Geoscience Ambassadors Program

How does the way we think and talk about the geosciences influence who becomes a geoscientist and what geoscientists do?

How can young geoscientists use their own stories to change the geosciences?

Dominant narratives about what the geosciences are, who gets to be a geoscientist, and how one becomes a geoscientist pattern the way that young people think about the field and their place in it. Historically, these narratives have had the effect of limiting the field in terms of its size, diversity, and even the kinds of impacts geoscientists aspire to have in the world. The Geeosciences Ambassadors program is built on the idea that such limiting narratives can be countered by helping current Geosciences students articulate and share their own authentic “pathway stories” with the communities and groups which they identify. The Geosciences Ambassadors are working to re-envision the geosciences by telling real stories of change to the people that need to hear them the most.

• Geosciences Ambassadors Website

• Open Educational Resources:

  • Pathway Stories on YouTube

  • The Storytelling for Change Kit for K12 Educators

  • Materials for teaching Storytelling and Pathway Mapping

• Research

  • Ellins, K.K., Legendre, L.J., Papendieck, A.S., Clarke, J.A. (2024). Geoscience ambassadors: An extracurricular college-level program for transforming relationships to the geosciences through student-crafted stories. Journal of Geoscience Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2024.2328376

  • Papendieck, A., Ellins, K., Legendre, L., & Clarke, J. (2022). Cultivating Transformational Science Identities in a Geoscience Ambassadors Program. Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2022, Chicago. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022AGUFMED53B..11P/abstract

  • Papendieck, A., Azevedo, F. (2022). Positioning Self and Others Through Sympathizing, Empathizing, Anthropomorphizing, and Zoomorphizing: A Case Study. In C. Chinn, E. Tan, C. Chan, & Y. Kali (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences—ICLS 2022 (pp. 2142–2143). International Society of the Learning Sciences. http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15067.03365

  • Papendieck, A., Azevedo, F. S., & Clarke, J. (2022). Development of Socially and Ethically Articulate Science Identities in a Broader Impacts of Science Course. 2022 Earth Educators’ Rendezvous, Twin Cities, Minnesota.https://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2022/program/talks/thursdayA/249437.html

  • Campos, D., Clarke, J., Ellins, K. K., & Papendieck, A. (2022). Navigating through turbulence in STEM higher education: Geoscience Ambassadors personal pathway storytelling. South-Central Section - 56th Annual Meeting - 2022. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022SC-374161

  • Ellins, K. K., Papendieck, A., & Clarke, J. (2021). Geoscience Ambassadors—A change-making program that is reinventing what it means to be a geoscientist. NAGT In The Trenches, 11(1). https://nagt.org/nagt/publications/trenches/v11-n1/geoscience_ambassadors.html

  • Ross, C. H., Ellins, K. K., Papendieck, A., & Clarke, J. (2020, March 9). Geoscience Ambassadors Program: Mentoring Students in Geoscience within Home Communities. GSA South-Central Section - 54th Annual Meeting - 2020. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2020SC-343617

  • Ellins, K. K., Boss, S., Bear, T., Eriksson, S., & Papendieck, A. (2019). Creating a Personal Pathway Map Toward a Geoscience Career. Earth Educators’ Rendezvous 2019, Palo Alto, CA. https://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2019/program/talks/thursdayA/218463.html