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Stephen F. Greb1,
Donald R. Chesnut1
(1) Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington, KY
Abstract: K-12 Outreach at the Kentucky Geological Survey and the Web-Based Earth Science Education Network
Public outreach and technology transfer, including K-12 education outreach, are essential to the mission of the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS). Staff participate in workshops at science-teacher meetings, earth-science summer camps for middle- school children, teacher field trips sponsored by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists, tours for school groups at KGS, activities focused around Earth Science Week, classroom visits, science-fair judging, as well as 4H and scouting activities. In the past year, a KGS geologist also helped develop the State's K-12 science core content.
Much of KGS educational outreach has been achieved by expanding and updating the resources on our award-winning Web site at www.uky.edu/kgs. The Earth Science Education Network is part of this site. The network provides (1) carefully selected and annotated links for teaching K-12 standards-based concepts, designed to save teachers time in finding material for particular standards, (2) a listserv to help earth-science teachers communicate with each other and earth-science professionals, (3) classroom activities created by KGS staff and educators in Kentucky, and links to classroom activities offered elsewhere on the Internet, (4) fact sheets and interesting stories about Kentucky geology, (5) lists of earth-science volunteers and places to visit in the Kentucky, (6) a summary of the geology of Kentucky, focusing on features that are particularly well associated with Kentucky such as coal, and much more. Sections on the fossils and rocks and minerals of the state are also very popular, and are continually updated to make them more useful for identifying fossils, rocks, and minerals found by K-12 students and instructors in Kentucky.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana