Afternoon Mini Workshops

Afternoon mini workshops are open to all participants registered for that day (not reserved ahead of time). Join the email list to receive updates.

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Monday

Developing your Students' Career Awareness

Convener: Sue Ebanks, Savannah State University

MINI WORKSHOP

Monday, July 17 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Acoma A & B

The undergraduate university years are a time for academic development; but also they are a time for transition from classroom education to self-driven learning in a career of one's choosing. However, the path through which students make this transition can be strongly directed by their awareness of the various options within and in addition to academia. As advisors, mentors, post-docs, and other support staff, we all can play a role in shaping students' awareness of career options. By learning how to spark these discussions early during the undergraduate matriculation and by nurturing the conversations throughout their development, a support person can help a student be proactive in their decisions along the way, selecting internships, career fairs, May-mesters, alternative Spring Breaks, an others as opportunities to test their areas of curiosity in lower stakes programs. Thus by the time they are preparing for graduation and applying to their first job, post-baccalaureate program, or graduate program, they will likely be more confident that they are applying for a position that truly suits them and better prepared to fulfill that role. In this workshop we will discuss and share with each other approaches to these conversations, resources to share with students, as well as how we can establish relationships with those outside of academia to increase our spheres of knowledge to better serve the students in the transition to their best-suited career.

Bridging the Research to Practice Gap

Convener: Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

MINI WORKSHOP

Monday, July 17 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Ballroom C

Drawing from successful models in other disciplines, participants in this workshop will engage in idea sharing and strategizing around how to strengthen connections between Earth education research and and teaching.

Addressing Water Resources and Sustainability in Upper Level Courses

Convener(s): Gigi Richard, Colorado Mesa University

MINI WORKSHOP

Monday, July 17 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Mirage/Thunderbird

This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss, develop, and share ideas on addressing water resources and sustainability in undergraduate courses. Participants will be introduced to water resources data that can be used in classes as well as water resource-related interdisciplinary course materials from the InTeGrate program. This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss, develop, and share ideas on addressing water resources and sustainability in undergraduate courses. Participants will be introduced to water resources data that can be used in classes as well as water resource-related interdisciplinary course materials from the InTeGrate program.This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss, develop, and share ideas on addressing water resources and sustainability in undergraduate courses. Participants will be introduced to water resources data that can be used in classes as well as water resource-related interdisciplinary course materials from the InTeGrate program.

Communicating Science to the Public

Convener(s): Beth Bartel, UNAVCO

MINI WORKSHOP

Monday, July 17 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Santa Ana A & B

Effective communication skills enable practitioners to engage non-experts, inform public opinion and policymakers, inspire the next generation of scientists and voters, and improve our own research process. This workshop takes a hands-on approach to learning the tricks of science communication, focusing on science communication as a conversation. The skills practiced can be applied to all channels of communication, from a public lecture to a social media feed. You will leave this workshop with personal goals for public outreach as well as ideas for incorporating communications training into your geoscience curriculum.

Doing Citizen Science with NASA and The GLOBE Program

Convener: Rebecca Boger, CUNY Brooklyn College, with materials contributions from Jeannie Allen, SSAI at NASA Goddard; Holli Riebeek, NASA; Rusty Low, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

MINI WORKSHOP

Monday, July 17 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Fiesta A & B

NASA and The GLOBE Program are in partnership to implement a citizen science program linked with NASA's Earth-observing satellites. The public is invited to engage as citizen scientists in the process of scientific investigations: asking questions, collecting and interpreting data, and communicating results. Data collection occurs through the GLOBE Observer app for mobile devices. The program has begun with an app for observing clouds and an app for mosquito species identification. A protocol for documenting land cover change will be available later this year. Apps for other aspects of Earth system science will become available during each of the next several years. Participants in the workshop will experience using the GLOBE Observer apps, and will find out how to link to the citizen science community, to background about the science, and to a rich array of learning and teaching resources. They will also learn about the bigger picture of GLOBE itself, GLOBE field campaigns for data collection, and a rich array of opportunities and resources for K-14 educators.

Wednesday

Enriching the Geoscience Community through Micro-Mentoring Practices

Convener(s): Kelsey Bitting, Northeastern University

MINI WORKSHOP

Wednesday, July 19 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Acoma A & B

Personal relationships with faculty mentors who encourage students to pursue their goals have a major impact on undergraduates in outcomes ranging from academic success to general well-being after graduation. Their mentors also benefit, as more engaged students do well in their courses, become student researchers or undergraduate TAs, and enrich the geosciences by bringing a greater variety of perspectives and backgrounds. Despite the proliferation of formal mentoring programs, research suggests that most meaningful mentoring relationships emerge organically, as mentors and mentees engage in exchanges that build mutual respect, trust, and value in the relationship. This workshop will explore the empirical research on effective mentoring practices and provide a venue for self-assessment and sharing of approaches to developing deep relationships between faculty or TAs and their undergraduate students.

Inclusion in the Geosciences - Instructional Approaches to Access and Accommodation

Convener(s): Wendi Williams, NorthWest Arkansas Community College and University of Arkansas-Little Rock; Gretchen Miller, Wake Technical Community College

MINI WORKSHOP

Wednesday, July 19 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Santa Ana A & B

A professional development opportunity for current and future K- Higher Education geoscience faculty on behalf of the International Advisory for Geoscience Diversity (http://www.theIAGD.org). Need strategies and peer-mentored practice toward implementing inclusive educational design? From classroom to field experience design and management, this session will provide suggestions to modifying pedagogical "ways of doing" to reinforce increasing the diversity of student experiences using Universal Design in our STEM environments. This workshop will explore barriers to the geoscience curriculum, an introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), accommodations for limited mobility and physical disabilities, and accommodations for sensory and non-apparent disabilities.

Citizen Science along the Rio Grande: K-12 science, education, and stewardship

Convener(s): Dan Shaw, Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP)

MINI WORKSHOP

Wednesday, July 19 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Spirit & Trailblazer

The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) uses citizen science to engage students in real world questions through collecting and analyzing data in the Rio Grande bosque. This workshop will focus on engaging students in science by enabling them to answer questions relevant to their community through collecting, analyzing and interpreting their own data. BEMP educators will demonstrate some of the simple ways BEMP collects data which are appropriate for students in elementary through high school. Several types of data, including precipitation, arthropods and vegetation are easily studied at school, in student's neighborhoods or in natural areas. During the workshop teachers will practice analyzing student collected data through graphing and visual representations and learn to interpret their meaning. BEMP educators will provide teachers with resources to find data sets they can contribute to and use in their classrooms and information about citizen science projects for students and ways to be involved in BEMP.

Working with your Colleagues to Effect Change: Lessons learned from InTeGrate Implementation Programs

Convener(s): Cailin Huyck Orr, Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College

MINI WORKSHOP

Wednesday, July 19 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Fiesta A & B

In this workshop we will use the examples and lessons learned by the InTeGrate Implementation programs to help participants design a plan to support departmental/institutional change including aspects such as aligning effort with institutional priorities, making use of assets that already exist, and engaging other stakeholders in the efforts. Specific examples of how practices have been put into place at other institutions will be presented. Together we will explore these materials and consider how you can put this information into practice.

The Weather-Ready Student: Bringing Meteorology into Your Course

Convener(s): Cindy Shellito, University of Northern Colorado

MINI WORKSHOP

Wednesday, July 19 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Mirage/Thunderbird

Are your students weather-ready? This workshop is aimed at educators across a range of disciplines, from those who teach courses in meteorology, to those who simply wish to prepare their students for fieldwork with lessons on weather safety and awareness. We will consider the challenges of teaching students about weather and how to incorporate aspects of meteorology and its impacts into a wide range of courses. Participants will have an opportunity to explore educational resources and websites with real-time data for use in day-to-day weather forecasting, as they brainstorm and share ideas for using these resources in the classroom. Each participant will develop or adapt an idea or resource suitable for their specific needs.

Thursday

Teaching Online

Convener(s): Cory Pettijohn and Stephen Marshak, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

MINI WORKSHOP

Thursday, Jul 20 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Acoma A & B

Please join us for this afternoon mini-workshop as we collaborate in a discussion of how to develop online courses and engage online learners. This workshop covers approaches to developing course materials, sources of course materials, online teaching best practices, instructional design principals, and educational technologies for today's mobile learner. Participants will have the opportunity to develop an interactive video lesson, outline a new or updated online course, and share their insights into online teaching. Participants are encouraged to bring laptops to complete activities and also demonstrate their own materials.

An optional asynchronous component will be provided starting Monday, July 3rd, 2017. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity. Participants in the online pre-workshop will develop and share interactive video lessons, convert an existing course syllabus into an online format, and discuss challenges of teaching earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences online. Please contact Cory Pettijohn (jcpettij@illinois.edu) before July 3rd, 2017 if you are interested in participating in the asynchronous portion of our workshop.

Developing Students' Computational Skills

Convener(s): Frederik Simons, Princeton University

MINI WORKSHOP

Thursday, Jul 20 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Santa Ana A & B

In this mini-workshop we will explore how to bring scientific computing into the undergraduate Geosciences curriculum: as part of a course, as a stand-alone course, and across the four-year curriculum. We explore strategies to find allies among our colleagues within and between departments, to make sure that Geosciences graduates are computationally literate and familiar with at least one programming language. We discuss examples and strategies for teaching, learning and problem solving, mechanisms for grading, online learning and peer-to-peer mentoring, and for keeping up motivation in a student body that might not self-identify as computer-literate to begin with. Concrete examples using MATLAB/Octave will be brought into the discussion. Contributions using PYTHON and other languages are very much welcomed.

Maximizing Learning within Active Learning Studio Classrooms

Convener(s): Aurora Pun and Gary Smith, University of New Mexico

MINI WORKSHOP

Thursday, Jul 20 | 1:30-4:00pm | Collaborative Teaching and Learning Building (CTLB): 330

Specially designed active-learning classrooms (aka, SCALE-UP, TILE, TEAL, Learning Studios) are increasing in popularity on US campuses, especially for STEM instruction. This workshop, in a learning studio classroom, will guide you to see how to take advantage of your learning spaces to engage and motivate your students. We will apply evidence-based and research-informed practices of active and social learning; help you self-assess the quality classroom-learning activities to generate desired levels of thinking and learning, and relate active-learning strategies to the physical environments in which you teach.

What is Implicit Bias and How to Counteract It

Convener: Catherine Riihimaki, Princeton University

MINI WORKSHOP

Thursday, Jul 20 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Mirage/Thunderbird

Implicit bias describes when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. Cognitive science research shows that everyone has implicit biases, sometimes in surprising ways, and that these biases affect how we understand situations, make decisions, and behave. Participants in this workshop will learn how to recognize their own implicit biases, discuss how those biases may impact their teaching and their other professional responsibilities, and develop strategies for ensuring that our classrooms, programs, and institutions are as inclusive as possible.

Teaching about Food as the Foundation for Healthy Communities

Convener(s): John Warford, Florida A&M University

MINI WORKSHOP

Thursday, Jul 20 | 1:30-4:00pm | Student Union - Fiesta A & B

The movement towards sustainable communities has brought into focus the centrality of food in our everyday lives and its myriad social, economic and environmental connections. 'Food as the Foundation for Healthy Communities' helps students to have engaging conversations about food, food producers, health outcomes and food-energy-water connections in the context of community empowerment and environmental justice. The use of primary and secondary data sources and videos to strengthen student's ability to interpret data and synthesize information will be explored. The grand challenge is for human beings to return to a way of living that acknowledges that we will always be dependent on the natural environment and its offerings. Ongoing themes explored in the Florida A&M University biennial EnegyFoodWater Nexus International Summit will be previewed. The nexus approach is based on the premise that an action in one sector impacts the other. Therefore, the search for solutions must simultaneously investigate all three elements in a new science enterprise.


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