In 1990, Ward Neale and Louisa Horne published a booklet, The Past Is the Key to the Future: A Geoscientists’ Guide to Public Awareness of Science and Technology. In this, they note that “Although all segments of society can benefit by an enhanced awareness of science and technology, the area of greatest need is the schools, particularly elementary and junior high schools”. These words and sentiments are echoed in the UNESCO 2008 Science Education Policy-making document, where it is noted that, “The fundamental factor in the improvement of students’ learning in science and technology is the quality (knowledge, skills and enthusiasm) of their teachers”.

What foresight the founders of Canada’s EdGEO workshop program [www.edgeo.org] had to develop a national program to encourage locally driven Earth science workshops for Canadian teachers, with the goal of building a geoscience-literate society from the children up. EdGEO does this by providing support for workshops that are developed and led by interested groups of Earth scientists and teachers. These professional development opportunities may include field, laboratory and classroom components. They provide Canadian teachers with the enhanced knowledge, classroom resources and increased confidence that enhance their delivery of Earth science curricula, and grants of up to $3000 per workshop are available from the national EdGEO program.

By providing educational opportunities for today’s teachers and, through them, their students, EdGEO seeks to cultivate a heightened awareness of our planet. The expected result is an improved capacity on the part of Canadians to understand the Earth and make informed decisions, especially with regard to the use of mineral and energy resources, the maintenance and remediation of the environment, and response to geological hazards.

There exists a critical need to provide teachers with training and resources to tackle their Earth science curricula. It is hoped that this article will encourage geoscientists and teachers across Canada to access support from EdGEO and develop local professional development workshops and field trips.

EdGEO was established in the early 1970s by the Canadian Geoscience Council, now the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (CFES). EdGEO is coordinated by the Canadian Geo-science Education Network (CGEN), the education arm of CFES. The CGEN is concerned with all levels of geoscience education in Canada and encourages activities designed to increase public awareness of geo-science.

Over the past four decades, EdGEO’s leadership has moved across the country. In each new location, dedicated geoscientists and teachers accomplished the organization’s mandate with vision and determination. Throughout this time, the mission has remained the same and the program has continued to expand and develop to reach thousands of teachers across the country.

The ability of EdGEO to advance its vital mission relies on the generous support of scientific associations, corporations, foundations and individuals. Support from the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and its Educational Trust Fund, Canadian Geological Foundation (CGF), CFES, CGEN, Geological Association of Canada (GAC), Mineralogical Association of Canada, Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists and Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), in addition to several other sponsors over the past three decades, has been critical to EdGEO’s ability to serve educators and students across the nation.

The EdGEO web site [www.edgeo.org] serves as a promotional vehicle, helping to achieve program goals through interactive capabilities such as grant applications and reporting forms, and hosts current and past issues of the program’s annual newsletters.

EdGEO teacher workshops are locally driven and are therefore very diverse. They focus on a wide range of Earth science topics, such as geological time, Earth resources, rocks and minerals, fossils or landforms. Some are largely field-based workshops to demonstrate and practice how field activities can be incorporated into Earth science teaching, and others emphasize hands-on activities. Many strive to include both classroom and field components. Workshops attended by local teachers are tied to the provincial/territorial curriculum whereas national workshops emphasize topics common to curricula in multiple Canadian jurisdictions.

An important element of each workshop is the package of resource materials provided to each participating teacher for use in the classroom. The content of this package varies for each workshop but typically includes items such as learning activities, maps, hand lenses, streak plates, magnets, rock and mineral kits, fossil sets, text books, listings of relevant web sites and posters. Such resource materials ensure that teachers have the tools necessary to teach Earth sciences effectively.

Earth scientists and teachers work collaboratively in developing and delivering EdGEO workshops to ensure that the hands-on and field activities and resource materials can be effectively used in the classroom and meet the needs of local teachers. Sessions are inquiry-based and interactive, incorporating practical hands-on activities to help teachers move from theory into practice. The length of these professional development opportunities ranges from two-hour sessions to several days, and can generally accommodate up to twenty-five teachers. Workshops have been presented at teachers’ conferences, province-wide professional development days, industry events, and independently.

Organizing committees are urged to solicit funds from local geo-science organizations, service groups and businesses. The EdGEO supplements such funds with grants of up to $3000. Teachers are generally asked to pay a modest registration fee in addition to expenses such as hotel accommodations on field trips. EdGEO grants are intended to help cover the cost of resource packages, field-trip transportation and advertising. Salaries are not covered. Grants are made on the basis of on-line applications that provide a summary and detailed budget of the proposed workshop and/or field trip. Applications are accepted throughout the year. Each is evaluated on its own merits by the national EdGEO executive committee against the established goals of the organization and the monies available.

Applicants are notified within three weeks of submission and EdGEO also proactively seeks enthusiastic geoscientists and invites all interested parties to submit a grant application, ideally several months prior to the planned workshop; EdGEO disburses about $15 000 annually. Many applicants are supported by generous monetary and in-kind funding, resulting in EdGEO requests for support that are far less than the $3000 maximum. Grant recipients are commonly published in the organization’s annual newsletter [www.edgeo.org/newsletters.html].

Five examples of different workshop approaches from across the country follow.

Over the last eighteen years, a total of 179 workshops for teachers have been sponsored by EdGEO, averaging 10 workshops per year across Canada. The highest number in any year was 22 in 2005. Typically, teacher attendance at an EdGEO workshop ranges from 10 to 30 teachers; however, with the increased delivery of workshops at teachers’ conferences in the last few years, such as those in 2008 in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, up to 50 teachers were able to attend a single session.

The numbers of teachers reached through EdGEO workshops is very encouraging – between 1995 and 2008, a total of 3903 teachers attended workshops and received classroom resources, an average of 279 teachers per year. If each of these educators has an average class size of 25, in one year close to 7000 students will benefit from the increased knowledge, enthusiasm and confidence of their teachers as well as the hands-on activities, field trip ideas and resources they bring to the classroom. Over 10 years these 279 teachers will reach approximately 70 000 students.

Although most EdGEO workshops have been based in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, over the last 10 years workshops have also been held in Nunavut, New Brunswick, Québec, Manitoba, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

EdGEO applicants are a varied and enthusiastic group whose members represent societies (such as the Calgary Science Network, Atlantic Geoscience Society, Saskatchewan Geological Society and the Pacific Section of the GAC), universities (e.g. Carleton, Victoria, Manitoba), provincial and federal government departments, foundations (e.g. Burgess Shale Foundation), and museums (e.g. Tyrrell Museum), as well as individuals and companies. All are welcome.

To date, the assessment of how each EdGEO workshop is received and what the impact is on teachers is determined through evaluation forms completed at the end of each workshop. Participants consistently rate EdGEO workshops as excellent and outstanding. Responses on the evaluation forms suggest that teachers value the hands-on aspect of the workshops, the strong connection to the curriculum, the exceptional classroom resources provided, the field components, the collaborations forged between teachers and geoscientists, and the knowledge gained. Comments also continually make reference to the talented experts who enthusiastically commit to sharing their expertise in Earth science. Very often the teachers comment that the EdGEO workshop is the best professional development they have ever attended.

Although it is known that the teachers value the workshops and with regularity comment that they cannot wait to try the activities and resources in the classroom, we have very little understanding of the longer term impact of EdGEO workshops on teachers or their students. Discussions with EdGEO teacher partners (those involved in developing and delivering workshops together with Earth scientists, and mentoring new teachers) reveal that the benefits are many:

• networking with scientists and other science educators both locally and Canada-wide (e.g. CGEN network, GSC, University, NSERC CRYSTAL, teachers in other districts);

• professional development (e.g. through attending GAC education sessions, CGEN meetings);

• awareness of, and participation in, provincial and national geoscience initiatives, e.g. activities associated with the International Year of Planet Earth; and

• Enhanced capacity for Earth science curriculum implementation through sharing and development of new activities and resources.

A longitudinal study carried out in conjunction with the University of Victoria EdGEO ‘Education Lab’ for student teachers shows that emerging teachers continue to use the Earth science activities many years after they have taken the workshop. In addition, a teacher focus group held as part of this study through Pacific CRYSTAL strongly suggests that EdGEO workshop teachers would welcome follow-up support and continued networking to maximize the impact of the initial workshop.

Recent funding from the CGF and GSC has been received to support two new EdGEO initiatives:

• ‘Putting the Earth into Science’ takes an interdisciplinary approach to expanding Earth science content in Canadian high schools. Earth Science is often incorrectly perceived as a ‘soft’ science, usually included as part of geography, and not considered as important as chemistry, physics, or biology. Hence, it is rarely a significant part of the curriculum. The National EdGEO Workshop Program will develop ten curriculum-based lesson plans to integrate Earth science topics into the core subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology. The project will attract teachers of diverse science disciplines, and deliver a meaningful educational experience and important career information to high school students who are largely unaware of how Earth science impacts their daily lives.

• ‘Bringing Earth Science to Life’ will deliver a comprehensive collection of relevant, classroom-ready resources in Earth science to junior and intermediate grade levels.

  An important element of each EdGEO workshop is the package of resource materials provided to participating teachers for use in the classroom. The contents of this package varies for each workshop, but it typically includes a workshop manual that contains curriculum-linked, hands-on learning activities and the background Earth Science information that supports these activities.

  EdGEO will work in partnership with volunteer EdGEO workshop facilitators to compile learning activities, common to curricula across Canada that have been used in previous workshops. The learning activities will be made available for download on the EdGEO web site. The resulting collection will avoid duplication of effort for future EdGEO workshops and leverage existing high-quality learning materials. This project will not only be beneficial to educators, but will also greatly assist volunteer EdGEO workshop organizers by providing materials that can be used directly or adapted for use in new workshops. Facilitator presentation kits for each project will also be developed and made available to interested groups of volunteer Earth scientists and teachers so that the in-service training component for each project can be replicated anywhere in Canada for the National EdGEO Workshop Program.

Future initiatives may also include:

• Building partnerships with Science Teacher Associations to host workshops at teacher conferences. Teacher professional development conferences are typically facilitated by national, regional or school district-based teacher associations. By forging relationships with these associations, the EdGEO National Committee and local workshop organizers would be more aware of teacher ProD conference scheduling and could be proactive in offering workshops, keynote talks, support for new curriculum units, or Earth science networking opportunities at events where large numbers of teachers gather.

• Providing curriculum-linked EdGEO workshops on demand – EdGEO is examining the possibility of adopting the successful model developed in the United Kingdom [http://www.earth-scienceeducation.com/], which offers topic-based EdGEO workshops delivered by trained volunteers, on demand to groups of teachers, individual schools, school districts or other professional development events. A program such as this, combined with the existing local EdGEO workshops, would allow EdGEO’s reach to extend to every region of Canada, and would increase the numbers of teachers who could avail of the excellent resources, activities and increased understanding of the important role of Earth science in society, that is delivered by EdGEO workshops.

• Establishing informal mentoring relationships between Earth Scientists and teachers to develop and grow the skills, confidence and knowledge needed to help less experienced teachers succeed after attending EdGEO workshops. Mentoring will promote a greater cohesiveness within a regional group of teachers, and potentially provide access to a national community of Earth Science educators.