Geoscience Education Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science

Abstract

Practitioners and researchers in geoscience education embrace collaboration applying ICON (Integrated, Coordinated, Open science, and Networked) principles and approaches ICON principles and approaches have been used to create and share large collections of educational resources, to move forward collective priorities, and to foster peer-learning among educators. These strategies can also support the advancement of coproduction between geoscientists and diverse communities. For this reason, many authors from the geoscience education community have co-created three commentaries on the use and future of ICON in geoscience education. We envision that sharing our expertise with ICON practice will be useful to other geoscience communities seeking to strengthen collaboration. Geoscience education brings substantial expertise in social science research and its application to building individual and collective capacity to address earth sustainability and equity issues at local to global scales The geoscience education community has expanded its own ICON capacity through access to and use of shared resources and research findings, enhancing data sharing and publication, and leadership development. We prioritize continued use of ICON principles to develop effective and inclusive communities that increase equity in geoscience education and beyond, support leadership and full participation of systemically non-dominant groups and enable global discussions and collaborations.

Integrated, Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) Science to Advance the Geosciences: Introduction and Synthesis of a Special Collection of Commentary Articles

“…For example, they use web infrastructure to share teaching resources and literacy principles. They further align their “Networked” principles by pairing community visioning and co‐creation (e.g., geoscience research frameworks) with network building activities that engage a range of communities (Fortner et al., 2022).…”

“…For example, the Education article discussed how that community has actively expanded ICON capacity through access to and use of shared resources and research findings, enhancing data sharing and publication, and developing leadership. This has led to greater capacity to address environmental and resource issues in just ways, and support equity and inclusion needed for a diverse geoscience workforce (Fortner et al., 2022). Likewise, the Biogeosciences commentary points out efforts like the U.S. National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research program supports integrated, coordinated, and open science to address ecological challenges along with networking opportunities needed to understand needs across collaborators to enhance research development (Dwivedi et al., 2021).…”