In keeping with the mission of West Chester University, the Department seeks to strengthen its educational roles by supporting individual scholarship and creative exploration undertaken by faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, and by striving for the optimal use of student, faculty, and material resources. Within the University, we provide general education for all students and service courses for those in the School of Education. In the larger community, we serve as resource people in our respective fields for local government, schools, and industries. Within these constituencies, we further seek to contribute our unique perspectives as astronomers and geoscientists to decision-making processes. Our program is unique to the area by virtue of the recognized excellence of our teaching, the personalized attention we give to our students, the breadth and quality of our equipment base, and the flexibility and adaptability of our curricula to students with disparate backgrounds both with and without prior scientific training.

In keeping with this mission, we aspire to maintain and strengthen our roles as:

1. Broad and thorough educators in the sciences of geology and astronomy at both the undergraduate and postbaccalaureate levels.
2. Providers of training and retraining (including teacher certification) for educators in the fields of earth and space sciences, ranging from elementary and secondary education to graduate training of future faculty.
3. Contributors to scholarly advancement in the areas of basic research, application, and pedagogy within the geosciences and astronomy.
4. Leaders in the applications of advanced technologies to earth sciences, by providing students with training in the use of tools they will need to succeed in their chosen fields.
5. A leading program in environmental education, with application to students working or teaching in the environmental field.
6. Providers of expertise and facilities for use by the local business community.
7. A program with the flexibility to expand to other areas of geoscience which provide employment for our graduates in response to the unique and cyclical nature of geoscience employment opportunities.
8. Resources for state and local problems of geological and astronomical importance, bringing the unique perspective of the earth and space sciences to bear on the decision-making processes within our communities.

B.S. Geoscience

1. Students will demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to sustain a successful geoscience career (Goals 1, 4, 5, 7).
2. Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct scientific research and skills in information literacy (Goal 3).
3. Students will respond to the technical, educational, and cultural needs of the University and larger communities (Goals 6, 8).

B.S.Ed. Earth and Space Science

1. Demonstrate knowledge and skills in the content subject matter of the Earth and Space Sciences.
2. Demonstrate knowledge and skills in pedagogy to construct effective curricula and assessments that document student learning of that curricula.
3. Demonstrate knowledge and skills in science research for their continuing professional development.
4. Demonstrate knowledge and skills in developing student success in diverse learning communities within and beyond their classroom, school and community.

The program has been designed so that candidates will be able to: 

1. present Earth and space sciences as interdisciplinary endeavors that require the study of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and space, and discuss how humans relate to the environment;
2. utilize expertise in the related disciplines of biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics by applying them to problems in the field of interest;
3. discuss the impact of technologies on Earth and space sciences, with emphasis on the conservation of natural resources and the environment;
4. demonstrate the mastery of techniques on Earth and space sciences, with emphasis on the conservation of natural resources and the environment;
5. use the computer as a science teaching tool to facilitate student learning;
6. acquaint students with the nature and scope of science and technology-related careers open to individuals of varying aptitudes and interests;
7. apply skills of observation, data collection, analysis, pattern recognition, prediction, and scientific reasoning to design and conduct experiments and models, solve technological problems, and explain results;
8. utilize the tools needed for research and scholarship in fields of interest; and
9. effectively communicate both orally and in writing.