David McConnell

Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources part of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources
This module enables students to identify the freshwater components of the hydrologic cycle and connect them to the basic need of all human beings for equal access to clean freshwater. This is accomplished by ...

Living on the Edge part of Living on the Edge
This module, intended to take two weeks in an introductory-level class, is divided into three units that focus on geologic hazards and associated risks at representative plate boundary settings: transform, ...

Human's Dependence on Earth's Mineral Resources part of Humans Dependence on Mineral Resources
Despite humans' heavy reliance on Earth's mineral resources, few think about where the products they use come from and what it took to produce them. This module addresses that disconnect by combining ...

A Growing Concern: Sustaining Soil Resources through Local Decision Making part of A Growing Concern
Continued agricultural productivity and the ability to feed the earth's growing population hinges on understanding how to manage soil resources. This module addresses this need by providing students the ...

Natural Hazards and Risks: Hurricanes part of Natural Hazards and Risks: Hurricanes
Making the difficult decision to evacuate before a hurricane makes landfall can save lives and property. This two week module explores how hurricanes connect the ocean-atmosphere-terrestrial systems and society. ...

Climate of Change part of Climate of Change
In this two to three week module, students explore short-term climate variability resulting from atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions. The module promotes awareness of past and contemporary cultures and regions ...

ConcepTests part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests
ConcepTests are conceptual multiple-choice questions that focus on one key concept of an instructor's learning goals for a lesson. When coupled with student interaction through peer instruction, ConcepTests represent a rapid method of formative assessment of student understanding.

Conceptest: Equator tilt part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests:Examples
What would happen to the average temperature at the equator during our summer if the tilt angle of Earth's axis increased to 27 degrees? A. Temperatures would increase B. Temperatures would decrease C. ...

Conceptest: Cooling rate of Igneous Rocks part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests:Examples
What is the most likely cooling rate and composition of a light colored, small grained igneous rock? A. Cooled rapidly, low silica B. Cooled rapidly, high silica C. Cooled slowly, low silica D. Cooled slowly, high ...

Conceptest: CFCs and ozone part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests:Examples
Analyze the following student descriptions of the relationship between CFCs and ozone. Which is the best? a. CFCs are manufactured gases that destroy the ozone layer and produce oxygen. b. Chlorine forms from the ...

Conceptest: Permeability and cone of depression part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests:Examples
Two wells (A and B) are drilled into rocks that have the same porosity, but the rocks around well A have a higher permeability than these around well B. Suppose both wells are pumped at the same rate. Which ...

Conceptest: Ozone umbrella analogy part of Teaching Methods:ConcepTests:Examples
Which statement is the best analogy? A. An umbrella is to rain as the stratosphere is to solar radiation. B. An umbrella is to rain as the stratosphere is to ultraviolet radiation. C. An umbrella is to rain as the ...

Impact of InTeGrate materials on teaching beliefs and practices part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
The NSF-funded InTeGrate project (http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html) seeks to develop, test, and disseminate geoscience educational resources for a variety of courses and disciplines so that they can ...

Strategies for incorporating InTeGrate materials in a large lecture physical geology course: Implications for early adopters. part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
The InTeGrate project is an interdisciplinary effort to promote geoscience literacy through the context of societal issues. The project seeks to accomplish this in introductory geoscience and environmental science ...

Geoscience Videos and Their Role in Supporting Student Learning in Hybrid Introductory Geoscience Courses part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
A series of geoscience videos were created to support student learning in Introductory Physical Geology classes at North Carolina State University. Specifically, we have created web-streamed videos with multiple ...

On the Cutting Edge: Demonstrating Impact on Teaching part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Established in 2002 with funding from NSF, more than 1800 geoscience faculty, post-docs and graduate students have participated in On the Cutting Edge (CE) professional development workshops. The CE website, ...

Evaluating and revising the inquiry level of physical geology labs and assessing the impact on student academic performance. part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
The introductory physical geology labs taught at North Carolina State University were reformatted in 2009 to include more inquiry-based activities and utilize local geologic resources. After several years of ...

Reformed teaching in geoscience classrooms: How engaged are our students and what can we do to engage them more? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Oral Sessions:Wednesday B
A team of trained observers made direct observations of 204 unique geoscience classes across the US using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP). Observed classes were taught by faculty of diverse ...

The impact of course-wide adoption of InTeGrate teaching materials on the instructional beliefs and practices of geoscience instructors part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Oral Sessions:Monday A
A primary goal of the InTeGrate project is to create student-centered teaching curricula that will improve the geoscience literacy of undergraduate students by teaching the geosciences in the context of societal ...

Leveraging the relationship between student confidence and performance to promote achievement in introductory geoscience courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday A
Many students don't know how learning happens, nor what they have to do to make it happen. This awareness of how to learn falls under the purview of metacognition and in a process called self-regulation. ...

Do InTeGrate materials increase scientific understanding among women? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
InTeGrate geoscience teaching materials were developed to link societal challenges to geologic concepts in order to improve Earth literacy in undergraduate students. These curricular products span topics from ...

Geoscience Videos and their Role in Supporting Student Learning part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
A series of geoscience videos were created to support student learning in Introductory Physical Geology classes at North Carolina State University. Videos are typically 5-7 minutes long and made using a stylus, ...

Communicating Geoscience Concepts In The Classroom And Beyond Using Short Videos part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Poster Sessions:Tuesday
We created a series of geoscience videos to support student learning in an introductory physical geology course. We incorporated aspects of effective multimedia design (e.g., brief videos featuring spatial and ...

What experiences influence the teaching beliefs of future geoscience professors? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Oral Sessions:Friday B
Today's graduate students and post-docs will become tomorrow's future professors. The pedagogical beliefs of instructors impact how they structure their courses and whether they choose to use ...

Using confidence judgements to identify characteristics of students' metacognitive awareness and achievement in introductory geoscience courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Oral Sessions:Wednesday A
Metacognition is one's ability to recognize the workings and characteristics of their own knowledge and thought processes. In conjunction with the sensory, short-term, and long-term memories, a student's ...

Developing (or Modifying) an Introductory Geoscience Course Using InTeGrate Modules part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Morning Workshops:Developing (or Modifying) an Intro Geoscience Course Using InTeGrate Modules
Research in STEM disciplines has revealed a suite of empirically validated instructional practices that can contribute to improvements in student learning and a reduction in attrition. This workshop will introduce ...

Getting Started in GER: Designing an Effective Geoscience Education Research Protocol part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:Designing GER Protocol
This workshop will discuss the components of some common types of both qualitative and quantitative geoscience education research. We will discuss potential collaborations among participants who are interested in ...

Introducing Active Learning Strategies to Large Intro Courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:Active Learning
Research in STEM disciplines has revealed a suite of empirically validated instructional practices that can contribute to improvements in student learning and a reduction in attrition. We will outline a series of ...

Making the Most of your Intro Course part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Workshops:Intro Courses
Intro courses are one of the most important courses in any program as they serve as the beginning and end of many students introduction to a discipline, topic or way of thinking. This session allows you to work ...

David McConnell Makes a Video part of Videos:Videos Workshop 2014:Contributed Videos
This is a short how-to video meant to help people start making instructional videos of their own.

Town Hall part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program
The town hall will allow us to collectively reflect on the lessons we learned as a community at the Rendezvous, and to address any opportunities we see for collective action or impact. Don't forget to tell us ...

What Makes a Good Teaching Video? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Panel Discussions
Summary Video is increasingly being used as an educational tool in college science courses. Even if we are not assigning videos, students are independently looking to places like YouTube to supplement their ...

Online Teaching part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Panel Discussions
Summary Online resources make up a steadily increasing share of the materials used to support student learning in geoscience courses. No longer do online resources represent copies of class notes and links to a ...