Teaching with the News
Using current events in the classroom has tremendous potential to improve student learning. And there is evidence that students who learn to appreciate current events through newspapers, magazines, and websites in class remain interested and use them as avenues for lifelong learning as adults (DeRoche, 1991).
Current events can provide the crucial context so that students understand how their lives are impacted by abstract scientific concepts. Discussions in the classroom are often peppered with questions about how or why something should be important to them. Using the news to illustrate concepts can build this bridge. Once students are interested in the topic, it's possible for them to achieve a more in-depth understanding of the concepts.
Using the news also often necessitates looking at issues in an interdisciplinary fashion. For example, if you were teaching about the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, it quickly becomes clear that the phenomena of the tsunami is inextricably linked to the degradation of the shoreline ecosystems (which would have provided a natural defense) and the living conditions of the people at the bottom social strata that were the hardest hit by the effects of the tsunami.
AGU Highlights and Press Release Collections
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) provides a rich platform for using news events in geoscience education by press releases and summaries of articles which are written in a way that can be understood by the general public. The following pages are set up to let you see AGU Highlights and Press Releases about some important topics in geoscience.
Climate Change | Tsunamis | Hurricanes | Earthquakes | Volcanoes
References and Resources
Edward F. DeRoche (1991). The Newspaper: A Reference for Teachers and Librarians. Oxford: UK. ABC-CLIO, Inc.
Visionlearning: Using Science News in Teaching
NewsHour Extra: Science and Technology Lesson Plans and Notes on using them in class
Education World: Eight Great Web Sites Connect News to Your Curriculum
