
703/306-0090
To order publications or forms:
Send an e-mail to: pubs@nsf.gov
Or telephone: 301/947-2722
To locate NSF employees, call: 703/306-1234
NSF 97-171