Where we are headed

This is the second of a two-part series marking the transition from Libarkin to St. John as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geoscience Education. As we write this editorial the Fall Semester has come to a close; term papers and exams have been graded, research has been presented at the fall GSA and AGU meetings, and we can take a short break to enjoy the holidays. The transition to a new academic term coincides with two transitions for the Journal of Geoscience Education: journal editorship and publisher. The purpose of JGE - that the journal is a forum for communication among scholars working on cutting-edge questions about teaching learning and cognition in the geosciences - remains unchanged and serves to guide short and long-term strategic editorial, production, and publication decisions. We envision JGE to be the venue of choice for publishing intellectually-stimulating, peer-reviewed articles relevant to the academic geoscience community. We recognize that our community is diverse and growing internationally; we welcome international colleagues who sit within geography, as well as geoscience departments. Our readership includes both NAGT members and nonmembers, geoscientists doing formal research in teaching and learning, as well as those that use JGE as a resource for improving their own teaching in ???, university, and informal education settings. JGE should be the journal that this community wants to publish in and wants to read. Towards that end, we will continue to facilitate quality and timely peer-review, and encourage new submissions of geosciences education manuscripts and commentaries, as well as ideas for theme issues. Should you have questions about manuscript submissions, or ideas for possible commentary or theme issue topics, we encourage you to contact Kristen St. John, Editor-in-Chief (jge@jmu.edu), and discuss them. Updated instructions for authors can be found both on the JGE website (http://nagt-jge.org/) and on the inside back cover of the print JGE. In addition, we propose that the geosciences education community discuss and adopt a broader definition of scholarship, as fits the importance of the term "scholar" in JGE's statement purpose. This broader definition should align with the Boyer (1990) model in which scholarship not only encompasses original research, but also embraces the value of "looking for connections, building bridges between theory and practice, and communicating one's knowledge effectively" to both students and peers (Boyer, 1990, p. 16). We believe this model of scholarship matches well with the JGE publication categories of Research, Curriculum & Instruction, and Commentary. In particular, we encourage all potential authors to consider how their contribution connects theory with practice, to the betterment of geosciences education. We also encourage contributions in geosciences education domains that go beyond the traditional K-16 classroom: for example, those that address geoscience professional development, workshops, informal education, research-driven programmatic changes, and studies of expertise. The current JGE editorial board transition occurred at several levels: as of January 1, 2012, the Editor-in-Chief for JGE is Dr. Kristen St. John. Former Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Julie Libarkin, has agreed to continue contributing to the editorial functions of JGE as an Associate Editor, and is overseeing the compilation and production of an upcoming theme issue on Global Geoscience Education, along with Associate Editor Dr. Chun- Yen Chang, of Taiwan, and Guest Associate Editor Dr. Sharon Locke, of South Africa. We welcome Dr. Dan Dickerson (Old Dominion University), former Associate Editor, as the new Editor for Curriculum and Instruction, and Drs. …