For more than a decade, I have spent a large part of my time not only doing research in planetary science, but also visiting schools, science festivals, public events, and talking to children, teachers, and everyone interested in geosciences. During these outreach activities I repeatedly encountered the same problem. People were genuinely curious about volcanoes, earthquakes, plate tectonics, or t ...[Read More]
Friedrich Barnikel reflects on the final Geoscience Information For Teachers workshop in Cape Town
The final edition of the capacity building Geoscience Information For Teachers (GIFT) workshop was held this year in Cape Town, South Africa. This three-year programme, an initiative by the EGU Education Committee, brought together local teachers and scientists to build a sustainable, long-term workshop series and network for teacher training in geoscience education. The 2024 theme was “Exploring ...[Read More]
A Pedagogical Dance: EGU’s Teacher-Scientist Pairing Scheme
An email from Giuliana Panieri, a geology professor at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT) in Tromsø, cracked my pandemic bubble late last year. She invited me to join an unconventional expedition (AKMA OceanSenses) to the Arctic Ocean, where scientists worked hand-in-hand with other societal actors, to integrate different kinds of knowledge and create tools that help open up people’s minds to a ...[Read More]
What is GIFT? The Education Committee’s Jean-Luc Berenguer & Phil Smith explain
EGU’s annual Geoscience Information For Teachers (GIFT) workshop will take place between 4 – 8 April 2022, with the theme of “How the planet shapes history – Geosciences, human society and civilizations”. To find out more about what GIFT is and get a taster for the workshop’s content EGU’s Programme Coordinator, Simon Clark, talked with two of the organisers: th ...[Read More]