The European Geosciences Union (EGU) welcomes applications for its Teacher-Scientist Pairing Scheme, which brings together school teachers and scientists to collaborate, as equal partners, on developing and teaching a lesson plan that is relevant to participating teachers and their classrooms. The pairing scheme was established in 2021 to connect scientists, teachers and their classrooms to support the teaching of scientific concepts by the lively video presence of a ‘guest’ scientist and hands-on activities that are carried out in the classroom under the guidance of the in-class teacher.

The EGU Outreach Committee is now looking to provide support to applicants interested in participating in this scheme in one of the two ways:

• Live Teacher-Scientist Pairing Session (one place available)
• Recorded Teacher-Scientist Lessons (two places available)

The live Teacher-Scientist Pairing session happens during the week of the 2024 EGU General Assembly. In advance of the General Assembly, the selected ‘participant pair’ creates a geoscience lesson plan designed to be taught in a 50-minute class period. During the General Assembly, the participating in-class teacher carries out the lesson in their classroom together with the ‘guest’ scientist who joins the classroom virtually (or in-person if possible). The teaching session is live streamed online from the teacher’s classroom to allow EGU conference participants to participate in the session.

The recorded Teacher-Scientist Lessons are short videos created by the participant pair, with support and financial assistance from the EGU Outreach Committee. The participating pair will co-develop a 50-minute lesson plan. The “guest scientist” will then record their teaching of the lesson parts in short (1-3 minutes) video segments following an approach known as paired teaching or ‘teaching duet’. The video lesson should be about 10-15 minutes in total. Alternatively, both the guest scientist and in-class teacher can choose to record the video segments together.

Applications to participate in this scheme are invited from ‘participant pairs’. Both participants in the participant pair should share some common interest in the areas of geosciences. It is not necessary that they work or have been working together in the past, or are living and/or working in the same country.

The participant pair will include:

• Participant 1: a scientist (Early Career Scientists are highly encouraged to take part) who is interested in geoscience education and outreach and wants to contribute to these fields by connecting with a school teacher.
• Participant 2: a teacher (working within primary or secondary education) who is interested in connecting with a scientist to develop and teach a geoscience lesson plan in their classroom.

The two participants in the participant pair will apply together and must confirm their partnership on their application and explain why it is a good partnership. Therefore, participant pairs must have agreed in advance about their application. If you cannot find a partner to apply with, please contact Solmaz Mohadjer.

To apply, interested participant pairs must fill in the online form by 18 March 2024. Submissions will be evaluated by members of the Outreach Committee.

If you require any additional information, please contact the EGU Outreach Committee Deputy Chair Solmaz Mohadjer.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It is a non-profit interdisciplinary learned association of scientists founded in 2002 with headquarters in Munich, Germany. The EGU publishes a number of diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organises a number of topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 18,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources.