%A Kimberly Bailey %J Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science %T The Fundamental Building Blocks Necessary to Educate Future Decision Makers in Marcellus & Utica Shale Gas %X While geologists have attempted to educate people within the Appalachian area of the poten-tially world changing opportunity to produce clean natural American gas; biologists, naturalists, and environmentalists are heeding warning of the long-lasting negative impact for the area. The current status, as a newly discovered gas re-gion, has companies from around the world offering policy-makers and regulators the promise of economic and fi nancial gain, yet government offi cials and the general public lack the knowledge to make informed decisions. This presentation will be a direct result of a prepared bibliography pointing to the fundamental building blocks that our decision makers of tomorrow will need to make educated choices about the fu-ture of Marcellus and Utica Shale Gas. The goal of this pre-sentation is to frame the essential content knowledge areas so educators have a basic framework to incorporate discipline specifi c material into the curriculum so individuals affected will possess the appropriate tools and knowledge to make in-formed decisions on the future of our region. %P 70 - 115 %V 87(2) %D 2013 %C Penn State University %I Penn State University Press %L pittir40297