Workshop Overview
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HideWorkshop goals and format
- Grand challenges, leading edge ideas, and frontiers: Participants will develop strategies for effectively teaching these ideas in undergraduate courses for majors and will benefit from lists developed before the workshop by others, including participants of the Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum in June at Williams College. To set the stage, our workshop will kick off with a keynote address on the frontiers and grand challenges in tectonics.
- Integrating aspects of all three disciplines into courses for majors: Many departments offer courses in structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics. How can we better integrate what is taught in these courses? What case studies in geophysics and tectonics could be used effectively in a structural geology course? How about interesting problems in structural geology that could be tackled in a geophysics course? What are some good case studies from exploration geophysics that would enhance a tectonics course? Other departments teach a required course in structural geology but either don't require or do not have courses in geophysics and tectonics. What is the ideal blend of structure, tectonics, and geophysics in a structural geology course? Participants will engage in discussion, brainstorming, and strategy development to address these questions.
- Effective and innovative ways to teach structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics: The workshop will showcase outstanding strategies that participants use for teaching these three disciplines, and all participants will submit assignments and activities for actively engaging students in the classroom or for providing effective and innovative lab or field experiences. Oral and poster presentations by workshop participants will be based on submitted activities and assignments.
- Reviewed online resource collection: All participants will review at least two activities submitted by fellow participants to this workshop. In addition, a separate working group will review the existing collection in structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics prior to the workshop (see Additional opportunities below).
- GPS, GIS, and Google Earth: Participants at the workshop will discuss ideas for assignments and activities that effectively use GPS, GIS, and Google Earth for teaching structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics. These ideas will be used in a writing workshop to be held in August that will focus on developing a resource collection for effective assignments using GPS, GIS, and Google Earth for these courses (see Additional opportunities below).
- Email list: an email list for workshop participants will promote discussion before and after the workshop.
Dates
The first workshop event took place at 7 pm on Sunday, July 15, and the last at dinner on Thursday, July 19. An optional field trip took place on Sunday, July 15 before the workshops began.Expectations
Workshop participants must:
- Participate in all workshop sessions, as well as pre- and post-workshop activities.
- Submit at least two activities or assignments for actively
engaging students in the classroom or for providing effective and
innovative lab or field experiences.
- Give an oral presentation (if invited) or present a poster based on one of your submissions.
- Review at least two activities submitted by other participants in the workshop.
Connections with the 2012 Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum
Williams College will host the second Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum from June 14-16, 2012. While the Forum and the Cutting Edge
workshop will have different emphases, the two workshops will be
connected in a number of ways. First, participants in the Forum, which
will have a primary focus on research, will establish the list of
frontiers, grand challenges, and leading edge ideas that will underpin
some of the discussions in our workshop, which will have a primary focus
on teaching. Second, our workshop activities review committee (see
Additional opportunities below) will meet at Williams just before the Forum begins.Costs and logistics
Our National Science Foundation grant provides funding for some of the operational costs of this workshop. To be supported by these funds, a participant must be either a US citizen, a permanent resident, or in the employ of a US institution. If you don't meet these requirements and are interested in participating in this workshop at your own expense, please contact the workshop conveners.
Workshop registration fee: The registration fee is $150 and
will include most meals but not lodging. The optional field trip on July
15 will cost $50, which will cover transportation and meals.
Location and facilities: The workshop will be held at University of Tennessee , which is located in
Knoxville.
Travel, lodging. Participants or their home institutions must cover lodging plus travel to and from the workshop. We will offer a low-cost option to stay in the dorms at UTenn. Alternatively, participants may make their own lodging arrangements at a local hotel, where we will hold a block of rooms.
Participants must arrive in Knoxville in time for the first workshop
event at 7 pm on Sunday, July 15. The workshop will be over on Thursday
evening, July 19, and participants will return home on Friday, July 20.
If you wish to take part in the optional field trip on Sunday, July 15,
you must arrive in Knoxville on Saturday, July 14.
The deadline to apply for travel stipends has passed.
Application and selection criteria
Applicants for this workshop must have a faculty position at a two-
or four-year college or university and either teach a course in
structural geology, geophysics, or tectonics or have expertise in one of
these three disciplines plus experience in integrating the discipline
in a significant way into courses in the curriculum above the
introductory level. We welcome applications from all academic ranks. The
workshop is limited to 80 participants, and the final list of
participants will be established with the goal of assembling a group
representing a wide range of experiences, educational environments, and
specialties. The application deadline has passed for this event.
Additional opportunities
- A working group to to review structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics activities and assignments in the Cutting Edge collection.The
working group will meet June 12-13 at Williams College (right before
the Structural Geology and Tectonics Forum). We will pay travel to and
from Williams College, plus lodging and meals for the two days that the
working group meets and a modest stipend once the collection review is
completed. The application deadline has passed.
- A writing workshop to develop web resources for effectively using GIS, remote sensing, and Google Earth for teaching structural geology, geophysics, and tectonics. The writing workshop will be held at Hamilton College from August 15-17, 2012. We will pay travel to and from Hamilton College, plus lodging, meals, and a modest stipend once the web resource collection is completed.