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National Association of Geoscience
Teachers
Southeastern
Section Newsletter
Winter/Spring 2003 |
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Inside: The
President’s Thoughts Membership
/ Treasurer’s Report Editor’s
letter A
teacher-friendly guide to SE geology? Meeting
News Regional
News 2003 CalendarWWW . . .
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Southeastern Section
Officers
President: Michael A. Gibson Department of Geology, Geography, and Physics 215 Joseph E. Johnson EPS Building The 731.587.7435 Past-President: Department of Geology 404.299.4099 Vice-President: David C. Kopaska-Merkel Geological Survey of 205.349.2852 Secretary/Treasurer:
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The
President’s thoughts…
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This is my last column as sectional President for SE
NAGT. At the Memphis GSA meeting in
March, David Kopaska-Merkel will assume the roll of President. I would like to take the opportunity to
thank those that helped me in my tenure over the past two years. Pam Gore, who has served in several
capacities for NAGT, including President, has been a consummate
Secretary/Treasurer and has been instrumental in the health of the
section. I had an interesting conversation last weekend
(last week in January) at the annual officer’s retreat for the Tennessee
Earth Science Teachers (TEST). I
listened to Linda Jordan, the Tennessee State Science Consultant as she
explained the mindset of K-12 education, grants, teacher development, and
higher education’s role in this arena, at least for We have a great mission ahead of us…Earth
Science parity! Not just in word, but
in deed. Our colleges and universities
must provide the stimulus for this by developing standards and acknowledging
that advance (note my word here) Earth Science (perhaps better Earth Systems)
and Geology should be developed and encouraged as a college entrance lab
science. We need assessment tests to
validate them, AP programs, and most importantly we need to, at every turn,
demonstrate the utility, pervasiveness, and usefulness of our discipline. It is true that the National Standards emphasize
the parity of Earth sciences, and that many state standards have Earth
Sciences as major components….but ask yourself, or better yet, pick up the
phone and ask the education department…how many of your education majors are
going into Earth Science? Then ask
yourself two questions: why? And what can I do about that? I wish you all best educational wishes and
successful classrooms. Thanks for the
two years. |
Membership / Treasurer
Report:
SE NAGT has 166 members, and
the section
has on deposit $3579.26 as of
Submitted
by
Musings from the new newsletter editor – Stan P. Dunagan
I am pleased to say that four states are consistently
submitting “news” for the newsletter. While
I doubt the newsletter will garner a Pulitzer Prize for writing or journalism,
I hope geoscience educators and enthusiasts are able to utilize some of the
information in the newsletter, especially in the Meetings and Regional News
sections. My goal for the next newsletter is to have Regional
News for ~70 % of the states in our Southeastern Section.
In the recent Harry Potter book I just finished (no laughing
please!), Hermione had to use time-travel to keep up with her hectic schedule
of classes, which allowed her to be in two places at once. Of course, the time travel bit helped Harry, Hermione,
and Ron outwit the bad guys in the end. We
are all so busy whether we are in business, government, or the halls of a university
or a K-12 school. I could see where the
ability to be in two places at once would be useful. I could be working of the newsletter while I
prepared for my night class or as I traveled to a speaking engagement. Unfortunately, I am not a wizard.
I guess it comes down to planning, organization, and setting
priorities. Hopefully, you view SE NAGT,
its members, and this newsletter as vehicles for greater communication,
outreach, and development in geoscience education. If you do not, then speak up and tell us how
we can improve. As
Stan
ps – If anyone knows how to multitask using time-travel,
please drop me a line.
Joint Meeting of
South-Central and Southeastern GSA Meeting
OF
POSSIBLE INTEREST . . . Symposia 1. A 21st Century Look at the
Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation Theme Sessions 1. Earth Science and Earthquake
Education Resources for K-12 Science Teachers in the Central and Eastern
United States 2. Innovative Initiatives in
Geoscience Education 3. Geoscience Innovation: Fostering
the Achievement of Students with Disabilities Fieldtrips 1. Sedimentology, Stratigraphy,
Paleontology, and History of Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation of Sat. and Sun, March 15-16. Michael
A. Gibson, and Stan Dunagan, both
at University of Tennessee at Martin. Max.: 40; min.: 26. Cost: $140. 2.
Hands-on Earth Science at the K-12 Professionals may register
for $25 on-site! See you in |
GEM AND MINERAL SHOW
The Central Arkansas Gem, Mineral, and Geology Society,
member of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical Societies, and the American
Federation of Mineralogical Societies want to make its annual Show better than
ever. In 2003, the Show will be the first weekend in October with dealers and
the public coming from across the nation. Our goal is to make this a major
event in the Mid-South and help provide education. A word about those wishing to show their
items: 1. the cost per day is only $ 10.00 for the two-day event; 2. members
and the public are encouraged to display and interact with everyone (the kids
love it); 3. free parking; 4. free public admittance; 5. free door prizes; 6.
kids “dig” area; 7. this is a family-type Show with a casual atmosphere; 8. we
want newcomers as well as seasoned dealers to help make the Show a success!
Ron Wilhelm, Rock Show Coordination Committee
More Meeting News Planning ahead for the future . . .
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The
Newsletter is available online @ www.utm.edu/~sdunagan/senagt/.
See old newsletters and look up your
State Representative’s contact information online. Email
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REGIONAL NEWS |
Our chief Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore continues to defy
law, reason, and good taste with his multi-ton 10 Commandments monument in the
Supreme Court Building in
Legacy,
We came closer last year to getting some nominations for
OEST, but in the end all we received were promises. This year we are trying
even harder to get some teachers nominated, and we’ll keep you posted about any
success we might have.
The Alabama Paleontological Society (formerly
the Birmingham Paleontological Society) continues efforts to legally preserve
the Union Chapel mine trace fossil site. This site is now considered to be the
best Carboniferous trackway site in the world, and is also a stellar example of
amateur/professional cooperation in paleontology. Now, the APS is attempting to
get Congress to designate the site for protection. This would permit the
development of an on-site educational facility as well as preservation of the
site for future research. The land owner has agreed to donate the land, and
current efforts focus on convincing the state geological survey to agree to
become responsible for the site.
In the
vast majority of our state's schools, Earth Science is only being taught in Elementary
and Middle School. There are very, very few schools that offer a course in
Earth Science at the High School level. Some earth science concepts are covered
in the HS level Environmental Science course. Traditionally that course has
been taken by non-collage bound students to fulfill their science requirement
for graduation, but an A.P. level course has just been added and is becoming
more popular with collage bound students.
My gut
feeling is that a stand alone Geology or Earth Science class at the high school
level will be very uncommon for quite a while in
We have many tremendously gifted and
dedicated earth science teachers, and there will be many earth science related
presentations at the GSTA conference this February. Our new Governor and new State
School Superintendent have said they will support education and teachers, but
not too many details have been spelled out yet.
The
Here is the web site for the GA
Geologic Society: http://www.westga.edu/~ggsweb/ggs.html.
Our Annual Meeting is in October,
and always includes interesting field trips.
For more
The September
2002 issue of Geotimes detailed how Earth Science escaped near death in the
1980s in
Project
Earth Science (http://www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/proj_earth/proj_earth.html) is
designed to provide relevant and accurate earth science information for the
state's high school students and earth/environmental science teachers. Project
Earth Science consists of curriculum and professional development programs that
meet the Department of Public Instruction's competency-based curriculum
objectives. Students and teachers need
to know that: natural systems are interconnected; a large part of our state's
economy is linked to earth materials; and that sustainable development in a
healthy environment depends on a basic knowledge of the earth's processes and
resources, and Project Earth Science is forging the way in
TEST held
numerous events at the Tennessee Science Teachers Association meeting in
Nancy
Stetten, State Department of Education, was given TEST’s Ptero Award
(named after the State Fossil of Tennessee) for recognition of her contributions
to Earth science education in
TEST has
identified that the next “box” in their successful series will be a Tennessee
Fossil Box. Funding is being sought from
local societies.
Congratulations
to
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HELP (STILL) WANTED:
Teacher’s Guide to Southeastern Geology The Paleontological
Research Institution is looking for help in developing a Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Southeastern
U.S. The Guide will provide teachers with the tools
to incorporate regional and local geology into the classroom. Teaching students about the Earth and
geologic processes can often be difficult without concrete examples from the
real world, and standard textbooks make few references to regional geology
because of their nationwide audience.
Examples of regional and local geology in the classroom not only
energize students, but also facilitate observation-driven, inquiry-based
teaching. The Southeast Guide will be based on the successful Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology
of the Interested in providing feedback, formative reviews, or
content resources? We welcome the knowledge and experience of other
educators! Please contact:
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Your SE NAGT State Representatives
Douglas W. Haywick LSCB 136 dhaywick@jaguar1.usouthal.edu 334.460.6381 David
Kopaska-Merkel Geological Survey of davidkm@gsa.state.al.us 205.349.2852 |
Gail S. Russell Department of Geology, Gail.Russell@usm.edu 601.266.4077
NC Geological Survey Division of Land Resources,
1612MSC Mary.Watson@ncmail.net 919.733.2423 |
Earth Sciences Okaloosa-Walton
Jr. College bryanj@owcc.net 850.729.5246 |
Department of Geological
Sciences jrwgnr@clemson.edu 864.656.5024 |
Department
of Geology pgore@gpc.peachnet.edu 404.299.4099 Nancy Huebner n.huebner@fernbank.edu 404.370.8080
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Stan P.
Dunagan Dept.
of Geology, Geography, and Physics 215
Joseph E. Johnson EPS Bldg. The 731.587.7959 Michael
A. Gibson Dept.
of Geology, Geography, and Physics 215
Joseph E. Johnson EPS Bldg. The mgibson@utm.edu 731.587.7435 |
504.488.5268 andrealwalker@hotmail.com |
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NAGT |
For $35
a year, you get: ·
5 issues of the Journal of Geoscience Education. ·
membership in the National Association of
Geoscience Teachers at both the national and sectional levels ·
discounts on registrations for national and
sectional meetings of the Geological Society of America. |
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