Abstract - A teacher workshop uses the shorelines of Utah’s Wasatch Front to teach concepts of shore processes and climate change, and incorporates the concept of geoantiquities in the teaching approach. Geoantiquities are precious archives of Earth systems history. Modern shorelines of Great Salt Lake and Pleistocene shorelines of Lake Bonneville record changes of climate and environment. Urban development can obscure or destroy important shoreline evidence. During the workshop of outdoor learning, teachers observe shoreline evidence, first at Antelope Island State Park and then in urban neighborhoods. Field experiences alternately expose teachers to obvious and subtle shoreline evidence; modern and Pleistocene shorelines; and pristine and urban shoreline exposures. Teachers tie concepts of shore processes and climate change to curricula they already teach. These include themes of change and constancy, and science concepts of the water cycle. Teachers summarize the past 35,000 year history of climate change at their school as content-based literacy projects.
The concept of geoantiquities influences the workshop by calling attention to the scientific, historical, and educational value of geologically young landforms, and illustrates how the present is a key to explaining the past.
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