Eos, Vol. 92, No. 1, 4 January 2011
Volume 92
number 1
4 JANUARY 2011
EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
To Capture Student Interest in
Geosciences, Plan an Adventure
PAGES 1–2
It is dawn, –17°C, and 4700 meters above sea
level, and two young scientists are alone in a
tiny tent in the middle of the immense desert
of the Bolivian Altiplano. Their bicycles and
sleeping bags are coated with a thin layer of
ice. Muscles aching, as they did yesterday and
probably will tomorrow, they shrug off their
sleepiness as the sunrise heats up their tent.
After a simple breakfast, the researchers peek
out and feast their eyes on a stunning view of
high volcanic peaks and salt lakes. They are
pages 1–12
on the Andean Geotrail, a 9-month bike adventure through the Andes mountains, from Ushuaia in Argentinean Tierra del Fuego to Nazca,
Peru (see Figure 1). Their goal is to share this
spectacular geological setting with primary-,
secondary- and high-school students.
Teaching geology is challenging, mainly
because the spatial and temporal geological
scales are orders of magnitude larger than the
scales people are familiar with in everyday life.
It is almost impossible for untrained people to
“feel” geological concepts that involve structures tens of kilometers long and displacement
rates of only millimeters per year.
This makes geology nonintuitive and consequently a relatively unattractive scientific topic for pupils and students at school.
Even teachers can be reluctant about teaching geology. For example, in France, where
geology appears in the secondary- and highschool curriculum together with life sciences,
anecdotes from school teachers and administrators imply that many teachers are unfamiliar with geological concepts and prefer teaching biology.
A major initial challenge for a successful geological outreach project is to overcome a general lack of awareness about
Earth sciences. One solution is to bring geology to the core of a project that already elicits both fascination and curiosity. On this
simple basis, Caroline Sassier and Olivier
Galland set up an original educational project based on the human adventure of two
geologists traveling through a spectacular
geological environment: the Andes mountains. This project, called the Andean Geotrail, provided a way that participants could
share geological knowledge with the public
by allowing people to track an expedition as
it unfolds.
The Andean Geotrail
Fig. 1. (a) Route of the Andean Geotrail, with geological points mapped.The colors of the stars
correspond to features associated with natural resources (yellow), natural hazards (red), and
geological landscapes (green). (b) Caroline Sassier (right) and Olivier Galland (left) on their
bikes in the Argentinean Altiplano-Puna plateau. (c) While biking through Chile, Sassier and Galland witnessed the eruption of Chaitén volcano. (d) Rock samples from the adventure, such as
this piece of pumice erupted from Chaitén, were brought back to share with students.
During the Andean Geotrail, Sassier and
Galland cycled 8000 kilometers through the
Andean mountains starting in November
2008. After the theft of their bikes in Peru in
July 2009, they walked 400 kilometers farther
through the Peruvian Andes to complete their
journey. They traveled through breathtaking
geological sceneries, faced harsh conditions
such as the ferocious Patagonian winds, and
braved extreme cold and high altitudes in
the Altiplano plateau. Throughout, they experienced chance encounters with fascinating
people.
Eos, Vol. 92, No. 1, 4 January 2011
Choosing the Andes as the backdrop for
a geological outreach project was easy: The
Andes host a rich diversity of geological features, some of which are active. The adventure allowed Sassier and Galland to report
in situ geological features directly from the
field, making the outreach both dynamic
and interactive.
Along the route, they visited selected geological localities that illustrated three key
aspects of Earth science (see Figure 1): natural resources (oil and gas fields, mines,
and agricultural provinces); natural hazards
(volcanic and seismically active areas); and
geological landscapes. In total, they visited
23 geological localities.
In most localities, Sassier and Galland first
interviewed local geologists or local workers, who provided them with crucial background information on the geological origins
of the sites and their implications for the local
population. In localities with natural hazards,
residents were interviewed and testimonies
were collected on the communities’ peculiar
relationships with their local volcano or their
earthquake-prone terrain. All the information
collected during this investigation was subsequently reported on an Internet blog that
Sassier and Galland wrote and updated frequently during the adventure.
These blogs formed the basis of an educational project supported by the French
Ministry of National Education. During the
expedition, 17 schools (approximately 600
pupils) from primary, secondary, and high
schools in France and Norway virtually lived
the adventure through the project’s blog. For
primary schools the goal was to introduce
students to the Earth and its resources and
activities. For secondary and high schools,
where geology is taught, expedition participants focused on augmenting the geological
topics already addressed in the curriculums
by providing live field observations.
The project comprised three steps.
(1) Before Geotrail, Sassier and Galland visited each classroom to present the project;
this was important in order to establish a
personal relationship between expedition
leaders and the pupils and teachers. (2) During Geotrail, teachers and students followed
the Andean Geotrail blog and selected relevant geological information to complement
their current lectures. (3) After the expedition, Sassier and Galland returned to the
classrooms to report on their geological
adventure firsthand. The Andean Geotrail
was solely a nonprofit project—those working on it collected no salary, nor were they
taking sabbatical during the expedition or
subsequent classroom visits.
Pedagogical Impact
Initial meetings with the students confirmed suspicions that students have limited
interest in geological issues. Following their
return, Sassier and Galland gauged the pedagogical impact of the Andean Geotrail project
by conducting a survey of secondary-school
(14-year-old) and high-school (18-year-old)
students. Over a sample of 154 students, 81%
(of both age groups) considered the association between science and adventure at the
heart of the project to be positive. Most notably, 78% of the younger students and 62% of
the older students followed the blog independently (i.e., outside of school), confirming
their significant interest in the project.
In terms of topics, the 134 students who
answered were most interested in natural
hazards (74% of the 14-year-olds and 22% of
the 18-year-olds). The second interest, particularly for the older students, was landscapes (5% of the younger students and
20% of the older students ranked this high).
Natural resources and tectonics were rarely
cited as interesting, except by a few of the
older students who were already engaged
in school projects on these topics. In general, the results of the survey demonstrate
that the educational project was successful,
although some coordination difficulties did
occur with teachers and students.
Tradition and Technology:
Sea Ice Science on Inuit Sleds
PAGES 1–2, 4
The Arctic is home to a circumpolar
community of native people whose culture
and traditions have enabled them to thrive
in what most would perceive as a totally
inhospitable and untenable environment.
In many ways, sea ice can be viewed as the
glue that binds these northern communities together; it is utilized in all aspects of
their daily life. Sea ice acts as highways of
the north; indeed, one can travel on these
highways with dogsleds and snowmobiles.
These travels over the frozen ocean occur
at all periods of the sea ice cycle and over
different ice types and ages. Excursions
may be hunting trips to remote regions or
social visits to nearby villages. Furthermore, hunting on the sea ice contributes to
the health, culture, and commercial income
of a community.
Over the past decade a close collaboration between scientists and the Inuit has
developed. For example, some scientific
programs have employed the Inuit to install
and manage equipment as well as to assist
in the analysis of data from dedicated sites
[e.g., Mahoney et al., 2009]. However, the
Inuit lifestyle itself, particularly its extensive
use of sleds, can potentially aid in scientific
Sharing Science Through Adventures
The Andean Geotrail was a fantastic personal experience, not only because of the
adventure itself but also because of the
involvement with and feedback from the
students. Through their enthusiasm and
numerous questions, it became apparent
that the energy spent planning and leading this atypical educational project was
warranted.
Such enthusiasm also shows that through
similar methods, the attention of the young
generation can be captured and channeled into an interest in geosciences. Project leaders hope to introduce more geological adventures to students in the future,
and they encourage others to embark on
similar approaches to turn science into an
adventure for students. So when people
ask, “Would you do this again?” the obvious
answer is, “Yes, for ourselves, but also for
the pupils, absolutely!”
More information on the Andean Geotrail and other activities from the Association Géoroute can be found at http://​w ww​
.­georouteandine​.fr/​English. A French blog
of the project is at http://​georouteandine​
.blogspot​.com.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank several institutions for their support: the Center for Physics of Geological Processes at the University
of Oslo; La Guilde Européenne du Raid; the
French Ministry of National Education; the
French Ministry of Health, Youth and Sports;
the city of Bourg-en-Bresse, France; and the
Rhône-Alpes region of France.
—CAROLINE SASSIER, Association Géoroute,
­ olliat, France; also at Department of Geosciences,
P
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; E-mail: caroline
.sassier@geo.uio.no; Olivier Galland, Association Géoroute and Center for Physics of Geological
­Processes (PGP), University of Oslo; and Karen
Mair, PGP, University of Oslo
studies. This would involve the attaching of
autonomous instrument packages directly
onto Inuit sleds (Figure 1a), so that every
time a sled is used, valuable scientific data
are collected, thus producing a growing
temporal and spatial database of key scientific variables (e.g., sea ice thickness, air
temperature, air pressure, etc.).
Such a method is not without precedent.
A similar technique, dubbed the “FerryBox,” has revolutionized the collection of
oceanographic parameters from oceangoing vessels (see http://www.ferrybox.com).
Recently, European cryospheric scientists
have begun a pilot project aimed at creating a FerryBox-type system for use on Inuit
sleds. By building such bridges with local
indigenous populations, scientists will find
new ways to address the shared challenges
of a rapidly changing Arctic climate.