Rendezvous Overview
Jump down to: Themes | Program | Expectations | Dates | Registration and Abstract Submission | Facilities
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Themes
The Rendezvous' combination of workshops, posters, talks, round-table discussions, and plenary presentations is designed to help guide participants through a suite of interrelated challenges that are characteristic of Earth Education in schools, colleges, and universities today by:
- providing instructors who are teaching Earth topics at all educational levels (K-16) with examples of instructional strategies that have been shown to improve student learning
- addressing teaching challenges specific to particular settings (e.g., large classes, labs, field work), topics (e.g., teaching about sustainability, atmospheric science), or skills (e.g., spatial reasoning)
- developing students' competency in a range of geoscientific tasks that involve higher order skills such as systems thinking, data analysis and quantitative skills
- supporting instructors and administrators in creating lessons and programming to increase the number and diversity of students who learn about Earth
- helping graduate students and post-docs prepare for an academic career in Earth-related disciplines
- collaborating with colleagues across the disciplines to situate learning about Earth in a societal context
- supporting current and future teachers in successfully implementing the Next Generation Science Standards
- pursuing education research that supports our ability to address these challenges
Program
View the Program »The Earth Educators' Rendezvous program will bring together these themes into a rich tapestry of workshops, contributed talks and posters, roundtable discussions, and plenary sessions. Drawing across the work currently taking place in geoscience, environmental, and sustainability education, meeting attendees will have the opportunity to learn broadly, focus on a particular issue or challenge, or something in between. All are invited to submit abstracts to the contributed program of posters, oral presentations, and teaching demonstrations.
Given the online format of this year's Rendezvous, the program has some familiar and some redesigned activities.
Morning workshops will meet for three or two days (Monday-Wednesday or Thursday-Friday). Workshops are interactive, with participants learning from experts and from one another in formats that build on research-based pedagogies. Workshops provide an opportunity each day to synthesize ideas from the afternoon sessions and put them to use in your own institutional context. Morning Workshops feature time to work on your course and curriculum design, program development, and student mentoring and support.
The extended lunch hour provides a break and an opportunity to network with colleagues. Poster and Share-a-thon sessions will begin during the lunch hour on three days and the posters will remain available through the close of the day's program, with authors present as indicated in the program.
Following the morning workshops is a break during which participants can preview posters. On Wednesday and Friday, participants are invited to participate in Poster Panel Discussion sessions during this time (see more information below).
The second half of each day includes mini-workshops and round-table discussions (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) and contributed oral sessions (Wednesday).
Mini-workshops and Round Table Discussions allow you to sample areas where you have specific needs, interests and expertise to share. Mini-workshops and roundtable sessions include discipline-specific topics (climate change, planetary science, and more), innovative classroom tools and techniques, and discussion of teaching challenges across all the geosciences, from K-12 to higher education.
Poster Panel Discussion sessions are newly organized so that groups of posters are placed in thematically similar sessions. Each session will include an overview of each poster, followed by guided discussion of posters among authors and participants. EER participants are encouraged to review posters before the Rendezvous, during the mid-day breaks and throughout the EER. Please join Poster Panel Discussions of one or more sessions on Wednesday and Friday. Structured Poster Panel Discussion sessions are available to all registered Rendezvous participants.
Wednesday afternoon includes a suite of Oral sessions, including research presentations and Teaching Demonstrations. The technical program committee will arrange submitted abstracts into a set of themed sessions. Wednesday's oral sessions and will be open to all registered Rendezvous participants.
Tuesday and Thursday feature presentations by plenary speakers. Our distinguished speakers provide EER participants with an opportunity to hear from experts who bring to light new ways of thinking about Earth related topics, particularly in the area of instructors' use of culturally relevant STEM teaching and important issues related to climate change and effective ways to communicate climate science. Plenary talks are available to all registered Rendezvous participants.
On Tuesday, the Rendezvous hosts a new event, called Featured Stories in Diversity: Personal narratives of overcoming obstacles to inclusion and implications for the Geosciences. This is a collection of lived experiences and lessons learned from within our community relating to the broad themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is an opportunity to view and reflect on the stories, and interact with a diverse panel of contributors and experts, as we discuss the implications of how these experiences impact our personal and professional lives and actions for moving forward. The Diversity Stories event is available to all registered Rendezvous participants, please join us as we debut the NAGT Diversity Stories.
We anticipate that there may also be some supplementary programming in the evening for specific groups of participants (e.g., graduate students, geoscience education researchers).
Expectations
Participants will be asked to prepare in advance for their workshops, to attend all sessions of the workshop for which they are registered, and to participate fully in the workshops and the Rendezvous. Given the relatively large proportion of attendees that are new to the topics under consideration, we encourage all participants to communicate freely with others to create a welcoming encouraging work environment that honors all levels of experience with Earth education.
Dates
The Rendezvous will begin on the evening of Sunday, July 11, with an icebreaker and end after the Friday town hall session. Morning workshops last three days (beginning on Monday) or two days (beginning on Thursday). Participants can register for any number of days however, your fifth day is free! Key dates will be finalized later in 2020/2021, but tentative dates are as follows:
- Suggest ideas for the 2021 program deadline: Thursday, October 15, 2020
- Propose a workshop or roundtable deadline: Thursday, October 15, 2020
- Abstract submission deadline for oral, poster, teaching demo, and Share-a-Thon sessions: Thursday, March 4, 2021
- Early registration deadline: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
- Late poster or Share-a-Thon presentation submission deadline: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Registration and Abstract Submission
We welcome participation by all who are interested in teaching and learning about the Earth, including faculty and administrators from two-year and four-year colleges and universities, teachers of high school Earth science, faculty in all disciplines who teach about some aspect of the Earth or would like to incorporate such teaching in the future, students and post-docs interested in these topics, and program leaders in geoscience, environmental science, environmental studies, sustainability, or other programs with an Earth component. All participants are invited to submit an abstract to be considered for inclusion in the contributed program of short presentations and posters.
Register for the Rendezvous Submit an Abstract or Activity
| By May 4 Early Registration |
After May 4 Standard Registration |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 2 day | 3 day | 4/5 day | 1 day | 2 day | 3 day | 4/5 day | |
| NAGT member fee | $100 | $175 | $250 | $325 | $125 | $200 | $275 | $350 |
| Standard fee | $200 | $275 | $350 | $425 | $225 | $300 | $375 | $450 |
*Cancellation policy: Registration cancellations must be made in writing to Amy Collette (acollette at carleton.edu) and received by May 18, 2021 to receive a full refund minus a $30 processing fee. No refunds will be given after the cancellation deadline of May 18, 2021.
Facilities
The workshop will take place online via Zoom. Participants will be emailed a link for their workshop(s) and afternoon events prior to their start date. Detailed information about how to connect and participate in the online events is forthcoming.