Report on IESO
Mike Stephenson 26/8/26
DDE and GeoGPT were part of the International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) which is organised by the International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO https://www.igeoscied.org/). The first IESO took place in Daegu, South Korea, in 2007. Since then, it has been held annually, drawing over 200 students from more than 40 countries and regions each year.
This one, IESO 2026, was held from August 20-27, 2026: IESO 2026 | Ieso-2026
Students at IESO
The venue was Science Campus, University of Turin (Via Valperga Caluso / Via Pietro Giuria).
Participants: ~35 national teams of school children 15-17 years old, each composed of 4 students and 2 mentors.
The idea is to set high school students various tasks where they compete with other teams (hence Olympiad).
The Olympiad involved:
1. Written Tests for the school students — 4 theoretical exams covering geology, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography, terrestrial astronomy and environmental sciences.
2. Practical Tests — 4 laboratory-based exams using scientific equipment at the University of Turin Departments of Earth Sciences, Physics and Chemistry.
3. ITFI (International Team Field Investigation) — Field investigation in mixed international teams across 5 geological sites.
4. ESP (Earth Science Project) — Collaborative research project on Alpine glaciers.
DDE and GeoGPT were asked to present to teachers in person and online. We were invited by IESO Chair Dr Susanna Ochhipinti because she felt that some of the features of DDE and GeoGOT could be used by teachers across the world.
I presented two items on behalf of DDE and GeoGPT.
The first was a general introduction to the two platforms. Again there were technical problems so I couldn’t present the platforms in their best light.
Attendance of teachers at the morning demonstration of GeoGPT and DDE
Morning demonstration consisted of
Introduction to DDE Platform and GeoGPT
1. How to access DDE Platform and GeoGPT
2. Registering with DDE Platform and GeoGPT
3. Quick tour of the two platforms to illustrate range of capability
4. GeoGPT chatbot
a. Using the chatbot
b. Exercise: Ask the chatbot ‘Can you suggest places for a geology fieldtrip in the Turin area’. Substitute your town or city. Compare the result with your own knowledge.
c. Writing good prompts to get the best answers
5. GeoGPT ‘My Library’
a. What GeoGPT ‘My Library’ does and why it’s useful
b. Demonstration of ‘My Library’
c. Exercise: Build your own library of resource
6. Tour and demonstration of some simple GeoGPT agents
a. What is an agent?
b. Demonstration of agents
c. Exercise: use the Brachiopod Taxonomy Assistant to give a name for a specimen which is described thus: ‘smooth, biconvex, egg‑shaped shell with a short beak and a large circular pedicle foramen’.
7. DDE Earth Explorer: creating useful videos and images
a. Tour of palaeogeography, tectonics, and paleoclimate in DDE Earth Explorer
b. Exercise: create an animation of series of diagrams showing the formation of the Red Sea from the Oligocene onward
c. Tour of the DDE Outcrop 3D suite
8. How to view geological maps
a. Make a geological map of the Atlantic Ocean
There were some good questions and generally good reactions from teachers. One problem that was revealed a by a German high school teacher was that German teachers are not allowed to instruct students to use particular types of software at school.
Afternoon exercise
In the afternoon I went through a possible exercise for school students using DDE Outcrop 3D model of Telheiro, southwest Portugal. I presented the exercise to around 50 high school teachers and around 20 online.
Mike Stephenson presenting the Telheiro exercise to high school teachers at IESO
I developed the exercise in collaboration with IESO 2026 Chair Dr Susanna Ochhipinti.
The exercise is provided below
Measuring and describing
Familiarise yourself with the 3D outcrop model; practise zooming and out and rotating the view. Have a go at using the tools.
Use the 3D outcrop model tools (bottom left and top right) to:
Measure the approximate height and width of the cliff in the centre of the image.
Measure the approximate area of the cliff and its orientation (north-south; east-west?)
Use the cross section tool to draw a cross section of the cliff from the top to the edge of the sea in the centre of the cliff
Describe the colours of the rock types shown in the 3D outcrop model. Label the coloured areas on the B&W picture below.
Measure the dip and strike of the inclined and folded beds in the 5 boxes below using the dip/strike tool. You may need to rotate the 3D outcrop model and zoon in to get a good view of the inclined surfaces. Write the dips and strikes on the picture below close to the boxes.
Interpretation
What is the main dividing line between the two different sets of layers in the 3D outcrop model?
Label the dividing line on this image:
What is the origin of this dividing line? Give your evidence for this conclusion. Your evidence might include
Differences in dip and strike, differences in colour of the rock layers; differences in structure across the dividing line.
Label your main observations and interpretation on the picture above.
Reaction of teachers to the exercise and 3D model capability
Overall the 3D models of DDE were received extremely positive and teachers felt that they could be used for numerous school activities, including virtual fields trips, fieldtrip logic and preparation, analysis of simple geological structures, analysis of events such as landslides, studies of fossils and past ancient environments, geomorphology.
Many teachers said that they would be pleased to use it.
The main criticism was that the ‘find’ function was not easy to use for students, for example searching for the phrase cross bedding - even though it appears in descriptions in the text of certain models, doesn’t find the models. The system is not very ‘friendly’ to school students.