Experiential Discoveries in Geoscience Education: The EDGE Program in Alaska

Abstract

Alaska's students directly observe their high-latitude landscape changing in response to both active tectonics and warming temperatures. Alaska's secondary school teachers must increasingly provide Earth systems science education that integrates these personal observations with geospatial datasets and satellite images using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Alaskan job opportunities requiring Earth science and GIS training are increasing, yet less than 1% of Alaska's university students choose geoscience-related majors. The EDGE (Experiential Discoveries in Geoscience Education) program provides a year of Earth science college courses, geologic field experiences, GIS instruction, and technical support for groups of Alaskan high and middle school teachers and their students. Since 2005 EDGE has increased the Earth science content knowledge and GIS and computer skills of 34 Alaskan teachers and facilitated the transfer of their knowledge and skills into Alaska's science classrooms. More than 500 middle school students have learned GIS from EDGE teachers and 30 EDGE high school students have conducted original research utilizing GIS related to landscape change and its impacts on their own communities. Long-term EDGE goals include improving student performance on the newly implemented (2007) 10th grade standards-based science test scores, recruiting first-generation college students, and increasing the number of Earth science majors in the University of Alaska system. More information on EDGE programs is available at <www.edge.alaska.edu>.