The Minerals Education Coalition (MEC) of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Foundation (SMEF) is partnering with the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) to support Earth Science Week 2014. MEC’s new poster “Hard Rock and the Rolling Stones: Aggregates” and the “Aggregates Matter” activity calendar page are part of AGI’s Earth Science Week Toolkit.
The back of MEC’s aggregates poster has four activity pages that teachers can use in their classrooms. 16,000 packets are available to teachers at www.EarthSciWeek.org. Earth Science Week is Oct. 12-18, 2014, and will celebrate the theme “Earth’s Connected Systems.”
“MEC is proud to participate in the annual Earth Science Week campaign to reach teachers and students across the nation and internationally,”said SME Executive Director David L. Kanagy. “By partnering with AGI, we are able to reach a broad audience to further our goal of creating an enlightened and supportive public that appreciates the importance of mining and minerals to their daily lives.”
Since 1998, AGI has organized this international event to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the Earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. SME and MEC are proud to partner with AGI in promoting Earth Science Week objectives:
- To engage students in discovering the Earth sciences.
- To remind people that Earth science is all around us.
- To encourage Earth stewardship through understanding.
- To motivate geoscientists to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about the Earth.
As the premier educational program of the SMEF, the MEC develops and distributes K-12 education and public outreach materials promoting an awareness and appreciation of the mining and minerals industries. These materials will be featured along with other sponsors and program partners including the U.S. Geological Survey, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation, U.S. National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
After October 1, two more educational items from the MEC will be available to teachers for Earth Science Week. Teachers can use the Aggregates Teacher Guide at www.MineralsEducationCoalition.org/k-12-education to get the most out of all of MEC’s aggregates-related materials.
The teacher guide will include answer keys and extension activity ideas for the MEC poster and related AGI calendar page, as well as links to other MEC resources and additional aggregates-related links. MEC will also offer an instructional video at www.earthsciweek.org/eswdenver showing teachers how to get the most out of all of MEC’s online resources.
For more information, visit www.MineralsEducationCoalition.org.