Preparing for an Academic Career

Conveners: Ankur Desai, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Lisa Gilbert, Williams College; Lynsey LeMay, Thomas Nelson Community College; & Erika Marin-Spiotta, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Weeks Geo: 140

This workshop is designed specifically for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and others who are interested in pursuing academic careers in the geosciences. Workshop leaders will provide guidance and information that will help participants to be stronger candidates for academic positions and to succeed in academic jobs. Session topics focus on becoming both a successful teacher and researcher.

Introducing Active Learning Strategies to Large Intro Courses

Conveners: Rachel Teasdale, California State University-Chico & David McConnell, North Carolina State University

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Overture Meeting Room

Research in STEM disciplines has revealed a suite of empirically validated instructional practices that can contribute to improvements in student learning and a reduction in attrition. We will outline a series of consistent steps for redesigning lessons to incorporate these "active learning" practices. The target audience for this workshop is any instructor seeking to design or redesign lessons for an introductory science course of any size.

Geoscience Education Research Community Planning Workshop

Conveners: Kristen St. John, James Madison University; Kim Kastens, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Heather Macdonald, William and Mary; & Karen McNeal, North Carolina State University

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Concerto Meeting Room

The GER workshop will use small group discussion and work-time, whole group discussions, and other structured activities to support community-engagement, sharing of ideas, and problem-solving, and collaboration. We anticipate topics of the GER workshop will include discussion of findings of winter 2016 community-wide GER needs survey, design and development strategies for a GER online "toolbox", and ideas on community-based research priorities.

Participation in the workshop will be application-based with priority going to active geoscience education researchers at different career stages and at different types of institutions. In addition, we encourage participation of learning scientists (e.g., education researchers, cognitive scientists) who collaborate, or are interested in collaborating, with geoscience education researchers. We also encourage participation of people who are a position to influence or accelerate the uptake of research into practice in geoscience education (e.g., professional society officers, center for teaching and learning staff, department chairs).

Application deadline passed February 15th. Notifications will be sent by February 29. Participants will register after application decisions are made (please do not register before notification).

Designing NGSS Aligned Classroom Assessment Tasks to Support Instruction

Convener: Cheryl Manning, Evergreen High School

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Ed Gordon Suite

NGSS-ESS aligned instruction will naturally provide many opportunities for teachers to observe and record evidence of student learning. Assessment tasks comprised of multiple components reflect the connections between the DCIs, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices. This workshop will provide opportunities for both K-12 and post-secondary instructors to: explore sample NGSS assessment tasks, brainstorm how to go about the process of developing assessment tasks, and work on developing an assessment task that supports 3-dimensional instruction.

Teaching Geo-Competencies

Convener: Laurel Goodell, Princeton University

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Symphony Meeting Room

Instructors can hit unanticipated roadblocks to covering content when students have deficiencies in "geo-competencies" such as quantitative skills, data analysis and geographic awareness. This workshop will focus on defining these roadblocks and exploring ways to deal with them effectively at the course level so that students are equipped with the tools needed to succeed both academically and professionally.

Incorporating Thinking about the Earth across disciplines

Convener: David Gosselin, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Ogg: Phillips Lounge

Research on undergraduate education programs has identified integration across disciplines as an ongoing challenge. This workshop will explore approaches to managing the integration of disciplines and perspectives. Specific emphasis will be on integrating thinking about the Earth across disciplines. This workshop will expose participants to an emerging model for team activities and structured opportunities to work with team members and other workshop participants to develop action plans and/or activities that incorporate thinking about the Earth across the undergraduate curriculum.

Ways to Change Your Teaching Activities to Help Our Diverse Student Body to Thrive

Conveners: Gary Weissmann & Roberto Ibarra, University of New Mexico

Monday, July 18 - Wednesday, July 20 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Sonata Meeting Room

Science and academia have a culture that can be challenging for students, particularly those from groups underrepresented in the STEM fields. This session will guide participants in supporting students and building a sense of community across cultures.

Research at the Interface of DBER and Cognitive Science

Conveners: Thomas Shipley, Temple University; David Uttal, Northwestern University; & Martina Rau, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Symphony Meeting Room

The workshop aims to strengthen ties between the cognitive science and Geoscience education communities. The first day will include presentations by cognitive scientists who have expertise in education research and discussion about the opportunities and challenges of developing interdisciplinary research teams in this area. The second day will be small group discussion structured by problem of interest to the workshop attendees – with input from cognitive scientists on the basic science questions and from geoscience education researchers on the critical areas for research.

Teaching Atmospheric Science

Conveners: Todd Ellis, Western Michigan University & Cindy Shellito, University of Northern Colorado

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Gordon: Ed Gordon Suite

This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss, develop, and share ideas on what works in atmospheric science education. Focusing primarily on undergraduate and graduate education settings, participants will get a chance to share their best practices and current challenges on a variety of topics related to teaching and learning. We will also discuss how to find and apply current research relevant to our classroom practice and discuss ways to collaborate in the future.

Getting Started in GER: Designing an Effective Geoscience Education Research Protocol

Conveners: David McConnell, Doug Czajka, LeeAnna Chapman, & Jason Jones, The Geoscience Learning Process Group, North Carolina State University

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Weeks Geo: 140

This workshop will discuss the components of some common types of both qualitative and quantitative geoscience education research. We will discuss potential collaborations among participants who are interested in similar themes and the characteristics of some funding programs that support discipline-based education research.

Adapting InTeGrate Modules to the High School and College Classroom

Conveners: Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman, Pasedena City College & David Thesenga, St. Vrain Valley School District

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Weeks Geo: 235

Participants will be introduced to InTeGrate modular materials developed to support geoscience literacy in introductory college courses. This workshop will discuss how to use these resources to address the challenges of instruction in both high schools and colleges. We will discuss issues such as: adapting and using the materials in a variety of classrooms, making use of the student learning outcomes and assessments, overcoming articulation issues, and building interest among colleagues.

Spatial Reasoning in the Geosciences

Conveners: Carol Ormand, SERC & Eric Riggs, Texas A&M University

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Ogg: Classroom 1227

How can we improve students' spatial reasoning? This workshop will present an overview of research on spatial skills and how those research results can be applied to student learning in the classroom, lab, and field.

Teaching Sustainability and the Environment Within and Across Disciplines

Conveners: Rick Oches & David Szymanski, Bentley University

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Weeks Geo: 259

Sustainability challenges are often "wicked problems" that require a transdisciplinary approach to adequately define and understand. As such, teaching sustainability requires faculty to teach outside of their disciplinary comfort zones, which presents pedagogic challenges, while also affording opportunities for cross-disciplinary engagement with colleagues across campus. In this workshop we will explore ways to develop true transdisciplinary courses and course activities while building a faculty culture of collaborative teaching and learning.

GeoNeeds—Broadening Participation in the Geosciences Workforce

Conveners: Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman & Heather Petcovic, Western Michigan University

Thursday, July 21 - Friday, July 22 | 8:30am-11:30am | Red Gym: Masley Media Room

This workshop is for faculty and administrators who would like to build or expand opportunities for students to engage with the geosciences (atmospheric and climate science, engineering geoscience, geology, hydrogeology, oceanography, and related disciplines) as a career option. We focus particularly on two year colleges (2YCs), minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and other institutions where the geociences are either under subscribed or not taught at all. The workshop program will present research-based best practices in recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented groups, resources available to support course and curriculum development from across the geocience education community, and models of successful program development. Participants will develop an Action Plan with workshop leaders to develop expanded geocience educational opportunities at their home institutions. Learn more about the GeoNeeds project.