EarthComm Goals and Expectations for Teachers
• Use motivational teaching methods, interactive technologies, and manipulatives to pique student interest and help all students to understand
the practical effects of Earth science and essential concepts and principles that underlie energy within the Earth system, geochemical cycles, and the origin and evolution of the Earth system.
• Facilitate students’ understanding of inquiry and ability to inquire scientifically by having students answer questions about local problems and issues, design and conduct investigations, use technology and mathematics, form scientific explanations using logic and evidence, analyze alternative explanations, and communicate and defend scientific arguments.
• Emphasize the connections and relationships between Earth science and other academic disciplines.
• Establish an expanded learning environment for students through fieldwork, technological access to data, laboratory and other classroom activities.
• Nurture communities of science learners by establishing student teams, orchestrating discourse about scientific ideas, building networks of local, regional and national information exchange, and using the services of Earth and space organizations.
• Raise students’ awareness of environmental and resource issues and problems in their communities.
EarthComm Goals and Expectations for Students
• Develop knowledge and understanding of practical and essential Earth science concepts and the principles Earth science shares with other disciplines.
• Understand basic principles of Earth system science and think from an Earth system science perspective.
• Develop an understanding of scientific inquiry and abilities needed to conduct scientific inquiry.
• Develop technology-oriented abilities for human enterprises in Earth
and space.
• Understand the nature, origin, and distribution of Earth’s energy, mineral,
and water resources; technologies used to locate, extract, and process these resources; and dependence on these resources to satisfy our wants, needs,
and expectations.
• Understand how terrestrial and extraterrestrial processes affect Earth’s materials, environments, and organisms, how scientists study these processes on Earth and from space, and how some processes benefit humans while others pose risks.
• Understand how human activities influence Earth’s spheres, processes, resources, and environments — factors that affect the size and distribution
of human population and Earth’s capacity to support life.
• Become aware of career opportunities in the Earth and space sciences, how professions and businesses benefit from technologies used by Earth and space scientists, and how these combined professions and businesses are related to regional economies. |