The Advantages of Unstructured Time: Insight from Academic Field Trips
Eric Goldfarb, The University of Texas at Austin; Kathy Ellins, The University of Texas at Austin
Academic field programs are an essential part of geoscience education. An often overlooked benefit of field trips is time not devoted to study. On a typical trip, students, faculty, and teaching assistants spend ...

Assessing Geoscience Career Awareness Among Undergraduates
Claire Harrigan, Bowdoin College; Karen Viskupic, Boise State University
One measure of the success of an undergraduate geoscience program is how well its students are prepared for careers in the geosciences. As departments work to prepare undergraduates for the workforce, a method for ...

A Narrative Approach to Building Computational Capacity in Professional Masters Students
Karen Smith, University of Toronto; Conor Anderson, University of Toronto
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 ...

Applying Models of Diversity to Improve Geoscience Curricula and Programs
Eric Riggs, California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
Increasing diversity, access and success of students and faculty in the geosciences has been a sustained priority of the geoscience education community over recent decades. The collected experiences of these ...

Developing Field Experiences at a 2YC: Field Studies Courses at Orange Coast College
Christopher Berg, Orange Coast College; Erik Bender, Orange Coast College; Mike Vanry; Michael Van Ry, Orange Coast College
Orange Coast College is a 2YC in Orange County, California. Within a six hour's drive from campus, one can experience diverse geologic settings, including multiple iconic national park landscapes. As part of ...

A Low Cost Affordable Science Inquiry-Based Curricula for Elementary and Middle School Age Youth
Porche L. Spence, North Carolina A & T State University; Tonya Gerald-Goins, North Carolina Central University; Kimberly Weems, Ph.D., North Carolina Central University; Caesar Jackson, Ph.D., North Carolina Central University; Gregory Goins, North Carolina A & T State University
The Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION) network, is an educational alliance, led by two historical black colleges and universities (North ...

A Pilot Study to Assess Chemistry Education in the Geosciences
Erika Zocher, Northern Illinois University; Nicole LaDue, Northern Illinois University
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 & ...

Magnitude vs. Intensity: An Application of the Science Writing Heuristic for Physical Geology
Larry Collins, Longwood University
The recent adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) have established a high pedagogical standard for instructors. These standards are also important for two-year and four-year ...

Model-Based Teaching and Learning about Earth's Climate: Two Secondary Teachers' Implementation of a Curriculum Unit
Kimberly Carroll Steward, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Devarati Bhattacharya, Central Washington University; Cory Forbes, The University of Texas at Arlington; Mark Chandler, Auburn University
The Next Generation Science Standards (Next Generation Science Standards Lead States, 2013) and the Essential Principles for Climate Literacy (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2009) have helped ...

School of Ice: A Model for Advanced Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty at Minority-Serving Institutions with Applications to Other 2 and 4 Year Colleges
Louise Huffman, Dartmouth College
The School of Ice (SOI) program from the US Ice Drilling Program (IDP) is designed for college faculty who teach at minority-serving institutions or historically black colleges and universities, but lessons learned ...