More than 15 Years of Geoscience Information for Teachers (GIFT) Workshops of the European Geoscience Union General Assembly
Authors: Arnold Eve , Barnikel Friedrich , Berenguer Jean Luc , Cifelli Francesca , Curry Gordon , Funiciello Francesca , Gravina Teresita , King Chair Christopher , Kourtidis Konstantinos , Laj Carlo , Macko Stephen A. , Pereira Helder , Schwarz Annegret , Smith Phil , Summesberger Herbert 
Published: March 2020

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;GIFT workshops are a two-and-a-half-day teacher enhancement workshops&lt;br /&gt;organized by the EGU Committee on Education and held in conjunction with&lt;br /&gt;the EGU annual General Assembly. The program of each workshop focuses on&lt;br /&gt;a different general theme each year. Past themes have included, for&lt;br /&gt;example, &amp;#8220;Major Events that Shaped the Earth&amp;#8221;, &amp;#8220;Mineral Resources&amp;#8221;, &amp;#8220;Our&lt;br /&gt;changing Planet&amp;#8221;, &amp;#8220;Natural Hazards&amp;#8221;, &amp;#8220;Water&amp;#8221;, and &amp;#8220;Evolution and&lt;br /&gt;Biodiversity&amp;#8221;. These workshops combine scientific presentations on&lt;br /&gt;current research in the Earth and Space Sciences, given by prominent&lt;br /&gt;scientists attending EGU General Assemblies, with hands-on,&lt;br /&gt;inquiry-based activities that can be used by the teachers in their&lt;br /&gt;classrooms to explain related scientific principles or topics.&lt;br /&gt;Participating teachers are also invited to present their own classroom&lt;br /&gt;activities to their colleagues, even when not directly related to the&lt;br /&gt;current program.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The main objective of these workshops is to communicate first-hand&lt;br /&gt;scientific information to teachers in primary and secondary schools,&lt;br /&gt;significantly shortening the time between discovery and textbook. The&lt;br /&gt;GIFT workshop provides the teachers with materials that can be directly&lt;br /&gt;incorporated into their classroom, as well as those of their colleagues&lt;br /&gt;at home institutions. In addition, the full immersion of science&lt;br /&gt;teachers in a truly scientific context (EGU General Assemblies) and the&lt;br /&gt;direct contact with leading geoscientists stimulates curiosity&lt;br /&gt;towards research that the teachers can transmit to their pupils.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition to their scientific content, the GIFT workshops are of high&lt;br /&gt;societal value. The value of bringing teachers from many nations&lt;br /&gt;together includes the potential for networking and collaborations, the&lt;br /&gt;sharing of experiences and an awareness of science education as it is&lt;br /&gt;presented in other countries.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since 2003, the EGU GIFT workshops have brought together more than 800&lt;br /&gt;teachers from more than 25 nations. At all previous EGU GIFT workshops&lt;br /&gt;teachers mingled with others from outside their own country and&lt;br /&gt;informally interacted with the scientists, providing a venue for rich&lt;br /&gt;dialogue for all participants. The dialogues often included ideas about&lt;br /&gt;learning, presentation of science content and curriculum.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Programs and presentations of past GIFT workshops, with some available&lt;br /&gt;with Web streaming, are at: &lt;a href=&quot;https://ebox.su.se/owa/redir.aspx?REF=wUmuy82JpKRPqgALv1dUsABIdd2VKoCsVErhzDSXsrgzBnvUbITXCAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5lZ3UuZXUvZWR1Y2F0aW9uL2dpZnQvd29ya3Nob3BzLw..&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;https://www.egu.eu/education/gift/workshops/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;