Have you ever wondered about your effectiveness in engaging students in face-to-face, Zoom, or online settings? Attend this session to capture relevant and pragmatic strategies to engage audiences in active learning and bridge generational gaps. Gamification and simulations are active learning strategies that integrate technology and hands-on activities to promote learning. This session will demonstrate tools such as Quizizz, PhET, and other tools. These are applied in non-majors classes in topics such as earthquakes, but can be used to check for understanding in other geology courses. Quizizz is an online resource that provides faculty and student-friendly methods for formative assessment. PhET is a free online science and math simulator with a blend of physics, chemistry, and earth science where questions can be curated for unique course needs. Other low-tech simulations will be demonstrated that aid in students' application of critical thinking skills. Attendees are encouraged to bring their smart devices and strategies they employ in their own classroom for this working session.

In this teaching demonstration, participants will have the chance to engage with an activity one of my former students named WaGSS ("What a Geology Student Sees" about Geomorphology-focused photos, based on Stephen Marshak's "What a Geologist Sees"). Active learning encourages a deeper understanding of the course material and helps in developing conceptual thinking skills. I present my approach to active learning using the gallery walk format coupled with a photo and three basic leading questions. Traditionally, a gallery walk is a good way to assess what students have learned about the content being taught. However, in my class students use the gallery walk to introduce the topic concepts prior to further "lecturing" and clarification of concepts that might still be confusing. Students practice discussing, debating, organizing, and writing about the topic as well as annotating a photo to interpret the landscape as a "Geologist" would see it. This is just the 1st step in a multi-step focus toward mastery of surface processes/basic geomorphology. This is assessed with student essays where they use the same format. Communication & research about science/geology topics is the primary focus for this class.

To enable instructors to integrate microfossil identification in their undergraduate courses, we developed FossilSketch, an interactive web-based educational tool that introduces students to micropaleontology and guides them through a scaffolded learning experience to develop microfossil identification skills. FossilSketch includes modules on Foraminifera and Ostracoda and is based on real micropaleontological datasets to allow inquiry-based activities. Within the FossilSketch tool, students watch educational videos, practice recognizing key morphological features through minigames, and apply their skills to identify common genera and morphological groups from high resolution photomicrographs. After learning to identify common genera and morphotypes, students apply this knowledge to multi-taxon assemblages and to interpret environmental changes through time. Analysis of classroom assessments showed that junior and senior geology majors who used FossilSketch were better able to understand the process of microfossil identification, recognize morphological characteristics, and achieve a correct identification than those that did not use FossilSketch. Students who used FossilSketch were also more motivated to complete the assignments, asked the teaching assistant fewer questions, and felt better prepared for specimen-based work.

This is a 4-hour online, asynchronous module about geoscience careers using diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by design. The module can accompany existing introductory curriculum to introduce students to a wide range of geoscience careers early in their education. It uses the lens of DEI to encourage students to think about how to craft a career path that is unique to their skills, interests, and social identities. The module has five main objectives: (1) summarize geoscience concepts, (2) demonstrate how geoscience impacts society, (3) highlight a wide variety of careers,(4) describe skills for geoscience careers, and (5) connect careers with students' diverse identities.Faculty using the module will be given supplemental materials to prepare them to facilitate often sensitive conversations around DEI topics such as implicit bias, microaggressions, or privilege.