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This issue of JGE showcases the wide variety of ways that we teach students in the field. Field work has long been a hallmark of geoscience. Field experiences are fun (if the weather is good) and offer unique opportunities for students to develop skills in observation, description and interpretation that lie at me heart of our science. However, as the ways we use these skills in the work environment and in research have changed, so have our approaches to field experiences. Our profession now uses a wide variety of methods to engage students in the field: field trips, field camps for students and teachers, field experiences in courses, and even virtual field trips. New technologies provide new opportunities for teaching in addition to new tools for observation. Field experiences also serve as an opportunity to bridge between scientific, community and environmental policy issues. This range of field experiences and more await the readers of this volume. In putting together this volume we were particularly interested in questions regarding the impact of field experience on students learning: What is the value added to a course of study by providing a field experience or by incorporating field data? What are the impacts on student learning? How can field observations and experiences help students better understand the methods and results of geoscience research? What is the relation of learning in the field to learning in the classroom? We thank the authors for their attention to providing data evaluating their methods and programs and discussing the impact on students. This volume is part of a series of activities by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers highlighting the role of field experiences in geoscience teaching and professional development. Many of the papers were first presented at an Illustrated Community Discussion held at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America (http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM/finalprogram/session_12950.htm) Posters from this session can be found at http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/field_experiences/index.html. More examples of field labs can be found on the NAGT sponsored website: Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience http://serc.carleton.edu/ introgeo/ field_lab/ index.html. We would like to thank all of the people involved in creating this volume including the authors for their creative work, the reviewers for their careful and timely responses, and the JGE Editor, Carl Drummond for his patience, encouragement, and effective management. We hope that this volume inspires many of you to try new ideas for teaching in the field and that you too will pay particular attention to documenting the impact of these experiences on your students. The Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE) is currently soliciting papers for a special theme issue on research and programs dedicated to broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in the Earth and space sciences. This special issue of JGE is being jointly published by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and the American Geophysical Union and seeks to showcase the best practices, programs, and lessons learned from efforts to attract and retain minority students in the geosciences. The edition is intended for distribution to Heads and Chairs of geoscience departments around the country, and distribution to program managers at major funding agencies as well as Education and Public Outreach leads at research institutions or state and Federal agencies. …
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