The EGU’s Geosciences Information for Teachers (GIFT) programme offers teachers attending the conference the opportunity to hone their Earth science skills. The General Assembly workshop is one of GIFT’s most important activities of the year, combining talks on current research with hands-on activities presented by educators. What’s more, scientists can also come to the sessions – here ...[Read More]
GeoEd: I’m a geoscientist, get me back in there!
There are a lot of ways to learn new things, but little beats putting your questions to the expert and finding out the latest science, straight from the source, which is why we’re running an event to do just that – I’m a Geoscientist, Get me out of here! James Hickey, a volcanologist from the University of Bristol, tells us why he put himself in the firing line and entered a similar competition (I ...[Read More]
GeoEd: An African GIFT Experience
This year the EGU embarked on a new journey into Africa to deliver its renowned Geosciences Information for Teachers (GIFT) programme to teachers in South Africa and neighbouring countries in collaboration with UNESCO and the European Space Agency (ESA). The topic: Climate Change and Human Adaptation. Jane Robb reports on the week’s events… Set in ‘the windy city’ of Port Elizabeth (or ...[Read More]
GeoEd: Why fieldwork is essential to training the next generation of Geoscientists
Our latest GeoEd article is brought to you by Simon Jung, a lecturer and palaeoceanographer from the University of Edinburgh, who highlights what makes fieldwork a brilliant way to understand Earth processes… Studying geosciences involves training across a broad range of natural sciences. Only equipped with such background knowledge will students be able to grasp key concepts in the various ...[Read More]
Scientists are humans
The title of this article may come as a bit of a shock, but it’s true. Scientists aren’t born scientists; they start off just like any other person and one day decide that the natural world is fascinating enough to them that they want to make a career out of figuring out its secrets. But, sometimes it is hard as an ‘outsider’ to see into science, especially academia. Sometimes it can seem like sci ...[Read More]
I’m a Geoscientist – Get me out of here! Apply to take part in our 2014 launch event!
Imagine a talent show where contestants get voted off dependant on their skills in their area of choice. Then imagine that this talent show is populated by scientists with school students voting them off based on the scientist’s ability to communicate their research well. This is the basis of the EGU’s new educational (for both students and scientists!) initiative to launch in June 2014. The EGU h ...[Read More]
Enhancing Earth science education in Africa
In 2008 UNESCO launched the Earth Science Education Initiative in Africa in response to a call from African governments to aid them in closing the ever widening gap between their need to further exploit the continent’s natural resources and their skills and research facilities. Reacting to this call, UNESCO first set up a series of scoping workshops across the continent to understand African capac ...[Read More]
I’m a Geoscientist – Get me out of here! Apply to take part in our 2014 launch event!
Imagine a talent show where contestants get voted off dependant on their skills in their area of choice. Then imagine that this talent show is populated by scientists with school students voting them off based on the scientist’s ability to communicate their research well. This is the basis of the EGU’s new educational initiative to launch in June 2014. The EGU have entered into a collaboration wit ...[Read More]
GeoEd: Teaching geoscience creatively
Why should teaching geoscience students about societal or economic issues such as population, poverty and health be important? It’s not just because it is relevant contextual knowledge for the modern day geoscientist, but it is also essential for helping give students in primary, secondary or undergraduate education the ‘real life’ application and context they need to understand and enjoy a subjec ...[Read More]
Sending GIFT to Africa: A new collaboration between the EGU, UNESCO and ESA
For the past ten years, the EGU’s Geosciences Information for Teachers (GIFT) workshops – spreading first hand scientific research to teachers of primary and secondary schools – have been hugely successful in shortening the time that research takes to disseminate from scientist to textbook to teacher and offering usable practical activities for the classroom. GIFT workshops are usually held at the ...[Read More]