50 Geoscience Education: K–12

Friday, 26 March 2004
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

USING LOCAL GEOLOGY IN K-16 AND PUBLIC GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION

Paper number: 50-2
Program: THEME SESSIONS
Time: 1:10 PM – 1:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Stone Mountain is a prominent granite outcrop located in the metro Atlanta region. This presentation will examine the ways that both formal and informal educational institutions incorporate Stone Mountain into their curriculum, and it will highlight collaborative efforts among regional geoscience educators.

Nearly everyone in metro Atlanta is familiar with Stone Mountain, and it is one of the top-visited tourist sites in the region. This has led to many popular misconceptions about the origin and extent of the granite. Geoscience educators are playing an instrumental role in helping the public better understand this regional feature.

Local geoscience educators are working to provide accurate information through field trips, museum exhibits, teacher training, and various curriculum resources, some of which are available online. These efforts are aimed at K-16 students, classroom teachers and the general public.