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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In the 1990s, the field of geoethics started its development, associated with a set of
ethical principles that regulate the profession of geologists in their relationship with society and
with nature. Given the importance of this field, but also its youth, 36 higher education students
attending aMaster’s ofGeology course were surveyed (20were from an educational branch and 16
were from a scientific branch). The questionnaire applied to them aimed to achieve the following
goals: (a) to identify the knowledge of the respondents about this new field and to verify their
position about the inclusion of geoethics in the curriculum, (b) to understand how they consider the
importance of geological knowledge in political decisions and (c) to investigate possible differences
in the thinking of the respondents, given the specificities of their educational branches. The
study concluded that the field of geoethics is unknown to the majority of the respondents.
However, the recognition of its importance was also verified, after getting familiar with the
definition of the concept, as well as the need for its inclusion in formal education. The respondents
also considered relevant the creation of a deontological code that could provide geologists with
ethical guidance. They also considered that geology should influence political decisions, but they
did not consistently recognise the limits of its influence, which seems to reveal the need of a deeper
understanding of the specific nature of geological knowledge when compared with other sciences.
Almost all the results were similar in both groups, but the students from the educational branch
offered more elaborate answers about the issues present in the questionnaire.
Description
Keywords
Geoethics Deontological code for geologists Geology and society Geoethics and formal education
Citation
Almeida, A., Vasconcelos, C. (2015) Master’s Students Knowledge and Perception of Its Importance. Res Sci Educ 45, 889–906 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-014-9449-3
Publisher
Springer