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Global Geoscience Education

• A selected look at the global status of
  geoscience education
• Glenn Vallender
• Teacher of biology and science at Ashburton
  College.
• Doctoral student at Curtin Universitys
• Science and Maths Education Centre, Perth, WA
• Contact ge.vallender _at_ xtra.co.nz

25 June 2004
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WHAT ABOUT IGEO?

• Promoting Geoscience Education Worldwide
• Started in 1993, IGEO is now affiliated to the
  IUGS.
• There is no membership fee for IGEO. Do you want
  to join?
• Conferences have been in
• Southampton 1993 Hilo 1997
• Sydney 2000 Calgary 2003
• Bayreuth 2006
• There are conference proceedings available for
  each of the four conferences. Does your library
  have copies?
• IGEO has a new website hosted by Keele
  University, UK.
• http//www.esci.keele.ac.uk/igeo/links.htm

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INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION ORGANISATION
Survey 2002Does your country have a defined
National Earth Science educational standard?
Country Yes No Response Summary
Argentina Y No details provided
Australia Y No details provided
Bangladesh Y No specific ES curricula but mostly part of geography
Brazil N No specific ES curricula but part of natural sciences and geography
Canada N Education is a provincial responsibility
Indonesia N Has national standards in geographical science
Israel Y But not phrased in a standards form. Specific to El. Jr.High High school
Korea Y For all elementary and secondary schools
Mozambique N ES syllabus not included in curricula at any level. Geography dominates.
New Zealand Y As part of the national science curriculum years 1-13
Norway Y For grades 1, 5 and 8
Philippines Y As part of the Science learning Competencies
South Africa N 1996 revisions never implemented. 2000 revisions placed ES in geography
Taiwan (ROC) Y Specifically ES standards for grades 9 and 10.
UK/Wales Y Limited 7 ES 11-16 year olds. Phys geography a key element
USA Y Nat Sci Standards adopted in 1996 but not compulsory
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What barriers are there in Establishing Earth
Science Standards?
Country Response Summary
Argentina Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Lack of resources. Insufficient time.
Australia Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Little money for upgrading qualifications.
Bangladesh Lack of money. Lack of trained and qualified teachers.
Brazil Low status and lack of Earth Science in curricula. Poor standard of students entering Univ.
Canada Lack of training. Little institutional support in junior and secondary schools.
Indonesia Overcrowded curricula. Lack of trained teachers. Lack of money. Lack of resources.
Israel Reluctance of teachers to make changes.
Japan Lack of money. Lack of resources. Systemic changes needed. ES now elective and integrated.
Korea Fear that the number of students (schools) offering ES will decrease.
Mozambique Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Out of date syllabus. Lack of money and resources
New Zealand Lack of trained and qualified teachers, resources. Low historical status of ES in curriculum.
Norway Lack of qualified teachers.
Philippines Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Out of date resources.
South Africa Lack of trained and qualifed teachers, resources and money.
UK/Wales Lack of trained and qualified teachers. Poor resources. Negative teacher attitudes.
USA No response
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What changes do you expect to see in the next
three years Selected Responses
Country Response Summary
Argentina Finance minister will change twice but with less money each time
Australia None
Bangladesh Convince Ed ministry to introduce ES curricula into pre-college and college
Brazil Review of ES in the curricula
Canada Increased awareness in the profession that we are facing a crisis
Israel Gain more ES teachers
Korea As ES subjects become elective, enrolments in ES will decline (same for Japan)
South Africa ES is now in the geography area where 1 in 10 teachers have no science background
UK/Wales Improvements in teacher education, textbooks, syllabi and assessment
New Zealand What do you think and why?
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What Are The Main Conclusions?

• More data is needed from Africa, Central Europe
  and West Asian countries. But this is difficult
  to obtain.
• About 70 of countries have a national Earth
  Science standard
• Historical influence of geography and low status
  given to the Earth Sciences within most national
  (and state) curricula.
• Lack of awareness of the importance of the Earth
  Sciences.
• Lack of ES trained and qualified teachers.
• Lack of teaching resources, funding and inservice
  training.
• Teaching needs to be innovative, enthusiastic,
  motivational and pedagogically sound.

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A Perspective View USA vs NZwww.
agiweb.org/education/statesurveys www.
minedu.govt.nz/statistics
USA (2000) NZ (2003)
K-12 enrolment 46.9 million 761,755 (K-13)
Y9 -12 enrolment 13.1 million 260,000? (y10-13)
K-12 Teachers 2.9 million 46,000(14,000 at HS)
Average size HS 752 38 state sec gt1000
No. HS graduates 2.5 million 26,636
HS ESci Teachers 13 7 (Lee Vallender)
HS Bio Teachers 48 50?
In a recent survey of Ontario, there are 80,000
students at year 13 but only 1674 or 2 study
Earth and Space Science (CGN).
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UK Case Study (King, 2003) Proportion of UK
National Science Curriculum Statements Devoted to
Each Subject Area
Key stage 3 (age 11-14)
Key stage 4 (age 15-17)
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UK Teacher Attitudes to Teaching ES (after Lydon
King, 2003)
52 lack confidence and nearly 60 said they did
not enjoy teaching ES
Likert Scale 5 is high N 202 teachers
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Some NZ Teacher Attitudes to Teaching ES
Response Rate y9 n 47 y10 n 60 y11 n
61 y12 n 16 y13 n 15 Note Year 11
is NCEA level 1 (age 15)
Attitude Scale (5 is high) 1 hate it 2
disinterested 3 interested 4
enthusiastic 5 Very enthusiastic Vallender,
(1997) Royal Society Report
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Average number of hours teaching Earth Science in
the UK (Lydon and King, 2003)
Overall avg 5.1 2 weeks?
Note UK year 10 NZ year 11
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ES Teaching Time for Some NZ schools
N 18 schools (Vallender, 1997)
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Earth Science in Japan another case study(Goto
and Shimono (2003), in Geoscied IV proceedings)

• A New course of study for ES introduced in 2002.
• Schools offer ES as an elective.
• Decrease in Science hours means less ES.
• Low numbers (about 10) study ES because of lack
  of trained and qualified ES teachers and low
  status of ES within the curriculum.
• ES has compulsory fieldwork and this is a barrier
  for many teachers.
• Earth Systems Education (ESE) is now offered as
  an integrated science programme, but uptake is
  slow.
• Key for ES education is effective, relevant and
  prescribed teacher training programmes.

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A DEPOSITIONAL CHALLENGE

• You get one shot at this challenge
• Draw a plan view of the set up and sketch the
  pattern of the sand you would expect to see after
  the water has been stirred and circulated.
• Explain and discuss your pattern.

Assessment Non achieve no picture Achieve
A correct picture drawn Merit Correct picture
plus explanation Excellence Correct picture
plus a discussion and evaluation of given
picture
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A Bit About Conceptual Change

• Conceptual change is about how people learn and
  change the way they perceive the world. It is an
  underpinning paradigm in educational research.
• The seminal work of Posner et al in 1982 (and
  argued about ever since), identified four key
  factors in the process of shifting conceptions
  and these can be applied to the way we think
  about curriculum issues, assessment issues and
  management issues. These four factors are
• Dissatisfaction with existing conceptions
• New conception must make some sense (be
  intelligible)
• New conception must seem like it could be true
  (be plausible)
• New conception must have a future (be fruitful)
• Is Earth Science as a subject at a conceptual
  change point?

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Questions That This Forum Might Like To Consider

1. How should Earth Science as a subject be defined?
2. What are the core contents and contexts of ES?
3. How important is ES to science literacy?
4. How important is ES to a national curriculum?
5. What are the resources needed to teach ES
   effectively?
6. What are the relationships of ES to geography,
   environmentalism, Sc.,Tech and Soc, Phys, Chem
   Biol?
7. How can subject associations and the Geoscience
   community develop and promote ES in schools?
8. What is a sustainable, and realistic future for
   ES within a standards based curriculum framework?

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Some Useful Websites
The IGEO website (still under
construction) http//www.esci.keele.ac.uk/igeo/lin
ks.htm Earth Science Education unit (ESEU)
for teachers at Keele Univ. UK
http//www.earthscienceeducation.com/ The
Earth Science Teachers Association in
UK http//www.esta-uk.org/ The American
National Association of Geology Teachers
http//www.nagt.org/jge.html The current
journal of the American Geological
Institute http//www.geotimes.org/current/
The Joint Earth Science Education
Initiative http//www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnne
t/jesei/index2.htm