Geoscience Education for Realtors, Appraisers, Home Inspectors, and Homeowners
Ed Nuhfer 2004 Journal of Geoscience Education v52, n5, p453

Abstract - As urban development encroaches onto less suitable sites, knowledge of the connection between the ground beneath one’s home and the home itself becomes increasingly critical to the homebuyer. General geology courses usually fail to teach application or the information retrieval skills needed to make the connection. In Colorado, a focused course to inform Realtors and their related professionals of the value of geology proved also to reach their clients. Course organization conveys concepts through a hierarchical framework of reasoning, starting with science and its methods, then geology as a science of materials, process, and change-through-time, then geology as a profession with an information system and public service sector, and thereafter selected content. Realtors and their allied professions want to understand pertinent geology. Through experiencing the connection between land and structures in their work, the resulting curiosity makes Realtors ideal students for the instructor who can impart practical application to lay professionals. The National Association of Realtors is the largest professional society in the world, and it has more political influence than any geoscience society. Educating these professionals is a way to bring the value of geology to a wider spectrum of citizens and public officials.


Full Text of the article is available.


Subject: Environmental Science:Land Use and Planning
Resource Type: Pedagogic Resources:Research Results, Journal Article