Celebrate National Earth Science Week 2011!

From Missy Holzer at NESTA...

National Earth Science Week is around the corner! The celebration will take place October 9-15, 2011 and this year’s theme is “Our Ever Changing Earth.” Not sure what to do for that week? Go to National Earth Science Week Homepage http://www.earthsciweek.org and you will find numerous ideas related to this year’s theme. You may also purchase an Earth Science Week kit for $6.95 which is filled with posters and resources to use during the celebration and the rest of the year.

The first day of the school year can set the tone for the entire year, and we as Earth Science teachers have the best resources to ensure a terrific opening to the new school year. We have access to images and animations of exciting events, fascinating phenomenon, and perplexing puzzles in the Earth Sciences. We can stop our students in their tracks as they ask “why do we have to learn Earth Science?” by using video clips like "Why Earth Science" from AGI and available on the AGI website http://www.agiweb.org/education/resource/index.html and on YouTube. This free 7 minute video will give your students a taste of what’s in store for them for the school year, and will entice them to choose a career in one of the many fields of Earth Science. They will be captivated by the footage and the message it has that Earth Science includes everything everywhere! Best Wishes for a new school year!

From the Far Western Section of NESTA (National Association of Earth Science Teachers)

From Wendy Van Norden, NESTA Far West Regional Director:

I have some news and some questions for California NESTA members

Question: The 2012 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) national convention will held in Long Beach. They are trying to a meaningful session for K-12 teachers. The theme for this convention is “Creative Ideas + New Technology = The Future. Do you have any suggestions?

News: Many of you signed a petition to the Academic Council of the University of California, asking them to include Earth Science as a “d” laboratory course. The petition was rejected. However, they are open to discussion about the topic, and I have organized a task force to put together recommendations for Earth Science curricula that should be considered.

Question: I am teaching a dual credit course with UCLA (my high school students receive credit on a UCLA transcript). My course is for Juniors and Seniors and it receives “d” lab credit

Do you know of any similar courses in California?

Do you know of anyone teaching an honors level Geology or Earth Science course in CA?

Do you know of Geology/Earth Science courses that do receive “d” lab credit?

Wendy Van Norden
Harvard-Westlake School
3700 Coldwater Canyon
No. Hollywood, CA 91604
818 487-6665
wvannorden@hw.com

Far Western Section NAGT-CalESTA Joint Conference, Bishop California

A few pictures from our recent field conference in Bishop, California:
Convict Lake is dammed by a recessional moraine of the Tioga glaciation in the eastern Sierra Nevada. The mountain in the distance is composed of marble and slate of Paleozoic age; they are the rocks that existed prior to the intrusion of the Sierra Nevada batholith in Mesozoic time.

Mono Lake is a remnant of the ice age pluvial lakes that once extended across much of the Basin and Range Province. It was once a freshwater lake hundreds of feet deep, but today is saltier than seawater. It hosts only two life forms, fairy shrimp and brine flies, but these two species support several million migratory birds which pass through the region every year.

Violet-green Swallows live and nest in the tufa towers that are found around the lake. The tufa towers (below) are composed of calcium carbonate (calcite), and form where freshwater springs flowed into the lake. They were exposed as the lake level dropped 50 feet when Los Angeles started diverting streams that once replenished the lake in 1941. The diversions threatened to destroy the complex ecosystem, which is international in scope (some of the migratory birds travel 15,000 miles). Efforts are now ongoing to raise lake level to about where it was in 1963, roughly midway between the 1941 level and the low point in the 1980's.

More pictures can be accessed here. Do you have pictures of the trip? Send them along, and I'll post them!

Thanks to Wendy Van Nordon, Mark Boryta, and everyone who helped organize a great trip!

Note from NESTA (National Earth Science Teachers Association)

A note from Roberta Johnson at our sister organization NESTA (National Earth Science Teachers Association):

As you know, there is a crisis in Earth and Space Science education today in the US. NESTA is working hard to provide support for Earth and Space Science teachers across the country through our programs, communications, resources, and website, as well as through advocacy for Earth and Space Science education at the national level collaboration with partner organizations. Through these activities, we reach thousands of teachers across the country annually, and through them, hundreds of thousands of students.

As we approach the end of the year, we would like to encourage you to consider a donation to NESTA to help support our programs. As a non-profit and volunteer run 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, we work hard to keep our costs down, and avoid increases in membership fees - particularly in these difficult economic times. Please visit our donation campaign web page at http://www.nestanet.org/cms/content/support/donate, where we offer information about our need for financial support, and specific activities you might be interesting in supporting. Alternatively, you can go straight to our online donations form at http://www.nestanet.org/cms/content/support/donate/form to make your donation. If you would rather do this using a form that you can fill out and mail, you can find that form (and the mailing address for the form) at http://www.nestanet.org/cms/sites/default/files/documents/donation_form.pdf.

NESTA is excited to announce that the American Geophysical Union has agreed to match up to the first $10,000 of donations raised in this fund-raising campaign. This is a great way to double the impact of your donation! Your donation will go straight to NESTA, and will be used as you designate with your donation.

Thank you for your consideration!

Roberta