NAGT Sponsored Programs

NAGT sponsors activities in support of the mission of the organization. Sponsorship typically means endorsement of the activity. Members may also approach the Executive Committee to request access to NAGT resources. For more information about what types of activities are sponsored and the process involved, see the NAGT Sponsorship Policy. If you would like to submit and activity for sponsorship, please submit your request here.

On the Cutting Edge: Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty
Project PIs: Heather Macdonald (College of William and Mary), Cathy Manduca (Carleton College), David Mogk (University of Montana - Bozeman), and Barbara Tewksbury (Hamilton College)
The NAGT/DLESE On the Cutting Edge project helps geoscience faculty stay up-to-date with both geoscience research and teaching methods. The workshop series and website combine to provide professional development opportunities, resources, and opportunities for faculty to interact on-line and in person with colleagues around the world who are focused on improving their teaching. An integral aspect of the project is development of an expanding community of geoscience educators with a strong and diverse leadership.

Starting Point: Teaching Entry Level Geoscience
Project PIs: Cathy Manduca (Carleton College), Mary Savina (Carleton College), and Dorothy Merritts (Franklin & Marshall College)
The Starting Point project is exploring the ability of on-line resources to catalyze improvements in undergraduate teaching. The goal is to develop a resource that intimately integrates pedagogy with teaching resources and fully supports a virtual community of educators.

EET: Earth Exploration Toolbook
Project PIs: Tamara Shapiro Ledley (Center for Science Teaching and Learning, TERC) and Cathy Manduca (Carleton College)
EET provides step-by-step instructions for using Earth science datasets and scientific tools in educational settings. Chapters walk users through case studies in which they use data and analysis tools to explore important issues and concepts in Earth system science. Chapters are designed for use by K-12 teachers, undergraduate faculty, and their students. Each chapter features specific datasets and analysis or visualization tools, and provides enough experience and in-depth knowledge of the resource to enable an educator to use it, apply it to other teaching contexts, or help students use the resource to explore and investigate aspects of the Earth system.

Building Strong Geoscience Departments
Project PIs: Cathy Manduca (Carleton College), Heather Macdonald (College of William and Mary), Geoff Feiss (College of William and Mary), Randy Richardson (University of Arizona)
Building Strong Geoscience Departments is a project focused on helping geoscience departments adapt and prosper in a changing and challenging environment. Through workshops, a website, and sessions at professional meetings, this project aims to stimulate discussions and disseminate community expertise on topics such as approaches to core content and curriculum, retaining and recruiting top faculty and students, and maintaining the department as a valued institutional partner.

DWEL: Digital Water Education Library
Project PIs: Ed Geary (UCAR), Bryan Aivazian (Natrona School District), Tammy Sumner (University of Colorado - Boulder), and Shirley Ireton (Silver Spring, MD)
DWEL provides easy access to high quality digital resources related to the science, policy and economics of water. Experienced, practicing K-12 teachers who know the needs of their students and their peers are reviewing and selecting these exemplary resources, which best support teaching along core science concepts. The discovery tool allows users to search the library catalog by content area, grade level, resource type and by national science standards. Resources in the collection include high quality graphics, animations, visualizations, databases, simulations, and text resources.

Earth Learning Idea
Project PIs: Chris King (Keele University), Peter Kennett (Keele University), and Elizabeth Devon (University of Bath)
Earth Learning Idea will publish a new idea for teaching Earth science every week during 2008—the International Year of Planet Earth. The ideas are specifically designed for classrooms with minimal resources - anywhere on Earth, while encouraging interactive teaching and the development of thinking and investigational skills in pupils. The ideas are aimed primarily at pre-service teacher trainers, as they will reach the widest teacher audience, but also welcomes interested teachers to subscribe. Each Earth Learning Idea will be accompanied by a blog, to encourage the development of a global discussion network of those interested in Earth science education. The Earth Learning Ideas will appear one per month during September—December and one per week thereafter and are being produced by voluntary effort with no funding.

Workshop on Atmospheric Science and Climate Literacy
Project PIs: Roberta Johnson (UCAR)
The goal of the workshop is to develop a consensus framework for enhancing atmospheric science and climate literacy in our nation that is informed by the participation of teachers, scientists, informal educators, policy makers, and parents. The workshop will build on the work of numerous organizations and subgroups that have sought to define standards and benchmarks for science education in general and, more specifically, to identify key concepts and linkages among weather, climate, and ocean literacy. A consensus framework will be drafted during the workshop and will be revised based upon further review and feedback from participants in meetings of the nation's leading goescience and science education societies, such as AGU, AMS, NSTA. As a result of broad community involvement, the framework will establish a foundation on which decision makers may more effectively shape the nation's priorities and strategies for research and education and prepare a diverse population of scientists to serve our atmospheric and climate endeavors for decades to come.

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