“Location, Location, Location”: Challenges of Effective Geoscience Education Within Geotourism Opportunities at Coastal US Fossil Park Sites

Abstract

In the United States, a unique geotourism venue exists with fossil parks. These sites provide informal geoscience education for the visitor while also permitting the sustainable collection and retention of a small number of personal fossils. US fossil parks bridge the protected and well-interpreted US National Park Service sites (where no fossil or rock collecting is allowed, but visitor education is developed through signage and visitors’ centers) and public fossiliferous outcrops that local collectors may visit and find fossils to keep, but which do not offer any educational instruction for the uninformed or casual visitor. Because fossils illustrate geologic time, evolution and extinction, and Earth’s changes in biodiversity, sea level, and climate, they can be used to improve visitors’ geoliteracy by addressing several big ideas of the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI in Earth science literacy principles: The big ideas and supporting concepts of Earth science. National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., 2010) that all people should understand in order to live harmoniously on our planet. Many variables contribute to visitors’ enjoyment and improved geoliteracy at fossil parks, including the authenticity of collecting experiences, geological age of the strata, training opportunities for visitors with regards to fossil retrieval, availability of paleontology mentors, ease of fossil identification by visitors, the organization of the site, and site accessibility, including visitor safety and handicapped visitor access (Clary and Wandersee in Qualitative Inquiry in geoscience education research, GSA special papers, vol 474. Geological Society of America, Denver, CO, USA, pp. 113–134, 2011; Lessons from US fossil parks for effective informal science education. Geoheritage 6(4):241–256, 2014). Underdeveloped fossil park sites can be optimized through the fossil park model and targeting the Earth Science Literacy Initiative’s 9 big ideas (Clary in Handbook of geotourism. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 244–253, 2018) However, this process is more challenging when the park contains marine fossils and is located near a coastal area. Three US Miocene-age coastal sites were researched in 2016: Calvert Cliffs State Park, Maryland, Purse State Park, Maryland, and Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. At each of the parks, extensive observations were recorded, fossils were collected, onsite signage and website information were coded and analyzed, and the park was scored with the fossil park model. All three sites faced challenges for promoting visitor geoliteracy. Visitors struggled to understand (1) fossils were millions of years old, (2) many fossils represented extinct organisms; and (3) sea level had been higher in the past leading to the deposition of the fossiliferous layers. Even with additional interpretive challenges, the parks can extend visitor geoliteracy for optimized geotourism opportunities.