Volume 13, Issue 4| Fall 2024

Foundations

NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEOSCIENCE TEACHERS GEO2YC DIVISION

In this Issue:

  • President's Column
  • Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award - still time to vote!
  • NAGT webinars and Traveling Workshops are for Geo2YC, too
  • NAGT funding deadlines for funding opportunities for 2YC faculty and students
  • EER report: Recharge with colleagues
  • Field trip report: GSA Connects 2024 in Anaheim offered educators a view (and more) of the Salton Trough
  • Colleague connections: Fireside Chats
  • Oceanography instructors - new OER resource out on scientific ocean drilling
  • Research opportunities for 2YC students
  • Need a guest lecturer? AGU has you covered
  • Field Notes with students
  • Geo2YC pencils
Geo2YC Website

President's Column

Sean Tvelia, Suffolk County Community College

It's hard to believe it's already December. Based on my conversations with colleagues at my own institution and within the Division, it seems this semester has been a blur for many of us. Fortunately, that blur was mostly due to all the good things our colleagues are doing to improve and elevate geoscience education and the experiences of 2YC students. In my last term as President, we were still navigating one of the worst periods in education history and collectively trying to keep our students (and in some cases our colleagues) motivated. So on that note, I am excited to be back to lead the Division again as we continue the efforts developed by my predecessors, expand on the valuable resources the Division provides, celebrate our individual achievements, and most importantly connect us as a profession.

Geoscience programs at most 2YCs are relatively small with respect to the number of faculty and student majors but that doesn't make the content we provide or the work we do any less valuable to our communities. In fact, I would argue that it makes the work we do even more important as there are very few of us teaching the critical concepts that students and communities need to know to understand the major issues impacting our society. From water and mineral resources to the impact of climate change on many sectors of our economy, the study of geoscience is more important than ever and our ability to reach our students and grow our programs even more so.

It is for those reasons that I'm grateful for this division and what we do to connect and support each other. As we continue to navigate the changing landscape of higher education, I hope everyone will remember the resources we have in each other, the division, and the organization.

If you have never been involved before, the Fireside chats are a great way to get involved. These informal meetings are a great way to meet colleagues, learn about different pedagogies and technology, and see how geoscience issues differ from region to region. Our next Fireside chat is scheduled for January 24, 2025 (12PM Eastern, 9AM Pacific) and will focus on digital labs and virtual field trips for both traditional and online courses. If you are available, we would love to hear about the resources you use and if you are curious about available resources, we would love to share them. If possible, consider bringing a colleague--the Fireside chats are also great way to introduce colleagues to NAGT and the Geo2YC division.

At this time I would also like to remind everyone about the Geo2YC division Faculty Development Grants. This opportunity provides $100 travel grants to attend conferences or professional development programs and up to $500 to support member-driven initiatives. I would also like to remind everyone about the opportunities we have to recognize those members of the organization who are going above and beyond to support students and programs. The Dorothy Stout Award is given annually to a community college instructor ($750) as well as a community college student ($750). Applications are due mid-April. Each year we also select winners for the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award. Each awardee receives a one-year free membership in both NAGT and the Geo2YC Division. As you are reflecting on the semester please consider taking the time to nominate a colleague.

Lastly I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing and meeting you on a Fireside chat.

Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award 

From the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award Committee

Well, we don't have a winner to report yet...but the good news is that you can still vote!  Read through the nominee profiles from Dr. Joel Aquino (Summer 2024), Savannah Reed (Spring 2024), and Beth Doyle (Winter 2024) and vote in support of their recognition as the Annual Outstanding Adjunct who will receive free membership to the Division and a $1000 stipend from McGraw-Hill.  Voting is open until December 31, 2024, so don't delay!

To our readership - tell us about yourself or your adjunct colleagues!  What wonderful ideas and strategies are you bringing to your corners of the geoscience world?  Note, these colleagues DO NOT have to be current members of NAGT or the Geo2YC Division to be recognized. Please complete an Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award nomination today. Please give yourself or your colleagues the recognition they deserve!

Get involved with NAGT Webinars

NAGT Webinar Series 
Check out the schedule for the NAGT Webinar Series!  Lots of great opportunities for learning and discussion through these events, and even if you cannot attend, you can register so the link to the recording is sent straight to your inbox. An archive of prior webinars is also available.

NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for a 2YC representative
The NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for a representative from the Geo2YC membership to participate on the committee.  Over a three year term, you will work with colleagues across NAGT to solicit webinar hosts (for example, see item below), share ideas for potential topics, and help organize the annual NAGT webinar schedule.  Please consider stepping up for this position - your participation would ensure webinars include topics of interest to our membership, while also allowing you a chance to become more involved in NAGT on a broader level.  If you are interested or have questions before committing, please reach out to the out-going 2YC rep Karen Layou (klayou@reynolds.edu) or the current Webinar committee chair, Beth Pratt-Sitaula (beth.pratt-sitaula@earthscope.org).

NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for webinar hosts
NAGT offers a wide range of webinars each month to bring the latest in geoscience and pedagogy to our members. The NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for members who would be willing to host a webinar this coming academic year.  Consider sharing a fun teaching technique, resources you've used in your classroom, or collaborate with colleagues to tell us more about what's been going on in your professional world. If you have some ideas, please reach out to the current chair, Beth Pratt-Sitaula (beth.pratt-sitaula@earthscope.org).

Bring the NAGT Traveling Workshop to your department 

The Traveling Workshops Program (TWP) (Acrobat (PDF) 1005kB Dec13 24) brings NAGT's professional development program to you. The leaders work with you to customize a workshop to meet your group's needs around building stronger geoscience programs, more equitable and effective courses, and emphasizing workforce skills for your students. All workshops include:
▪ Personalized facilitation from two experienced leaders
▪ A dedicated, private web space to keep track of resources and work
▪ A focus on actionable work, and a collective or individual action plan for moving forward

Check out the flier linked above for more information.

2YC Funding Opportunities through NAGT this spring 

The Dorothy Stout Grant has awards just for this community! Annual deadline is April 15.  Please encourage students to apply!
Do you need money to attend a conference?  Do you have your eyes on some cool model or classroom materials?  Then please consider submitting an application to the Dottie Stout Professional Development Grant.  This is a grant that is in honor of the outstanding work and dedication Dorothy "Dottie" LaLonde Stout had on Earth Science education at all levels, 2YC and K-12.  It is an annual award that has supported classes for Professional Development, attendance at workshops, meetings, or field trips, and purchase of materials for class use. The 3 categories for the $750 award are Community College Faculty, Community College Student and K-12 Educator. Note that for the last 2 years there have not been any applicants from the 2YC community--faculty or students.

Your 1-2-page grant proposal is due before 15 April.  The proposal should include what you plan to do, why is it important to what you do, and the costs of what you are going to do.  For more information, please see the online Dorothy Stout Grant application form.  Please send questions or comments to David Voorhees, Waubonsee Community College, dvoorhees@waubonsee.edu or Monica Bruckner, NAGT, mbruckne@carleton.edu

Apply for a Geo2YC Faculty Development Grant! Next deadline is April 15. 
Open to members of the Geo2YC Division of NAGT, the Geo2YC Faculty Development Grant offers mini-grants up to $500 to support an activity (workshop, field trip, etc.) which benefits faculty from multiple institutions and travel grants of $100 to support attending professional development activities. If you plan on attending GSA or AGU this fall, this is a chance to get a bit of support!  Rolling deadlines annually on April 15 and September 15.  Apply here.

What can you do with a Geo2YC Faculty Development Grant?  Read on from 2024 awardees Allison Jones and Callan Bentley below...

Weaving Connections: Reflections from the 2024 Earth Educators' Rendezvous

Allison Jones, Sierra College

As one half of a small earth science department, the Earth Educators' Rendezvous has become my own professional retreat—an opportunity for me to expand my professional network, explore new pedagogical approaches, and reconnect with the broader community of Earth science educators. Each conference is a chance for me to weave together insights, strategies, and connections that sustain and invigorate my teaching practice throughout the academic year—and the 2024 Rendezvous did not disappoint!

I kicked off the conferences by attending the 3-day workshop "Teaching with Investigation and Design in Science" (TIDeS) led by Anne Egger, Angela Daneshmand, and Natalie Bursztyn, where they offered a new approach to introductory science education. Their project's vision is bold: prepare future K-12 teachers to experience science learning in a way that mirrors the teaching methods they'll ultimately use in their own classrooms. Faculty from institutions across the country have been collaboratively developing materials to re-imagine introductory Earth and physical science courses, focusing on active student engagement, equitable sense-making, and highlighting diversity in scientific practices.

More than just a theoretical discussion, the workshop provided concrete materials and strategies for implementing investigative, discussion-driven learning. The leaders shared how these new approaches have positively impacted their student success, influencing not just academic performance but also students' attitudes and beliefs about science. As an instructor of online and in-person Introduction to Earth Science courses—often filled with preservice K-12 teachers—I found the potential for the TiDES pedagogy particularly compelling.

Midweek, I led a mini workshop on H5P, an online interactive activity tool that can be leveraged for both formative and summative assessment. The session dove into the practical applications of the tool, exploring how educators can develop free interactive activities that engage students across various learning management systems. Participants learned to create and embed interactive assessments, with a critical focus on accessibility—understanding which activities are inherently accessible and how to modify others to ensure inclusive learning experiences.

Read on with the full article and MORE PHOTOS... (Acrobat (PDF) 619kB Dec17 24)

A field trip about field trips in the Salton Trough, California

Callan Bentley, Piedmont Virginia Community College

Before the GSA Connects meeting in Anaheim, in September 2024, I co-led a field trip that explored both the southern California desert landscape and also the different ways of leading a field trip. This "meta"-level exercise was dubbed "An Educator's Look at Southern California Geology," and it was co-led with Edith Rojas Salazar, of the College of the Desert in Palm Springs. Edith and I were inspired both by the experience of taking my PVCC students on a tour of southern California geological sites in spring 2023, as well as a 2019 field trip that I co-led with Merry Wilson (Scottsdale Community College) prior to the Phoenix GSA meeting.

A NAGT Geo2YC "workshop" grant provided me with partial funding to make this trip happen.

Nine two-year college educators signed up for our trip, as well as four K12 science teachers. We also had six people from 4-year universities, one person from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one from a non-profit organization called California Chapparal, and one undergraduate student. We met in Anaheim at the convention center, then drove out to Borrego Springs, a town in the Colorado Desert and the largest population center in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

One of the points we made that first evening had to do with our lodging. We stayed at the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, a real gem in the University of California Natural Reserve System. If you haven't heard of the UCNRS before, it's an astounding array of properties with unique natural history value, and often with both lodging and scientific laboratory space. The lodging is primarily intended for researchers completing field studies in these areas, but it is also available to educational classes and their instructors. The UC Reserves are ideal for taking care of students on travel field courses.

Read on with the full article and MORE PHOTOS... (Acrobat (PDF) 3.9MB Dec10 24)

Get fired up for the Spring semester with a Fireside Chat

Geo2YC Fireside Chats
The Geo2YC Division Executive Committee is back with another semester of "fireside" chats on Zoom. These sessions are open to Geo2YC members, as well as anyone you want to bring along - invite your colleagues to attend. Days and times will vary to allow participation from coast to coast. Our goal is to have an hour-long, informal discussion on topics of interest to the membership - we'll provide a starting topic, and see where conversation takes us. We hope these sessions will serve as a opportunity to connect, build community, and share ideas in real time. So, pour yourself a cup of coffee, grab a snack, and join us!

  • Friday, January 24, 2025 12p Eastern/9a Pacific - Digital labs and virtual field trips - they're not just for asynchronous online courses! (Zoom link)
  • Monday, February 24, 2025 8p Eastern/5p Pacific - Any new love for AI?  Thoughts on engaging the next generation (Zoom link)

What kinds of things can you learn about at Fireside Chats?  Our November chat brought folks together to chat for an OER Share-a-thon where we viewed and shared  links to some of our favorite old and new OER resources (Acrobat (PDF) 62kB Dec18 24).  Speaking of...read on to find out how these OER resources come to be...

Our journey to writing an OER on scientific ocean drilling

Laura Guertin (Penn State Brandywine), Beth Doyle (Northern Virginia Community College), and Tessa Peixoto

We are excited to announce the publication of an open educational resource (OER) exploring the field of scientific ocean drilling: Scientific Ocean Drilling: Exploration and Discovery through Time . Designed for introductory-level oceanography courses targeted at non-STEM majors, this OER aims to help students understand the process and historical context of scientific ocean drilling and its contributions to oceanographic discovery, both past and present. With four chapters published so far, we envision this interactive, online resource as a valuable supplement for courses in oceanography and the history of science.

All three co-authors served as Onboard Outreach Officers on the scientific drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution. In a review of university-level oceanography textbooks, we noticed a troubling trend: the topic of scientific ocean drilling is gradually disappearing from these materials. Furthermore, many resources fail to connect the methods and technologies used aboard drilling ships and in laboratories to the groundbreaking discoveries enabled by deep-sea core samples. These  observations motivated us to create an accessible, engaging OER that comprehensively covers the methods, impacts and key experts in scientific ocean drilling.

Having each sailed on the JOIDES Resolution, we are well-versed in the drilling process, laboratory analyses, and shipboard facilities. During our expeditions, we collected extensive multimedia materials, including photos, audio, and video. Additionally, we participated in post-expedition sampling parties at core repositories. These experiences, combined with our ongoing collaboration with scientists and crew members from our voyages, have provided a solid foundation for the content and development of our OER.

To manage our project, we use a shared Google Drive folder to organize materials and maintain a running Google Doc with meeting notes from our biweekly Zoom sessions. We chose the Pressbooks platform to host the OER, leveraging the free access and technical support offered through co-author Laura Guertin's university partnership. Pressbooks also integrates H5P, enabling us to create interactive exercises. All images included have a Creative Commons license to address copyright, and to ensure accessibility, we provide alternative formats for all multimedia content.

We successfully applied for a Novel Project Grant from the U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) for Scientific Ocean Drilling. These grants support research and outreach projects tied to recent expeditions, archived core materials, and related initiatives. Our budget included stipends for our work, transcription services for audio/video materials to enhance accessibility, promotional items like magnets and bookmarks featuring the OER's URL to distribute at conferences, and Amazon gift cards to incentivize student testers to provide valuable feedback.

As we continue to write, edit, and create exercises to engage students, we welcome feedback to improve this resource. We hope it serves not only students but also anyone interested in the history and process of scientific ocean drilling. Questions and comments can be sent to Laura at guertin@psu.edu.

Research opportunities for students

Sent to us by Geo2YC Past-President Cheryl Resnick, check out this local public news story from WCBU of Peoria, Illinois featuring Waubonsee Community College (home of another Geo2YC Past-President Dave Voorhees). Although the focus is on health sciences, the story highlights the importance of undergraduate research toward completion of a 4-year degree and the need for more research opportunities for 2YC students.

Here is an up-to-date list of ongoing research programs that are accepting 2YC students!  Please share widely with your student networks.

So how do we encourage more research opportunities for 2YC students?  Consider seeking funding via the National Science Foundation. There are a number of programs and solicitations that focus on providing financial support to proposals that emphasize student research and/or two-year colleges.

  • ATE - Advanced Technological Education
  • IUSE: ITYC - Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education
  • REU: Research Experiences for Undergraduates
  • S-STEM - NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Program

Don't forget NAGT has resources for grant writers (Acrobat (PDF) 3.8MB Dec13 24), including workshops with sessions on fitting grant writing into your professional life, avenues of dissemination to promote your work, and most importantly, a network of colleagues who have been-there, done-that who can share their experiences!

Looking for a virtual classroom speaker? Explore the AGU Distinguished Lecture Series

Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has a Distinguished Lecture Series program available for the 2024-2025 academic year. The speakers, all AGU Fellows from across the globe, provide general science lectures that encompass science and societal intersections. Speakers are available from the various AGU sections, speak for 45 minutes, and have a Q&A with students.

I am always looking for opportunities to connect my students with geoscience professionals (I am the only geoscientist on my campus), so I completed the online request form and selected a couple of potential speakers. There is an AGU staff member that coordinates the communication with the AGU Fellow, and eventually AGU generates the Zoom link and is present during the session in case of technical issues.

For my coastal oceanography course this semester, I decided to request Dr. Eric Steig. The AGU website listed his title, "The past and future of the polar ice sheets", and provided an abstract of his talk along with a speaker bio (useful to have students review ahead of time). I communicated with AGU and Dr. Steig before the lecture, and I greatly appreciated that Dr. Steig was willing to speak live to both sections of my oceanography course, which met back-to-back in the morning.

Knowing Dr. Steig was willing to respond to student questions, and to encourage my students to take notes on their laptops, I set up a discussion board in our course management system for students to post questions as they thought of them during the talk. This way, during the Q&A, I could scan the discussion board and group similar questions together. Not only did students pose excellent questions (and Dr. Steig was willing to respond to them all), my students stayed in my classroom after the talk concluded and continued to ask me questions until my next class started. The excitement at meeting and hearing from Dr. Steig was an incredible boost to student excitement in my course.

During the next class period, we continued discussing some of the items from the lecture, and I asked students to collaboratively write a thank-you note to Dr. Steig. This is something I do whenever I have a virtual guest lecturer. I set up an MS Word document in OneDrive and shared the link with students, asking each one to thank our speaker and to note one item they learned. These collaborative thank-you letters are not just a way for me to see what the highlights were for each student, but also engage the students in a good practice of acknowledging the speaker's time and sharing their expertise.

I highly encourage 2YC colleagues to consider requesting an AGU Distinguished Lecturer. I look forward to bringing another speaker to my spring semester courses to connect students with a geoscience professional besides myself and to learn about current research.

Send us your Field Notes

We want to hear about and see what you are doing with your students in the field.  Please share pictures of students in the field and a brief description of what they are doing.

 

 

 

Where in the world are NAGT Geo2YC pencils?

Don't have a pencil (or one of our snazzy new pens) and want one?  Email any of the Geo2YC officers and we'll get some out for you to keep and share with your colleagues.  Send us your pencil pictures to share in the newsletter. These photos are from the Blue Ridge Tunnel, a historic landmark and abandoned railroad tunnel that once allowed the Blue Ridge Railroad to cut through the mountains of Central Virginia. For more on the geology of this fascinating locale, read this article highlighting work of College of William and Mary geology faculty and students (be sure to check out the linked YouTube videos).