<
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/05/earth-science-education-climate-change/629761/>
"There are three things that I remember from my high-school Earth-science
class: the swirling pink cover of the study book designed to help us pass New
York State’s year-end test, the football player who seemed more intent on
torturing me than on learning, and a nagging sense that what I was taking
wasn’t “really” science.
The idea that Earth science barely counts as science is so woven into the
educational landscape that it can feel like a truism instead of a choice. My
high school, for example, offered Advanced Placement courses in biology,
chemistry, and two flavors of physics, but at the time, none existed for Earth
science. And, notes Mika McKinnon, a field researcher and geophysicist, this
derision for the subject shows up all over popular culture—on The Big Bang
Theory, The Simpsons, and even college campuses, where introductory geology
courses are often given the dismissive nickname “Rocks for Jocks.”
I first became interested in how we’re educated in Earth science because, as a
climate reporter, Earth science is a fundamental part of my job. I have to
understand the interplay between the ice poles and sea-level rising, and the
ways that temperature changes in the ocean can lead to changes in the
atmosphere (see: hurricanes). And this experience of needing to not only
understand the science but also explain it to other people made me feel as
though the education system has failed so many of us. Personal experiences and
anecdotes are no substitute for data, but when I looked deeper at this problem,
what I found was, frankly, bleak.
At its core, Earth science, also called Earth-system science, is the study of
planet Earth. As a discipline, it’s often broken down into five broad
categories. The biosphere is the part of Earth occupied by living organisms.
The atmosphere is the envelope of gasses surrounding the planet, which is
rapidly being warmed by climate change. There’s the lithosphere, or the
uppermost part of Earth’s crust; the hydrosphere, which deals with all the
water on Earth’s surface; and the cryosphere, the frozen-water part of Earth’s
system. These broad categories can be broken down even further. Oceanography is
a part of Earth science; so too are meteorology, paleontology, and the vaguely
named field of human geography, which looks at the relationship between humans
and Earth’s surface. Earth science encompasses all these systems, and how they
interact. And these days, a basic understanding of these things is pretty
crucial."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
