Vincent C. H. Tong – författare

From energy and water resources to natural disasters, and from changing climatic patterns to the evolution of the Earth’s deep interior, geoscience research affects people’s lives in many ways and on many levels. This book offers a stimulating cross-disciplinary perspective on the important relationship between geoscience research and outreach activities for schools and for the general public. The contributors – academics, research scientists, science educators and outreach program educators – describe and evaluate outreach programs from around the world. A section entitled Field-based Approaches includes a chapter describing an initiative to engage Alaskan communities and students in research, and another on problem-based learning in the field setting. The Online Approaches section discusses ways to connect students and scientists using online forums; use of the web and social media, including the United Nations University and its experience with the design of a web magazine featuring geoscience research; and video clips on marine geoscience created by students and scientists. The section on Workshop and Laboratory-based Approaches includes a chapter on teaching geochronology to high school students, and another describing an extracurricular school activity program on meteorology. The Program Design section presents chapters on Integrating Geoscience Research in Primary and Secondary Education, on ways to bridge research with science education at the high school level, and on use of online geoscience data from the Great Lakes. The concluding section, Promoting Research-enhanced Outreach, offers chapters on Geoscience Outreach Education with the local community by a leading research-intensive university, and on the use of research to promote action in Earth science professional development for schoolteachers.Geoscience Research and Outreach: Schools and Public Engagement will benefit geoscience researchers who wish to promote their work beyond academia. It offers guidance to those seeking research funding from agencies, which increasingly request detailed plans for outreach activities in research proposals. Policymakers, educators and scientists working in museums, learned societies and public organizations who wish to widen participation will also find this book useful. 

Together with the companion volume Geoscience Research and Education: Teaching at Universities, this book showcases the key role that geoscience research plays in a wide spectrum of educational settings.

Focusing on geoscience, this book applies a uniquely cross-disciplinary perspective to its examination of the relationship between scientific research and teaching at universities. Contributions show how the use of technology and innovative pedagogical design allows students at different stages of their university studies to develop skills and experience in geoscience research. The book offers wide-ranging insight from academics in geoscience, science education and higher education policy and pedagogy, as well as from students and industry experts.

The opening section sets the context, with a chapter on teaching and research in the contemporary university by a world-leading academic in higher education, and an essay by the editor on the case of moving from research-implicit to research-enhanced teaching. Part Two addresses the research-teaching nexus in geoscience, offering chapters entitled The Challenge of Combining Research and Teaching: A Young Geoscientist’s Perspective; Teaching on the High Seas: How Field Research Enhances Teaching at All Levels; Curricula and Departmental Strategies to Link Teaching and Geoscience Research; and Geoscience Internships in the Oil and Gas Industry, among others. In Part Three, the use of technology is discussed in chapters such as Using Interactive Virtual Field Guides and Linked Data in Geoscience Teaching and Learning; and Towards Technology- and Research-enhanced Education (TREE): Electronic Feedback as a Teaching Tool in Geoscience.  The Program Design section includes chapters on Introducing University Students to Authentic, Hands-on Undergraduate Geoscience Research, and the opportunity to link research and teaching in students’ final projects and more.

Geoscience Research and Education: Teaching at Universities is a useful resource for understanding the research-teaching nexus and how it has been implemented in different types of universities and in different countries. Science academics seeking to integrate research into teaching will find the book highly relevant to their work. The emphasis on using technology as a means to link research and teaching will be of great interest and practical benefit to learning technologists, science educators and university policymakers. 

Together with the companion volume Geoscience Research and Outreach: Schools and Public Engagement, this book showcases the key role that geoscience research plays in a wide spectrum of educational settings.