The Earth Science Week Update
EARTH SCIENCE WEEK UPDATE
American Geosciences Institute
Vol. 5, No. 2: May 2007
IN THIS ISSUE…
* Contests Add Fun, Learning to Earth Science Week
* International Polar Year, Other Events in Spotlight
* EarthCaching a Great Way to Explore Earth Science
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Contests Add Fun, Learning
To Earth Science Week
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AGI is sponsoring three national contests during Earth Science Week
2007. The photography, visual arts, and essay contests allow both students
and the general public to participate in the celebration, learn about
Earth science, and compete for prizes.
The photography contest, open to all ages, focuses on “People
Discovering Earth’s Treasures.” The visual arts contest, titled
“Changing Earth,” is open to students in grades K-5. Finally,
students in grades 6-9 are eligible to enter the essay contest: “Earth
Science in My Community.” Essays of up to 300 words should highlight
geoscience activity in a student’s neighborhood or hometown.
The first-place prize for each contest is $300 and a one-year subscription
to AGI’s Geotimes magazine. To learn more about these contests,
including how to enter, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/contests
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International Polar Year,
Other Events in Spotlight
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One of the major geoscience events being highlighted by Earth Science
Week 2007 is International Polar Year (IPY). Earth Science Week resources
and activities will enable participants to join in many research and
educational opportunities tied to IPY, which takes place from March
2007 to February 2009. To learn more about IPY, visit the official website
at http://www.ipy.org/.
IPY is just one of four “international science years” being
launched in 2007 to alert the public to scientific challenges and opportunities
facing our world. This year also marks the start of the International
Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), February 2007 to December 2009; International
Heliophysical Year (IHY), February 2007 to December 2008; and the International
Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), July 2007 to December 2008.
These initiatives are planned to generate geoscience research and awareness
integral to Earth science’s impact on society. You can learn more
about IYPE at http://www.esfs.org/,
about IHY at http://ihy2007.org/,
and about eGY at http://www.egy.org/. Visit the Earth Science Week Resources
at http://www.earthsciweek.org/themebasedresources/index.html
for more information.
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EarthCaching a Great Way
To Explore Earth Science
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As summer approaches, many teachers and students look for ways to continue
their geoscience research where they can enjoy the weather - outdoors.
EarthCaching, which blends recreation and education, offers an exciting,
new option.
EarthCaching is a variation of geocaching. A geocache organizer posts
latitude and longitude coordinates on the Internet to advertise a “cache,”
a scavenger-hunt destination, which geocachers locate by using GPS devices.
Today, 270,000 caches are active in more than 200 countries, according
to Geocaching.com. Over one million people participate.
EarthCachers recently have added an educational dimension to the activity.
When you visit an EarthCache, you learn something special about Earth
science, the geology of the location, or how the Earth’s resources
and environment are managed there. EarthCaching has been developed by
the Geological Society of America - a major Earth Science Week partner
- in association with Groundspeak, Inc., and the geocaching community.
To learn more about EarthCaching, visit http://www.earthcache.org/
online.
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The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of 44 geoscientific
and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists,
geophysicists, and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides
information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests
in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education,
and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences
play in society's use of resources and interaction with the environment.
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