Workshop Program
Saturday, March 8
9:00-5:00 field trip to Manhattan
- Participants eat breakfast at Holiday Inn before the field trip.
- Field trip departs from Holiday Inn Express at 9 am; travel will be by New York City Subway.
- Itinerary will be weather-dependent. If the weather is good, the field trip will be a walking tour of Manhattan geology, building stone, building history, led by Wayne Powell.
- If the weather is mediocre or poor, we will spend at least part of the day at the American Museum of Natural History.
6:00-7:00 Dinner for all participants at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (BCUE)
7:00-7:30 Welcome and introductions
7:30-9:00 Panel presentation and discussion
Panel on Unexpected Connections in Urban Geoscience and Their Role in Teaching Urban Students.
- Haitian Culture and Urban Mercury Contamination (Wayne Powell, Brooklyn College, CUNY)
- Learning Geoscience to Add a Level of Realism to Art (PowerPoint 2.1MB Mar9 08) (Gregory Frux, Artist in Residence at Death Valley National Park)
- Related website: Gregory Frux's art and adventures: photo galleries of Greg's artwork, including from several artist-in-residence programs at national parks.
- The Story in Bricks (PowerPoint 13.8MB Mar9 08) (Allan Gilbert, geoarchaeologist at Fordham University)
Discussion: other examples of unexpected connections.
Sunday, March 9
7:00-8:00 Breakfast at Holiday Inn Express
8:00-8:30 Plenary session at Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
8:30-10:00 Panel presentation and discussion
Panel on Engaging and Motivating Urban Students: Panelists will give a short presentation (10 minutes each) on what they have done, what transportable lessons they have learned, what implications can be drawn more generally about what works and what doesn't to attract/motivate urban students, and what challenges they see. The following people will present catalyst ideas that go beyond "making topics relevant".
- Surveys of urban students' experiences with the natural world and their preferred experiences and activities (Acrobat (PDF) 3.1MB Mar9 08) (Matthew d'Alessio, El Cerrito High School)
- Changing student attitudes about science and their confidence in understanding real-world connections (PowerPoint 4.6MB Mar9 08) (Annia Fayon, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
- Related website: Student Attitudes About Earth Sciences Survey (The survey designers would like experts to complete the survey, too.)
- The value of developing a geoscience course on a specific urban issue (Acrobat (PDF) 231kB Mar9 08) (Solomon Isiorho, Indiana-Purdue University, Ft. Wayne)
- Developing an urban-focused environmental science curriculum (PowerPoint 241kB Mar9 08) (William Montgomery, New Jersey City University)
Following the panel presentations, participants will have time for individual thought and work after the panel, with a focus on integrating what they learned from the pre-workshop assignment on motivation and engagement with ideas that they learned from the panel and their own previous experiences in motivating urban students.
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 Concurrent participant presentations
The overall focus for these presentations is What works in an urban setting with urban students.This time block is divided into three sets of concurrent presentations. You may go to any one in each time block. Presenters will each speak for 10-12 minutes in order to allow time for discussion and for participants to consider how to adapt the ideas for their own students.
10:30-10:55 Set 1
1b Urban Environmental Excursions: field trips focused on local environmental themes (Acrobat (PDF) 1.5MB Mar9 08) (Lawrence Lemke, Wayne State University)
1c Relating water issues to students' lives and to local history and prehistory (PowerPoint 2MB Mar9 08) (Laura Serpa, University of Texas at El Paso)
11:00-11:25 Set 2
2a Field investigations of abandoned Negro cemeteries using GPR (PowerPoint 11.8MB Mar9 08) (Alison Henning, Rice University)
2b Integrating urban geophysics projects into urban and non-urban geoscience courses (Acrobat (PDF) 270kB Mar9 08) (William Montgomery, New Jersey City University)
2c Using student-selected news articles to engage students (Leslie Davis, Austin Community College)
11:30-11:55 Set 3
3a Development of field curricula for NYC high schools and attracting high school students to geoscience (Robert Newton, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University)
- Related website: Secondary School Field Research Program
3b Self-guided field trips in geoscience instruction (Acrobat (PDF) 87kB Mar9 08) (Eryn Klosko, SUNY/Westchester Community College)
3c A systems approach and connecting current events to geoscience (Annia Fayon, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
12:00-1:30 Lunch and informal discussion/networking time
Show caption
Hide1:30-3:00 Plenary Session on The importance of urban geoscience to all geoscience students
Michael Sheridan (Director, Center for Geohazards Studies, University at Buffalo) will speak on Geohazards in Urban Environments. (Acrobat (PDF) 4.7MB Mar9 08)
- Related websites:
University at Buffalo Center for Geohazards
NOAA's Storm Ready Program and Tsunami Ready Program
In the second part of this session, participant discussion will focus on why it is important for geohazards in urban environments to be integrated into geoscience courses across the country, even those not in urban environments.
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30-5:00 Concurrent participant presentations
The overall focus for these presentations is What works in an urban setting with urban students.This time block is divided into three sets of concurrent presentations. You may go to any one in each time block. Presenters will each speak for 10-12 minutes in order to allow time for discussion and for participants to consider how to adapt the ideas for their own students.
3:30-3:55 Set 4
4a Student research projects on urban geosciences issues such as volcanic hazards, beach hazards, and urban waste (PowerPoint 6.5MB Mar9 08) (Cristina De Campos, Ludwig Maximillians University of Munich)
4bThe "city as a lab" in an urban geology course (PowerPoint 5.5MB Mar9 08) (Rebecca Boger, Brooklyn College)
4c The Geosleuth Murder Mystery as a way to engage students in understanding geoscience principles (Acrobat (PDF) 6.4MB Mar9 08) (Matthew D'Alessio, El Cerrito High School)
- Related website: Schoolyard Geology
4:00-4:25 Set 5
5a Student research projects on urban wetlands (Acrobat (PDF) 6.9MB Mar9 08) (Solomon Isiorho. Indiana-Purdue University, Ft. Wayne)
5b Student research projects on the biochemistry of roadway contaminants in urban and suburban systems (PowerPoint 6.1MB Mar9 08) (Steven Lev, Towson University)
5c Student research projects on the impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products on the environment (PowerPoint 2MB Mar9 08) (Syed Hasan, Unviersity of Missouri, Kansas City)
4:30-4:55 Set 6
6a Research on coastal erosion, flooding, and ground subsidence as useful case studies for student projects and assignments (Acrobat (PDF) 6.4MB Mar9 08) (William Dupre, University of Houston)
6b The relevance of urban heat island research to all geoscience students (PowerPoint 4.6MB Mar9 08) (Donald Yow, Eastern Kentucky University)
6c An NSF-funded field research experience for minority undergrads at Storm Peak Laboratory (PowerPoint 7MB Mar9 08) (Gannet Hallar, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada)
5:00-5:15 End-of-day wrap-up
6:00-7:00 Dinner at BCUE
7:30-9:00 Evening session on designing effective and innovative assignments and activities
- Review rubric for evaluating assignments and activities (Microsoft Word 48kB Mar14 08)
- Evaluating assignments and activities, PowerPoint presentation (PowerPoint 754kB Mar14 08)
- Initial version of assignment for evaluation (Microsoft Word 1.4MB Mar14 08)
- Example of an effective pre-class assignment (Microsoft Word 2.8MB Mar14 08)
- Jigsaw variant of the original assignment (Microsoft Word 5.2MB Mar14 08)
- Gallery Walk variant of the original assignment (Microsoft Word 1.4MB Mar14 08)
- Example of an effective follow-up assignment (Microsoft Word 32kB Mar14 08)
Related websites:
- Course Design Tutorial
- Teaching Methods (including Gallery Walk)
- A description of the Jigsaw technique
Monday, March 10
7:00-8:30 Breakfast at Holiday Inn Express;participants must check out of hotel before 8:30
8:30 Depart Holiday Inn Express via subway to go to Metropolitan Museum of Art
10:00-11:15 Tour of the labs at theMetropolitan Museum of Art
11:15-11:45 Walk across Central Park to theAmerican Museum of Natural History
11:45-12:45 Participants browse one or two museum galleries in small groups
12:45-1:30 Working lunch with group discussion about effective ways of using the museum with students
1:00-1:30 Group discussion about ideas for using museum resources
1:30-2:30 Panel presentation and discussion
Panel on Making Partnerships: Wayne Powell will moderate a panel designed to showcase a number of types of partnerships and how to engineer partnerships. Each of the following guests will speak for 10 minutes and present the nuts and bolts of the partnership, how it was arranged, and what general principles might be drawn from the experience.
- Central Park Conservancy (Rep TBA)
- Sandi Franklin, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
- Maritza McDonald, Senior Director of Education and Policy American Museum of Natural History
- Jeanette Parker (Assistant Director, NPNH Education Center) and Patti Reilly Program Manager for Partnerships and Agreements), National Park Service
2:30-3:30 Development of a personal plan
3:30-4:00 Wrap-up and evaluations