New education coalition formed

Abstract

The Coalition for Earth Science Education (CESE) was recently formed to promote Earth science education at all levels. Earth science is a diverse group of sciences and as a result, professional and academic organizations from the various areas, though united in their goal to stimulate student enthusiasm for the Earth sciences, have not had an effective way of reaching students or their precollege teachers. Over the past year, meetings sponsored by the National Academy of Science's Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the National Science Foundation have paved the way for this coalition. Victor Mayer, Director of the Program for Leadership in Earth Systems Science (PLESE) project at the University of Ohio, has been the leader in initiating and promoting this effort for the last several years.The purpose of CESE is to promote communication among the member organizations and to coordinate projects in Earth science education. Individual organizations will continue to develop and run projects, but will be able to find out what types of projects others are working on or have completed through a coalition clearinghouse. The clearinghouse should aid organizations as they design projects and should afford opportunities for collaborative efforts. This will directly benefit teachers, who will be able to contact one source for information on the multitude of projects in the Earth and space sciences. The new coalition's steering committee is working on goals and guidelines, and will give a report at the next coalition meeting at the National Science Teachers Association annual convention in Boston.