2020 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 13-17, 2020: Palo Alto, CA (hosted by the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University)

Design your own professional development opportunity at the sixth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous. Events will include workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Earth Education for Sustainable Societies Workshop

October 14-16, 2019: Carleton College, Northfield, MN

This workshop is an opportunity for thought leaders to come together and identify high-priority and exciting ideas for moving forward from the foundation built by InTeGrate Project to strengthen Earth education. Bringing together those from within and outside of the geoscience education community, including those focused on teaching, research, and outreach, the workshop is designed to inspire diverse ideas for future work and provide a venue for new and diverse groups to envision and share ideas for new approaches and directions to address issues of sustainability through learning about the Earth.

The application deadline has passed.

2019 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 15-19, 2019: Nashville, TN (co-hosted by Tennessee State and Vanderbilt Universities)

Design your own professional development opportunity at the fifth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous. Events will include workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Earth and Environmental Sciences: Supporting the Success of All Students

April 10-12, 2019: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

This workshop will focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Earth and environmental sciences. We have the responsibility and the opportunity to make choices in our teaching and in our programs to better attract and support a diverse population of students. To move forward with this work, we will discuss the challenges and barriers students encounter, and explore a range of approaches that can be adopted to broaden participation and foster inclusion at the course and program levels. At the department and program level, we will apply a framework of engagement, capacity, and continuity (Jolly et al., 2004) to program evaluation and design. For the plenary and concurrent workshop sessions, we will draw from our collective experiences, from the science and sociology literature on this topic, from InTeGrate modules, from NAGT's Traveling Workshop Program, from SAGE 2YC resources, and from recent publications in the Journal of Geoscience Education (e.g. Carabajal et al., 2017; Callahan et al., 2017; Sherman-Morris & McNeal, 2016; Wolfe & Riggs 2017). Workshop participants will leave with specific strategies to implement in their classes, as well as with discussion points to share with their programs.

The application deadline has passed.

Webinar: Lessons Learned from InTeGrate's Materials Development Program and What Remains Undone

One, 60-minute virtual session - October 1, 2019
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

In this webinar, you will hear from one of the leaders of InTeGrate's materials development program and one of the project's evaluators. They will share the strategies that led to the development of high-quality resources that aligned with the project's guiding principles, the evaluation strategies that looked beyond the results in one classroom, the scope of the materials produced, and lessons learned in the process. The goal of presenting these results is to provoke discussion and spur ideas for successor projects that can address gaps, reach new audiences, and/or achieve and evaluate different objectives, while building on the existing instruments, infrastructure, and expertise.

Webinar: Earth Education for a Sustainable Future: Supporting departments and programs through InTeGrate

One, 60-minute virtual session - September 17, 2019
Time: 9:00 am PT | 10:00 am MT | 11:00 am CT | 12:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Departments across higher education grapple with how to programmatically support teaching about the Earth in the context of societal issues across curriculum. InTeGrate included 16 institutional programs that used InTeGrate strategies and materials to reach such programmatic goals. This webinar will introduce the set of program models that emerged from InTeGrate and share a synthesis of lessons learned from five areas: recruiting and supporting diverse learners; teaching Earth across the curriculum; building connections to strengthen K-12 teaching; supporting transitions to the workforce, transfer, and careers; and making change happen on the large scale. This webinar will characterize what we know about the impact of these programs on participants and how the lessons have been integrated into the NAGT Traveling Workshops Program.

Webinar: Integrating Energy, Earth and Environmental Education

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 6, 2019
Time: 10:00 pm PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

As the world grapples with climate change, educators have an increased responsibility to help their students learn about energy, energy systems, and the energy economy. However, many educators lack expertise about energy. Geoscientists and Earth system scientists may be well positioned to bridge between technical aspects of energy and the environmental consequences of various types of energy use.

This webinar introduces Energy, Earth and Environmental Education (E4) – an emerging approach informs about energy solutions to climate change. Join fellow Energy, Earth and Environmental Educators (E4) to share best practices and learn new techniques. It is a precursor to an E4 community building workshop sponsored by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) on June 26 and a discussion symposium on graduate education in energy on June 27 at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) conference at the University of Central Florida from June 26-29, 2019.

David Blockstein, Senior Adviser, Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences will introduce E4 and present opportunities to learn more about E4. Teresa Sabol Spezio, Visiting Assistant Professor, Pitzer College will discuss pedagogy involved applying the complexity of energy systems so students have a way to compare and evaluate energy sources. Cornelia Colijn, Executive Director, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania will discuss creation of graduate programs in energy.

Webinar: Teaching Nanoscience in the Earth and Environmental Sciences

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 29, 2019
Time: 12:00 pm PT | 1:00 pm MT | 2:00 pm CT | 3:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Find out why you should consider teaching about nanoscience in your Earth and Environmental Science classes. Nanoscience is an exciting emerging field of research that provides abundant opportunities for research and employment in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. Currently, the Earth and Environmental Sciences are underrepresented in their participation in this revolutionary field of study—exploring truly frontier research topics, training future geoscientists with the skills and knowledge required to do this research, and contributing to research with funding levels approaching $10 billion annually (US) and nano-enabled products approaching $3 trillion (globally). We need community-wide participation of geoscientists to engage this new scientific revolution. Nanoparticles (natural, engineered and incidental) are everywhere in the Earth system, and there's a place for teaching nanoscience in all our Earth Science courses.

This webinar will present an overview of basic concepts about nanoscience, and the many ways that nanomaterials interact with the Earth system. Nanomaterials (natural, engineered and incidental) play central roles in the energetics and mass balance of Earth processes, and also have huge impacts on environmental and human health. At the nano-scale the "rules" are different, and there are many examples of size dependence of physical and chemical properties of materials that may be quite different on the nano- vs. micro- or meso-scale. This webinar will summarize the key concepts about nanoscience in the Earth system recently published in 10-page review article in a recent issue of Science: Natural, incidental, and engineered nanomaterials and their impacts on the Earth system. We will also provide an overview of a new website that supports teaching about nanoscience in your regular course work (e.g., Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, Hydrology, Environmental Geology....): Teaching Nanoscience Across the STEM Curriculum.

Webinar: Core Competencies for Sustainability Education Programs

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 26, 2019
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Every year, new sustainability degree programs are launched at colleges and universities across the USA, joining a global trend of sustainability degree programs. This effort raises important questions for the field of sustainability in higher education related to quality and standards, processes of program development and administration, and communicating the skills, attitudes, and abilities sustainability graduates would have to potential employers. In early 2018, the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) launched a process on "core competencies in sustainability degree programs" through NCSE's Community of Practice on key competencies. The goal of this initiative, through an expert-based Delphi-Study and additional professional meetings, is to reach a nation-wide a "Consensus Statement" on sustainability competencies.

In this webinar, we first describe the significance of core competencies to academic programs, especially those in rapidly developing fields. We define what we mean by core competencies, learning outcomes and frameworks. We report on the current state of research on key competencies in sustainability and highlight the most utilized core competency systems. We present NCSE preliminary data gathered through a Delphi-Study and workshops at professional meetings that focused on program-level learning outcomes related to key competencies in sustainability. The session concludes with discussing the consensus building process and next steps in the evolution of core competencies in sustainability.
 

Webinar: Helping your department or program to survive and thrive in the changing world of higher education

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 18, 2019
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

The rapidly changing world of higher education provides both threats and opportunities to Earth and environmental programs. As financial pressures mount, departments and programs with low enrollment or that for various reasons are not seen as aligned with administration priorities may be at risk for consolidation or termination. Yet there are also opportunities for programs to show their relevance and benefits to the college or university and to the larger community.

This webinar presents the story of how one academic department recovered and became stronger after an existential threat. A former university president provides context of the pressures facing higher education and strategies for survival, recovery and thriving.
 

Webinar: Students as Bridges Between Disciplines and Across Campus for Sustainability

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 28, 2019
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Students can often help to facilitate communication between disciplines and across campus units. Students engaged in sustainability and environmental projects and internships generally collaborate outside their major. Students may work with campus facilities units and with community partners. Among of the many benefits of these student enrichment activities is that they help faculty to build their networks and helps the institution achieve its goals for sustainability as well as improved student achievement.

This webinar presents two examples of student-centered programs and will include discussion of lessons learned and recommendations for enhancing collaboration at other colleges and universities. Students from each school will comment on how these experiences have enhanced their education.

Webinar: Preparing Your Students for Environmental Careers: 10 Steps to Improved Eco-Career Prep

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 7, 2019
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Securing a degree from an interdisciplinary environmental studies or environmental science program or an Earth systems science program can be an outstanding first step to a great environmental career in government, business, academia, or the nonprofit world. The expansive, cross-cutting structures that make interdisciplinary environmental programs special, however, may sometimes leave a student without some of the skills and knowledge that many employers value in new graduates.

Fortunately, there are ready-made hacks that faculty, staff, and students can use to increase the probability that graduates will leave campus with both the unique aptitudes that the interdisciplinary experience inspires, and the career-focused abilities that employers are looking for in the most competitive job candidates.

We present ten steps that programs can take to improve environmental career preparation for students in collaboration with employers and others, seven universal job skills that green employers value, and we examine case studies of how campuses are using these steps and preparing their students.

Webinar: Departmental Climate and GeoEthics

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 7, 2019
Time: 1:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm MT | 3:00 pm CT | 4:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Responsible conduct of scientists is as important as the responsible conduct of research to maintain the health of the scientific enterprise. This webinar explores the nature of personal interactions and how they impact individuals in academic departments. Principles of professionalism (trust, responsibility, respect, fairness, and justice) will be introduced followed by examples of (un)professional behaviors that impact the "climate" of a department (e.g., microaggressions, implicit bias, bullying, sexual harassment, among others). Suggestions will be made on ways to assess your departmental work climate (e.g., strategies for empowering bystanders; climate surveys), and concrete examples will be provided on how to prevent (or mitigate) threatening situations should they arise. Final reflections on where, and by whom, appropriate professional behaviors should be taught in the Earth Science curriculum will be addressed.

Engaging Environmental Justice in Geoscience Courses

December 10, 2018, in conjunction with the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting in Washington, DC

Many of the topics we teach in undergraduate geoscience courses address issues where environmental justice is an important challenge. Engaging the relationship between geoscience and environmental justice can strengthen students' interest in geoscience and build their ability to work on complex societal issues in their geoscience careers. This workshop will focus on two strategies for incorporating environmental justice in undergraduate courses: case studies and service learning, as well as provide a discussion of the challenges of incorporating social issues in our courses.

Engaging Students in Understanding the Earth System as it Intertwines with Key Societal Issues: A workshop for high school teachers

August 16, 2018, in conjunction with the 2018 Goldschmidt Conference in Boston, MA

Bringing sustainability into high school classrooms offers a range of benefits to student learning, such as establishing relevance for your students and empowering them to begin thinking about society and the Earth on a broader scale. This professional development workshop is designed to help chemistry, earth science, environmental science, and physical science teachers infuse more societal relevance into their classrooms with InTeGrate teaching materials. InTeGrate materials challenge students to address interdisciplinary problems, engage in geoscientific habits of mind, work with authentic geoscience data and develop systems thinking. During the workshop, teachers will gain hands-on experience working with these NGSS-aligned, freely available materials and adapting them for K-12 use.

Engaging Students in Understanding the Earth System as it Intertwines with Key Societal Issues: A workshop for K-8 teachers

August 14, 2018, in conjunction with the 2018 Goldschmidt Conference in Boston, MA

Bringing sustainability into elementary and middle school classrooms offers a range of benefits to student learning, such as establishing relevance for your students and empowering them to begin thinking about society and the Earth on a broader scale. This professional development workshop is designed to help K-8 teachers infuse more societal relevance into their classrooms with InTeGrate teaching materials. InTeGrate materials challenge students to address interdisciplinary problems, engage in geoscientific habits of mind, work with authentic geoscience data and develop systems thinking. During the workshop, teachers will gain hands-on experience working with these NGSS-aligned, freely available materials and adapting them for K-8 use.

Connecting Earth Science and Sustainability to Teach the NGSS

August 1-3, 2018: IslandWood, Bainbridge Island, WA

In the Next Generation Science Standards, the Earth sciences play a much more significant role than they have in past science standards. The disciplinary core ideas emphasize the interactions between Earth and human activity, and the concept of sustainability is prominent. How can learning about Earth and sustainability be incorporated into the diverse contexts of science teaching in our middle and high schools and districts? This workshop is for middle and high school science teachers who are seeking engaging, data-rich, and interdisciplinary instructional resources that are well-aligned to the NGSS and explore sustainability concepts and practices. Participants will be actively and collaboratively involved not only in learning about a set of web-based, freely available resources developed by InTeGrate, but in developing supporting resources that will help them and their colleagues make better use of the materials in their teaching within their contexts.

2018 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 16-20, 2018: University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Design your own professional development opportunity at the fourth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous. Events will include workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Webinar: Supporting All Students Through Active Learning

One, 60-minute virtual session - December 7, 2018
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

A growing body of research (e.g. Freeman et al. 2014, Prince 2004) shows that active learning has a positive impact on student learning, especially for students from underrepresented groups. Active learning can be broadly defined as student engagement and participation in the learning process. It can include various types of in-class activities, assessment, and reflection. During this webinar, we will model active learning while providing an overview of the current research on active learning and share examples of active learning techniques and strategies that can work for a variety of courses with a range of enrollment sizes, classroom setups, and student demographics. We will also discuss our own methods for implementing active learning and how these methods foster success for all students.

Webinar: Pathways to performance expectations using InTeGrate materials

One, 60-minute virtual session - November 15, 2018
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Performance expectations within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) go beyond a learning outcome for a single lesson or class period. Instead, they represent what students should be able to do to investigate phenomena or design solutions by making use of science and engineering practices and cross-cutting concepts to build their understanding of disciplinary core ideas. They take a systems approach that emphasizes the connections between concepts are are amenable to adaptation to questions that are relevant to students' lives. A particular lesson or activity can help students make progress towards performance expectations, especially when they are embedded in larger investigations that take multiple class periods to complete.

The instructional materials developed through InTeGrate are well-aligned with the NGSS, and we've recently developed new resources that show how you can link modules together to develop pathways to performance expectations for middle and high school science classrooms. These pathways show visually how students engage in the science and engineering practices at each step through a "practices web". In addition, activities that help students learn to create systems maps can be integrated into many topics, and the data-rich activities can be easily adapted to focus on local datasets.

In this webinar, intended for K-12 teachers, future teachers, and teacher educators, we will highlight these new resources and discuss the features that make them adoptable and adaptable to your classroom.

Webinar: Sustaining Your Interdisciplinary Environmental and Sustainability Program: Opportunities and Resources

One, 60-minute virtual session - October 31, 2018
Time: 9:00 am PT | 10:00 am MT | 11:00 am CT | 12:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

A strong cross-campus environmental or sustainability program has a shared vision and robust administrative structure, and attracts and serves students with diverse backgrounds and aspirations. It offers pathways to a broad understanding of the environment together with specialized skills and knowledge that prepare students for their careers and lives as problem-solvers or problem-preventers. This interactive webinar is designed for leaders or faculty in existing or developing interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs that extend beyond a single department. We will discuss challenges and opportunities for these programs, and describe resources including the NAGT Traveling Workshop Program, content on the website of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), the Association for Environmental Sciences and Studies (AESS) and the scholarship of Dr. Shirley Vincent, formerly of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE). Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences.

Webinar: Context Diversity: A New Paradigm for Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education

One, 60-minute virtual session - October 22, 2018
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Our current approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion are still rooted in Affirmative Action systems that were instituted in the 1960s. These approaches follow a diversity model that measures success by counting the number of women and racialized underrepresented minorities (URMs) in higher education. While the model enabled institutions to recruit these populations into STEM disciplines, this approach fails to address a key systemic issue in the STEM culture; valuing of one mode of cultural context in terms of knowing and doing science while simultaneously discounting other ways of knowing and doing. This is an assimilationist approach can be problematic for diversity programs and initiatives in STEM. An underlying problem is that the meaning of an inclusive environment (one that attracts a diverse population, helps everyone thrive in that environment, and values a broad view of success in STEM) has been unclear. Multicontext theory offers a new understanding of diversity in ways of knowing and doing. Presently, the culture of STEM tends to value "low context" approaches to scientific inquiry (e.g., individuated, task-oriented, compartmentalized task and concept orientation, and linear and logical thought processes) while "high context" approaches are often less valued (e.g., integrated, process-oriented, holistic, and systems thinking). Multicontext theory allows us to articulate these cultural contexts and apply them to reframe our approaches to scientific inquiry and teaching, thus activating the full strengths of diverse populations. This webinar will introduce participants to concepts and applications of Context Diversity in Geoscience.

Webinar: Introductory InTeGrate-rich Physical Geology course

One, 60-minute virtual session - September 28, 2018
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Physical geology classes generally serve as the introductory geoscience course in college-level programs. It is often in these classes that students are recruited to the major. While most physical geology classes cover the same subject matter, there are countless instructional approaches to teach the topics. This webinar will describe a physical geology course that incorporates more than a dozen InTeGrate activities of varying length into the semester. Because these materials have been designed to focus on sustainability and make connections to societal concerns such as limited natural resources and the health of the environment, student learning is enhanced by highlighting the relevance of course topics to their own lives and communities.

Webinar: Communicating Science to a Broad Audience: Social Media for You and Your Students

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 31, 2018
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Social media offers earth science educators an opportunity to directly interface with the public, improve public perception of science and scientists, combat scientific misunderstanding and misinformation, and share the joys and challenges of doing science. Many educators are already using social media in innovative ways to engage students, their networks, and the public. In this webinar, we will discuss the power of social media for science, best practices, how you can support your students in effective social media use, and tips for contentious communication that can be applied in all forms of communication.

Webinar: Exploring ways to make the InTeGrate Mineral Resources module your own

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 29, 2018
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Although InTeGrate's Humans' Dependence on Earth's Mineral Resources module was designed to be taught in a 2-week portion of an introductory geoscience course, the materials it contains can be used in different orders or even on their own. Also, the interdisciplinary nature of several of the activities lend for their adoption in other types of classes. Using participant input as a guide, this webinar will provide examples of how the module material can be adapted to meet diverse needs in different types of courses.

Webinar: Teaching Ocean Sustainability using Active Learning Techniques

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 21, 2018
Time: 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

The InTeGrate Ocean Sustainability Module introduces the importance of oceans, basic ocean processes, and the impacts of oceans on human health. During this webinar we will present a quick overview of the six units covered in the InTeGrate Ocean Sustainability module and two units in depth:

• Unit 1: Ocean Circulation and Health, which explores modern ocean circulation and how these patterns are expected to be altered by climate change.
• Unit 4: Oceans in Peril: Pressures on Ocean Ecosystems, which explores how modern climate change impacts grey whale behavior.

The units presented in depth will provide participants examples of how to challenge students to think about the interconnectedness of Earth's systems and how humans can alter marine systems and their inhabitants.

Webinar: Critical Zone Science: A transdisciplinary approach to environmental science

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 17, 2018
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Earth's critical zone (CZ) is the uppermost layer of Earth's continents, which supports ecosystems and humans alike. CZ science aims to understand how interactions among rock, soil, water, air, and terrestrial organisms influence Earth as a habitable system. Thus, CZ science provides the framework for a holistic-systems approach to teaching Earth surface and environmental science, especially related to environmental sustainability. Participants in this webinar will be introduced to the basic concepts of critical zone science and observatories as well as a transdisciplinary full-semester, university curriculum that introduces upper-division students to CZ science. The course emphasizes how a CZ framework is appropriate for teaching concepts across scientific disciplines, concepts of environmental sustainability, and the usefulness of CZ science for considering humanity's grand challenges. Webinar topics will include a background and history of CZ science, and a focus on units from within three of the seven modules that comprise the course: importance and role of soil in the CZ Background module; movement of energy and nutrients in the Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry module; and, agricultural impacts and the research proposal peer review process in the Humans in the CZ module. The webinar will conclude with consideration of examples of contemporary Critical Zone Science results and future opportunities.

Webinar: Integrating GPS, SfM, and TLS into Geoscience Field Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 24, 2018
Time: 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET
Registration is closed.

Fieldwork is an integral part of the geosciences and there is a longstanding tradition of teaching field methods as part of the undergraduate curriculum. As Earth science research technologies have grown, there is more interest in introducing geodetic methods into field education courses. The webinar will introduce instructors of geoscience field courses to using global positioning system (GPS), terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and structure from motion (SfM) with undergraduates. The webinar will overview two modules High Precision Positioning with Static and Kinematic GPS/GNSS and Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM. Presenters will give brief overviews of the geodetic methods and module components and provide tips on how best to use them with undergraduates.

The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding field teaching. The modules are particularly appropriate for majors-level courses in field geology, environmental geology, structural geology, geotechnology, GIS, geomorphology, geophysics, tectonics, geohazards, or any other course with a field component.

Webinar: Addressing Landslide Hazards in Introductory Undergraduate Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 18, 2018
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Learning to "read" a landscape can be challenging for introductory students. The GETSI module Surface Process Hazards engages students in landslide case studies from around the world as an entry to learning about landslide hazards. They go on to analyze a range of remote sensing images including radar- and lidar-developed shaded relief and InSAR for different geomorphic processes and physical factors including mass movements. Finally students pull together all their learning through developing their own landslide hazard map from Boulder Creek, CO and area that experienced significant flooding and mass movement.

This webinar will feature a short talk by geomorphologist, Adam Booth, on cutting edge ways lidar data are being used to better understand landslide hazard and Earth surface processes. Next module author, Becca Walker, will overview the Surface Process Hazards module and highlight ways to teach this topic in introductory Earth science courses. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding surface process hazards teaching. The module is particularly appropriate for introductory courses such as physical geology, geohazards, and Earth System Science. It can also be used successfully early in a geomorphology course.

Webinar: Educating Skillful Visualizers

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 30, 2018
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Visualizations can be a powerful tool for both thinking and communicating. As with other tools, proficiency can be fostered through education and practice. But how? This webinar will share insights emerging from an interdisciplinary workshop held in conjunction with the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science & Education. The workshop group compiled, shared, and organized ideas from research and practice on:

• what cognitive and information resources do experts draw on when interpreting visualizations?
• how can we help learners extract insights from scientific visualizations?
• how can we help learners express their own ideas via visualizations?
• how can we assess learners' progress towards visualization mastery?

The scope of the workshop encompassed both concept-driven visualizations (e.g. flowcharts, diagrams) and data-driven visualizations (e.g. data graphs and maps). Although the workshop drew from across the STEM disciplines, for this webinar the examples will be drawn from InTeGrate instructional materials for teaching about the Earth.

Webinar: Addressing Critical Issues in Your Community: Examples for Introductory Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 28, 2018
Time: 12 pm Pacific | 1 pm Mountain | 2 pm Central | 3 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Earth scientists serve inherently civic roles addressing critical issues of water quality and quantity, soil health, mineral and energy resource extraction, climate change, and natural hazards. This AGI co-sponsored webinar will showcase easy-entry community engagement activities that help build capacity for our community to address critical issues. Strategies include outreach, advocacy, research in-service to partners, and knowledge co-development. We will highlight examples that are most accessible (i.e. introductory classes). We also seek your examples of critical issues your students explore locally through data analyses.

Webinar: Interdisciplinary Teaching and Sustainability

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 15, 2018
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Addressing complex and solution-resistant ("wicked") challenges to sustainability arising at the intersection of natural and human systems is an inherently interdisciplinary pursuit demanding not only scientific understanding of the biophysical environment, but consideration of the human institutions and values that underlie unsustainable ways of living. However, research shows that students in the physical sciences recognize the environmental aspects of sustainability but often have trouble understanding its societal dimensions. This has important implications for geoscience educators who wish to help their students develop a more a holistic understanding of sustainability, but may themselves be less familiar with its social, ethical, and economic dimensions.

This webinar will highlight strategies and instructional resources that can be used at the course or program level to connect the science-relevant aspects of sustainability with its interlinked social and economic dimensions using examples from: 1) a collection of articles in a recent theme issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education devoted to interdisciplinary teaching and sustainability (Volume 65, Issue 2, May 2017) and 2) the NAGT/InTeGrate Traveling Workshop Program.

Webinar: Teaching Sustainability in an Interdisciplinary First-Year Seminar

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 9, 2018
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

We, a geology professor and a sociology professor, will discuss our team-taught first-year seminar focused on environmental and social sustainability. In this course, we seek to increase students' understanding of the complex nature of sustainability in a consumer society. InTeGrate materials are invaluable in helping first-year students connect the natural science and the social science perspectives. During this webinar, we will discuss our course, the benefits of these modules for interdisciplinary learning, and the ways we modified them to be accessible for non-majors in their first semester at college. We will conclude by exploring ways that InTeGrate modules can contribute to interdisciplinarity in collaborative teaching models ranging from linked courses to team-taught courses. Participants are encouraged both to ask questions of the presenters and to discuss their own experiences using InTeGrate to link multiple perspectives.

Webinar: Designing Activities for Effective Online Teaching

One, 60-minute virtual session - January 22, 2018
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Teaching online is growing in acceptance and its accessibility creates an opportunity to reach students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Active learning, systems thinking, using data, and dealing with complexity are harder to approach in online education, and these difficulties are magnified at larger scales. There is a need to develop and disseminate best practices for teaching about Earth online. Building on current teaching materials and design principles, this webinar will explore Earth Science focused online teaching methods, technologies, and materials. It will also discuss how classroom activities can be adapted and scaled to larger online class sizes.

Sustainable Solutions to Societal Issues Workshop

December 12, 2017, in conjunction with the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, LA

InTeGrate has developed a set of community-built modules that directly address Earth-related grand challenges through the use of engaging, data-rich activities that incorporate interdisciplinary problem solving. In this workshop, we will explore the InTeGrate materials, discuss the underlying design rubric, and work with participants to adapt the materials to their institutional and geographic setting.

Putting Sustainability into Action: New Strategies for Courses and Programs

October 26-28, 2017, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL

Sustainability has emerged as a central theme for teaching about the environment. Whether it is from the perspective of science, economics, or society, sustainability is of high interest to students, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the geosciences. This workshop is open to multi-disciplinary teams of faculty, administrators, and sustainability officers who have opportunities to incorporate and strengthen sustainability in courses and programs. Building on the InTeGrate HBCU Geosciences Working Group experiences and expertise, teams will develop culturally responsive methods and practices for putting environmental and social sustainability into action in courses and programs at their institutions. We encourage applicants from all disciplines, especially, education; natural and social sciences; geosciences; engineering; and humanities.

2017 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 17-21, 2017: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Design your own professional development opportunity at the third annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous. Events will include workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Teaching About Earth Online

May 30–June 1, 2017: Penn State University, State College, PA

Teaching online is growing in acceptance and its accessibility creates an opportunity to reach students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. There is a need to develop best practices for teaching about Earth online, as new technological topics, pedagogical approaches, and teaching materials that incorporate active learning and data emerge. This workshop will focus on best practices, collecting resources, and developing materials that can be widely disseminated. It is open to all faculty who have the opportunity to teach Earth Sciences using online education.

Application Deadline: April 2, 2017.

Earth in Context: Resources for Integrating Earth Literacy with Societal Issues across the Curriculum.

May 26, 2017 in conjunction with the GSA Cordilleran Section Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii
Anne Egger, Central Washington Univ. and National Association of Geoscience Teachers

Are you interested in preparing students to be problem-solvers in a future where sustainability will require a robust understanding of the intersections between the Earth and society? In this workshop, we will explore community-built, data-rich materials that address these grand challenges, and work to adapt the materials to your institutional and geographic setting.

Pan-African Approaches to Teaching Geoscience

May 23–25, 2017, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA

Africa is integrally linked to the United States through the impact of Africans in America and Africa as a source of minerals, other materials and intellectual resources. Yet, African-Americans are underrepresented in the geosciences, and attracting African-American students to the geosciences is a challenge. This workshop focuses on developing opportunities for students to learn geoscience in the context of culturally relevant questions using Pan-African pedagogical approaches. Faculty from all disciplines who have opportunities to teach about the Earth and Africa are invited to apply.

The application period is closed.

Strengthening Geoscience Competency for HBCU Pre-Service Teachers Workshop

February 2–4, Tennessee State University

Highly skilled teachers will be needed to prepare the next generation of climate scientists, engineers, and urban planners. There is already a critical need for teachers who are adept at science education, especially in schools serving low-income and urban minority populations. Many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are located in proximity to these schools. HBCUs educate a large share of public school teachers, but very few black colleges have geoscience departments. Strengthening geoscience curriculum and exposing HBCU pre-service teachers to earth science learning modules during the early stages of their college programs will improve their ability to cultivate earth literacy among elementary and secondary school students.

Webinar: InTeGrate 101: How to incorporate InTeGrate classroom materials into your courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - December 8, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

In this free, one-hour webinar participants will be introduced to the large collection of InTeGrate teaching materials and provided with strategies to incorporate activities into their own college classrooms. These data-rich activities provide up front learning outcomes, embedded assessment tools, and instructor stories from a variety of institution types. Following a brief overview of how the InTeGrate materials were designed, we will navigate through the online collection and examine several specific activities that use active learning strategies such as jigsaws, role-playing, and gallery walks. Several module authors will also join us and give brief overviews of highlights of their modules.

Webinar: Ways to Support All Students

One, 60-minute virtual session - November 13, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

In order for geology to appeal to a more diverse group of students we need to build programs that understand our current students and their communities, encourage development of the whole student, support students from all contexts, and provide continuity from a point before students enter our programs to a point beyond successfully leaving our programs. We will explore examples of activities that support our "multicontextual" student populations (Ibarra, 2001) and highlight the "capacity-engagement-continuity" model of Jolly et al. (2004).

Webinar: Strengthening K-8 Teacher Preparation

One, 60-minute virtual session - September 27, 2017
Time: 12 pm Pacific | 1 pm Mountain | 2 pm Central | 3 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

In this webinar, we will share the structure and adaptability of InTeGrate interdisciplinary materials and how they (1) address content and skills that can be aligned to NGSS and (2) model inquiry-based instruction. The webinar includes and overview of the resources available and examples of how they have been used in a variety of courses and at a variety of levels. In addition, the webinar will provide participants with an opportunity to explore a module and ask questions about methods of adaptation.

Webinar: Sustainable Solutions to Societal Issues: Teaching Earth literacy across the undergraduate curriculum

One, 60-minute virtual session - September 21, 2017
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

How do we prepare students for a future of climate change, water and food scarcity, resource depletion, and other sustainability concerns that will require an in-depth understanding of the intersection between the Earth and society? One strategy is to incorporate these issues into teaching at all levels across the undergraduate curriculum. InTeGrate has developed a set of community-built modules that directly address Earth- related grand challenges through the use of engaging, data-rich activities that incorporate interdisciplinary problem solving. In this webinar, we will briefly explore the InTeGrate materials and highlight opportunities for faculty from your institution to participate in upcoming 2017-2018 InTeGrate/NAGT traveling workshops that will assist you in adapting these materials to your institutional needs and geographic setting.

Webinar: Using Model-Based Reasoning and Experiential Learning to Understand and Improve Sustainability in a Campus Food System

One, 60-minute virtual session - September 12, 2017
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

The development of students' ability to address interdisciplinary problems and incorporate systems thinking are essential attributes of the materials developed through the InTeGrate project. This webinar describes experiential learning and work-learning strategies that can be used to compliment approaches featured in several InTeGrate modules for incorporating sustainability in to degree programs using a local institutional context. This webinar features the work by Geoff Habron who has used the model-based reasoning approach developed by the NSF-funded EMBeRS project to help students understand their assumptions about the campus food system and track the development of their shared understanding through a series of individual and group reflections and systems mapping exercises (model-based reasoning). The goal is for students to grasp the complexity, yet feasibility, of improving the sustainability of the food system with a focus on environmental responsibility and social justice.

Webinar: Assessing the Impact of InTeGrate Materials in Introductory Environmental Science and Botany Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - August 31, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Using InTeGrate modules in an Introduction to Environmental Science course since the spring of 2016, gains in student achievement in objectives related to soils, agriculture, mining, climate change, among others have been measurable. The QUBES InTeGrate Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN) in Spring 2016 was invaluable for guidance with modifying and launching the initial modules used in the course: 'A Growing Concern' and 'Soils, Systems, and Society.' Additional modules were added in the fall of 2016 to strengthen the course and previous modules were improved. Recent experiences as a co-mentor for QUBES InTeGrate FMN in spring 2017, has led to new depths of reflection, additional modules utilized, and new courses employed. Student feedback and results of assessments will be shared as part of the session.

Webinar: Moving sustainability forward through community partnerships, collaborative initiatives, and earth advocacy

One, 60-minute virtual session - May 8, 2017
Time: 12 pm Pacific | 1 pm Mountain | 2 pm Central | 3 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Service to communities and earth advocacy empowers students and faculty as change agents. There are numerous approaches to introduce these topics, but integrating them into the curriculum and campus ethos takes sustained effort. This webinar will provide examples and strategies to incorporate these topics into your course, program, or campus. Sarah Fortner, the Wittenberg University Implementation program leader and A Growing Concern module co-author, will provide strategies for partnering with local experts to tackle community challenges. She will highlight a course and programmatic approach centered around collecting or analyzing data. Sean Cornell, the Shippensburg University Implementation program leader and Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society course coauthor, will discuss the successes of the implementation program to integrate sustainability into general education curriculum and enhance service-learning, co-curricular opportunities for students, and professional development opportunities for faculty. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding sustainability and serving communities.

Webinar: Addressing Earthquake Hazards with LiDAR, GPS, and InSAR in Upper-level Undergraduate Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 13, 2017
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

The cutting edge methods of GPS, LiDAR, and InSAR are seldom taught in undergraduate courses, but are essential tools for researchers studying the active Earth. This webinar will present two modules intended for upper-level geoscience courses that feature learning about active tectonics through these geodetic methods and motivated by improved societal preparedness for earthquakes. Presenters will highlight teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to capstone projects. GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues (GETSI) collection editor, Beth Pratt-Sitaula, will discuss the value in teaching geoscience through the lens of societal challenges. Author Phil Resor will discuss the module GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes which features using ongoing deformation as measured by GPS stations to study crustal strain and earthquake hazards and risk. Gareth Funning will describe the module Imaging Active Tectonics which uses LiDAR and InSAR to better identify active landforms and characterize recent earthquakes in order to assess earthquake risks, even those far from population centers. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding active tectonics and earthquake hazard learning. Modules are particularly appropriate for majors-level courses in structural geology, tectonics, geophysics, tectonic geomorphology, geohazards, and applied engineering.

Webinar: Integrating Hazards and Societal Impact into Your Course

One, 60-minute virtual session - April 7, 2017
Time: 11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Hazards and societal impact are vital topics for teaching about the Earth. These issues are commonly touched on in introductory courses, but they are not investigated deeply. If students are given more time and structured examples to explore issues, they can develop a greater sense of the importance of societal impacts. The Map Your Hazards! Assessing Vulnerability, Hazards, and Risk module provides material to delve further into societal impact. Brittany Brand, Map Your Hazards module co-author, will provide an overview of the module and learning objectives for each unit. She will highlight student examples of vulnerability and risk maps and share common places students struggle with the module. Finally, she will discuss how the module has been modified for different courses and discuss how it could fit into the curriculum. Myla Jeffries, the Community Outreach Specialist for Ada County Emergency Management will discuss her experience consulting and collaborating with geoscience faculty and students. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding incorporating hazards and societal impact into their course.

Webinar: Incorporating Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry and Exploration in Your Course

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 30, 2017
Time: 12 pm Pacific | 1 pm Mountain | 2 pm Central | 3 pm Eastern
Registration is closed.

Large datasets are commonly used to study geological and environmental processes, but it is not simple to provide students with opportunities to use and explore these dataset. The Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry and Exploration (EDDIE) project has developed flexible teaching modules that train undergraduate students to use large, sensor-collected, high-frequency and long-term datasets. Using these modules, students build scientific skills and strengthen their scientific understanding. Catherine O'Reilly, EDDIE project co-leader, will provide an overview of the EDDIE project, discuss the distribution of courses that have used the modules, the flexibility of the modules, and educational research results from piloting the modules. Tom Meixner, EDDIE project co-leader, will discuss the structure of the teaching modules and showcase examples of student activities from a selection of the modules including modules on lake ice phenology, nutrient loading, and climate change. They will also highlight best practices and pro tips for using the modules. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding using large datasets in student activities for their discipline or context.

Webinar: Fostering Systems Thinking in Your Students

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 22, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Systems thinking can help students analyze complex systems and it is well-suited to teaching about Earth in a societal context. Systems thinking is prevalent across the curriculum, especially with regard to sustainability issues. Lisa Gilbert, Systems Thinking module co-author, will introduce systems thinking, provide an approach to building students' systems thinking skills, and showcase a systems thinking example that can be used in any course. Karl Kreutz, Systems Thinking module co-author, will discuss systems modeling and feedback systems. In addition, he will provide an example of a feedback system using Arctic sea ice. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding systems thinking for their discipline or context.

Webinar: Adapting InTeGrate Modules to Biology Courses and Online Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 8, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern

Registration deadline is closed.

InTeGrate Implementation Programs piloted InTeGrate teaching modules in a variety of disciplines and contexts to infuse teaching about Earth in a societal context, sustainability concepts, and active learning strategies throughout the curriculum. Faculty from the implementation programs commonly adapted the modules to their discipline and course. Amber Burgett, part of Wittenberg University's InTeGrate Implementation Program, will discuss adapting InTeGrate modules for a general education, non-majors Biology course and for an upper-level freshwater Ecology course to strengthen active learning opportunities in these courses. Sabrina Walthall, part of Mercer University's Implementation Program, will discuss adapting an InTeGrate module to an online, general education science course for adult learners. She will also present a template to help other faculty incorporate adapted InTeGrate materials into their courses. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding adapting InTeGrate modules for their discipline or context.

Webinar: Sustainability Across the Curriculum

One, 60-minute virtual session - March 2, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern

Registration is now closed.

Sustainability is emerging as a central theme for teaching about the environment, whether it is from the perspective of science, economics, politics, or society. Teaching about sustainability creates an opportunity to connect classroom material to society. Camelia Kantor, Claflin University's InTeGrate Implementation Program leader, will discuss the importance of Earth Science content and awareness and how integrated and problem-based learning environments help contextualize the need for sustainability. Rachel Teasdale, CSU–Chico's Implementation Program leader, will discuss the Sustainability Pathway general education program and how data-rich and societally relevant teaching activities can be used in STEM and non-STEM courses. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding sustainability across the curriculum.

Webinar: Water and Food Sustainability

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 15, 2017
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Water and food are critical to human life, but the quality and supply of these substances is not consistent throughout the world. Guiding students through activities that focus on agriculture, water resources, river systems and food access can help them see where their lives intersect local or national/global issues of water and food sustainability. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples using data-driven teaching activities and place-based learning to help students analyze data and give them relevant issues to anchor their knowledge. Chris Sinton, InTeGrate module co-author, will discuss examples of how to get students to work with large datasets and consider regional issues related to crop and irrigation patterns from the "Water, Agriculture, and Sustainability" module. Cynthia Hewitt, co-author of the "Food as the Foundation of Healthy Communities" module will focus on food access as a starting point to build interdisciplinary awareness of the nexus of food with energy and water systems in sustainable communities. She will also discuss innovative collective learning to introduce systems thinking at the intersection of social science and science-based inquiry. Mark Sweeney, co-leader of the University of South Dakota Implementation program "Sustainable Rivers", will share how place-based learning related to river processes can be infused across the liberal arts curriculum. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding water and food sustainability.

Webinar: Addressing Food Security Issues in Your Course

One, 60-minute virtual session - February 9, 2017
Time: 9 am Pacific | 10 am Mountain | 11 am Central | 12 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed.

Issues related to food security showcase the interactions between geoscience, policy, agriculture, and society. Teaching about these topics helps students see the connections between geoscience and their daily lives. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples using an interdisciplinary systems thinking approach to help students consider food security issues. Rebecca Boger, InTeGrate module author, will discuss strategies for addressing food security using technology such as ArcGIS online from "The Wicked Problem of Global Food Security" module. Heather Karsten and Steve Vanek, co-authors of the course "The Future of Food", will discuss materials for teaching about food systems with examples that focus on a systems approach to managing soil quality, and food system impacts on natural systems. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding food security.

2016 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 18-22, 2016, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Design your own professional development opportunity at the second annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Madison, WI. Events will include workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Teaching Science in Society: Building Relevance and Interest for Undergraduates By Adding InTeGrate Resources to Your Class

August 7, 2016, As part of the Ecological Society of America Annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Ecology, environmental, and earth science courses have the opportunity to engage undergraduate students in science through addressing societal challenges including climate change, water availability issues, resource depletion, food security, and other grand challenges. In this workshop, we explore the InTeGrate materials, and work with participants to adapt the materials for their courses, the context of their institutional and local geographic setting, and for the needs of their students.

Webinar: Developing Graduate Students' Teaching Capacity with InTeGrate Materials

One, 60-minute virtual session – Thursday, August 18, 2016 
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Registration is closed

Developing graduate students' teaching capacity is essential to instilling good teaching practices and beneficial teaching skills in future faculty. This webinar will provide an opportunity to hear from geoscience faculty and graduate students who have developed InTeGrate modules, led InTeGrate implementation training workshops, and adopted InTeGrate modules after participating in a training workshop. Anne Egger, an InTeGrate project leader, will discuss the InTeGrate training workshops she ran for graduate students and post-docs with the Stanford InTeGrate Implementation Program and she will give an overview of the Stanford implementation program. Megan D'Errico, a Research Specialist at San Diego State University, will talk about her experiences as a training workshop participant at Stanford University and her adoption of the InTeGrate module Climate of Change. Joy Branlund, from Southwestern Illinois College is an author of the Human's Dependence on Earth's Mineral Resources module and she will talk about the thinking behind the module and how it has worked in her courses. 

Webinar: Teaching About Natural Hazards and Risks

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, August 31, 2016 
1:00 pm Pacific | 2:00 pm Mountain | 3:00 pm Central | 4:00 pm Eastern
Registration is closed

Natural hazards and risk are topics that showcase the interactions between geological processes and society. Teaching about these topics helps students see the connections between geoscience and their daily lives. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to capstone projects that help student consider the local and broader societal impacts of hazards, and will also provide models for mitigating risk. InTeGrate authors, Laurel Goodell, Lisa Gilbert, and Tim Bralower, will discuss their modules "Living on the Edge: Building Resilient Societies on Active Plate Margins", "Natural Hazards and Risks: Hurricanes", and "Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society". The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences teaching about hazards and risk.

Webinar: Teaching Sustainability and Environmental Justice in the Humanities and Social Sciences

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, September 7, 2016 
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Registration is closed

Bringing the grand challenge issues that face society to the undergraduate classroom requires an interdisciplinary approach that creates faculty buy-in and builds connections between departments, colleges, and the broader community. Including these issues in humanities and social science enriches and deepens the conversation and creates connections. Interdisciplinarity also introduces complications that need to be addressed. These may include gaps in language, interest, or comprehension. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples that have been incorporated into humanities and social science courses. Sarah Fortner, a Wittenberg University Implementation Program leader, will discuss their program on engaged sustainability, and Ruth Hoff, also a leader of the Wittenberg University Implementation Program will discuss her Spanish-language adaptation of the "Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources" module. InTeGrate module author Kate Darby will discuss the module "Mapping the Environment with Sensory Perception". The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences teaching sustainability and environmental justice.

Webinar: The Importance of Diversity and Equity in Supporting the Whole Student

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, September 22, 2016 
1:00 pm Pacific | 2:00 pm Mountain | 3:00 pm Central | 4:00 pm Eastern
Registration for this webinar is closed

This webinar will showcase models that support the whole student through by increasing engagement, maintaining continuity, and improving capacity using InTeGrate principles. Diane Doser, University of Texas–El Paso Implementation Program leader, will discuss their program on improving transfer capabilities between schools with course content alignment and a bridge program. Sarah Cadieux, a University of Illinois–Chicago Implementation Program team member will discuss their program on relating geoscience thinking skills to the urban environment and increasing student awareness of geoscience career options. InTeGrate implementation team leader Sue Ebanks will discuss Savannah State University Implementation program's approach to building student communities through socially relevant InTeGrate materials that focus on coastal hazard and risk, and service learning projects. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences with addressing diversity and equity for all students.

Webinar: Addressing Water Resources and Sustainability in Upper-level Undergraduate Courses

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, October 6, 2016 
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Registration for this webinar is closed

Issues related to water resources and sustainability are topics that showcase the interactions between geoscience, engineering, policy, and society. Teaching about these topics helps students see the connections between geoscience and their daily lives. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to capstone projects that help student consider water resources and sustainability using real data. GETSI editor, Beth Pratt-Sitaula will discuss the roles of InTeGrate and GETSI in developing geoscience materials that address societal issues. Bruce Douglas, a GETSI module author, will discuss the module, "Measuring Water Resources with GPS, Gravity, and Traditional Methods". Gigi Richard, an InTeGrate module author, will discuss the module, "Water Sustainability in Cities". The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding water resources and sustainability.

Webinar: Developing Students' Data Skills

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, October 13, 2016 
Time: 11:00 am Pacific | 12:00 pm Mountain | 1:00 pm Central | 2:00 pm Eastern
 

Registration for this webinar is now closed

Using authentic geoscience data in courses can help undergraduate students develop geoscientific reasoning skills, improve depth of understanding, enhance retention of content, and build skills useful across a wide range of professions. Developing data-rich activities is difficult and time consuming, but this webinar will highlight data-rich InTeGrate materials and discuss design templates to help guide development of your own data-rich activities. Kim Kastens will give an overview of why it is important to teach with authentic data. Then, Cynthia Fadem, an InTeGrate Climate of Change module author, will highlight two short, in-class data-rich activities that require relatively little time investment and preparation. Next, Peter Selkin, an InTeGrate Living on the Edge: Building Resilient Societies on Active Plate Margins module author, will discuss a data-rich volcano monitoring exercise that usually takes more than one class period. Finally, Kim Kastens will discuss curriculum design templates, developed from the InTeGrate materials, to help faculty consider ways to develop data-rich activities or how to assess others' activities. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged both to ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding developing students' data skills.

Webinar: Addressing Energy Sources and their Impact on the Environment

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, October 28, 2016 
Time: 9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Registration for this webinar is now closed

Addressing energy resources and the role of carbon on climate change provides opportunities to help students see connections between science and their daily lives. The formation of fossil fuels, renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources, understanding the renewable energy technology, and the impact of energy consumption and carbon on climate can empower students to make informed decisions about their energy consumption and on other environmental issues. This webinar will highlight interactive teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to complete course materials. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding energy resources, carbon, and climate change.

Webinar: Teaching the Impact of Human Carbon Emissions on the Atmosphere, Oceans, Climate, and Economy

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, November 17, 2016 
Time: 10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern
Registration is closed

Climate change is a grand challenge facing society and, for this reason, it is important for students to understand the underlying processes that govern the climate system so they can make informed decisions about economic and public policy. Analyzing the atmosphere-ocean-climate system will help students identify current and future scientific challenges related to anthropogenic CO₂ emissions including increases in global temperature, ocean acidification, and resultant changes in the biosphere. Students can apply these scientific principles to economic and public policy decisions such as programs for regulating carbon emissions, which highlights their role in changing climate, oceans, and the atmosphere. This webinar highlights interactive, data-driven teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to capstone and summative assignments that address climate change, ocean sustainability, and carbon emissions regulation. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences teaching the impacts of human carbon emissions on the atmosphere, oceans, climate, and economy.

Webinar: Teaching About the Critical Zone and the Changing Biosphere

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, November 30, 2016 
Time: 10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern
Registration is now closed

The interconnections between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere are fundamental to understanding the Earth System. Studying the connections within the critical zone, as well as how the biosphere has changed through geologic time, helps clarify the Earth System and provides a context for assessing threats to biodiversity today. These topics also guide students to see the connections between Earth Science and their lives. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples ranging from in-class activities to capstone projects that show students the importance of the critical zone and the role humans play in changing the biosphere. Tim White, coauthor of the course "Critical Zone Science", and Camille Holmgren, coauthor of the module "Changing Biosphere", will discuss their approaches to teaching these topics. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences teaching about the critical zone and the biosphere.

Webinar: Connecting Science to Issues of Justice in your Course

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, February 25, 2016
12:00 pm Pacific | 1:00 pm Mountain | 2:00 pm Central | 3:00 pm Eastern 
Registration deadline: Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Environmental Justice is a topic that incorporates dynamic and complex scientific issues with equally complex issues of power, history, race, class, and more. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate fully the relationship between science knowledge and critical societal issues. This webinar features four geoscience faculty who connect learning about the Earth to issues of environmental justice in their courses, the InTeGrate module: Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources, and the El Paso InTeGrate Implementation Program. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentation and 25 minutes of discussion where participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences.

Webinar: Interdisciplinary Teaching: Building Sustainability into your Non-Science Class

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, March 9, 2016
1:00 pm Pacific | 2:00 pm Mountain | 3:00 pm Central | 4:00 pm Eastern 
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Addressing issues of sustainability requires perspectives and expertise from all kinds of people, that is an 'interdisciplinary lens'. Focusing on sustainability and climate change issues, this webinar features three faculty (philosopher, biologist, and geologist) who are currently using interdisciplinary approaches in both science and non-science courses. Participants will experience how scientific data and principles can be introduced into humanities courses, and how science and engineering students can become more comfortable discussing philosophical issues. The webinar will include several interactive sessions focused on specific teaching strategies and will provide opportunities for discussion.

Webinar: Using Data to Teach About Societally Important Questions

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, March 23, 2016
10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern 
Registration deadline: Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Teaching about societally important questions related to the Earth requires tools that help students develop both qualitative and quantitative skills. Equipping students with the skills to interpret authentic geoscience datasets and construct models of Earth's dynamic systems is becoming evermore critical to building a workforce that can tackle the grand challenges facing society. This webinar features 1) a geoscience faculty and researcher team that uses geodetic data to address climate-related issues through the UNAVCO-developed GETSI module, Ice Mass and Sea Level Changes, and 2) a geoscience faculty who is currently using InTeGrate's Earth Modeling module to teach students how to construct and interpret dynamic models of the Earth system. The webinar will include presentations focused on specific teaching tools/strategies as well as time for discussion, during which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences.

Webinar: Improving Climate Literacy Through your Undergraduate Course

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, April 7, 2016
12:00 pm Pacific | 1:00 pm Mountain | 2:00 pm Central | 3:00 pm Eastern 
Registration deadline: Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Improving climate literacy at the undergraduate level is a critical step to improving communication and broad understanding of climate science throughout our society. Climate literacy can be promoted in science and non-science courses alike, and may be accomplished through a wide variety of pedagogical approaches. This webinar features three geoscience faculty who are using climate literacy strategies to improve climate literacy in their courses and across the curriculum. The speakers will share examples drawn from the InTeGrate teaching module "Climate of Change" and the Gustavus Adolphus College "Climate Across the Curriculum" Implementation Program. The webinar will include presentations focused on specific teaching tools/strategies as well as time for discussion, during which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences. 

Webinar: Teaching about Soils as a Critical Resource: Materials and Activities for your Classroom

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, April 21 
12:00 pm Pacific | 1:00 pm Mountain | 2:00 pm Central | 3:00 pm Eastern Registration deadline: Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Understanding and sustaining soil resources is a topic of increasing local and global relevance, and one that can be taught in a variety of courses and at different levels. Using soils as a focus for teaching about the Earth allows for broad understanding of the human aspect in the Earth system, and provides a great opportunity to develop students' systems thinking skills. This webinar features three faculty who are teaching about soils as a critical resource in their courses. The speakers will share examples drawn from the InTeGrate teaching modules "Soils, Systems, and Society" and "A Growing Concern: Sustaining Soil Resources through Local Decision Making". The webinar will include presentations focused on specific teaching tools/strategies as well as time for discussion, during which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences.

Webinar: Working with Diverse Students on Societally Relevant Geoscience Issues

One, 60-minute virtual session - Wednesday, May 11, 2016
11:00 am Pacific | 12:00 pm Mountain | 1:00 pm Central | 2:00 pm Eastern
Registration deadline: Monday, May 9, 2016
Building diversity in geoscience-related fields requires pathways to reach science and non-science students alike, increasing awareness among minority groups, and contextualizing societal issues to reveal their local relevance. These efforts require materials and curricula that focus on societally relevant Earth issues and incorporate pedagogies that cater to a wide variety of learning styles. This webinar features four geoscience and environmental science faculty who are working with diverse students to broaden the distribution of geoscience knowledge and awareness at the undergraduate level. The speakers will share examples drawn from InTeGrate Implementation Programs from the El Paso Higher Education Community, University of Illinois at Chicago, and at Savannah State University. The webinar will include presentations focused on approaches for engaging and supporting diverse students, and showcase InTeGrate materials that are used to support these efforts. The webinar will include time for discussion, during which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences.

Webinar: Making Change Happen at your Institution: How to Overcome Practical Challenges and Build Momentum

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, May 27, 2016
10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern 
Registration deadline: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Initiating and sustaining change on the institutional level is a critical component of supporting teaching for a sustainable future, but knowing where to start is not easy. In this 60-minute webinar, participants will be guided through the steps for launching change efforts at one's institution as well as strategies for sustaining change and the cycle of innovation over the long term. The webinar will feature Dr. Judith Ramaley, President Emerita and Distinguished Professor of Public Service at Portland State University. Dr. Ramaley has played an active role in higher-education reform, partaken in national discussions about the changing nature of work and the workforce, and has published extensively on educational reform, STEM education, and the leadership of organizational change.

Webinar: Transforming Teacher Preparation to Teach for Sustainability

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, June 2, 2016
11:30 pm Pacific | 12:30 pm Mountain | 1:30 pm Central | 2:30 pm Eastern
Registration deadline: Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Efforts to transform teacher preparation must go hand-in-hand with efforts to transform general education if we are to infuse sustainability and social justice into teaching and learning about Earth issues. This webinar features faculty who are incorporating these key themes in science teaching and teacher preparation. The speakers will share examples drawn from three InTeGrate teaching modules aimed at courses for pre-service teachers, as well as the STEM Teacher Preparation in Washington State InTeGrate Implementation Program. The webinar will include 35 minutes of presentation and 20 minutes of Q&A and discussion, during which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the presentations and their own teaching needs and experiences.

2015 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

July 13-17, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

Design your own professional development opportunity at the first annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Boulder, CO. Events included workshops, oral and poster sessions, plenary talks, and working groups. Capitalize on experience from your colleagues at a variety of workshops, present and discuss your own findings, and network with others engaged in improving undergraduate Earth education.

Building your Teaching Skills: For Graduate Students and Post-docs

Sunday, December 13 (in conjunction with the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting), 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Registration Deadline: November 12, 2015 
 

Are you a graduate student or post-doc interested in teaching? Are you currently a teaching assistant or instructor of record and interested in getting better? Then this workshop is for you. In this workshop, we will discuss the research on learning and effective teaching strategies, explore resources available for you to incorporate into your teaching, and give you the opportunity to practice and receive feedback on your teaching through a micro-teaching exercise. This workshop is led by Anne Egger (Central Washington University) and Dave Dempsey (San Francisco State University).

Teaching Geoscience in Society: Building Relevance and Interest in the Geosciences by Adding InTeGrate Resources to Your Class

Monday, 14 December (in conjunction with the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting), 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Geoscience courses have the opportunity to engage students in the sciences through societal challenges that range climate change, water availability issues, resource depletion, geohazards, and other grand challenges. Through InTeGrate, geoscientists have developed a series of teaching modules that directly address Earth-related grand challenges through the use of engaging activities that use authentic data and pose questions that incorporate interdisciplinary considerations. Modular units can be adopted wholesale or in parts and each feature resources to develop students' abilities to address interdisciplinary problems, improve geoscientific thinking skills, make use of authentic geoscience data, and incorporate systems thinking. Materials have been developed and tested by faculty at a variety of types of institutions and come with built in assessments and resources for instructors and students. Topics include climate change, natural hazards, sustainable land use, environmental justice and freshwater resources. In this workshop, we will explore the InTeGrate materials, and work with participants to adapt the materials for their courses, in the context of their institutional and geographic setting. This workshop is led by Rachel Teasdale (California State University, Chico) and Lisa Gilbert (Williams-Mystic).

Partnership Workshop: Colorado's Changing Energy Portfolio

November 14-15, 2015, University of Colorado - Boulder 
Registration deadline:Thursday, October 15, 2015 
 

This two-day workshop is designed to help community college faculty integrate complex energy topics into their classrooms. The workshop will focus on Colorado's changing energy portfolio, including current and potential energy sources, the environmental impacts and trade-offs of energy sources including natural gas, and industry workforce needs for employees in different energy sectors.

Partnership Workshop: (Re)Designing your Earth-related Course for Improved Student Learning

Friday, October 23, 2015, University of Washington-Tacoma
Part of the NAGT Traveling Workshops Program
Registration deadline (extended): October 16, 2015

Our understanding of how people learn and what classroom practices best support that learning has grown and solidified over the past few decades. We now have the opportunity to make changes in our own classrooms that can result in improved student learning. In this workshop, you will both learn about and be engaged in those best practices as you design (or redesign) your own course. We seek participants from all types of institutions of higher education in a variety of scientific disciplines that address learning about Earth, including the geological, atmospheric, and ocean sciences, environmental science, physics, biology, and chemistry.

Workshop: Coastal Hazards, Risk, and Environmental Justice

May 20-22, 2015, New Orleans, LA
See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

Teams, particularly from minority-serving institutions, will gain assistance and develop action plans for incorporating the inter-related issues of Coastal Hazards, Risk and Environmental Justice into their curriculum and campus programs while discussing how to increase success of all students in their programs.

Partnership Workshop: Student Learning About Critical Earth Issues Through the Use of Large Online Digital Data Sets From On the Cutting Edge

Six, 2-hour virtual sessions - May (6, 13, 20, 27) and June (17, 24) 2015
Registration Deadline: March 1, 2015

This On the Cutting Edge workshop aims to help instructors of undergraduate classes develop classroom activities, demonstrations, and research opportunities on topics of current societal relevance and interest using new online resources of geoscience data.

Partnership Workshop: Making Good Courses Great with Educational Technology From On the Cutting Edge

January 12-16, 2015 | Application Deadline: November 17, 2014

This On the Cutting Edge workshop will empower participants to use learning technology to make their classes better. Learning technology has been improving dramatically, and can now help us use best practices efficiently and effectively. These new approaches and instructional technologies are even changing the way many of us teach our classes.

Webinar: Hands-on, data-rich, and socially relevant geoscience activities for 2YC classrooms - An Introduction to the InTeGrate Modules

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, February 13, 2015
Registration Deadline: February 11, 2015

This webinar will introduce the 2YC community to state-of-the-art InTeGrate teaching materials. These recently developed, thoroughly tested, data-rich activities provide up front learning outcomes, embedded assessment tools, and instructor stories from 2YC institutions. Authors from two of the published modules will share some of their experiences related to using these materials in their own 2YC classrooms.

Webinar: Scaling-up from classroom- to program-level with InTeGrate materials at 2YCs

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, March 13, 2015
Registration Deadline: March 11, 2015

This webinar will focus on possible ways to scale up from classroom use of InTeGrate modules at two-year-colleges (2YCs) to thinking on a larger, program-level scale.

Webinar: Introduction to InTeGrate Modules - Hands-on, data-rich, and socially-relevant geoscience activities

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday April 10, 2015 
Registration Deadline: April 8, 2015

This free, one-hour webinar will introduce participants to state-of-the-art InTeGrate teaching materials. These recently developed, thoroughly tested, data-rich activities provide up front learning outcomes, embedded assessment tools, and instructor stories from a variety of institution types. Following a brief introduction to InTeGrate materials, authors from several of the published modules will share some of their experiences related to using these materials in their own classrooms.

Webinar: Expanding the Impact of your Program

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, June 18, 2015
Registration Deadline: June 15, 2015

As a part of InTeGrate's professional development efforts, the project is reprising this webinar on creating institutional and curricular change. This webinar will help faculty design a plan to support departmental/institutional change including aspects such as aligning effort with institutional priorities, making use of assets that already exist, and engaging other stakeholders in the efforts. The webinar will be facilitated by Judith Ramaley, President Emerita at Winona State University and President Emerita and Distinguished Professor of Public Service at Portland State University. Dr. Ramaley is a member of the InTeGrate advisory board and has published extensively on educational reform, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, and the leadership of organizational change.

Webinar: Using the Materials Development Rubric as A Guide for Designing and Implementing InTeGrate Materials

One, 60-minute virtual session - Thursday, October 8, 2015
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern
Registration deadline: Wednesday, October 7, 2015
 

Led by David Steer, this webinar will explore how the InTeGrate Materials Development Rubric can be used as an effective tool to develop new materials, and how you can use it as a guideline to address one or more Earth related grand challenges facing society; develop students' ability to address interdisciplinary problems; improve student understanding of the nature and methods of geoscience and develop geoscientific habits of mind; make use of authentic and credible geoscience data; and incorporate systems thinking.

Webinar: Adapting InTeGrate Materials to Best Effect

One, 60-minute virtual session - Tuesday, October 13
10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern
Registration deadline: Monday, October 12, 2015

Interested in using InTeGrate materials, but not sure where to start? Join us for this webinar, led by Anne Egger (Central Washington University), to learn about how to effectively utilize InTeGrate materials in your classroom. The webinar will highlight recently developed, thoroughly tested, data-rich activities that provide up front learning outcomes, embedded assessment tools, and instructor stories from a variety of institution types.

Webinar: Developing Systems Thinking

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, October 23, 2015 
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern

Our Earth is made up of of interacting systems, and having an understanding for how the Earth system works is key in tackling the Grand Challenges facing society. This webinar, led by Hannah Scherer, will address how to effectively incorporate teaching systems thinking into your classroom.

Webinar: The Pathway to Systemic Change

One, 60-minute virtual session -Thursday, November 12, 2015 -- This webinar has been postponed further details TBA
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern

This webinar will help faculty design a plan to support departmental/institutional change including aspects such as aligning effort with institutional priorities, making use of assets that already exist, and engaging other stakeholders in the efforts. The webinar will be facilitated by Judith Ramaley, President Emerita and Distinguished Professor of Public Service at Portland State University. Dr. Ramaley is a member of the InTeGrate advisory board and has published extensively on educational reform, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, and the leadership of organizational change.

Webinar: Metacognition

One, 60-minute virtual session - Tuesday, Nov 17, 2015
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern

Developing students' understanding of how they learn can empower students to take charge of their learning. This can help engage students in the material and promotes the development of meaningful connections. Join us for this webinar, led by Karl Wirth, Macalester College.

Webinar: Dealing with Copyright

One, 60-minute virtual session - Friday, December 4, 2015
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern

When sharing teaching materials on the web, it's important to abide by copyright laws. This webinar addresses some of the most common questions and issues surrounding copyright faced by those who contribute and develop teaching materials, including where to find images and data that can be shared through a creative commons license, how to ask for permission to use copyrighted material, and more. This webinar is led by Sean Fox, Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College.

Webinar: Getting Ready to Pilot

One, 60-minute virtual session -Thursday, January 7, 2016
9:00 am Pacific | 10:00 am Mountain | 11:00 am Central | 12:00 pm Eastern 
 

This webinar is aimed at those using InTeGrate materials to collect data for the InTeGrate project, and offers a refresher on what is involved in piloting/testing the materials in the classroom. Join us to learn about how to set up your course 'dashboard,' what assessments need to be collected and when, where to send your data, and more.

Partnership workshop: Undergraduate Research in Earth Science Classes: Engaging Students in the First Two Years from On the Cutting Edge

August 10-13, 2014, Montana State University

This workshop is will explore the many ways that authentic research experiences can be embedded in introductory Earth Science courses as a way to recruit and retain students in science degree programs, motivate students and increase their self-efficacy, improve students' attitudes and values toward science, and otherwise promote student success.

Partnership workshop:

Teaching GeoEthics Across the Geoscience Curriculum

June 10-13 (with pre or post workshop field trip to be scheduled), hosted by Montana State University at Chico Hot Springs, Pray, MT
See InTeGrate-related material stemming from this workshop

This workshop will explore the many dimensions of ethics education for the geosciences (GeoEthics). A major goal of this workshop is to begin to develop a community of scholars interested in this topic and to develop the foundations of a GeoEthics curriculum.

Teaching about Risk and Resilience: Sea Level Rise, Flooding, and Earthquakes

May 14-16, 2014, Florida Atlantic University
See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

This workshop will bring together educators and researchers from many disciplines, community leaders, planners, policymakers, insurers and other business interests, along with others from civil society to share best practices in education to help students to understand needs of different stakeholders and to prepare students for careers related to hazard mitigation and adaptation.

Partnership workshop: Getting the Most out of Your Introductory Courses from On the Cutting Edge

A virtual workshop, held March 3-14, 2014
See workshop synthesis
 

This workshop will provide the opportunity for departments, individual faculty, and regional or state systems to reflect on their introductory geoscience courses and the ways that they can be designed to best serve their needs in their context.

Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences: Increasing the Diversity of Undergraduate Students Learning About the Earth

February 23-25, 2014, Arizona State University, AZ 
See workshop synthesis

This workshop will focus on strategies for increasing the diversity of students graduating from all types of programs with a substantial geoscience component and supporting their successful entry into the workforce and explore successful strategies employed by participants in their own programs.

Geoscience and the 21st Century Workforce: Considering undergraduate programs in the context of changing employment opportunities

June 26-28, 2013, Penn State University
See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

 

This workshop will focus on understanding the breadth and depth of employment opportunities for students with geologic understanding and articulating the skills/outcomes that are of interest to employers, particularly for new kinds of jobs where these skills/outcomes are less well defined. We will look at the job prospects for all students, including those at 2YCs.

Partnership Workshop: Teaching Oceanography, from On the Cutting Edge

June 18-20, 2013, with optional field trips on June 17 and 21, City College of San Francisco 
See workshop outcomes

This workshop explores effective strategies for teaching introductory undergraduate-level oceanography. Focal points include integrating content from multiple disciplines, improving geoscience literacy, and addressing environmental challenges.
 

Teaching Environmental Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches

April 14-16, 2013, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
See workshop synthesis

Equitable distribution of risks and resources, long a discussion of interest to economists, ethicists and others, now requires an understanding of geoscience topics from natural hazards to ground water hydrology to mineral and energy resources. This workshop will explore how we bring together concepts from humanities, social science and geoscience to develop students' understanding of issues and choices addressing environmental justice.
 

Engineering, Sustainability, and the Geosciences

March 6-8, 2013, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO
See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

 

This workshop is for undergraduate engineering and geoscience faculty interested in creating a stronger integration of engineering and geoscience for engineering students.

Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences

July 24 - 26, 2012, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
 

See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

This workshop was for undergraduate faculty from all disciplines interested in a stronger integration of geoscience and other perspectives in teaching sustainability.

Teaching the Methods of Geoscience

June 27-29, 2012, plus optional field trip June 30, Montana State University, Bozeman MT
See workshop outcomes

The methods and ways of thinking that are intrinsic to Earth science differ in important ways from the experimental method that is commonly taught in schools as the scientific method. This workshop was for undergraduate faculty interested in integrating explicit teaching about the methods of geoscience into their classroom.
 

Partnership Workshop: Teaching Environmental Geology, from On the Cutting Edge

June 2-6, 2012, Montana State University, Bozeman

This workshop connects with the InTeGrate project by emphasizing how geoscience literacy is integral to environmental challenges. Session topics focused on exploring ways to effectively teach environmental geology in undergraduate Earth science courses.

Programs that Bring Together Geoscience and Sustainability

May 23-25, 2012, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
 

See workshop synthesis | See workshop outcomes

This workshop brought together undergraduate faculty from across the disciplines to share challenges and successful strategies for programs integrating sustainable perspectives and geoscience.