Updates and Deadlines: Rendezvous, Traveling Workshops Program, MATLAB and Project EDDIE

Dear Colleague,

We have a number of updates and deadlines for you concerning the Earth Educators' Rendezvous, Traveling Workshops Program, MATLAB and EDDIE Workshops. If you like regular updates, please join NAGT to receive the monthly NAGT News. We will continue to provide seasonal updates to this community.

Sincerely,
Cathy Manduca
NAGT Executive Director

Updates and Deadlines: Rendezvous, Traveling Workshops Program, MATLAB, Project EDDIE, Teach the Earth Feedback

  1. Important Earth Educators' Rendezvous Updates and Deadlines
  2. Bring a Traveling Workshop to Your Campus
  3. MATLAB Workshop Application Deadline
  4. Project EDDIE Fall Workshop Application Deadline
  5. Provide Feedback on Teach the Earth

1. Rendezvous Updates and Deadlines

Rendezvous is just around the corner! Don't forget to register and to secure your lodging! Here are some important deadlines and updates:

  • Have you booked your Rendezvous lodging yet? The rates that we have secured for our Rendezvous participants are extremely competitive, and Nashville area hotels can be quite expensive. Get the best rates by booking through our Rendezvous hotel blocks; check out the Travel and Accommodations page for more information about lodging options.
  • Attend the Rendezvous in style and reserve your t-shirt by the June 14 deadline! This year's shirt shows the topography and rivers of Nashville metropolitan area. Check them out and pre-order yours today.
  • Have you secured your spot at this year's Rendezvous yet? The standard registration deadline is July 4 and as an NAGT member, you get a $100 registration discount! If you're not a member, consider joining and taking advantage of this discount, among many other benefits.
  • Morning workshops are filling fast, so we encourage you to register soon. You can also learn about a recently funded grant that helps support participants in three morning workshops that focus on incorporating active learning into the classroom.
  • Are you a K12 educator? Our workshop Connect with Students by Leveraging Phenomena and Incorporating Modeling into the K-12 Earth Science Classroom led by Kim Kotowski (Wilson County Schools) focuses on leveraging scientific phenomena and aligning them to appropriate NGSS standards to help bring your students' worlds and experiences back into science. If you're able to participate in multiple days of the Rendezvous, we are also able to provide Continuing Education units.
  • Did you benefit from the travel stipends, or are you interested in helping enable more participants to attend Rendezvous? We're seeking volunteers! As you know, Rendezvous endeavors to provide a learning opportunity for Earth Educators of all types. However, the resources supporting participation are not evenly distributed around our community. Last year NAGT members successfully raised more than $7,000 to support travel stipends for participants in need for the Rendezvous this year. We are currently seeking volunteers to help lead a similar challenge. If you are interested in helping organize this year's drive or in contributing to the challenge grant fund, please contact Heather Macdonald (rhmacd@wm.edu).

2. Traveling Workshops Program (TWP)

  • Bring a workshop right to your campus! The Traveling Workshops Program (TWP) brings environmental, sustainability, and geoscience education leaders to your campus, regional, or national event.
  • In April, leaders from the TWP convened a highly successful workshop on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Earth and Environmental Sciences focused on supporting the success of all students. Workshop sessions addressed the diversity of undergraduate student populations, evaluating and strengthening program design, and incorporating inclusive and equitable teaching practices. If you interested in addressing these or other topics in your department, program, or course, we invite you to apply to host a Traveling Workshop sponsored by NAGT.
  • Application deadlines are June 15, 2019 for Fall/Winter workshops and October 15, 2019 for Spring/Summer workshops.
3. MATLAB Workshop
  • The Teaching Computational Thinking Skills with MATLAB workshop will be held at Carleton College in Northfield, MN on October 20-22.
  • This workshop brings together faculty who teach computation in their courses and are interested in strengthening and developing their teaching skills and MATLAB based materials. Working in sessions and 1-on-1 with faculty peers and MATLAB experts, participants will discuss teaching strategies, tools, and resources. Participants will spend time during the workshop evolving and improving their course materials based on give-and-take with and colleagues. Because the workshop includes educators from multiple disciplines – from Biology to Engineering to Math – the workshop enables sharing of ideas and best practices across fields of study.
  • The workshop sessions include a keynote speaker, presentations of effective lessons and teaching methods, panel discussions, and working in groups.
  • Apply by June 14, 2019.
4. Project EDDIE Module Development Workshop
  • The Project EDDIE Module Development Workshop will be held at Carleton College in Northfield, MN on October 28-30, 2019.
  • This workshop will focus on participants designing flexible EDDIE teaching modules that pair scientific concepts and quantitative reasoning with teaching with data.
  • Module topics, proposed by the participants, will span topics such as ecology, limnology, geology, hydrology, and environmental sciences. Each module will focus on specific scientific concepts and address a set of quantitative reasoning or analytical skills using large datasets that are available online. Workshop attendees will include instructors from different disciplines and institution types and will be selected through an application process.
  • Apply by August 25, 2019.
5. Make Your Voice Heard in NAGT: Please Provide Feedback on Your Experiences with Teach the Earth
  • Have you ever searched Teach the Earth (or elsewhere online) for high quality, ready-to-go activities or topics that are suitable for your geoscience course, only to come up empty handed? This is your chance to tell the Teach the Earth website committee all about it!
  • We are interested in learning more about the needs of Teach the Earth users and want to identify gaps in the geoscience content housed in the Teach the Earth portal. You can help us do that by contributing your ideas to our discussion.
  • If you aren't sure where to start, consider these questions: What educational resources (supporting your courses or teaching) have you searched for online but haven't been able to find? What new Earth education topics and resources would you like to see incorporated into Teach the Earth in the future?