Greetings Division members! We (meaning I) have been remiss in getting a current newsletter out to you. Thus below is our June-July 2011 newsletter for your enjoyment. It includes a call for nominations for the position of GED Second Vice-Chair. Elections for this position will take place soon, so be sure to nominate a colleague (or yourself) by July 18. See details below.

If you have items you would like included in the next newsletter, please send them to me at mhafen@usf.edu.

Mark Hafen
University of South Florida

Call for Nominations: A Chance to Server Your GED

Seeking nominations for 2011-2012 2nd Vice Chair, Geoscience Education Division, Geological Society of America

The Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America is seeking candidates for the position of second vice-chair to join the executive board. The job of second vice-chair entails executive board planning work, as well as supervising the Biggs Award and other Division award processes. The second vice-chair moves up each succeeding year to first vice-chair, chair, and past chair, so the position is a four-year commitment. Attendance at the GSA Annual Meeting is strongly recommended during all four years of service. It's a great way to get to know your colleagues in the geoscience education community, and to learn more about how GSA works.

If you are interested in running for this position, or if you would like to nominate someone else, please respond to Eric Pyle at pyleej@jmu.edu by July 18th, 2011. We will request a brief bio and statement for the ballot. Elections will be held in August, with the new member officially joining the board at the 2011 GSA meeting.

Biographical sketch and statement:

Required information:

• Name: Last, First MI.
• Specialties: A, b, c.
• Education (ascending): Degree(s) & specialty (especially if not Geology - do not include years of degrees), Inst (abbreviate wherever meaning is clear); next degree, next Inst; etc.
• Professional Experience (chronologically ascending): Institution, position & years; next set; etc.
• Concurrent Positions (include if significant & relevant; chrono ascending w/ order as for Prof Exp)
• Professional Affiliations: GSA since yr, iff Fellow yr; other org's by acronym or by abbrev if less known, don't include years for those
• GSA Service: (chrono ascending)
• Additional Service: if significant & relevant (chrono ascending)
• Honors/Awards: recent & relevant (chrono ascending); give especially if they are GSA awards
• Research Interests: brief list
• Address (short form); e-mail (these 2 items will not appear on final ballot bio)
• Statement of Interest: Candidates may provide a BRIEF (up to 100 words) statement on why they are interested in serving in the position - since this directly follows their biographic information, it doesn't need to restate a candidate's experience but is an opportunity for the candidate to explain how they would represent their group, what their own issues of special interest are & how those fit with the group's interests, and/or what motivates them to run for this office.

Example of a "brief bio" used for balloting:

Tonndrah, Rock E. Geomorphology; geomathematical analysis. Educ: BS Civil Engineering, MS Geology, North Shore Univ; PhD Geology, Farther North Univ. Prof Exp: GeoSteppe, Juneau, Staff Geologist 88-92; Cold Clime Univ, Dept Geosciences Asst Prof 92-96, Assoc Prof 96-01, Prof 01-present, Director Frozen Debris Research Ctr 99-present. Concurrent Pos: Glacial Rubble Inst, Res Scientist 90-92. Prof Affil: GSA since 85, Fellow 01; AGU, IAG, NW Glac Soc. GSA Service: Hummock Award Chair 90-91; Mathematical Geology Div Chair 99-00; JTPC 00-present. Addtnl Service: Journal of Frozen Ground, Assoc Ed 94-97; NWGS Task Force, Chair 98-99. Honors/Awards: GSA Math Geol Div Achvt Award 02. Rsrch Int: Patterned ground fractals, cryogenic alteration of moraine margins. Address: Cold Clime Univ, Dept Geosciences, Norway, AK 99000; e-mail: tonndrah@ccu.edu. Statement of Interest: (optional.)

Eric J. Pyle, Past Chair-Geoscience Education Division
James Madison University

Double Down to Support the Geoscience Education Fund

The purpose of the Geoscience Education Fund is to support geoscience education awards, grants, scholarships, and
other activities as determined by the GED management board. The management board plans is currently discussing
the creation of a new geoscience education research grant drawn from the Geoscience Education Fund.

Donations can be made by going to http://www.gsafweb.org/makeadonation.html  and selecting "Geoscience Education
Fund." GED members may also "double their dues" (normally $5) by clicking on the above link or when renewing
membership at the end of the year. These donations will contribute to an important and worthwhile endeavor to
promote educational research and professional development in the geoscience.

Thank you for your support!

Paul Baldauf, Chair-Geoscience Education Division
Nova Southeastern University
Chris Atchison, Secretary/Treasurer- Geoscience Education
Division
Georgia State University

Craters of the Moon Geology Seminar

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is again offering a two-day seminar on the Geology of the Park and region on July 16th and 17th. Seminar will be held in the park and half or more of the time will be spent in the field studying features firsthand. Class is taught by the Park Geologist, who is also the Education Specialist for the park. One hour of undergraduate credit or graduate credit is available to teachers through the College of Southern Idaho, Boise State, or McCall Outdoor Science School. Call Doug Owen (208) 527-1331 to sign up or for further questions.


Douglass E. Owen
Park Geologist and Education Specialist
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
P.O. Box 29, Arco, ID 83213

A Prehistoric Journey gets a new beginning

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science unveiled a new entrance to its permanent exhibit gallery, Prehistoric Journey, in May. The exhibition opened in 1995 as a state-of-the-art approach to teaching the history of life on Earth in museums. Prehistoric Journey takes visitors on an expedition from ancient Ediacaran seas to the Ice Age. With the renovated entryway, each visitor’s journey begins even earlier — with the very early Earth, 4.54 billion years ago.

The new entryway was designed to welcome visitors to Prehistoric Journey and provide them with an overview of the exhibition’s content as they begin their travel through time, featuring a large map of the exhibition. The new entryway also features touchable specimens and a short video animation that shares the story of Earth’s first four billion years, dramatically illustrating that Earth was once very different from the planet we know today. The touchable specimens are real fossils and rocks representing important moments in Earth’s history. The specimens include a large banded ironstone, a stromatolite, a chunk of Paleozoic seafloor covered in brachiopods, a dinosaur footprint, and a fossil mammal skull.

The video is perhaps the most captivating component of the new entrance. In just 90 seconds visitors witness the first four billion years of Earth as never seen before. This animation shows key events such as the collision that formed the moon, the late heavy bombardment, global glaciations, and the assembly and breakup of supercontinents Nuna and Rodinia. This dramatic video combines cutting-edge realistic animation with new unpublished data from scientists all over the world.

We invite everyone to stop by and check out the new entryway the next time you are in Denver. If you are interested in learning more about the exhibition or using the new video for educational purposes, please contact Samantha Sands at Samantha.sands@dmns.org

Samantha Richards, Educator/Coordinator for Earth Gallery Programs
Whitey Hagadorn, Tim and Kathryn Ryan Curator of Geology
Frances Kruger, Senior Exhibit Developer/Interpretive Writer
Lindsey Pierce, Coordinator of Volunteers for Earth Sciences
Tommy Kilpatrick, Senior Systems Support Specialist

17th Falls Fossil Festival

The Falls of the Ohio State Park's 17th "Falls Fossil Festival" will be held September 17 (9 a.m. - 6 p.m.) and 19 (10 a.m. - 5 p.m.). This event, sponsored by the Falls of the Ohio Foundation, will feature:

• Daily non-technical programs and workshops for hobbyists, educators and the curious on fossils, minerals, and collecting. (Keynoter this year: Dr. William Andrews – The Birth of the Ohio River.)
• Vendors selling fossils, minerals, educational material, crafts and food.
• Children's Activity Area with a variety of craft-making activities scheduled.
• Resource Tent where you can get fossils and rocks identified by members of the Indiana Society for Paleontology, the Kentucky Paleontological Society and others. Learn about other geological sites with material from many other fossil parks in North America, as well as information and free literature from the Indiana and Kentucky Geological Surveys. This year two universities will have information about degrees in geosciences.
• Fossil and mineral identification (Bring in your mystery rocks!)
• Hikes on the fossil beds, including extended hikes on the outer fossil beds
• Collecting Silurian and Devonian fossils from special rock piles donated by local quarries and mineral piles from the dumps of Cave in Rock fluorite mines

Proceeds benefit the educational programs at the Falls of the Ohio State Park which reach more than eleven thousand K-16 students each year!

A web site with a detailed schedule for the Festival is posted on our web site at: http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/special_events.html
For more information contact Alan Goldstein at 812-280-9970 ext. 403 or park@fallsoftheohio.org .

Alan Goldstein, Certified Interpretive Planner
Interpretive Naturalist
Falls of the Ohio State Park

GSA Position Statement Draft
THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING EARTH SCIENCE

I would like to call your attention to the June Issue of GSA Today. I wanted to draw your attention to page 46 of the PDF, in particular. I wonder if you wouldn't mind sharing this more broadly with other GSA members that are involved in K-12 through undergraduate teacher candidate training. (Note: to view this on-line, go to ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/GSAToday/gt1106.pdf , and scroll to page 46).

Page 46 is the "draft" of a heavily revised GSA position statement regarding "The Teaching of Earth Science." It is now being released for general GSA membership comment for the next ~4-6 weeks-online deadline is 15 July (there is a comment link on the Society's website at www.geosociety.org along the left-ish side of the new format, under the heading GSA Panel Seeks Input). I was a GSA Geology and Public Policy liaison (and thus, panelist) helping facilitate the Panel (which was productively chaired by Aida Awad). Several others worked diligently on crafting this position statement.

I think that the more education-minded folks that offer endorsement or constructive criticism during the call for comment (noting that the requirement being that a person is also GSA members since this is a Society position statement), the better the statement will be in its final form.

Wendi J. W. Williams
University of Arkansas - Fayetteville

Wagner Receives Catalyst Award
Emeritus Professor of Geology John R. Wagner received the South Carolina Science Council’s highest award for a science educator on November 5, 2010 at the Council’s annual convention held at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The ‘Catalyst Award for Educational Excellence’ is presented each year to a science educator who has made a significant difference in the way science is taught in the state of South Carolina. Wagner was honored for his work in several K-12 curriculum development projects for the earth and environmental sciences, in particular the SC MAPS and SE MAPS programs; and for his many years of providing exemplary professional development opportunities for teachers through graduate courses, workshops, and field experiences. The South Carolina Science Council is a chapter of the National Science Teachers Association and boasts over 2,000 members from South Carolina’s K-12 and higher-education science teaching community. Wagner is a past-president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and a member of the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America.

The photo above shows Wagner receiving the award from South Carolina Science Council President Donald Poland. Congratulations John!

John R. Wagner - Emeritus Professor of Geology
Clemson University

Special Calls for Abstracts for GSA Minneapolis

As you begin planning for the GSA annual meeting this fall in Minneapolis, we ask you to consider submitting an abstract to the following topical session:

T208. Developing Resource Policies Informed by Geoscience: Applications from the Classroom to the Capitol
Conveners: Mike Phillips and David Szymanski. Sponsors: GSA Geology and Society Division; GSA Geology and Public Policy Committee; National Association of Geoscience Teachers; GSA Geophysics Division; GSA Geoscience Education Division.

As we enter the Anthropocene, we face the depletion of many important resources. This session will explore ways to ensure the geologic perspective on resource use and depletion is included in coursework and in policy making.

The increase in societal demand for water, energy, and mineral resource coincides with a decline in the availability of many of those resources and concern for the impact inherent in resource exploitation. Geoscientists must be proactive and provide objective information based on the best available data to ensure its inclusion when plans for exploration and development of resources are made. How do these efforts begin in the classroom? How do they extend to the political realm, where today’s decisions will have consequences that reach far into the future? We welcome your perspectives on developing well-informed resource policy, from either of these venues and anywhere between.

You can submit your abstract online at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2011AM/cfp.epl . The deadline for submissions is July 26, 2011.

Please contact Mike Phillips (Mike_Phillips@ivcc.edu) or David Szymanski (dszymanski@bentley.edu) with questions.

Mike Phillips
Illinois Valley Community College

Enjoying the view? Most of us entered the geosciences in part because of a strong personal connection to the land, with particular places special to each of us playing a key role in our personal and professional development. Learning to read, and ultimately becoming part of, the stories of the places special to us can be a powerful motivator for teaching, learning, research and service for students. If you use this approach in your academic work, please consider submitting an abstract to one of the place-based sessions at this Fall’s GSA meeting.

T158: Sense of Place, Geoparks and National Parks: Strategies for Improved Earth Science Education, and

T159: Sense of Place, Geoparks and National Parks: Strategies for Improved Geoscience Education (Posters)
These sessions investigate how sense of place affects our capacity to learn, drives advances in inquiry, and augments improved earth-science literacy with existing National Park initiatives and the development of UNESCO Geoparks.
William Rose, Michigan Tech, Erika Vye, Michigan Tech, Mark Klawiter, Michigan Tech.

T160: Stories of Place: Place-Based Research Projects as a Vehicle for Geoscience Education and Service Learning
This session seeks to highlight and share those classroom techniques, field methods, research projects, and service learning programs that use student knowledge and interest in specific places as a mechanism for broader geoscience education.

Sadredin Moosavi GED 2nd Vice Chair
Rochester Community Technical College, smoosavi@charter.net

GED Student Travel Grants

Students in geoscience education: are you presenting at GSA this fall? The Geoscience Education Division will offer several travel grants up to $250 to student members who are presenting work at the 2011 GSA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis from October 9-12, 2011. Grants will be awarded based on merit and financial need.

To be eligible for an award, you must be:
• A student member of GSA and the Geoscience Education Division in good standing – to join contact GSA Sales and Services at gsaservice@geosociety.org.
• Presenting a poster or talk at the 2011 Annual Meeting in a geoscience education topical or discipline session.

To apply for the award, please send the following (as a single email attachment):
1. Confirmation of your standing as a student member of the GED (member number).
2. A copy of your accepted abstract.
3. A current CV, limited to 2 pages.
4. A brief itemized budget and statement of your financial needs, including all other sources of funding.
Applications should be sent to Sadredin Moosavi at smoosavi@charter.net, and must be received by August 1, 2011 for consideration. Notification of grant status will be made prior to the registration deadline, and awards will be made following confirmation of attendance at the annual meeting.

Faculty, please direct your students' attention to this opportunity!

Sadredin Moosavi GED 2nd Vice Chair
Rochester Community Technical College