Draft - The Value of Undergraduate Geoscience Courses and Programs

NAGT members may provide comments on this draft position statement. There is currently no deadline for comments.

Position Statement

The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) holds that geoscience skills and knowledge are indispensable for individuals and communities to address complex socioscientific issues. High-quality undergraduate courses and programs that focus on developing geoscience skills and knowledge are essential at two-year and four-year colleges and universities across the United States. Instructors who teach geoscience courses and lead programs should be properly prepared in their discipline, supported in their teaching and mentoring, and recognized for their contributions. Departments offering geoscience courses and programs should be adequately supported by their institutions to sustain their contributions to undergraduate education and their communities.

Rationale

Individuals choose to go to college for many reasons, including to become better educated and prepare for jobs (e.g., Nadelson et al., 2012). When they arrive, students are generally aware of a narrow range of subject areas and careers as influenced by their family, culture, and upbringing; their geographic setting; and their K-12 academic experience. An important role that higher education plays is to broaden and deepen students' awareness of  how they can contribute to society with their skills and knowledge. The purpose of many general education programs is to provide that breadth, whereas major programs allow students to pursue a discipline in depth. The combination of breadth and depth provides students at all life stages with the opportunity to explore the wide range of pathways through their education and into careers, to gain insight into different approaches to understanding the world, and to learn how they can contribute responsibly to society in ways that are meaningful to them.

Geosciences differ from other major scientific disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, in that most students do not take (or even have the opportunity to take) a course in the subject in high school. As a result, most students discover or experience geosciences for the first time as a mature learner in college, unaware of either educational pathways or career opportunities in these fields (e.g., Viskupic et al., 2022), yet geoscientists are in increasingly high demand in all job sectors (e.g., Gonzales & Keane, 2020;  Shafer et al., 2023).  Geoscience knowledge helps everyone make decisions about issues that impact our society, from natural hazard mitigation to responsible water resource management to sustainable resource extraction, helping them meet their civic responsibilities and act as an informed voter. Despite the important role they play in preparing students for meaningful careers and contributions to society, geoscience departments and programs are often relatively small. In times of budget shortfall, it is tempting to eliminate these smaller departments and programs, but this ill-advised decision short-changes students, local communities, and society as a whole.

The geosciences comprise the Earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences, and have strong affiliations with environmental science and planetary science. All of these sub-disciplines share ways of thinking that emphasize spatial and temporal reasoning, a sense of scale, drawing on multiple lines of evidence, and integrating data from different disciplines in order to better understand Earth processes. Those Earth processes impact humans, and humans can impact those Earth processes.

Introductory geoscience courses provide college students a window into these ways of thinking and expand their understanding of Earth processes and potential career paths in geoscience. They are a critical component of general education programs that help students make progress towards the essential learning outcomes regarding knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, intellectual and practical skills, and personal and social responsibility (AAC&U, n.d.).

Geoscience degrees prepare students to enter careers where they can have an impact on society and be financially successful (Stokes et al., 2018; Viskupic et al., 2022). Geoscience degree programs are diverse (e.g., Klyce & Ryker, 2023) and graduate students who go on to a wide range of jobs (Shafer et al., 2023; Wilson, 2018) and careers in research that provide a meaningful return-on-investment for their institution and their community.

Geoscience knowledge and skills are critical for civil and structural engineers, urban planners, supply chain managers, and state and local government officials. Within colleges and universities, programs like engineering, natural resource management, and business rely on geoscience programs to develop students' essential competencies and build productive community relationships.

Geoscience courses and programs are critical components of undergraduate education in the United States. They encourage students from diverse backgrounds to make a strong connection to place and to work with local communities and cultures on issues of mutual interest. They should be valued, strengthened, and supported at the full range of two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

Recommendations for instructors and departments

• Promote the value of geoscience knowledge and skills for addressing present societal concerns, including sharing this position statement with administrators and other stakeholders.
• Leverage introductory courses to highlight opportunities within your department and local to regional careers in the geosciences.
• Continue to build and fortify curricular connections to issues of societal relevance.
• Strengthen ties to related programs within your institution and beyond.
• Develop authentic partnerships with local and regional groups to address issues of mutual interest that engage students in research.
• Pursue partnerships with private sector employers in your area for geoscience student scholarships, internships, or other school-to-work opportunities.
• Share successes with administrators and the community.

References

AAC&U. (n.d.). Essential Learning Outcomes. Retrieved April, 2024, from https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/essential-learning-outcomes

Gonzales, L., & Keane, C. M. (2020). Geoscience Workforce Projections 2019-2029 (AGI Geoscience Currents, Data Brief 2020-025

Klyce, A., & Ryker, K. (2023, 2023/01/02). What does a degree in geology actually mean? A systematic evaluation of courses required to earn a bachelor of science in geology in the United States. Journal of Geoscience Education, 71(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2076201

Nadelson, L. S., Semmelroth, C., Martinez, G., Featherstone, M., Fuhrimann, C. A., & Seel, A. (2013). Why Did They Come Here? The Influences and Expectations of First-Year Students' College Experience. Higher Education Studies, 3(1), 50-62. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v3n1p50

Shafer, G. W., Viskupic, K., & Egger, A. E. (2023). Critical workforce skills for bachelor-level geoscientists: An analysis of geoscience job advertisements. Geosphere. https://doi.org/10.1130/ges02581.1

Viskupic, K., Wenner, J. A., Harrigan, C. O., & Shafer, G. (2022). A mixed methods study of the challenges for geoscience majors in identifying potential careers and the benefits of a career awareness and planning course. Journal of Geoscience Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2147383

Wilson, C. (2018). Status of the Geoscience Workforce 2018. American Geosciences Institute.