The Value of Geoscience Education
Jump Down To: Educating the General Population about Environmental Challenges | Preparing Future Geoscientists to Address These Challenges | Workforce Opportunities | Preparation for a Broad Range of Careers | References & Additional Readings
The Role of the Geosciences
Critical Needs for the Twenty First Century: The Role of the Geosciences details seven critical needs followed by national policy actions to help the nation meet these needs. As the American Geosciences Institute writes, "With a burgeoning human population, rising demand for natural resources and a changing climate, it is critical to more fully integrate Earth observations and Earth system understanding into actions for a sustainable world. The geoscience community stands ready to help deal with these challenges." Surprisingly often, however, we still need to get the message out that geosciences can play an essential role in addressing these global challenges.
Educating the General Population about Environmental Challenges (including Global Climate Change)
At the Global Level
Geoscience is "vital to understanding crucial global threats in the coming century: shortages of water (potable and otherwise), declining availability of fossil fuels, coastal inundation, the literal collapse of ecosystems, and of course, global warming—to name the obvious" (Bralower, Feiss and Manduca, 2008 ). These growing environmental challenges make understanding geoscience critical to understanding regional and global economic and political issues. The combination of global climate change and population growth threaten the stability of agricultural systems, "with particularly strong impacts in tropical and subtropical regions that include a large portion of the developing world" (Bralower, Feiss and Manduca, 2008 ).
Educated citizens need to understand the challenges posed by these environmental changes, in order to make informed choices, both individually and collectively. As Marcia McNutt emphasized in her testimony to the U.S. Senate at her confirmation hearing for the position of Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, "This nation is facing important decisions concerning future uses of its precious resources: water, energy, and environment. We are increasingly at economic risk from natural hazards. The challenges associated with climate change must be better understood.... Science is not the only factor in decision making, but it needs to be one of the factors" (McNutt, 2009). The Earth Science Literacy Initiative , funded by the National Science Foundation, describes what all Americans should know about the Earth Sciences .
At the Local Level
These challenges are not abstract problems, faced by strangers on the other side of the planet. Every community needs access to clean water, clean air, and energy resources. Global climate change will impact all of us, as sea levels rise, storm activity increases, and food production changes with agricultural zones.
This newscast clip illustrates just one of many ways geoscientists' knowledge of environmental processes can be important to a local community: Polk County Tennessee Rockslide Nearly Kills Road Crew.
Preparing Future Geoscientists to Address These Challenges
While an educated citizenry is essential to wise decision-making on a societal level, a general understanding of the challenges we face will not be sufficient. In order to maintain the standard of living to which we have become accustomed, we will need a group of creative problem-solvers who understand these problems at a very deep level, working to solve them. These problem-solvers of tomorrow are the geoscience majors of today. For example, the Terrascope course at MIT requires students to design an engineering solution to a geoscience-related problem. In the process, they develop a deep understanding of the complexity of Earth systems (Hodges, 2007).
Addressing such complex, globally pressing "grand challenges" requires an interdisciplinary approach (Barron, 2007). Geoscience is, at heart, an interdisciplinary endeavor, applying computer models, mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics to the study of the Earth system. An education in geoscience is, therefore, excellent preparation for studying these "grand challenges." Furthermore, geoscientists are committed to addressing these challenges (IUGG, 2003 ; NSF, 2000 ; NRC, 1999).
These challenges represent opportunities in the geoscience workforce. As the American Geosciences Institute's 2009 Report on the Status of the Geoscience Workforce states, "Employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate an overall 19% increase in all geoscience jobs between 2006 and 2016. The increase varies among industry with the professional, scientific, and technical services industry having the highest increase in geoscience employment (47%). However, trends in the supply of new geoscience graduates have not increased over the past 10 years, and there is no indication that they will increase to meet the projected demand of geoscientists by 2016.... In oil & gas companies, which typically offer the highest salaries of all geoscience employing industries, the supply of new geoscientists falls short of replacement needs.... By 2030, the unmet demand for geoscientists in the petroleum industry is expected to be approximately 30,000 workers."
Clearly, there is a need to educate the next generation of geoscientists, simply to meet the hiring needs of existing industries in the coming years.
Preparation for a Broad Range of Careers
As Barb Tewksbury pointed out in a presentation at the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors, an undergraduate degree in geoscience provides students with a wealth of skills that can be transferred to a broad range of careers. These skills include problem-solving, evidence-based thinking, systems thinking, oral and written communication, teamwork, and so on. These skills help students who pursue their futures via medical school, business school, or just about any other career track.
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References & Additional Readings
- American Geosciences Institute, 2008. Critical Needs for the Twenty First Century: The Role of the Geosciences
- American Geosciences Institute, 2009. Status of the Geoscience Workforce Report Summary .
- American Geosciences Institute. Why Earth Science? (more info)
- Barron, Eric, 2007. A Perspective on the Next 25 Years. Presentation at the April, 2007, workshop on Connecting Geoscience Departments to the Future of Science, Carleton College, Northfield, MN.
- Bralower, T., P.G. Feiss and C.A. Manduca, 2008. Preparing a New Generation of Citizens and Scientists to face Earth's Future , Liberal Education, 94 (2), p. 20-23.
- Earth Science Literacy Intitiative, 2009. Earth Science Literacy Principles: The Big Ideas and Supporting Concepts of Earth Science .
- Friedman, Thomas L., 2008. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Geological Society of America, 2012, Position paper: The Importance of Teaching Earth Science
- Geological Society of America, 2012, Position paper: Expanding and Improving Geoscience in Higher Education
- Geological Survey of Ireland, Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy, 2009. Geoscience and a Smarter Economy.
- Hodges, Kip, 2007. Beyond Earth System Science: An Approach for the 21st Century. Presentation at the April, 2007, workshop on Connecting Geoscience Departments to the Future of Science, Carleton College, Northfield, MN.
- International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, 2003. Geosciences: The Future .
- Marcia McNutt's statement to the US Senate at her confirmation hearing for the position of Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. (October 8, 2009.)
- National Resource Council, 1999. Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade.
- National Science Foundation, 2000. Beyond 2000: Understanding and Predicting Earth's Environment and Habitability .