Geoscience Education in the Mountain State
Mission, Goals, Vehicle, Code, Partners, and Accomplishments

• Mission: Awareness and Relevance
  The Geoscience Education Program strives to make West Virginians aware of the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES) and its products and materials.
• Educational Resources:
  WVGES encourages formal and informal learning that increases public awareness of the importance geologic knowledge plays in regional, state, community, educational, and personal decisions. To this end, the WVGES Geoscience Education program makes a wide variety of educational resources available to educators and others interested in enhancing the quality of earth science literacy. Much of our educational resource material is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Goals:
  • Provide an educational environment conducive to personal assessment and growth.
  • Emphasize the relevancy of geology through exposure to appropriate content.
  • Introduce earth science activities that can be modified for classroom use.
  • Stimulate interest in providing meaningful field experiences for every student.
  • Encourage and provide opportunities for professional outreach.
• Vehicle:
  The target group is K-12 teachers, with an emphasis on science teachers at all levels. Students who are aware of the importance of geologic knowledge will transfer their understanding of the relevance of non-biased information to their parents.
• Code:
  WVGES is a non-biased, independent scientific agency providing information and the means to understand it to all who ask.
• Partners:
  
  • West Virginia University, Department of Geology and Geography
  • Fairmont State College
  • The West Virginia North Central Region Math, Science and Technology Consortium (MSTC)
• Accomplishments:
  Since 1992, the WVGES Geoscience Education Program has conducted 34 major projects, directly working with more than 6,800 educators.
• Outreach Efforts:
  For detailed information on the Geoscience Education Program's various outreach efforts, download this Microsoft Excel file (27 K).

Page last revised: November 22, 2005