The last two weeks have been action-packed, with ten schools from seven countries heading online to ask five fabulous geoscientists questions about anything from how the Earth works to what it’s like to be a scientist in the first ever I’m a Geoscientist, Get me out of here! competition. The aim of this thrilling fortnight was to let school kids interact with real geoscientists and challenge their ...[Read More]
outreach
GeoEd: Get ‘em when they’re young
There’s a lot of emphasis on outreach to older students, i.e. those who are contemplating further education and may well wish to pursue a career in science, but shouldn’t we also target our efforts at the younger generation? Sam Illingworth highlights the importance of outreach to primary school kids – and of catching them at an age when they’re most likely to be inspired… From my experiences work ...[Read More]
GeoEd: Demonstrating geoscience in the classroom
Geosciences Information For Teachers (GIFT) aims to get teachers engaged with real research – and real researchers – through intensive three-day workshops held at the General Assembly. The workshops not only help teachers get to grips with up-to-date science, but also put them in the centre of an energetic scientific conference, even offering teachers the chance to present posters, alongside other ...[Read More]
GeoEd: We need to talk about evaluation
Say hello to Sam Illingworth, Young Scientist Representative, Science Communication Lecturer and education enthusiast! Sam will be making regular contributions to the GeoEd series, sharing his experience of science outreach with geoscientists, educators and the public at large. In his GeoEd debut Sam reports on the importance of evaluating outreach activities, one of the key areas covered in EGU 2 ...[Read More]
GIFT at the Assembly: Our Changing Planet
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]
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]
GeoTalk: Matt Herod on awesome outreach and education
Matt Herod has long been part of the EGU Blog Network, where he writes about all things geochemistry from his base in the University of Ottawa. In this week’s GeoTalk, we had the chance to talk to Matt about all the other science communication activities he’s been up to – from mentoring kids in Canada to speaking science in schools… This year GeoSphere had its first birthday as part of the EGU Blo ...[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]
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]