Geology in the Spanish education system: The incredible shrinking curriculum

: The Spanish education system is undergoing a profound transformation due to the implementation of a new education law. In this work, we will make a comparison between the old and new educational laws about the content related to Geology in primary education. Moreover, the Spanish curriculum will be compared to the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS), since this is the reference curriculum used by the largest American research institutions (NASA, USGS, NPS, Universities, ...). This study will analyze the specific curriculum that will be implemented in the Canary Islands (Spain). In this sense, we will pay special attention to the treatment of the volcanic phenomenon and the use of the Canarian geological resources. The Geology of the XXI century is characterized by its interdisciplinarity, where subjects such as Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Ethics or Engineering play a fundamental role. Is this taken into account in the new education law? Finally, we will offer a series of didactical tips to give students and teachers of primary education a broader, engaging and motivating vision of Geology that awakens their curiosity towards Earth Sciences.

Keywords: Geology; Primary Education; Curriculum

Introduction
We study geology to learn about the world around us, like any other science. Geology looks at some of the key issues in modern world, including global change, energy sources and sustainability, human impact on the environment, water management, mineral resources and natural hazards. Geology stands behind fundamental research on how to switch to renewable energies, how to reduce our carbon emissions and their effects of global warming and how to evaluate the risks related to water pollutions, to properties of the soils, landslides, seismicity, volcanic activity, … The exploration of the Solar System and the search for habitable planets orbiting other stars are exciting research fields where geology plays a fundamental role. However, the importance of geology, from the professional and academic perspectives, in modern society is not reflected in the educational curriculum of most countries [1][2][3][4].
Early exposure to career alternatives is fundamental for students to make informed decisions about their future [2]. However, this is not the case in geology and hence, we must ensure that Earth science is visible in the curriculum. In general, geology is disorderly integrated into different subjects, like geography, social sciences, biology or chemistry, where teachers feel uncomfortable teaching geological contents and procedures. This lead to a substantial reduction in the number of students interested in academic careers in Earth sciences and hence, the number of prospective geology teachers declines. This vicious circle seems to grow in time.
In the Spanish case [3,5], the geological contents in secondary education represent less than 30% of the content related to biology and life sciences. Moreover, geology has a low ponderation in the university access exams and hence, students do not take it in high school. This trend is also seen in other countries [1,2].
In this work, we are going to analyze the contents related to geology in primary education in Spain, in particular in the Canary Islands, where a major change in the education system is taking place, and in the USA, a country that hosts some of the most prestigious research institutions devoted to Earth sciences (NASA, United States Geological Survey, National Parks Service, top Universities, ...). Finally, we will propose a series of didactical tips to give a broader, engaging and motivating vision of geology, in Primary educations, that awakens their curiosity towards Earth sciences.

A review of the American and Spanish geological standards in Primary education
The science content standards for pre-university students in the USA are contained within The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) [6]. These research-based standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. These standards facilitate the design of classroom learning experiences that stimulate students' interests in science and prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship.
As it is defined in [6], there are three distinct and equally important dimensions to learning science. These dimensions are combined to form each standard-or performance expectation-and each dimension works with the other two to help students build a cohesive understanding of science over time. These dimensions are: Crosscuttings concepts, Science and Engineering Practices and finally, Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs).
Crosscutting Concepts help students explore connections across the four domains of science, including Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering Design. Among these concepts, we could find "cause and effect", "patterns", "energy and matter" or "stability and change". These concepts can help students develop a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world around them. Science and Engineering Practices describe what scientists do to investigate the natural world and what engineers do (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). to design and build systems. Some of these practices are "Engaging in arguments with evidence", "developing and using models" or "analyzing and interpreting data", among others. Finally, the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) are the key ideas in science that have broad importance within or across multiple science or engineering disciplines. These core ideas are grouped into the following four domains: Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering. Some of these ideas in the domain of Earth and Space Science are "The history of planet Earth", "Earth materials and systems" or "Human impact on Earth systems", among others.
In the new (starting in 2022) Spanish pre-university educational system [7], called LOMLOE, and the adaptation to the curriculum of the Canary Islands [8], the core standards for each level and subject are composed of a series of contents, skills and attitudes that are called "basic knowledge". The level of performance in each area that is achieved through the work with this basic knowledge is defined by specific competences. As a quantifiable reference to indicate this level of performance, the specific competences are accompanied by evaluation criteria. The acquisition of specific competences of all areas define the "exit profile for each educational level" of the students; in other words, if the students complete the "exit profile", they have developed a series of key competences, defined in the European educational framework. In this sense, the Spanish educational system have shifted to a competences-based framework. The LOMLOE replaces the former pre-university educational law, the LOMCE [9] and the adaptation to the curriculum of the Canary Islands [10]. From a curricular point of view, the LOMLOE fully implements the competences-based methodology that was started by the LOMCE.
Let us explore how the contents related to geology are organized within the three different curricula for primary education, namely NGSS, LOMCE and LOMLOE. In general, NGSS offers the best organization of the science curriculum, under the three dimensions to learning science, namely Crosscuttings concepts, Science and Engineering Practices and finally, Disciplinary Core Ideas. This structure makes easier for teachers to implement didactical activities with a strong relation to the ideas and processes of science. The two Spanish curricula for Primary education, at least in science, lack of a global structure and order. It is basically a collection of ideas that teachers should connect to build a competences-based teaching-learning process. However, and surprisingly, when we look carefully to those parts of the three curricula where geological content and processes are explicit (see figures 1, 2 and 3), they look very similar. Although primary school is divided into six years, there is no clear progression in the ideas and concepts that are taught. Within the three curricula, rocks and minerals, the interpretation of reliefs, the effect of water on landscapes, the use of maps, natural resources, sustainability and global changes are randomly distributed along the six years period. There are not clues on how to make connections to other areas, like physics, chemistry, maths, … In the case of LOMCE, all the contents directly related to geology are found in the social sciences curriculum (under the section The world where we live), whereas in the LOMLOE curriculum, the geological content is found in both the social sciences (under the section Societies and territories) and natural sciences (under the section Scientific culture) curricula.
There is a significant difference between the American and the Spanish geological standards: the Spanish curriculum talks about identification and description, whereas the American curriculum introduces the idea of the explanation after the description. It is an important difference, since the idea of geology in the Spanish primary education curriculum looks closer to geography than to present day geology.

A proposal to teach geology in Primary education in Spain
After the revision of the primary education curriculum for both the present day LOMLOE and the former LOMCE, we come to the conclusion that the geological content and procedures are closer to geography than to an experimental science. Moreover, the contents are not structured nor ordered throughout the six years of primary education. In an attempt to solve these problems, we propose to use the methodology of the Big Ideas in Science [11]. This consist in implementing all didactical activities around a central idea.
In the case of geology, this is the Big Idea: "The composition of the Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape the Earth's surface and its climate. Radiation from the Sun heats the Earth's surface and causes convection currents in the air and oceans, creating climates. Below the surface heat from the Earth's interior causes movement in the molten rock. This in turn leads to movement of the plates which form the Earth's crust, creating volcanoes and earthquakes. The solid surface is constantly changing through the formation and weathering of rocks." The implementation and translation of this Big Idea into the primary school curriculum exceed the objective of this work. However, we propose the following general strategy: the interactions between matter and energy work on different spatial and temporal scales and geological phenomena might be understood as an example of these interactions. In this sense, we have designed a general scheme (see Fig. 4) to explain the main properties of matter and energy. This scheme is intended to serve as a reference for teachers to design lessons and activities related to the scientific areas of physics, chemistry and geology. For instance, if a teacher is designing an activity about gravity, the logical path presented in this scheme tells us that mass is a primordial property of matter and it is related to a force, gravity. A force exerted along a distance is known as work, that is one of the forms to transfer energy. This logical sequence might continue, connecting to other forms of energy transference or transformations.
In geology, we could follow different logical paths within this scheme, as in these examples: • Due to the temperature difference between the Earth's core and surface, there is a transference of energy in the form of heat, in particular convection. Phenomena like earthquakes, volcanic activity or plate tectonics are related to the dynamics induced by convection.
• The motion of electric charges within the Earth interior induces magnetic fields.
The Earth magnetic shield prevents that lethal forms of radiation coming from the sun hit the planet.
• The composition of rocks and/or minerals depend on the temperature and pressure (force per unit of area) of the medium hosting them.
In other words, we will design activities related to geology with the same vocabulary and logic that will be used in activities or lessons related to physics or chemistry. The scheme presented in Fig. 4 gives a framework to explain all scientific concepts that appears in the primary education curriculum through some basic ideas on matter and energy. However, it is also important to emphasize what makes geology unique. We believe students should understand that geologists observe and describe the world around us to try to understand the history behind it and all processes that took place.