Supporting the Educational Community at the USGS

By Steve Vandas and Joseph Kerski

Many uses and users of USGS information exist. The USGS intends that our research and scientific data be both relevant and beneficial to society. A vital part of the USGS's science mission is to communicate our science to a variety of audiences. Working from the mandated USGS role of providing long-term monitoring, research and assessments, the Survey's Strategic Plan reflects the high priority given to meeting partner and customer needs in disseminating reliable and impartial scientific information. Both research and education have, as their ultimate goal, enhanced scientific literacy of the citizenry. Effective integration of research and education infuses the acquisition of knowledge with the spirit of inquiry and assures that the findings and methods of research are quickly and effectively communicated in a broader context and to a larger audience.

Educators visiting USGS booth at the Colorado Science Teachers Convention.

One audience is the education community. Why the education community? There is a definite need to provide teachers, students, and the general public with accurate, unbiased scientific information to meet the complex environmental and social challenges of the 21^st century. The pre-college (K-12) community, with its 70 million students and over 3 million teachers, is a substantial user of USGS products. Attention to this sector is also vital to the strategic goal of attracting and maintaining a diversified and qualified workforce with the skills that enhance our programs and services. Furthermore, USGS's effort in pre-college education is also necessary in order to meet our responsibilities to the interagency initiative that addresses the goals put forth in the 2001 P.L. 107-110 No Child Left Behind Act. Moreover, working with this community offers considerable "value added" benefit, as knowledge acquired in schools affects families, local government, and community-based organizations. A citizenry literate in natural science is critical for the safety and economic future of the Nation.

USGS has a long history of involvement in education and outreach activities, including educational resources in print and online form, workshops, courses, information exhibits, educational lessons, educational partnerships, and initiatives. Educational resources include teaching packets, booklets, maps, posters, information on related source material, fact sheets, and more recently, CD-ROM and Web-based multimedia materials. Internships, short courses, recruitment presentations, assistance to public broadcast programming on USGS research, summer camp programs, and support of the efforts of professional societies represent other components of educational involvement. We have created and maintained educational partnerships with many Governmental and private organizations including the National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, US EPA, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's Sinte Gleska University, the Association of American Geographers, the National Council for Geographic Education, the Orton Foundation's Community Mapping Program, ESRI, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Because of these efforts, USGS is well positioned to make substantial educational contributions commensurate with its unique role as the Nation's principal natural science and information agency. Leveraging USGS resources to produce nationally significant results will require sustained commitment to the wider education community.

The college and university community utilizes USGS information in many ways. USGS data and information are used to conduct research on a variety of topics. Professors utilize USGS information for classroom activities and exercises. Students rely on USGS information and research findings as a valuable resource for learning about the natural sciences. There are many cooperative agreements between the USGS and universities around the world for the purpose of collaboration for understanding the planet where we live.

An example of the work in the K-12 community is the Water Resource Education Initiative (WREI). WREI was a partnership between public and private organizations. Through this partnership, a series of nine Water Resource Education posters was developed for use by educators and as a public information product. All the posters in the series were designed to attach together to create a large wall mural. Posters provide excellent supplemental curricula materials for students and educators in grades K-8. Because each poster is part of a series, educators tend to retain the posters from year to year. To date, approximately 5 million posters have been distributed.

Water Use poster, one of the posters from the WREI poster series.

The topics of the posters include water use, wastewater, wetlands, ground water, water quality, navigation, hazardous waste, watersheds, and oceans. Posters are available in color or black and white. The reverse side of the color posters contains educational activities: one version for grades 3-5 and another for grades 6-8. Spanish translations are available for the water use, hazardous waste, watersheds, and oceans posters.

Because of costs associated with providing print and multimedia material, more educational information and products are being published online. Redesigned and reorganized in 2001, The Learning Web is the principal USGS portal for educators and students. USGS real-time information, current research investigations, many past publications, and a range of instructional activities are available on this site. The Learning Web is clearly a recognized strength of the Survey's educational outreach program. General feedback and targeted assessments about the site's content and design from customers and focus groups have been favorable. As with all effective and ongoing web sites, continued development and improvement are required. Visit the Learning Web at http://www.usgs.gov/education/.

A significant portion of current USGS education efforts is devoted to producing guidelines, lessons, and other products designed to help data users from all audience sectors to use USGS products, research results, and services more efficiently and effectively. For example, the USGS contributed to the 2003 Earth Science Week educational packet from the American Geological Institute, including time-sequenced Landsat imagery, a Minerals CD, water educational materials, and a Global GIS CD, containing a lesson illustrating how to use the Global GIS data to investigate natural hazards in North America. Other educational examples include "How to Download, Format, and Use USGS Data within ESRI GIS Software", Teaching with Topographic Maps, and instructions on how to use information from The National Map, the National Atlas, and Terraserver. These and other activities are located on the Rocky Mountain Mapping Center's education site at http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/outreach/.

Exploring human impacts on ecosystems with USGS maps, aerial photographs, GPS, and GIS technology at a workshop at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The individuals who provide information to support the education community come from all parts of the organization. They may be in a regional office of communication, a discipline, the mapping partnership program, an Earth Science Information Center, or elsewhere within the USGS. Their job titles range from production cartographer to physical scientist to geographer to computer programmer. They have a rich array of technical skills but also people, networking, and partnership skills -- all of which contribute to the ability of the USGS to communicate our science to the learning community.