The Role of Two-Year Colleges in Geoscience Education and in Broadening Participation in the Geosciences

Workshop Program

All events are at the Richard J. Ernst Community Cultural Center, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Annandale Campus. Most events are in the Forum; concurrent sessions will be in the Forum or one of the Seminar Rooms (A, B, C, or D). Breakfast is provided at the hotel.

Thursday, June 24

Geo2YC gallery walk
Gallery Walk reception and icebreaker at 2010 Geo2YC workshop at Northern Virginia Community college Details
5:00 pm Vans depart from the Comfort Inn University Center

5:15 Workshop registration opens
5:30 Opening Reception, Icebreaker, Welcome, and Dinner

7:00 Workshop Goals, Introductions and Evening Program
The Role of Two-year Colleges in Geoscience Education and Broadening Participation in the Geosciences: Goals, Challenges, and Opportunities
8:30 pm Vans depart from the Ernst Community Cultural Center, NOVA Annandale Campus

Friday, June 25

Supporting Students in Two-year Colleges

8:00 am Vans depart from the Comfort Inn University Center

8:30-10:00 Teaching General Education: Strategies for Supporting All Students to be Successful

Regardless of whether we recruit students to become majors or not, we want all of our students to be successful, regardless of background and skill level. This session will begin with three speakers, each introducing a program or strategy that addresses some of the challenges students face in becoming literate in the Earth Sciences. We will discuss these strategies (and more) and make key recommendations for success and resources.

10:00-10:30 Break

Leila Gonzales (AGI)
Photo of Leila Gonzales (AGI), presenting on A National Perspective on Geoscience in Community Colleges at the 2010 Geo2YC workshop. Details
10:30-12:00 Broadening Participation in the Geosciences

The goal of this session is to describe what we currently know about students and faculty in geoscience programs around the US in the 2YC's. The speakers will provide a springboard for a conversation about the role of two-year colleges in broadening participation in the geosciences, current programs and projects, and where we go from here.

12:00-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:40 Preparing Geoscience Students for the Future: Concurrent Sessions

Each of these concurrent sessions will look at broader issues that we face in supporting students at 2YC to be successful in the geosciences and in preparing them for the future (earth science literate citizen, technical/professional workforce, geoscience major). Following two short presentations, a moderator will facilitate the discussion.

2:45-3:00 Report Back from Each Group

3:00-3:30 Break

Supporting Students and Faculty in Two-year Colleges

3:30-5:00 Professional Organizations and Two-year Colleges

The purpose of this session is to learn about current programs that are successful in supporting two-year college faculty and/or students, to discuss what works, and what can be extracted from these ideas to support students, faculty, and the development of our own community.

  • Table discussions

5:00-5:30 Reflection on Where We Are, Daily Roadcheck

6:00 Dinner (with optional dinner discussion groups, e.g., teaching online courses (moderated by Pamela Gore), field courses, involvement with K-12 education, other topics as suggested by participants)

Geo2YC participant pic 1
7:00-8:30 Sharing Successes - Poster/Website/Handout Session

Participants who bring a poster, copies of a handout, and/or their laptop will give a 30-60 second highlight of their contribution at the beginning of this session. Then, we'll have the opportunity to learn more from each other about a wide range of activities, approaches, classroom assignments, and projects.

8:30 pm Vans depart from the Ernst Community Cultural Center

Saturday, June 26

Supporting Faculty in Two-year Colleges

8:00 am Vans depart from the Comfort Inn University Center

8:30-8:40 Report of Daily Roadcheck, Plan for the Day

8:45-9:55 Addressing Isolation and Building Our Community: Concurrent Sessions

The purpose of this session is to explore ways that faculty in two-year colleges have built a community of their own. Each concurrent session will start with two short presentations and will be led by a facilitator who has experience in the topic of the session. Each group will discuss how the theme under consideration might be used to support geoscience faculty in two-year colleges.

10:00-10:30 Short reports from each group followed by discussion.

10:30-10:45 Break

Recommendations and Next Steps

10:45-12:00 Plenary Session: Where do we go from here? Set up writing groups and begin work.
12:00-1:00 Working Lunch - Writing Groups

1:00-2:30 Writing Groups

2:30-3:05 Structured Comment Session on Preliminary Writing Group Reports

3:15 pm Vans depart from the Ernst Community Cultural Center to the Comfort Inn and then to the Vienna Metro Stop

Smithsonian Institution "Castle" Building
4:00-6:30 Beyond the Classroom - Optional Field Excursions

The goal of these field excursions is for participants to see some of Washington DC while keeping our "teaching hats" on to discuss how we might be able to use spaces in museums or in the urban environment to engage our students. While these will be facilitated by session leaders, the goal is to share pedagogical ideas with each other about how to maximize experiences for our students.

  • Using Museums for Teaching - Laura Guertin (Penn State - Brandywine) and Jackie Hams (Los Angeles Valley College): This excursion will take place in the Smithsonian Museum stopping at key locations in order to facilitate discussions about how to engage students to learn geosciences in a museum setting.
  • Walking Urban Geology - Callan Bentley (Northern Virginia Community College) and Kaatje Kraft (Mesa Community College): This excursion will occur along The Mall, examining key locations that can facilitate the discussion for ways to engage our students in the environment in which they live.

6:30 Dinner - Dinner groups in DC (self-organized) Meet in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (ground level on side of the museum facing the Mall).

Sunday, June 27

8:00 am Vans depart from the Comfort Inn University Center

8:30-9:15 Writing Groups Revise Reports

9:15-10:30 Writing Groups Present Reports

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-11:45 Recommendations, Plans for the Future, Reflections, and Closing Remarks

11:45-12:00 Workshop Evaluation

12:00 Vans depart from the Ernst Community Cultural Center, other departures to airports

12:30 - 5:00 Local Field Trip: Billy Goat Trail - led by Callan Bentley, Northern Virginia Community College (Optional)
The Billy Goat Trail preserves more than half a billion years of geologic history downstream of the scenic Great Falls of the Potomac River. The area has transitioned from a deep ocean basin to the center of a Paleozoic mountain belt. Participants will see outcrops of metagraywacke, lamprophyre, migmatite, amphibolite, and geomorphic features including potholes, bedrock terraces of the Potomac River, and the uncannily-straight Mather Gorge.