SAGE 2YC is a national network of 2YC geoscience faculty who use evidence-based strategies to improve students' academic success, broaden participation in STEM, and facilitate students' professional pathways into the STEM workforce. Members in the SAGE 2YC community engage in learning about evidence-based strategies and discussing these ideas with their colleagues via book clubs, journal clubs, and implementation groups.

Faculty have explored supporting student academic success via book clubs and implementation groups. Book clubs read Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, by James Lang, and Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation, by Saundra McGuire. Implementation groups focused on implementing active learning strategies; using the lens of Bloom's taxonomy to align course learning goals, assignments, and assessments; revising a Historical Geology course to make it more engaging, relevant, and inclusive; and teaching geoscience in an online or hybrid format. Faculty have reviewed the research on broadening participation in STEM via a book club and journal clubs. The book club read Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, by Claude Steele. Journal clubs discussed the research literature on fostering a sense of belonging and on developing students' science identity. Journal clubs have also explored the research literature on supporting 2YC-4YCU transfer and on working for change at the program and institutional level. 

All of these discussion group activities were designed and delivered using principles for effective faculty professional development. Descriptions of these discussion group activities, including reference lists and suggestions for structuring conversations, are available on the SAGE 2YC project website for use in developing evidence-based professional development experiences for you and your colleagues.