7-3 Shifting the Appeal: Using Sustainability to Build Motivation for Pre-College Geoscience Learning

Session: A Change in Focus for Sustainability in Geoscience Education

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Abstract:

Situating geoscience instruction in action-oriented sustainability strategies shifts the appeal of learning in the geosciences to immediate forms empowerment.  

While the case is often rightly made to students that the geosciences are important areas to learn because of the vital roles they have in many aspects of life, the activities by which the relevance of geoscience plays out in the real-world are largely inaccessible to pre-college learners. The steps taken by geoscientists to mitigate natural hazards, for example, such as contributing to the design of large-scale stormwater projects, are typically beyond what a young learner can undertake (or, perhaps, understand). A focus on sustainability—more specifically, implementing education for sustainable development (ESD)—can enable learners to use their emerging geoscience knowledge to take action within their communities in ways and at scales that are both meaningful and effective. Doing so changes the relevance of geoscience from being related to various processes professionals undertake and how they affect the learners, to actions the learners can take that can have positive effects on others, and themselves.  

At the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), we see this infusion of ESD into pre-college geoscience education as a positive, additive approach that is mutually supportive of other features that motivate geoscience learning. For example, the aesthetic appeal of geoscience content—from the majesty of mountains formed over eons to the wonder of intricate microfossils—will remain a powerful source of student  inspiration and engagement, even as those topics are connected to issues that affect young learners and, importantly, about which they can take action. Similarly, the value of guiding students to envision themselves in various geoscience-related careers is supported by connecting those careers to issues and actions that affect sustainability—including some actions that students can undertake as part of the learning process. 

In this presentation we will share various strategies we are using to make sustainability a central feature of geoscience education. These strategies include the development of an online “Geoscience Career Explorer” that uses sustainability topics as an entry point, piloting school-based projects for nature-based stormwater management, and developing lessons that connect sustainability to community-based geoheritage. These strategies are incorporated into learning materials that are freely available on AGI’s website, including pages specific to AGI’s Geoscience for Sustainability initiative. 

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

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-10397

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