Carol Ormand Ph.D.

Slicing Cylinders part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students identify and draw slices through cylinders and partial cylinders, and use gestures to visualize slicing planes. This practice with visualizing slices through idealized geometric shapes is preparation for visualizing slices through geological features.

Understanding Polyhedral Diagrams part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students identify individual polyhedra in a variety of diagrams and answer questions about shared oxygens in diagrams of common silicate structures.

Slices Through 3D Objects part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students identify and draw slices through an ice cream cone, a pyramid, and a beverage six-pack.

Primary Structures and Rotation part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students gesture the orientations of cross-bedded sandstones, and in particular the relationship between a single cross bed and the bed sets. They do this for photos of undeformed and deformed cross-bedding.

Gestures for Miller Indices part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use one hand to gesture crystallographic axes and the other hand to represent planes designated by Miller Indices.

Guided Reading of Scientific Journal Articles part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Activities
This is a sequence of assignments for my Structural Geology course that guides students through the process of critically reading and analyzing scientific journal articles. For each article, I outline the general ...

Flood Frequency and Risk Assessment part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Students calculate recurrence intervals for various degrees of flooding based on historical data. Students then do a risk assessment for the surrounding community.

Investigation: When will there no longer be glaciers in Glacier National Park? part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Students use historical data on the extent of the Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park to estimate when the glacier will melt completely.

3D Model of a Geologic Map part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students analyze a geologic map of an angular unconformity that truncates a pair of dikes, with some topography. When students have deciphered the map and constructed a cross-section, I show them a Play-Doh model ...

Modeling Unconformities part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students make models of various kinds of unconformity: disconformity, angular unconformity, and buttress unconformity. They examine those models from a variety of perspectives and consider how each one appears in ...

Modeling Folds: Block Diagrams and Structure Contours part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Working in small groups, students build Play-Doh models of 3 folds (one upright, one vertical, one plunging). They slice each of their models to create 3D block models, sketch block diagrams of each fold, and ...

Isopach Maps part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students complete several short, in-class exercises related to understanding isopach maps. We use Play-Doh models to illustrate features revealed in the isopach maps and to support student understanding of the ...

Introduction to Modeling Faults part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students use Play-Doh to explore the map patterns created by faulting + erosion. We begin with simple scenarios and progress to more complex possibilities.

Introduction to Structure Contours part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students construct structure contour lines for a "dipping bed" in our classroom and on a geologic map. In my class, this is a multi-day activity. In part 1 of this exercise, students use "topographic ...

Introduction to Modeling Folds part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students make Play-Doh models of synclines and anticlines, including one of a plunging fold. They use these models to answer questions about what these structures look like in map view and cross-sectional view.

Introduction to Igneous Intrusions part of GET Spatial Learning:Teaching Activities
Students make Play-Doh models of sills and dikes.

Interpreting the surficial deposits of Glacier National Park, Montana part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students interpret a GIS map of surficial deposits in Glacier National Park to unravel a bit of the glacial history of the park.

Erosion of the Grand Canyon part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students estimate the volume of the Grand Canyon to calculate the average rate of erosion of the canyon, assuming the canyon began to form approximately 6 million years ago. They then find out how much sediment the ...

Geology of the Grand Canyon part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students analyze topographic and geologic maps, through a set of guiding questions, to decipher the geologic history recorded in the rocks of the Grand Canyon.

Geology of Mammoth Cave National Park part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students analyze topographic and geologic maps, through a set of guiding questions, to figure out why western Kentucky is home to the world-famous cave system at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Geology of Yellowstone National Park part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students examine and interpret the geologic map of Yellowstone National Park, focusing on its volcanic history.

Geology of Hawaii part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students examine a geologic map of Hawaii and begin to decipher it.

Olympus Mons and Hawaii part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students estimate the volume of Olympus Mons and the volume of lava that has erupted from the Hawaiian hotspot and compare them.

Topographic comparison, volcanic terrains part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students construct a topographic profile through a stratovolcano, then compare it to topo profiles from several other volcanic landscapes.

Fault Separation part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use gestures to explore the relationship between fault slip direction and fault separation by varying the geometry of faulted layers and the slip direction.

Comparing Phyllosilicate Structures part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students compare the chemistry and structures of biotite, muscovite, and chlorite.

Sketching Block Diagrams part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students watch a video of the instructor sketching two geologic block diagrams (of flat stratigraphy and of an upright anticline), then practice sketching additional geologic block diagrams.

Comparing Quartz Polymorphs part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students compare the structures of low-temperature and high-temperature polymorphs of quartz, relating their differences to symmetry and crystal systems.

Deciphering Mineral Structure Diagrams part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students compare mineral structures shown in ball-and-stick, space filling, and polyhedral diagrams.

Gestures for Silicate Structures part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use gestures to show the structures of single and double chain silicate minerals, paying attention to where silica tetrahedra share oxygen ions and the relative positions of the tetrahedra.

Understanding Crystal Symmetry via Gestures part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use a small mirror to explore the meaning of mirror symmetry, and then use their hands to gesture mirror planes for a group of familiar objects. They also explore the rotational symmetry of a group of familiar objects, and then use their hands to gesture the rotational axes and rotation. Finally, they use gestures to show mirror and rotational symmetry of wooden crystal models.

Understanding Mineral Cleavage via Gestures part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use gesture to convey information about mineral cleavage and the relationship between crystal structures and cleavage planes.

Deformation Mechanisms and Microstructures part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students match microstructures to the deformation mechanisms by which they form; compare pairs of photomicrographs chosen to highlight key differences between some common microstructures; and complete a self-quiz in which they identify microstructures and infer deformation mechanisms from photomicrographs.

Folds and Cleavage part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students explore the geometric relationship between bedding/cleavage intersections and fold axes for axial planar, fanning, and transecting cleavage.

Restraining Bends and Releasing Bends part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use gestures to re-create the motion of fault blocks adjacent to restraining bends and releasing bends. They then answer a few questions about a map view of the San Andreas Fault and two of its bends.

Contractional Strain part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students use gesture to describe the bulk deformation and local deformation apparent in images of a contractional analog experiment. Students then calculate bulk shortening and bulk thickening for the experiment and describe the structures accommodating that strain.

Linear and Planar Features part of Spatial Thinking Workbook:Teaching Activities
Students gesture the orientations of linear and planar features. In the first part of the exercise, students can only see one surface of a wooden block, and are asked to speculate about how planar features penetrate through the interior. Later, they uncover the other faces of the block and gesture the actual orientations.

Using play-doh to understand 3D Flinn Plots part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Activities
In this activity, students are introduced to the 3D Flinn Plot. They have previous experience with 1+e2 vs. 1+e1 plots of plane strain, but this is their first exposure to 3D strain. Students deform play-doh, then ...

Investigating Vegetation Patterns in an Urban Wetland Using Electrical Resistivity part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Teaching Demos:Friday Teaching Demo Session A
This module, consisting of 5 units, introduces students to the fundamental principles and uses of electrical resistivity, with a focus on an environmental application. Students explore the characteristics and ...

Bedrock Geology of Glacier National Park part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students use the bedrock geologic map of Glacier National Park, and its cross-sections, to decipher the geologic story recorded in the rocks.

Chemistry of Cave Formation part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students investigate what happens to calcium carbonate in an aqueous solution when the pH of the water changes.

Geology of Crater Lake part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Students examine and interpret geologic and topographic maps of Crater Lake.

Investigation: How Faithful is Old Faithful? part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Students examine data from the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park and determine how predictable its eruptions actually are.

SAGE Musings: The Power of Affirming Your Values part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This educational blog post explains how values affirmation—a brief, evidence-based writing exercise where students reflect on their core personal values—can significantly reduce achievement gaps for underrepresented groups in STEM by mitigating stereotype threat, with results demonstrated in peer-reviewed studies involving middle school and college students.

SAGE Musings: How Will Cohort 3 Be Different? part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing key changes in Cohort 3, including a shortened one-year professional development timeline, leadership roles for prior cohort faculty, and support for multidisciplinary STEM teams, aimed at sustaining faculty-led educational change in two-year colleges.

SAGE Musings: Impostor Syndrome part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post discussing impostor syndrome in academia and STEM, covering its psychological effects, prevalence among faculty and students, and evidence-based strategies for overcoming it, while encouraging open dialogue and systemic change within educational environments.

SAGE Musings: Addressing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Department Level part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project offering a research-based checklist for geoscience departments to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through actionable strategies in recruitment, student support, belonging, and bias mitigation.

SAGE Musings: 2019 Summer Reading Recommendations part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project featuring 2019 summer reading recommendations by geoscience educators, highlighting books and articles on geology, equity in education, Indigenous knowledge, climate change, and inclusive teaching practices.

SAGE Musings: Teaching Students Metacognitive Strategies part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing how teaching metacognitive strategies—such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, study skill alignment, and exam wrappers—enhances student learning in two-year college STEM education, with practical examples and references from faculty development initiatives.

SAGE Musings: Shifting from Deficit Thinking to Asset Thinking part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post analyzing the shift from deficit to asset-based thinking in STEM education, advocating for recognizing student potential over perceived shortcomings, promoting inclusive pedagogy, high expectations with scaffolding, and institutional responsibility in supporting underrepresented students in two-year colleges.

SAGE Musings: The Dunning-Kruger Effect and Metacognition part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing the Dunning-Kruger Effect and its relationship to metacognition in education, emphasizing how teaching metacognitive skills—such as self-regulated learning, reflection, and self-assessment—can help students more accurately evaluate their own competence and improve learning outcomes.

SAGE Musings: Supporting First Generation College Students part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project offering evidence-based teaching strategies to support first-generation college students, particularly in two-year colleges and STEM fields, covering de-mystifying academic expectations, encouraging help-seeking, building inclusive environments, integrating career information, and showcasing success stories.

SAGE Musings: 2018 Report on the Status of the Geoscience Workforce part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This blog post analyzes key findings from the 2018 Report on the Status of the Geoscience Workforce, focusing on trends in two-year college geoscience programs, employment projections, salary data, and demographic disparities in the field, particularly regarding gender and racial representation.

SAGE Musings: Strategies for Supporting 2YC-4YCU Transfer part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing evidence-based strategies for supporting transfer from two-year to four-year institutions in the geosciences, highlighting advising, research opportunities, curriculum alignment, bridge programs, and financial support as key components.

SAGE Musings: Geoscience Career Resources on the SAGE 2YC Website part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post on the SAGE 2YC website offering geoscience educators curated resources for teaching students about diverse geoscience careers, including degree pathways, employer perspectives, salary trends, and professional society links, with a focus on supporting two-year college faculty and students.

SAGE Musings: Catalyzing and Sustaining Institutional Change part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
SAGE Musings is an educational web page focused on institutional change in higher education, particularly within two-year colleges, offering strategies for catalyzing and sustaining change through leadership, community building, and alignment with institutional goals, drawing on models like the InTeGrate project’s cycle of innovation and emphasizing communication, measurable outcomes, and stakeholder engagement.

SAGE Musings: Selected NSF Programs of Interest to 2YC Faculty part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This informational blog post from the SAGE 2YC project identifies and describes key NSF funding programs—such as ATE, IUSE, and REU—of particular interest to two-year college faculty seeking to sustain initiatives in STEM education, broadening participation, and student success, with direct links and verbatim program summaries.

SAGE Musings: Why Student Engagement is Not Enough part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post discussing Eric Jolly and colleagues' "trilogy of student success"—engagement, capacity, and continuity—arguing that while student engagement in STEM is essential, it is insufficient without developing knowledge (capacity) and institutional support (continuity), particularly for broadening participation in geoscience education.

SAGE Musings: Implementing a Values Affirmation Intervention part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing the implementation of values affirmation interventions in STEM education, detailing the step-by-step process based on published studies, explaining the psychological mechanism behind reducing stereotype threat, and emphasizing the importance of affirming students' personal identities to improve academic performance, particularly among underrepresented groups.

SAGE Musings: Moving Toward a Student-Centered Classroom part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This educational blog post from the SAGE 2YC project analyzes how to transition toward student-centered teaching in geoscience education using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) rubric, detailing five key instructional components—lesson design, propositional and procedural knowledge, and student-student and student-instructor interactions—while providing evidence-based strategies to enhance active learning, equity, and engagement in two-year college classrooms.

SAGE Musings: Addressing Implicit Bias in STEM part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing implicit bias in STEM education, defining it as unconscious stereotypes affecting underrepresented groups, emphasizing that all individuals hold such biases, and presenting evidence-based strategies—such as using rubrics, fostering inclusive language, diversifying course content, and implementing active learning—to recognize, address, and mitigate these biases in academic settings.

SAGE Musings: Implicit Bias in STEM part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing the pervasiveness of implicit bias in STEM fields, detailing evidence from research on how unconscious stereotypes affect students, hiring practices, and workplace dynamics—particularly disadvantaging women, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities—and outlining the need for evidence-based strategies to identify and mitigate such biases in academic and professional STEM environments.

SAGE Musings: NO-vember and the NO-lympics part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post discussing time and task management strategies for academics, emphasizing the importance of setting boundaries by saying "no," illustrated through personal practices like "NO-vember" and the "NO-lympics," and encouraging reflection on prioritization and workload management in higher education.

SAGE Musings: Who Has the Capacity to Succeed in STEM? part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post analyzing factors influencing STEM success, emphasizing that student performance hinges on study habits and collaborative learning rather than innate ability, challenging deficit thinking through Uri Treisman’s calculus study at UC-Berkeley.

SAGE Musings: Making the Most of Office Hours part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project offering evidence-based teaching strategies to increase student use of office hours, addressing student anxieties, and providing practical faculty approaches such as normalizing office visits, diversifying meeting purposes, offering online options, and scheduling inclusively to support two-year college STEM education.

SAGE Musings: 2018 Summer Reading part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project featuring summer reading recommendations by geoscience educators, including books on community college success, national parks, data-informed decision-making, poetry, race, and mass extinctions, aimed at supporting faculty development and broadening participation in STEM.

SAGE Musings: How Social-Psychological Interventions Change Academic Trajectories part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing how brief social-psychological interventions—such as reframing academic setbacks and fostering growth mindset—can significantly improve student belonging, academic performance, and long-term success, particularly during transitional periods in education.

SAGE Musings: Geoscience Career Skills part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post discussing essential geoscience career skills for two-year college students, emphasizing quantitative thinking, data analysis, spatial reasoning, and communication, while promoting pedagogical strategies and resources to support faculty in preparing students for geoscience careers.

SAGE Musings: Student Memberships in Professional Organizations part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing how student memberships in geoscience professional organizations support career development, identity formation, and networking, featuring benefits, costs, and case studies from societies like AGU, GSA, and AEG.

SAGE Musings: Supporting Women in STEM part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A SAGE 2YC blog post discussing evidence-based strategies for supporting women in STEM fields, particularly in geosciences, covering mentorship, role models, community building, safety in fieldwork, and pedagogical practices to reduce stereotype threat and foster science identity among female students.

SAGE Musings: Student Perceptions of Geoscience Careers part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project analyzing student perceptions of geoscience careers, discussing misconceptions about the field’s societal and environmental impact, job prospects, and salaries, while encouraging educators to address these gaps in student awareness through curriculum and mentorship.

SAGE Musings: Cultivating Students' Voices part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing inclusive teaching strategies—such as Think-Pair-Share, Progressive Stack, Losing Your Voice, and Complete Turn-Taking—to amplify underrepresented student voices in STEM classrooms and address implicit bias in higher education.

SAGE Musings: Backwards Workshop Design part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post on geoscience education pedagogy that analyzes the application of backward design—based on Wiggins and McTighe’s *Understanding by Design*—to professional development workshops, emphasizing goal-first planning, outcome alignment, and its successful implementation in the SAGE 2YC and On the Cutting Edge projects.

Errors in Spatial Thinking: When students go wrong, what are they thinking and how can we help them? part of GET Spatial Learning:Blog
This blog post, authored by geoscience educators, examines common errors in students' spatial thinking—such as misleading pattern recognition, incorrect penetrative reasoning, and non-penetrative visualization—and explores cognitive underpinnings of these mistakes, offering targeted pedagogical strategies to address them in geoscience education.

SAGE Musings: Summer Reading Recommendations part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project offering summer reading recommendations from project leaders, featuring books on geoscience, STEM education, diversity, mentoring, and higher education policy, aimed at fostering faculty development and inclusive teaching practices.

SAGE Musings: Geoscientist Biographical Sketches part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing how geoscientist biographical sketches—also called "scientist spotlights"—can help students, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds, envision themselves in geoscience careers by providing relatable role models, while listing existing collections of such profiles from professional organizations and inviting community contributions and implementation strategies.

SAGE Musings: Adjuncts part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This webpage is a blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing the role, challenges, and support strategies for adjunct and contingent faculty in two-year colleges, emphasizing their significant representation in undergraduate instruction, disparities in compensation and benefits, limited professional engagement, and institutional practices that can improve inclusion and equity; it offers actionable recommendations for faculty and administrators to better integrate and support part-time educators.

SAGE Musings: Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post analyzing NSF data on underrepresentation in STEM fields, particularly geosciences, highlighting disparities in degree attainment and workforce participation among women and racial/ethnic minorities, with comparative statistics and references to diversity initiatives.

SAGE Musings: Communities of Practice part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
This blog post page from the SAGE 2YC project explores the concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs) in geoscience education, defining CoPs as groups who share a passion for improving two-year college (2YC) geoscience teaching through regular interaction, mutual learning, and support, while encouraging faculty to build regional CoPs and reflecting on the effectiveness of virtual versus in-person professional communities.

SAGE Musings: Resources from InTeGrate part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing how InTeGrate’s NSF-funded geoscience teaching materials—focused on societal issues, environmental justice, and workforce preparation—can enhance student success, broaden STEM participation, and support professional pathways in two-year college geoscience education.

SAGE Musings: Evidence-Based Strategies for Mitigating Stereotype Threat part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing stereotype threat in STEM education, summarizing Claude Steele’s research and presenting evidence-based strategies—such as high-support feedback, narrative-shaping, growth mindset development, and diversity-affirming policies—to mitigate its impact on underrepresented students in two-year college settings.

SAGE Musings: Minimizing and Dealing with Academic Dishonesty part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post discussing evidence-based strategies to minimize academic dishonesty in higher education, covering ethical framing, assessment design, collaboration policies, plagiarism education, and consistent enforcement, while inviting educator input on effective practices.

SAGE Musings: Teaching Geoscience Online part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post discussing strategies for teaching geoscience online, emphasizing active learning, student engagement, and course design, while referencing resources from SERC's On the Cutting Edge and InTeGrate projects for effective online and hybrid instruction.

SAGE Musings: Blogs part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
The SAGE Musings: Blogs page is a content page and mini-collection featuring a blog post by Carol Ormand that introduces publicly shared reflections from the SAGE 2YC project, highlighting geoscience education blogs—such as Earth and Mind, Tomorrow’s Professor, Journeys of Dr. G., Mountain Beltway, and Small Pond Science—as valuable resources for two-year college geoscience faculty professional development and teaching enhancement.

SAGE Musings: Preparing Students for the Geoscience Workforce part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing strategies for preparing two-year college students for geoscience careers, emphasizing the balance between technical and non-technical skill development, and referencing workforce readiness frameworks from AGI and InTeGrate.

SAGE Musings: Student Motivation part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing student motivation in geoscience education, emphasizing instructor responsibility in fostering motivation, and linking to evidence-based teaching strategies that support engagement and learning in two-year college classrooms.

SAGE Musings: Involving Students in Authentic Research part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing strategies and resources for involving two-year college students in authentic geoscience research, highlighting its role in supporting academic success, professional pathways, and broadening STEM participation, with links to program examples, teaching activities, and collaborative models.

SAGE Musings: Microvalidation part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post discussing microvalidations in STEM education, a concept introduced by Becky Packard at the Earth Educators' Rendezvous, emphasizing how small, affirming interactions between educators and students can foster a sense of belonging, support science identity development, and improve student persistence, particularly for underrepresented groups in geoscience.

What would a Geoscience Education Research toolbox look like? part of GET Spatial Learning:Blog
This blog post, authored by a cognitive scientist and geologist, explores the development of a Geoscience Education Research toolbox through interdisciplinary collaboration at an NSF-funded Science of Learning Center, detailing tools for characterizing, measuring, and improving spatial thinking in geoscience education, with exemplars like the Geologic Block Cross-sectioning Test and the Spatial Thinking Workbook.

SAGE Musings: Recruiting Students into the Geosciences part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing strategies for recruiting students into geoscience programs, emphasizing early engagement, career awareness, departmental community-building, and the use of salary and workforce data to attract students, while referencing resources from the Building Strong Geoscience Departments initiative.

SAGE Musings: Assessing Student Understanding through ConcepTests part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
Blog post discussing the use of multiple-choice ConcepTests as an active learning and formative assessment strategy in STEM education, emphasizing their role in promoting student engagement, peer instruction, and metacognition, with references to Eric Mazur’s Peer Instruction and a library of geoscience examples on the SERC website.

SAGE Musings: Time-Task Management part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing time-task management strategies for educators, emphasizing prioritization, setting boundaries, minimizing distractions, and scheduling, while providing curated resources on productivity and saying no, within a professional development context for two-year college faculty.

SAGE Musings: Metacognition and Mindset part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post discussing metacognition and mindset in education, emphasizing Carol Dweck’s growth mindset and Saundra McGuire’s learning strategies, aimed at improving student responsibility and success in two-year college STEM teaching.

SAGE Musings: Backwards Course Design part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing backwards course design as an instructional strategy, emphasizing starting with learning goals to align teaching activities and assessments, with applications in geoscience education and faculty development.

SAGE Musings: Stereotype Threat part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing stereotype threat in STEM education, defining the concept, citing Claude Steele's research, and exploring its impact on student performance—particularly how subtle cues about identity can negatively affect outcomes—while offering resources and strategies for educators to mitigate its effects in two-year college classrooms.

SAGE Musings: Last Day of Class part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post page from the SAGE 2YC project discussing teaching strategies for the last day of class, covering reflective learning, student engagement, geoscience career pathways, and connections to societal challenges, while encouraging faculty dialogue on effective pedagogical practices in two-year college geoscience education.

SAGE Musings: Geoscience Careers part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing strategies for informing community college students about diverse geoscience career paths, addressing workforce data, educational requirements, salary expectations, and the need for inclusive resources that reflect varied work environments beyond fieldwork.

SAGE Musings: Think-Pair-Share part of SAGE 2YC:SAGE Musings
A blog post from the SAGE 2YC project discussing think-pair-share as an interactive lecture strategy to support academic success in geoscience education at two-year colleges, including implementation tips, research evidence, and video examples.

SERC Support for Creating Accessible Earth Education Resources part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday Poster Session
A crucial component of equitable and inclusive courses is providing resources that meet the access needs of students and instructors. These needs vary widely and depend on ability/disability, assistive technologies ...

Report on Unlearning Racism in Geoscience from the 2YC URGE Pod part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2021:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday:Poster Session III
The five-month long virtual Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) program was developed to empower groups, or pods, of geoscience faculty to implement anti-racist strategies and policies within their departments ...

Engaging your faculty colleagues in evidence-based practices using SAGE 2YC resources: Book clubs, journal clubs, and implementation groups part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2020:Program:Oral Sessions:Oral Session II
SAGE 2YC is a national network of 2YC geoscience faculty who use evidence-based strategies to improve students' academic success, broaden participation in STEM, and facilitate students' professional ...

SAGE 2YC Materials for Faculty Professional Development Workshops part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Over the course of the SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents project, the 2YC faculty change agent teams have run annual professional development workshops and events for other faculty in their regional networks. In ...

Synthesizing lessons for creating change in faculty, programs, institutions, and regional networks: SAGE 2YC Faculty as Change Agents part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Oral Sessions:Monday A
The 17 teams of 2YC faculty participating in the SAGE 2YC Faculty as Change Agents project have spent between two and four years working together to transform their teaching, their geoscience programs and ...

SAGE 2YC: Sustaining Faculty Learning part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
In a continuing effort to provide two-year college (2YC) geoscience faculty with the resources they need to be agents of change at their institutions and in their regions, the Supporting and Advancing Geoscience ...

Using MATLAB to Teach Computational and Quantitative Thinking Skills in STEM Courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Teaching computational skills and science content in a single course is challenging. Adding to the challenge, many STEM courses incorporate advanced mathematics, unfamiliar hardware, and complex instrumentation. ...

Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education in Two-Year Colleges (SAGE 2YC): Building a Foundation for Change through a Network of Regional Communities of Practice part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday
One goal of SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents is to develop regional communities that can promote a cycle of change through activities that allow members to share experiences, synthesize expertise, and document ...

CogSketch worksheet: Promoting sketching in the geosciences with interactive technology part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Poster Sessions:Tuesday
Sketching is a valuable activity to help students develop spatial skills and understand difficult geoscience concepts. Yet, sketching is rarely implemented at the introductory level due to the time needed to grade ...

Using Mixed Methods to Explore Field Sketching: An Example from the Hat Creek Fault Zone part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Sketching is a common yet powerful means of communication and visualization in the geosciences. Particularly in field settings, geoscientists sketch in order to record data, explore interpretations, and communicate ...

Teaching Spatial Thinking in Mineralogy, Structural Geology, and Sedimentology & Stratigraphy: Tools and Strategies from Cognitive Science Research part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Spatial visualization is an essential skill in the STEM disciplines, including the geological sciences. Undergraduate students, including geoscience majors in upper-level courses, bring a wide range of spatial ...

Differences in Spatial Reasoning Skills in Undergraduate Geology Students and the Effect of Weekly Spatial Skill Trainings part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Spatial reasoning is a key skill for student success in STEM disciplines in general and for students in geosciences in particular. However, spatial reasoning is neither explicitly trained, nor evenly distributed, ...

Supporting Spatial Thinking part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Afternoon Workshops
This session is for anyone who is interested in translating research on spatial thinking into practice. After a brief overview of key findings from research on spatial cognition, participants will have a chance to ...

What would a GER toolbox look like? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:GER:Idea Papers
Idea Paper from the 2016 Earth Educators' Rendezvous exploring the structure of a Geoscience Education Research (GER) toolbox through four categories of tools—characterizing, measuring, improving, and supporting the design of learning—drawn from interdisciplinary collaboration between cognitive science and geoscience.

Applying Cognitive Science Research to Improve Geoscience Teaching and Learning part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:2014 Structure and Tectonics Forum Abstracts
A conference abstract page from the 2014 Structure and Tectonics Forum presenting interdisciplinary research on applying cognitive science—particularly spatial thinking assessments and laboratory-classroom experiments—to enhance geoscience education, with a focus on structural geology and tectonics pedagogy.

Plate Boundaries and Volcanoes part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:First Day of Class:Activities
This educational activity page details a geoscience teaching exercise where introductory students analyze global volcanic activity and tectonic plate boundary maps in small groups to identify patterns, classify boundary types, and engage in scientific reasoning, serving as an interactive first-day class introduction to plate tectonics within the "On the Cutting Edge" professional development collection.

Spatial Reasoning in the Geosciences part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:Spatial Reasoning
How can we improve students' spatial reasoning? This workshop will present an overview of research on spatial skills and how those research results can be applied to student learning in the classroom, lab, and ...