http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#discussion http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14709 John McDaris 1307471400 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14709 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14860 Small: Our planet's name is a proper noun in English and should be capitalized.
Maybe significant: Naming carries a concept of Earth being a planet with a name as have the planets.

Nice work on the statement. Succinct, conceptual, quotable. It will work with the details in the emerging national science standards.
Bonnie]]> Bonnie Brunkhorst 1308006480 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14860 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14861 Glenn Dolphin 1308007080 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14861 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14862 Wendy Van Norden 1308010440 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14862 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14867 Bonnie Dodge 1308059400 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14867 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14943 Susan Buhr 1309471080 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14943 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14944 Thank you for posting the Draft Position Statement in relation to High School Earth Science Instruction in the NAGT e-newsletter. It is timely and definitely warrants much-needed attention from academia and professional fields associated with geosciences. The position statement is very strong, logical, and given the context, is doable. However, I would like to take the liberty to humbly suggest the following for consideration:

K7-12 Earth Science Certification curriculum needs to be the pre-requisite for obtaining license and emphasis should be given to the candidates having a core concentration in geology. Current structure allows certain number of credits (I believe it is 18 credits), which to my evaluation, does not prepare someone to be proficient in earth system science knowledge. In New York state, current policy requires a core in geology for having a permanent K7-12 license in Earth Science certification. I strongly believe that teacher candidates with well-rounded earth system science knowledge will be able to disseminate and effectively impart geological information to the students with greater authority and convincingly. Often, it is noted that due to lack of well-rounded geology-content knowledge, many existing Earth Science teachers are not able to excite students towards geology and I deem this situation quite alarming. If students are turned away at this level, how are we going to get them back taking college-level geology courses?

We need to have a regular dialog with the local elected representatives, since they can exert tremendous pressure on the government in terms of using geological knowledge and seeking opinions from experts in decision making process. What I am proposing is to have some sort of get-together with the elected representatives during the Earth Day and Back to School Day (early Fall). Given all kinds of natural calamities, energy crises, environmental degradation, that are sweeping the nation, our job should be to make them aware and educate on these issues and enable them to make well-informed decisions or cast vote from scientific point of view.

College geology professors need to participate in K7-12 school activities such as Open House, Career Night, Science Fair, opting as a judge, etc. Unless we reach out to the local schools, we are going to miss the grand opportunity for attracting students towards geosciences. Through direct participation, we are going to lend us towards a greater visibility in terms of marketing geology programs to the high school students and ensuring spontaneous college-bound course selection option pertaining to geosciences.


Look forward to working with you on this and thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to interact with you.

Sincerely yours,
Nazrul I. Khandaker

]]> Nazrul Khandaker 1309552140 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14944 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14945
Long answer for "We can use quantitative if we think it is necessary, but I don't think it is necessary."

Best, Glenn]]> Glenn Dolphin 1309561260 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14945 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14947
I also wonder about the phrasing of the opening sentence -- does it need to have "ubiquitous" as the second word? It seems like there might be a more compelling way to open the statement. Maybe something like:

"Issues of climate, energy and natural disasters are issues of great and growing importance that require deep understandings of Earth system science, yet most Americans' formal education in this vital science is complete by the end of the eighth grade."

Then the second half of the first sentence (regarding policy makers) could be made to stand alone. Other than the issue well described by Glenn, and capitalizing Earth, the rest of it is excellent.]]> Don Duggan-Haas 1309899240 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post14947 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post15000 John Brady 1310138460 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post15000 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post17711 Ben LeFebvre 1311258000 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post17711 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post18290
I'd like to make a suggestion for one more bullet related to teacher-ed programs. Many teacher-ed certification programs in science do not include programs for Earth Science certification (at least here in NJ!). Perhaps we can add a bullet such as:

"NAGT supports the creation and maintenance of strong teacher certification programs in the Earth Sciences."
]]> Missy Holzer 1311686160 http://nagt.org/nagt/policy/high-school_discussion/general_comment.html#post18290