Initial Workshop: Making a Broader Impact: Geoscience Education, Public Outreach, and Criterion 2 report

The Geoscience Outreach Workshop

Held May 11 - 13, 2005 in Berkeley, California

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (www.dlese.org) and the University of California Museum of Paleontology (www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/) hosted the Geoscience Outreach Workshop. The purpose of this NSF-funded workshop was to identify patterns of success, needs, and challenges of the geoscience research community in satisfying the Criterion 2 - Broader Impact requirement. Through the workshop, the sponsors hoped to delineate current working models and initiate the design of a larger network that would prove helpful for involving geoscientists in outreach.

Intellectual Merit

Since the advent of Criterion 2 in 1997, plans for education and outreach activities have been encouraged as a pre-requisite for successful NSF proposals. With several notable exceptions, there has not been a significant, systemic effort to identify successful models and to offer more concrete guidance and support to the research community.  Through this workshop, the sponsors hoped to identify successful Criterion 2 projects and to identify both the hurdles faced and the benefits resulting from these outreach efforts.  By documenting these case studies, proven skills and models for effective outreach strategies can be shared with other research scientists.

Broader Impact

The workshop was intended to be an important first step in:

• Providing science researchers with the contacts, tools, and ongoing support to plan and implement valuable and viable outreach programs

• Developing a network that can serve as a resource/support group for geoscientists struggling with how to do effective outreach without detracting from their research

• Initiating a cultural shift within the geoscience research community, in which there is increased recognition of the value of outreach

• Providing guidance to the geoscience community regarding the requirements of the NSF Criterion 2.

Participants of the workshop included:

• Researchers who have been successful in developing outreach strategies to complement their own scientific efforts,

• Those who have had experience in working with scientists to develop outreach efforts, and

• Those members of the research community who are interested in including outreach components into their research proposals.

For more information on the workshop, access http://www.dpc.ucar.edu/projects/geosciOutreach/index.html.

Accessing the Report

The report available here summarizes the discussions and recommendations of a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation, which brought together 26 education and public outreach (EPO) experts to discuss how geoscience education and outreach activities can support the science research community in efforts to fulfill the National Science Foundation's Criterion 2 - Broader Impacts requirement for scientific research.

The workshop was hosted by the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Program Center, and was held on the Berkeley campus May 11-13, 2005.

Downloadable versions of the report (note that the PDFs are best viewed with Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and higher):

PDF: full color (large file- 22 MB), text only (238 KB)

HTML: text only

To obtain copies of this report, please submit a request to support@dlese.org.

Recommended citation: Scotchmoor, J., Marlino, M. R., and Low, R. (2005). Making a Broader Impact: Geoscience Education, Public Outreach, and Criterion 2 (Report of a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation, May 11-13, 2005): University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Program Center, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

Contacts

Should you have any questions, please contact Judy Scotchmoor (jscotch@berkeley.edu) or Mary Marlino (marlino@ucar.edu).