Leading up to Earth Science Week 2016, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to invite teams of educators and students to enter its new "One Shared Place" contest. Each team will submit a 30- to 90-second original video informing viewers about an outdoor place that is special in terms of geoheritage (natural features, settings, and resources formed over vast periods) and geoscience (the study of Earth systems).

The American Geosciences Institute's Center for Geoscience and Society is pleased to release two reports concerning geosciences education in the United States. The reports were developed in response to the need for comprehensive monitoring of the U.S. educational system in terms of the instruction of geoscience content and participation in geoscience-related learning experiences. The reports are based on data pertaining to science education collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The Critical Issues Research Database seeks to connect end-users to the wealth of information available on issues at the intersection of geoscience and society such as the occurrence of natural resources, hazard mitigation and pollution risks.

The aim of this web-based survey is to understand how the decision-making community, geoscience community, and the public define the term "critical issue," as well as which critical issues are of top concern to each community. The survey is deliberately short, broad, and unstructured in order to capture a wide range of responses.

The Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding at the American Geosciences Institute, has released a landmark report on the status of Earth Science education in U.S. middle and high schools, describing in detail significant gaps between identified priorities and lagging practice. The report, "Earth and Space Sciences Education in U.S. Secondary Schools: Key Indicators and Trends," offers baseline data on indicators of the subject's status since the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in April 2013. Establishing clear aims for the subject, the NGSS state that the Earth and Space Sciences should have equal status with the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Technology, and Engineering.

A national center focused on the geosciences launches today as the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date online clearinghouse for Earth and space science information and educational resources, ranging from high school curricula and classroom activities to video collections, career resources, and national research reports. The first such clearinghouse of its scope and type, the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding's searchable web site (www.geocntr.org) provides the geoscience community, schools, and the general public with an extensive collection of resources and research from reliable science and education organizations.