Despite significant gains over the last two decades, there remains a large percentage of geoscience faculty who have yet to move toward incorporating engaged teaching practices in their courses. Following recommendations of the 2018 tectonics community vision document we convened a workshop in April, 2019 to write a set of on-ramp guides to help instructors quickly access existing resources and incorporate best teaching practice into their courses. Each 2-page on-ramp guide focuses on a single geoscience education-related topic and includes 1) a simple scenario illustrating an application to a tectonics-related course, 2) a list of reasons for making this change, 3) tips for success, 4) a list of additional examples with variations on the theme and 5) links to more resources. The initial set of eight on-ramp guides covers brainstorming, case studies, compelling discussions, concept sketches, interactive lecture, jigsaws, a just-in-time approach and quantitative skills building. The guides have been published as web pages available through the NAGT Teach the Earth (TTE) portal. Links from tectonics community web sites as well as pdf and print versions of the on-ramp guides will enable a broader audience to discover, navigate, and use resources from the TTE collection. Additional tectonics-themed on ramps are under development and we envision that a similar approach could be adopted by other geoscience sub-disciplines.

Climate change and its many repercussions are complex yet important topics where early exposure would clearly benefit students' education. Evidence suggests that using curriculum grounded in real world phenomena enhances both student engagement and conceptual learning. In 2018, four graduate students at the University of Washington developed a week long curriculum for 6-8th grade students focused on a local phenomenon, harmful algal blooms (HABs). The curriculum invites students to investigate the local and global impacts of HABs through presentations, worksheets, videos, readings, and hands-on laboratory activities. The curriculum was implemented and evaluated in four 50-minute class periods at a Seattle middle school, with approximately 125 6th and 7th grade students participating. The lessons integrated concepts from general biology and chemistry in a marine context and were designed in accordance with the Next Generation Science Standards. Over several days, students built a conceptual model of why HABs occur and evaluated the impacts of climate change on blooms from a socio-ecological perspective. Given the opportunity to ground this complex issue in a concrete and relevant phenomena, the students deduced how the climate relates to fishery closures through algae growth and toxin production. We assessed student learning by evaluating the conceptual models they produced before and after the curriculum and through self-assessment surveys. We also revised the lesson plans based on feedback from the participating teachers before making the curriculum publicly available through the University of Washington Program on Climate Change.

GPS/GNSS enabled consumer grade positioning devices are now super accessible to both geologic field research and education. These devices geotag images, digital field book entries or measurements but the positions are not sufficiently precise enough to quantify subtle changes in the earth. Thus, most students approach GNSS as an aid to mapping or collecting rather being the primary data source itself. In order to introduce students to more precise applications, we develop and test a three-unit teaching module within the GETSI – SERC curriculum framework that uses high precision positioning as a primary source of geologic data. Units focus on three core topics: GNSS Fundamentals, Kinematic GNSS and Static GNSS Methods. Module goals enable students to (a) design and conduct a GNSS survey to answer a geologic question, (b) justify why their GNSS technique is appropriate to their question and (c) to articulate how answering their question benefits society. Skill building is via quantitative and qualitative analysis, concept sketches, and both field and office based data acquisition and interrogation. Exercises are site-independent and include example datasets for those unable to travel. In the summers of 2017 and 2018, we tested the module with ~20 undergraduate students over two days at the ISU field geology camp. We explored the use of static GNSS data for active tectonics and visited a station in person. The summative assessment focused on kinematic GNSS, using RTK rovers to reoccupy leveling monuments spanning the active Lost River fault that ruptured in 1983. The data confirmed that RTK is an appropriate tool and that interseismic deformation continues, demanding consideration in the design of any infrastructure that spans the fault. The exercise integrated well with existing camp curriculum, giving a modern context to geologic structures students had already mapped.

InTeGrate classroom materials are designed to strengthen earth science literacy of undergraduate students as well as increase the number of earth science majors who can address critical environmental and resource challenges. Two assessment instruments used to measure the success of these goals were each given to students pre- and post-instruction in classes where instructors used the InTeGrate materials, as well as with control groups that were not instructed with InTeGrate materials. The Geoscience Literacy Exam (GLE), based on the four Geoscience Literacy Documents, is designed to measure gains in content knowledge over one semester. The InTeGrate Attitudinal Instrument (IAI) examines interests in earth science careers and motivation related to solving grand challenges in earth science such as environmental sustainability and resource depletion. This study separated and compared GLE and IAI data from two-year colleges (2YCs) and four-year colleges (4YCs) to examine literacy and interest gains. Paired GLE results (i.e., pre-and post-semester results for a given student) show that the InTeGrate materials enhanced geoscience literacy for both 2YC (n=568) and 4YC (n=3739) students, but that the 2YC gains are significantly higher. By the end of the course, the 2YC students no longer lag behind 4YC students in geoscience literacy. The 2YC students also show a greater increase in geoscience-related career interests from pre- to post-semester (43%) compared to 4YC students (32%) and a control group (32%). One interpretation of these results is that InTeGrate materials are providing a disproportionate benefit to 2YC students in terms of geoscience literacy and attitudes. According to American Geoscience Institute reports 25% of students holding bachelor's degrees in the geosciences attended a 2YC for at least one semester before transferring to a 4YC. This study suggests that InTeGrate materials may be particularly effective in recruiting even more 2YC students into the geosciences.

GETSI (Geodesy Tools for Societal Issues) project is developing modules that allow undergraduate students to engage in geodetic data analysis relevant to societally important topics of natural hazards, water resources, and climate change. The modules are also an onramp to quantitative skills and interdisciplinary thinking. GETSI endeavors to make teaching with geodetic data more accessible to instructors through flexible materials that can be adapted to many contexts. Emerging findings indicate that the materials have been successfully implemented in multiple contexts and that instructors perceive the materials as useful and of good quality. Based on the InTeGrate development and testing model, GETSI modules contain ~2 weeks of material, divided into 3-6 units (7 published modules and 6 in development: https://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/index.html). Twenty-three author and 13 non-author pilot testers have submitted student data and feedback to date. These varied experiences are incorporated into "Teaching Tips" and "Instructor Stories" to aid broad dissemination. Additional feedback is collected through an online "Share Your Experience" form, and helps to characterize the experience of teaching with GETSI materials. Feedback from 25 instructors indicates that implementation varies widely, from adopting materials closely to significant modifications or omissions. Prior experience with relevant geodetic technique also varies. Despite the different adaptations, 100% indicate that they would likely or very likely use the materials again and that the quality of the materials were high (average 8.9/10). Faculty indicated that the materials' use of geodetic data and methods, development of quantitative skills, and focus on societal issues were important; that students enjoyed working with "real" data; and that the format was easy to use. Use of the materials is increasing, and website analytics show punctuated growth around dissemination events that remain higher after the events and ongoing requests by instructors to access the instructor-only files (>150 requests since 2018; ~90 2015-17).

In introductory oceanography, as in all introductory courses, learning a new discipline necessarily requires familiarity with associated terminology. Yet while most students will enthusiastically construct flashcards for this purpose, nudging the students towards a higher level of learning in Bloom's taxonomy is challenging, especially in very large lecture classes with no lab supplies or set-up time. A lesson on marine ecology, however, can leverage another challenge of an physical oceanography-focused course, disproportionate student interest in the marine animals seen in ocean-themed nature documentaries, i.e. whales and sharks. After learning terminology related to how, where, and what types of organisms live in the ocean (nekton/plankton/benthos; eukaryote/prokaryote; autotroph/heterotroph; chemoautotroph/photoautotroph, and more), students play a game of "mystery marine organisms". They read a description of the organism and how it lives in the ocean. They then try to determine which terms apply to that organism. Although the point of the exercise is practicing application of knowledge, most students are very curious as to the identity of the organisms. Some are the charismatic fauna that are so popular with students (narwhals! jellyfish!), while others are ecologically important but often overlooked by nature documentaries, such as Prochlorococcus. In their zeal to identify the mystery organisms, the students inadvertently learn something of the complexity and diversity of the marine ecosystem. Follow-up includes discussion of correct answers, with "reveals" of the mystery organisms featuring videos whenever possible. This formative assessment is followed by similar problems on the summative assessment, the mid-term exam. While identifying the actual organism is not the point of the exercise, many students do not want to leave the exam without knowing which organism exam questions concerned. This exercise builds on student interest in the charismatic megafauna of the ocean while encouraging application of marine ecological concepts.

It is important that we prepare tomorrow's scientists, decision makers, and communities to address the societal impacts of a changing climate. In order to respond to, manage, and adapt to those changes, citizens of all ages need accurate, up-to date information, knowledge of the sciences, and analytical skills to make responsible decisions and long-term resiliency plans regarding these challenging topics. The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN, http://cleanet.org) is 1) providing teaching resources for educators through the CLEAN Collection and pedagogical support for teaching climate and energy science; and 2) facilitating a professionally diverse community of climate and energy literacy stakeholders, called the CLEAN Network, to share and leverage efforts to extend the reach and effectiveness of climate and energy education. This poster will provide an overview of the CLEAN web portal and techniques we have used to market it. We will showcase the CLEAN Collection, which is comprised of 700+ resources (curricula, activities, videos, visualizations, and demonstrations/experiments) that have been reviewed for scientific accuracy, pedagogical effectiveness, and technical quality. Recent activities of the CLEAN Network will be highlighted. We will present findings from our web analytics work, which monitors visitor use of the CLEAN web portal. Through analytics data, we will show evidence of successful CLEAN marketing efforts. The results of our recent pop-up survey, which has been taken by CLEAN visitors from six continents, will also be displayed. Survey results will provide detailed information about how our audiences use the web portal. We hope the insights we have gained through CLEAN can aid other climate and energy education programs in effectively promoting the visibility of their vital work.

Students in a 200-level Physical Oceanograpy course at West Virginia University designed an infographic to reflect personal exploration and interaction with concepts related to the course. The course has no pre-requisite courses and the class was primarily composed of upper level non-earth science majors. Infographic creation was assigned as one of 6 assessments designed to deepen student engagement with course material throughout the semester. Students were presented with potential infographic styles and suggested topics, but could choose any topic that could broadly relate humans and the ocean. Once the topics were identified, students were then tasked with conducting independent web research on that topic. Students were required to cite three original sources for information pertaining to background information, case examples and a human interest aspect, such as anecdotal incidents or superlatives (biggest, smallest, longest, shortest, etc.). Students were able to select from a variety of graphical programs and were encouraged to use free infographic creators online. Students were provided examples to inspire layout design and guided to contemplate a layout for their information. The infographics were submitted online and then were printed out for an in-class critique. Critique criteria included infographic design, content quality, content clarity, editing and graphical representation. Submissions included infographics on wide variety of topics, including coastal engineering strategies, tidal currents and coastlines, hurricane preparedness and ocean exploration. Informal feedback indicated many students enjoyed the creative aspect of this assignment, and some students struggled with using the infographic design freeware. Students were polled to determine if they would permit sharing of their infographic (with attribution) on social media, and every student agreed. Infographic design experience provides students exposure to a highly transferrable skill involving data literacy that can be used for timely and highly accessible data dissemination, with the possibility of becoming viral content for science outreach.

LibreTexts is a growing community of faculty at over 100 institutions ranging from research centered to community colleges developing teaching materials across the curriculum including the geosciences. LibreTexts are totally cost free to students, institutions and faculty. LibreTexts' technology enables faculty members to easily and rapidly create OER textbooks and more optimized for their courses and students. The structure of LibreTexts solves two of the central problems limiting OER adoption: the time and effort that faculty need to assemble OER for their classes and dissemination. Libretexts are built by incorporating content from an extensive (largest on the net and growing) network of textbooks which extend across the curriculum that faculty can edit and enhance to meet their needs. LibreTexts effectively fulfills the ALMS framework for OER. All faculty have ACCESS to a suite of WYSIWYG HTML5 editing tools. The LEVEL of expertise needed is low. Drag and drop ReMixing can be done across the libraries. LibreTexts uses LaTeX based MathJAX for mathematical notation. One can directly translate images of equation into LaTeX with MathPix.com. Help is available when problems arise via a dedicated discussion group. All LibreTexts can be MEANINGFULLY edited and both the text and the source code are always available. All material is SELF SOURCED. HTML5 is used both for display and for revising and remixing. CSS sheets are available to authors and editors. LibreTexts are easy to adopt and use, simple to optimize, and backed by educational research with advanced technologies. Features incorporate annotation (hypothes.is and NotaBene), computation (Jupyter) as well as 3D visualization and multimedia. LibreTexts supports import into LMSs, print on demand, and import from open eTextbooks. Since inception ten years ago, LibreTexts has been exponentially growing and currently reaches over 60 million students per year with 400,000 web hits per day.

Last year, I presented a first day ice-breaker activity for my intro courses, a gallery walk to get students to start thinking about science and science education by answering the questions "Why take this class?", "What do scientists do?", "What comes to mind when you think 'scientist'?", "What do you like about science?", "What do you NOT like about science?", and "Why does science matter?" Once these we, as a class had an opportunity to discuss these topics, we ended by trying to answer the question, "What basic knowledge about science should an educated person know?" Many of my colleagues found the activity interesting and were intrigued (and sometimes amused) by my students' answers. However, a number of people asked some very good questions that I could not answer at the time: Did I ask them the same questions at the end of the semester? Did their answers change at all? Did the class live up to its promise of inquiry, as delivered on the first day? Given the chance, I am now able to compare answers to the same questions and I see that the answers is, "sometimes." In some cases the answers are no different from those given on the first day of class. But in other cases, students do show that they have thought more about science, and hopefully, have had more sink in.

Conveying the essence of deep geologic time has always presented challenges to K-12, and college earth science instructors alike. In this session, Alan will illustrate a variety of media that can be used to cement student understanding of this concept such as a brief video overview, organizing pictures in chronological order, use of fossil material, and a new technique-Figure-Text Integration, the latter promising improved student comprehension and understanding of a complex topic. Come & share your approaches with others!

Geodesy is the study of Earth's shape, gravity field, and rotation. Geodetic applications and data are used to understand many societal issues such as land surface change, drought monitoring, climate change, snow depth, and vegetative cover, in addition to monitoring plate tectonics. Geodesy can be incorporated into almost any topic being taught in geosciences, however, most educators are not aware of this because geodesy is not typically included in the undergraduate curriculum and only taught in graduate programs that focus on geodetic research. Our aim is to make geodesy accessible to both educators and students and to provide content that can be leveraged and incorporated into geoscience courses and investigations. As a science support facility of the National Science Foundation, we provide scientific data and educational resources to educators and researchers. UNAVCO manages NSF's Geodetic Facility, GAGE. In service to our geodetic community and the broader geosciences community we focus on developing resources that leverage the data and instrumentation of the GAGE Facility. These materials are ones that educators can teach with or that students can explore on their own. As managers of the GAGE facility, we support a broad NSF community. In this poster, we will share with EER participants how they can access these materials (many of which are available on the SERC website). We will also provide tips and strategies for incorporating resources into existing courses, and provide suggestions on how to help students explore these resources including information about careers in geosciences and geodesy.

The on-line "Rare Earth Elements and Sustainability" module is designed for use in introductory university environmental science, sustainability, earth science, and physical geography courses. The module can be used as a stand-alone resource, or the module can be used in conjunction with classroom use of the Rare Earth Element (REE) Activity in Unit 2 of the no-cost Interdisciplinary Teaching About Earth for a Sustainable Future (InTeGrate) Mineral Resources module. Specifically, "Rare Earth Elements and Sustainability" can be used prior to classroom use of the InTeGrate activity or as homework after use of the InTeGrate activity. To facilitate multi-institution use, content and assessment are delivered through the Easygenerator learning management system. Placing the InTeGrate REE activity in a broader context, the on-line module highlights the challenges involved in finding substitutes for REE's in consumer electronics and green technologies as well as the possibility that REE reserves will be depleted in the decades ahead. Learners using the module explore both technical hurdles impeding the recycling of REE's and recent innovations in REE recycling. They also examine ways to (a) reduce REE use and (b) reuse products containing REE's. Finally, learners examine the possibility that REE's will be mined on other bodies in the solar system in the future.

From flooding to resource issues, many of the challenges and opportunities faced by communities around the world can be addressed more successfully if the community can make full use of geoscience. Community scale scientific literacy is an essential aspect of this capacity and can transcend the knowledge of skills of any individual in the community (National Academies of Science, 2016, Science Literacy: Concepts, Contexts, and Consequences) . Geoscience education within a community has the potential to contribute substantially to not only the development of individual science literacy but to science literacy at the community scale. The EarthConnections Alliance was established in 2016 with twin goals of enhancing the ability of communities to use geoscience and to broaden participation in geoscience learning and workforce. Our key strategy is to develop educational pathways within communities that link together opportunities to learn geoscience and to serve the local community. Rooted in existing regional activities, these pathways connect opportunities in both formal and informal education across age or grade levels. Signposting or mentoring that make the path visible to students, parents, and community members is a central part of the vision. The Alliance supports regional coalitions in developing pathways by supporting communication and sharing among these groups, linking them to a national consortium of program partners committed to supporting different aspects of geoscience and education across the country, providing a set of planning tools for pathway development and evaluation, and showcasing examples of pathway development and pathway elements. This presentation will discuss the value proposition for integrating community engagement and education at all levels and demonstrate how individuals or groups can capitalize on the growing EarthConnections Alliance.

The use of e-portfolios has been growing in popularity in recent years. E-portfolios are digital portfolios used to display an online collection of digital artifacts such as documents, images, and videos. They are used in many ways, from documenting student learning to assisting faculty in advising students. Additionally, e-portfolios are considered to be a high impact practice and can help students in promoting critical thinking and reflection, and can help develop technical literacy skills. Currently, the Department of Geosciences at Middle Tennessee State University uses an exit examination to assess students at the completion of their degree programs. Many students do not take this examination seriously and the learning objectives that are being assessed are outdated. We are beginning to phase out the exit examination and replace it with an e-portfolio, which will be used in assessing students' progress through the program. We have used the competencies identified by geosciences employers as part of the Summit on the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education to guide us in developing an e-portfolio template for student use. The instructors of each required course in the program have selected signature assignments that will display a student's mastery of the particular competency identified. Students can include these assignments as artifacts along with commentary into the e-portfolio template. Students will be required to attend an e-portfolio workshop early in their degree, and their e-portfolios will be reviewed at pre-determined intervals throughout their degree program to check their progression. In their final semester at MTSU, students will be required to complete a capstone reflection focusing upon the skills and competencies they've gained throughout their degree program. Qualitative assessment is not considered to be sufficient so rubrics will be utilized to enable statistical evaluations to report assessment results to our accreditation board.

For over 10 years, the Pittsburgh Geological Society (PGS) has been sponsoring a field workshop for university geology students in southwestern Pennsylvania. The event centers around an exhibition by a local drilling company and includes environmental sampling of soil and water. While the event has evolved over the years, the purpose remains the same: to provide an opportunity for students to improve their education and resume through practical experience and interactions with working geoscientists in the field. Initially, the event was hosted at Slippery Rock University (SRU) and moved to California University of Pennsylvania (CalU) in 2012. Numerous faculty members from SRU, CalU, and other regional schools are active PGS members, helping to foster university/industry relationships. PGS coordinates with the driller, which provides a rig to conduct traditional techniques including mud-rotary and coring to depths up to 70 feet. In some years, a geoprobe has been provided for soil sampling. Multiple environmental and geotechnical firms have been represented by geologists donating their time and expertise. Topics covered during the event have included lectures related to field safety, basic environmental principles, regional geologic analyses, as well as professional development topics like resumes, job requirements, and networking. The workshop provides skills and knowledge students should have before their first day on the job. Alumni have reported the program gave them a leg up in job searches and even was discussed specifically during interviews. Students from multiple institutions have the opportunity to meet and faculty collaboration is encouraged. PGS has benefited from increased participation of student members, improving communication between geology students and industry professionals throughout the region. For student participants and PGS stakeholders, networks are developed and employer/employee expectations are clearer. Participating universities (SRU and CalU) have benefited from viable well fields on campus for course activities and research.

We used responses from the 2016 administration of the National Survey of Geoscience Faculty (NSGF) to investigate the extent to which courses in geoscience majors help students develop workforce skills. Respondents (n=1037) answered several questions about activities in the lecture portion of a course they taught for majors; responses were binned by course type based on course names given in an open response question. The most common required and elective courses were compiled from Degree Program Profiles on NAGT's Building Strong Geoscience Departments website, and were categorized into the same bins. Desired workforce skills were identified by the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education survey and geoscience employers workshop; we aligned these skills with NGSF questions. For example, responses to a survey question about how often students formally present project results in a talk or poster align with a desired workforce skill in oral communication. Responses to each skill-related survey question were analyzed by course bin to explore where in an undergraduate program students develop workforce skills. Across the most commonly offered majors-level geoscience courses, activities to help students develop the following skills are frequently used: geologic reasoning and synthesis, working as part of a team, quantitative skills (algebra), temporal thinking, applying skills in new scenarios, evaluation of literature, spatial thinking, and written communication. In contrast, activities to help students develop an understanding of societal relevance, systems thinking, quantitative skills (calculus), evaluation of data quality, and oral communication are not frequently used. Our results provide a snapshot of the state of workforce skill development across undergraduate degree programs. They may be used by individual programs as a tool for reflecting on where workforce skills are developed and for identifying opportunities for incorporating skills that may be missing from a program.

This paper analyzed the contribution of participatory methodologies focused on placed education and social learning processes for geoconservation and sustainability, as a proposal of teacher training in the Gold Circle Geopark, São Paulo, Brazil. The Geopark as model for the environmental management and governance contributes to preservation and generation of ecosystem services with direct implications to the site and, consequently, to its surroundings. The development of values that promote responsible environmental citizenship is a central issue in the teaching training. It considers the school as an important socializing center / builder / multiplier of knowledge, values and attitudes in the community, collaborative to the implementation of new models of territorial planning and environmental governance. The inclusion of education for environmental citizenship in the perspective of social learning proposes the development of educational and pedagogical processes that promote dialogue, participation and co-responsibility between different stakeholders. Social learning implies learning in the environment with the use of participative methodologies (socio-environmental mapping, world-cafe, role-play), based on critical reflection on socio-environmental problems and conflicts, for solve them, aiming at the negotiation of interests for the democratic and sustainable use of the environment. The case study is part of the Post-Normal Science perspective, focusing on the importance of the engagement of citizens and professionals in an interdisciplinary perspective; promoting interrelations between the social and natural environment. The methodological proposal was based on five public schools involving teachers from different areas of knowledge. In addition to the pedagogical and management teams of the schools, different stakeholders took part in the initiative, such as: community leaders, universities and municipal secretaries. The main objective of the course was to develop collaborative socio-environmental proposals for the promotion of citizenship, sustainability and protection of local geoheritage by the school.

Freshwater is a scarce natural resource in the Paso del Norte Region and continues to be threatened by the increase in demand and environmental stressors. The projected increase of water use along with rising temperatures puts us on a path to extended drought or possible transition to permanent arid conditions. Demand comes from various stakeholders including municipal, agricultural, industrial, recreational, and in this region, extensive agriculture. Due to the complexity of this issue and the number of stakeholders involved Participatory Modelling (PM) becomes crucial to assess and develop possible responses to these issues. PM allows for multiple stakeholders to engage in the same conversations and enables convergence from various perspectives. The goal of this study is to take an interdisciplinary approach and integrate selected elements from participatory modeling, visual analytics, and scenario analysis to provide insights on how people collaboratively reason with data, models, and visualizations, and how such "social learning" impacts decision-making. Therefore, we will look at how learning occurs during data and model-based reasoning using information technologies. The research objectives include. 1) Use existing water simulation and optimization models available through the Sustainable Water through Integrated Modeling (SWIM) interface (refs) to develop and run key future scenarios of water resources in this region, and identify interesting spatio-temporal patterns in the data. 2) Develop and test processes for collaborating with stakeholders to explore the observed patterns and co-create storylines that are plain language interpretations. 3) Assess how social learning processes impact the development of Wieks's (2011) key competencies for sustainability education including; systems, anticipatory, normative, and strategic thinking competencies. This research is currently in design and will be initiated during Summer Semester 2019.

Augmented Reality (AR) has seen a rise in popularity over the last several decades as the technologies required to develop AR-based tools have become more widespread and user-friendly (Billinghurst et al., 2015; Ackcayir et al., 2016). AR encompasses technologies that augment natural feedback from the real environment with additional information (Milgram et al., 1994). These range from location-based games like Pokemon Go to informational geology apps like Rockd and Flyover Country. An especially popular example in the geosciences recently has been the AR Sandbox (KeckCaves, 2017), which has received a lot of attention for the role it may play in helping students learn about topographic maps, but the generating learning in addition to attention and engagement has proven challenging (e.g. Woods et al., 2016; Giorgis et al., 2017). Still, students consistently report a sense of engagement from using this AR tool in formal environments. That engagement is also a critical component of learning in informal environments, like parks and museums. That engagement can lead to increased attendance and enjoyment of these informal settings, as well as learning about a particular topic. However, little research has explored what visitors gain from AR experiences in informal environments (Goff et al., 2017). Here, we present an argument for the incorporation of AR in more informal environments, as well as suggestions for how these tools might successfully be used and their impact assessed.

Geoscience and its many subfields require students to utilize an immense amount of spatial visualization skills to identify and solve various problems and patterns within the field. Spatial visualization is the mental ability to rotate, manipulate, and identify and object and its properties in a three dimensional space (Kastens, et al., 2009). Students in the geosciences develop this unique set of skills through rigorous field experiences and underdeveloped geovisualizations (frequently presented in two dimensions). However, large scale experiences that work to train students' spatial abilities, such as field trips, are frequently bound by the constraints of time and money on behalf of the institution and the student themselves. The use of virtual reality (VR) in education has been explored in fields such as astronomy and engineering, but the applications of it in geoscience have been vastly underexplored. VR allows students to put themselves in the driver's seat of their own education, where they can learn, receive, and process information in a subconscious way that is most conducive to their own habits of learning (Mintz, et al., 2001). While a VR-based geovisualization may not completely replace certain hands on experiences, such as lab assignments or field work, it can allow students to prepare by "practicing" these excursions, which are often wholly reliant on time and finances. This presentation will explore the creation of a large set of 360°-based geovisualizations in VR that are relevant to intro- and upper-level geoscience courses, and their role in the development of students' spatial visualization.

Large enrollment introductory science courses generally have a range of student engagement that can result in low attendance and participation. Instructors may implement active learning techniques to encourage participation, choosing from a broad spectrum of possible activities from occasional Think-Pair-Share exercises to a entirely student-centered approach like Team-Based Learning or 'flipped' classrooms. This study compares the impact of the transition from an interactive pedagogy (fall 2014) to a flipped approach (fall 2015) on student learning and attendance in a physical geology course taught by the same instructor. Assessment in both semesters consisted of two-stage cooperative exams, which were kept the same for comparison. In-class quizzes were used to compare attendance between the semesters. The results show that students in the fully student-centered class were more likely to attend class (85.3%) than the fall 2014 students (82.0%), and that the difference is statistically significant (p-value=0.05). We hypothesized that students did progressively better on the individual exam as the semester progressed. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the individual scores and the normalized change score between individual and group score for each exam. The results show that students in fall 2014 had higher scores on the individual attempt at the end of the semester compared with the beginning (p-value<0.001). However, when comparing normalized change scores as a proxy for how much they could improve, students in fall 2015 had a smaller gap by the end of the semester compared both to the beginning of the semester (p-value<0.001) and to students from fall 2014 (p-value<0.001). These results suggest that the flipped class was a successful approach in our large introductory physical geology class for both content retention and for increasing students' attendance.

Museums and other informal science learning environments (ISLEs), like planetariums, have been helping teach the public science for generations, and many provide outreach programs specifically for K-12 audiences. It is realistic to assume that teachers would more frequently choose to use these outreach programs when they have a clear connection to educational standards (e.g. the Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS) and are relatively easy to implement. Using the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), teachers must believe that engaging in museum outreach programs a) will improve student learning and/or interest (e.g. are aligned with state standards), b) are perceived as useful by stakeholders (e.g. parents, fellow teachers, principals), and c) are within their ability to access and implement (e.g. the cost per person, availability of related curricular resources). In order to get a sense of the critical features of outreach programs, we conducted an inductive content analysis of ISLE websites following the general methods outlined in Elo and Kyngäs (2008). The initial sampling frame for this study is of ISLEs in Michigan where the primary emphasis is on the natural sciences. Data collection took place in three stages: generating a list of Michigan ISLEs, reviewing each ISLE's website to identify outreach programs, and iteratively coding the critical features of the program identified by the museum (e.g. length, topic). Here, we present a summary of the key features of outreach programs in Michigan ISLEs. The next phase of this work is to work with Michigan K-12 teachers to understand the most salient features of science museum outreach programs in determining whether or not they would make use of the program.

This study derives from the professional development and experiences at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, as a teaccher in the Geosciences and Environmental Education Undergraduate Program, at Geosciences Institute. The goal was to investigate teachers' pedagogical content knowledge base (practices, discourses and concepts) in the licentiate degree. The theoretical framework is based on the categorization of pedagogical practices and faculty knowledge dimensions that involves three types of knowledge of a pedagogical concept—theoretical, technical and practical. The research used mixed methods to collect data. Semi-structured follow-up interviews were carried out with nine faculty members. The interviews were designed to generate in-depth profiles of teachers' views of teaching, with open questions considering the categories of pedagogical knowledge. The questions were organized into three categories with sixteen questions about the professional dimension, thirty-four on the pedagogical dimension and twelve on the organizational dimension. Documents relating to pedagogical practices, program designs and curriculum were analyzed. Classroom observation used RTOP protocol. The categorization of teaching knowledge was performed through methodological triangulation, in which the data were interpreted from different authors and methods to understand convergent and divergent points. Categorization pointed to a framework where traditional/teacher centered practices are still predominant, but some of them attempt innovation in geoscience education and reflections about the importance of pedagogical knowledge and professional development. The results showed a panorama of teaching practices in Geoscience Institute, at University of São Paulo. There is strong consistency between instructors' discourses and pedagogical practices observed in classroom. Pedagogical concepts need theoretical-methodological approaches in the professional development to building teaching identity. The organizational knowledge points to a critical view to the departments and management of the university, but not for the basic education. The results indicate possibilities for effective changes in pedagogical practices with professional development programs.

Virtual field trips (VFTs) are multimedia presentations that bring experiences of distant places to learners via a computer, mimicking what learners might experience at a physical site. VFTs can allow students access to locations they would not otherwise be able to visit by offering freedom of exploration and reducing the impact of inclement weather and mobility challenges. We sought to evaluate the existing literature on the use of VFTs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Out of 2,006 Google Scholar search results for "virtual field trip" from the year 2000 to present, 43 articles met our inclusion criteria and were subsequently reviewed and classified using a modified Strength of Evidence Pyramid. Twelve articles were classified as Level 1 (Practitioner Wisdom/Expert Opinion). Most articles (n=24) were classified as Level 2 (Single Iteration of Qualitative/Quantitative Research), while seven articles were classified as Level 3 (Cohort Studies of Qualitative/Quantitative Research). No Level 4 (Synthesis) or Level 5 (Systematic Reviews) articles were found within our selected body of literature. Since 2000, we identified an approximate average of two peer-reviewed STEM VFT articles per year from a wide assortment of journals. Lack of a predominant journal for publishing VFT research as well as the infrequency of researchers publishing multiple articles about VFTs suggests a lack of research continuity in this area. The geosciences accounted for just over half of the included articles (n=22), followed by biology (n=15) and environmental science (n=6). VFTs were most commonly used as an instructional tool, to prepare students for, to enhance, or to replace in-person field trips. Most articles about VFTs relied on small sample sizes or inadequate assessment of learning outcomes. Overall, further research is necessary to fully understand the potential pedagogical value of virtual field trips.

Degree completion rates among undergraduate students majoring in the geosciences have significantly lagged behind completion rates of all STEM undergraduates. Due to the predicted shortage of geoscientists in the workforce, coupled with recent calls for broadened participation in the geosciences in terms of race and gender, addressing the issue of degree completion is prudent. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) Geoscience Education Research (GER) community framework is focused on interventions tuned to the individual within a complex system as a means to address contemporary challenges on access to and success in the geosciences. This study uses higher education/workforce participation paradigms to investigate student success metrics. Special attention is given to the potential interconnectedness and feedback mechanisms within student-centric and institutional-centric social systems, and the enabling structures and/or recurring barriers within geoscience academia impacting students from underrepresented groups. Preliminary results include basic trends across paradigm analysis. Implications are discussed in terms of methods to support students from underrepresented groups in the geosciences.

It is well established that chemistry is an integral discipline underlying many scientific concepts. However, chemistry also presents challenges and misconceptions that act as barriers for many students (Birk & Kurtz, 1999, Anderson & Libarkin, 2016, Barbera, 2013). This poster will center on chemistry education in the geosciences, detailing results from a pilot study. This project aims to shed a light on discontinuities in undergraduate chemistry preparation as part of a geoscience degree and career. A survey was given out at the 2018 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Indianapolis this past November to assess attendees' chemistry self-efficacy, their views on the importance of chemistry, and their chemistry preparation. Preliminary results suggest that geoscience undergraduates, graduate students, and experts share similar opinions about the importance of chemistry, the necessary number of semesters, and the most important skills. This information can help to inform programs about curricular choices and chemistry content in a geoscience education.

As part of a larger study of student learning about climate change, I have collected survey data in my introductory-level paleoclimatology course, "The Earth's Record of Climate", since Fall 2012. Here, I share results of the surveys which suggest changing attitudes about climate change among college students at my institution over the last seven years. My focus is on results of surveys given on the first day of class, but differences in pre- and post-survey results are discussed as well. 97% of students polled on the first day of class in Spring 2019 agreed or strongly agreed that Present-day climate change is the result of human behavior. In contrast, only 56% of students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement when polled on the first day of class in 2012. In response to the prompt, What questions do you have about climate change?, the written responses of a notably greater proportion of students in the 2019 offering (52%) have questions on the subject of "What can I/we do to help/fix/solve the climate problem?" than do the 2012 cohort (9%) and two other cohorts that were surveyed over the past seven years. Responses reveal that a clear majority of students in both the 2019 and 2012 cohorts recognize that climate change will directly affect them, but a significantly greater percentage of the 2019 cohort indicate that they personally can limit the effects of climate change than the 2012 cohort (90% versus 64%). These data should be interpreted as qualitative rather than quantitative in nature, but at minimum they suggest that our students feel a greater sense of agency, and they desire more content about the kinds of actions they can take to resolve climate change.

The authors present the design, research, and evaluation of an earth science course for preservice elementary teachers that is place-based, hands-on, technologically enriched, and aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Our redesigned earth science course was developed using the three-dimensional framework of the NGSS, emphasizing the practices of science and the use of Internet- and field-based environmental data. The overarching theme of earth system processes is exemplified within a single stream watershed; each unit is tied to observations the students make in the field and online. Over three design cycles, we have collected baseline data from a traditional version of the course, a large lecture class serving students in multiple majors; piloted the new curriculum in a small course with education majors; and then scaled up elements of the revised curriculum to a large lecture course. The delivery of the redesigned course is intended to impact preservice elementary teachers by increasing their learning and skill development, bolstering their confidence in their ability to teach science, and increasing their motivation to learn science. We discuss the ongoing research efforts to document impacts using a combination of validated measures, observation protocols, and document analysis. We present evidence of positive changes in instructor and student activities aligned with active learning and the NGSS practices, as well as challenges faced in measuring the effects of curriculum redesign efforts on student knowledge, beliefs and motivation.

Over the course of the SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents project, the 2YC faculty change agent teams have run annual professional development workshops and events for other faculty in their regional networks. In preparation for this, faculty change agents were themselves participants in professional development workshops that modeled effective strategies for them to emulate. These workshops were designed and delivered using principles for effective faculty professional development. Workshop sessions focused on evidence-based strategies for broadening participation in geoscience, supporting the academic success of all students, and facilitating students' professional pathways. Workshop materials were made available to the faculty change agents along with planning documents outlining such details as the goals and timing for each element of the sessions. Providing this scaffolding around the workshop sessions allowed the change agents to make use of them in their own regional workshops. These workshop materials and session descriptions are now available on the SAGE 2YC website in a format that supports their use in professional development workshops. The collection includes materials on supporting students' sense of belonging, building the science identify of students including the use of Scientist Spotlights, supporting 2YC-4YCU transfer, and using active learning pedagogies to support academic success in geoscience courses. Together with the guidance on designing effective professional development workshops already available on the SAGE 2YC website, these new pages of session materials provide a valuable resource for faculty members and others to use in developing impactful professional development experiences for their colleagues.

Future", presents some of the outcomes from the seven-year journey of the NSF-funded InTeGrate project, whose mission was to improve Earth literacy across the undergraduate curriculum and build a workforce prepared to tackle environmental and resource issues. The five chapters in Part I describe the InTeGrate project as a whole, its guiding principles and major efforts, and overall measures of achievement. The seven chapters in Part II are written by authors of curricular materials, and describe modules and courses that engage students in investigating societal issues related to renewable energy; assessing hazards, vulnerability, and risk; regulating carbon emissions; the relationship between ecosystem services and water resources; global food security; major storms and community resilience; and the "critical zone" where rock meets life. The five chapters in Part III are written by leaders of model programs and showcase institutional change through programs that connect geoscience, engineering, and sustainability; integrate sustainability into a General Education curriculum; strengthen pathways through higher education in a large city; and foster collaboration across Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Collectively, the chapters in this book explicitly illustrate the intimate relationship between geoscience and sustainability that is often opaque. They showcase the work of faculty members, administrators and program directors, and researchers from a range of institution types who envisioned, instigated, and evaluated change in the way that sustainability is connected to the Earth and environmental sciences in their classrooms, programs, institutions, and beyond. The book is part of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences book series published by Springer. More about the book and the full InTeGrate project (including curricular materials, model programs, assessment instruments, rubrics, and insights from members of the community) are on the InTeGrate website (http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate).

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) has constructed the observational and computational infrastructure needed to provide sustained measurements of complex oceanographic properties and processes. In 2018, the OOI hosted four workshops for early-career scientists. The workshops were discipline-specific (physics, biology, geology, and chemistry) and were designed to support these scientists in using OOI data in their work through the development of programming, data analysis, and evaluation skills. As part of the workshop, each participant created a Data Validation Report to analyze the quality of one or more OOI instruments. End-of-workshop surveys were used to provide a summative evaluation of the 2018 workshops. A total of 44 early career scientists participated in the four workshops. Participants in all four workshops reported substantial gains, from before the workshop to after the workshop, in their understanding of and ability to access OOI data, in their ability to process and visualize data in Python, in their ability to evaluate the quality of OOI datasets, in the likelihood that they would use OOI data in their research, and in the relationships they formed with other early career scientists. Based on these outcomes, a new set of workshops was developed for 2019, including four week-long workshops and three mini workshops. Early indicators are that the 2019 workshops are yielding similarly positive outcomes as participants work to learn about OOI's collection of 30 classroom-ready data labs, to develop new applications of OOI data, and to more fully adopt the types of active, reflective, data-intensive teaching strategies that promote student interest in and motivation for scientific inquiry (National Research Council, 2012).

The goal of a professional Masters program is to help students rapidly transition from undergraduate learners to work-ready professionals. This presents a unique challenge for instructors to balance conceptual content with continually-evolving and often technical real-world application. The applied nature of professional Masters programs is often what attracts students to these programs, yet students sometimes struggle with the accelerated pace of technical skills development required in many of the courses. This is particularly true of the data-intensive discipline of climate change impact assessment (CCIA). Consequently, past approaches to teaching CCIA have opted to circumvent the technical aspects of the field, leading to lack of methodological transparency and leaving students ill-equipped to enter the work-force. To facilitate improved transparency and technical skill-building in CCIA, we have developed a new series of step-by-step, coherently narrated, open-source python labs aimed at building students' computational capacity and confidence, while providing foundational knowledge in CCIA and the opportunity to interact with state-of-the-art methods and data. Our in-progress research focuses on assessing the effectiveness and limitations of our approach, with an emphasis on quantifying the extent to which the labs have improved (1) students' confidence with learning and applying new technologies and (2) their self-assessment of their work-readiness.

Promoting new green technologies and massively adopting renewable energies is a critical mitigation tactic in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. This presentation describes a three-month research internship with Renew Missouri, a non-profit organization with legal and policy expertise in renewable energy and energy efficiency in the State of Missouri. This National Science Foundation funded internship is designed to enhance graduate students' knowledge and skills relevant to non-academic careers. The project has four key objectives: 1) research policies that have the potential to increase energy efficacy in Missouri, 2) synthesize climate change science research that is relevant to the region, 3) craft science-based public messaging to explain policies and potential for action, 4) summarize recent policy gains in other states. Renew Missouri works in county and city offices throughout Missouri on environmental policy issues such as energy efficiency programs, greater access to energy from solar power, and general ordinances that promote renewable energy. The organization's approach to advancing policy is to bring energy stakeholders together to promote education and productive dialogue. The internship is a partnership between a university and a non-profit organization to provide training for graduate students on the role of science in decision making and policy development. Project findings highlight the need for scientists to continue to reach out to policymakers and the general public. Communication and community engagement with scientists helps inform the creation of science-based policies to mitigate the effects of climate change.