karen mcneal

Evaluating the usability of the EzGCM climate modeling toolkit and its impact on undergraduate students' understanding of the climate modeling process and climate change science. part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
Complex global climate models, or GCMs, are one of the primary tools used by scientists to make projections about the future of Earth's climate system. To properly deploy climate models, scientists utilize a ...

Implementation of a Climate Decision Support System in an Undergraduate Weather and Climate Classroom part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Poster Sessions:Monday Poster Session
Climate education needs to include actionable items to resonate with those pupils who are learning about climate change (Anderson 2012). For this project, a Decision Support System (DSS) was used in a classroom lab ...

Just trust me: Undergraduates' perceptions of climate science and scientists part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2022:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday Poster Session
The connections between an individual's beliefs concerning climate change and their political ideology is well known by both researchers and the public. Understanding the causes and outcomes of those ...

Graduate Course-based Research Experiences: Lessons Learned from Mississippi State University part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2020:Program:Oral Sessions:Oral Session II
Course-based Research Experiences are a growing area of interest, because they allow learning and engagement to take place by involving students in real, broadly applicable research. At Mississippi State ...

Understanding the Effectiveness of the AR Sandbox through Student Experiences part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
Spatial reasoning ability is a crucial skill necessary for success in any of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains. Research suggests that the base level of spatial thinking ability ...

Building Better Graphs for Climate Change Communication: Perceptions of Credibility part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
Climate change mitigation will require public support and participation, and scientists often communicate to the public about climate change with visualizations such as graphs. However, there is limited existing ...

Using Student Drawings of Biogeochemical Cycles to Explore Systems Thinking Abilities part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2019:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
Biogeochemical cycles are the fundamental component connecting all parts of the Earth system. Cycling of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus involves multiple fluxes and reservoirs through all components ...

The Effectiveness of the Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox for Improving Spatial Thinking in Undergraduates part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Spatial reasoning ability is a crucial skill necessary for success in any of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains. Research suggests that the base level of spatial thinking ability ...

National Survey of Geoscience Teaching Practices 2016: Current Trends in Geoscience Instruction of Scientific Modeling and Systems Thinking part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday A
Nationwide, there is a growing emphasis on effective undergraduate geoscience education. A central element of geoscience teaching and learning involves scientific modeling and systems thinking (SMST). While ...

Using Galvanic Skin Sensors to Measure Engagement and Learning Outcomes During Teacher Workshops and Undergraduate Classes about Climate Science part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Climate science is a complex topic that requires system-level thinking and the application of general science concepts. Identifying techniques to improve climate literacy and learning gains is an emerging research ...

Understanding Undergraduate Student Conceptions about Biogeochemical Cycles and the Earth System part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
Research has shown the highest level of understanding in the geosciences to be the ability to think about the Earth as a dynamic system (Stokes 2011). The Earth System contains four spheres: the geosphere, the ...

Undergraduate Perceptions of Climate Change part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Creating resilient communities that successfully adapt to climate change will require a public is that is literate about climate change and the potential impacts. In recent years, a flood of information concerning ...

Does user experience determine user success with a climate decision support system? part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
A web-based decision support system (DSS), the Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation Project (PINEMAP) DSS, was developed to provide climate information for forestry stakeholders in the ...

Understanding Student Engagement while Using an Augmented Reality Sandbox part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Oral Sessions:Wednesday B
Augmented reality (AR) sandboxes are becoming more and more prevalent in undergraduate geology lab settings. This tool is useful in helping students develop a three dimensional understanding of topographic maps ...

Eye-Tracking Assessment of the Usability of a Web-based Climate Decision-making Tool Used by Forestry Stakeholders in the Southeastern US part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Oral Sessions:Friday B
This work uses eye tracking to assess the usability of the web-based climate decision-making tool developed by the Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP), PINEMAP Decision ...

An Eye-tracking Study on Expert/Novice Differences During Climate Graph Reading Tasks: Implications for Climate Communication part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Poster Sessions:Thursday
The communication of climate change is often a difficult task due to the interdisciplinary nature of the topic in addition to the challenges of communicating these topics with their intended audiences. Two aspects ...

Eye Tracking, Pupillometry, and Hand Biosensors in Geoscience Education Research: Current trends, Applications, and Future Directions part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
The field of Geoscience Education Research (GER) has been richly enhanced by methods traditionally used in the learning sciences, psychology, and science education. Specifically, the use of eye-tracking, ...

December 2015 Spotlight: Karen McNeal part of NAGT:About NAGT:Divisions:Geoscience Education Research Division
December 2015 Spotlight: Karen McNeal Karen McNeal, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University, uses mixed-methods approaches to understanding affective and cognitive processes involved in learning ...

Shaping the Future of Geoscience Education part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Plenary Sessions
We welcome all Rendezvous participants to this Town Hall. We'll start with an overview of just-in-time highlights from our workshop on Synthesizing Geoscience Education Research (GER), and then pose questions ...

Research on Geoscience Students' Self-Regulated Learning, Metacognition, and Affect part of NAGT:Our Work:Geoscience Education Research:Community Framework for GER:Self-Regulated Learning
Download a pdf of this chapterKaren S. McNeal, Auburn University; Kaatje Van der Hoeven Kraft, Whatcom Community College; Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman, Pasadena City College; Mary Beck, Valencia College, and Jason ...

Geoscience Education Research Grand Challenges and Strategies Workshop part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Morning Workshops:Geoscience Education Research
The workshop aims to bring together ~40 education researchers from all sub-disciplines in the geosciences (e.g., Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean, Environmental Sciences) and strongly encourages applications from faculty ...

Geoscience Education Research Community Planning Workshop part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:GER
The Geoscience Education Research (GER) Community Planning workshop will serve as a forum for discussion by the GER community on what is most needed to support current and future geoscience education researchers. ...

Synthesizing Geoscience Education Research: Where are we? What is the path forward? part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Workshops:Geo Ed Research
This workshop will explore and evaluate the current status of Geoscience Education Research within the greater geoscience community. Participants will prioritize needs and directions for future Geoscience Education ...