Gender Equity in Stem Club From Gloucester High School Visits the Geological Sciences Department

The Gender Equity in STEM club at Gloucester High School visited Professor Sara Mana at Salem State University. This club is organizing monthly field trips with the goal of showing women in positions of leadership in science and technology-related fields to expose students to a variety of exciting career possibilities.

Professor Mana welcomed seventeen GHS students interested in the field of Geosciences and Forensic Geology. Using a photo presentation, Professor Mana told the group about her journey to become a professor of geology and talked about the many areas of study within this field.

The visit touched on three topics used to demonstrate the broad breadth of this discipline. Professor Mana introduced each topic with a brief lecture highlighting the principles of forensic geology, the key factors controlling the style of various volcanic eruptions and the dynamic and evolving nature of the Earth surface.

Following the presentation, the students took part in engaging hands-on activities. They used microscopes to compare samples of three different sands to solve a substitution crime, simulated explosive volcanic eruptions using chocolate milk in a model volcano, and used an augmented reality sandbox to explore the interaction between topography and water.