The Shell Undergraduate Recruitment and Geoscience Education (SURGE) Program was established to help local high school science teachers incorporate geology into their classrooms by offering resources and training. This 3-day workshop provides high school bilogy teachers with:

• Expanded knowledge in geosciences and its application to biology
• Confidence in incorporating geosciences in their classes
• Inquiry based lesson plans
• Materials, such as fossil teeth, to make geosciences engaging and illustrate how scientists work
• Methods for overcoming geoscience misconceptions (e.g., evolution in the fossil record)
• Exposure to data and techniques used by geoscientists
• A field experience to provide a visual/conceptual framework for geoscience education

This pastJune, Dr. Jeff Nunn led the first 3-day SURGE workshop. This workshop consisted of classroom lessons on geologic time, fossils, evolution, and geochemical cycles, as well as, a field trip to a fossil site near Jackson, MS. Teachers were given a collection of shark teeth, rock samples, and tree rings to be used in teaching a variety of lesson plans. There are plans to hold two workshops in 2008, one in Baton Rouge and one in North Louisiana.