133-4 Using Social Media to Transform Misperceptions of Geoscience and Increase Enrollment

Session: Geology Programs in an Environmental Science World

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Abstract:

While environmental science programs are flourishing, geoscience programs are experiencing declining enrollment, which is projected to cause a devastating workforce deficit over the next decade. This disparity is largely due to misperceptions among students and the public regarding the meaning and scope of geoscience. Social media offers a globally accessible and effective way to reach and engage both students and the public in geoscience. For five years, I have been posting educational geoscience videos on my YouTube channel, @GeoGirl. This channel has reached ~5.5 million viewers in over 160 different countries, and has provided data revealing widespread misperceptions of geoscience, especially as it compares to environmental science. Many viewers have expressed the perception that geoscience is “bad for the environment” and that geoscientists actively “harm the environment” by burning fossil fuels, mining, destroying and contaminating habitats, etc. without understanding the nuances associated with these activities (e.g., that we still need oil/gas and mining to transition to clean energy). After making these observations, we conducted surveys to identify the dominant misperceptions that are deterring students from the field. The results revealed that, in addition to this ‘geoscience is bad for the environment’ perception, students also assume that geoscience “offers limited career opportunities”. Student respondents reported that both perceptions deterred them from choosing geoscience as a major. Based on these results, I developed several social media outreach strategies to transform such misperceptions and turn around the enrollment decline. Here, I present my findings from implementing these strategies on my YouTube channel, including viewer data and audience feedback, and discuss what these results mean for the future of social media outreach and geoscience programs.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-7307

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