Friday Headlines is something I do in my introductory geology course to make Fridays more interesting and to keep the topic of the course relevant to the students. I put together a short PowerPoint presentation (10 minutes max) and tell them about two or three events in the geological sciences that have happened in the last week.
These events can be global happenings, like an earthquake or volcanic eruption; they could be the interesting findings of a freshly-published paper; or they could be some grand new discovery from NASA, like ice on Mercury or organic material on Mars. I’ve talked about global warming, peak oil, the arrest of geoscientists for incorrectly predicting earthquakes, and the Anthropocene.
What ever I choose, it is something interesting to the general public (thus, my students) and relevant to the geological sciences. My goal is to show students that things happen in the geosciences all the time, so that they understand that what I’m teaching them is actually useful in the real world.
Friday Headlines also make coming to class on Friday a bit more interesting. Students seem to like it for the change, as do I. A standard lecture every day can be pretty dull, even for the instructor.
I’ve enjoyed doing Friday Headlines during the fall semester for the last three years now. I’ve decided to take the concept a bit further and make it a recurring post in my blog. It’ll ensure at least one blog post per week (with the only possible exception being during the field season when I might not be near a computer), and should help me and my followers stay on top what’s happening in the geosciences and remember why geosciences matter.
Tomorrow I’ll post my inaugural Friday Headines article. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do!
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist 