Dual Credit Geoscience Courses Workshop

published May 14, 2012 7:31pm
You can Teach College Geoscience Courses in Your School!
With support from an NSF grant, Todd Ellis, Steve Kluge and Jim Ebert are engaged in an effort to expand the SUNY Oneonta Earth Science Outreach Program (ESOP). Since 2005, over 600 high school students have earned college credit through ESOP for introductory geoscience courses (geology, meteorology, oceanography, astronomy) taught by local teachers in the students' own schools. Credit earned through ESOP is transferrable to other colleges and ESOP courses satisfy SUNY General Education requirements at any SUNY institution. Thirteen schools have participated to date, including one in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia
The NSF grant has three major goals:
  1. to expand ESOP to as many schools as are interested,
  2. to assist other colleges in developing similar programs and
  3. to evaluate how effective ESOP is at recruiting college geoscience majors to help address the nation's short supply of geoscience professionals.
Participation is not restricted to New York State schools; anyone can participate. As mentioned above, we have participating schools in three states. We are especially interested in recruiting schools that serve substantial numbers of minority students.
Workshop Dates: August 13-16, 2012
Workshop Purpose:
To help interested teachers prepare proposals to participate in ESOP and develop curricula
Workshop Description:
The workshop will include the following:
  1. an overview of the program and the national shortage of geoscientists
  2. information on SUNY's General Education requirements
  3. designing a college level course and proposal preparation
  4. developing your curriculum and proposal
  5. selling the idea to your administration
  6. an overview of what the college requires and student obligations
  7. networking opportunities for teachers of dual credit courses
  8. developing college-level inquiry activities (if time permits).
Cost: Costs will incidental; the grant will cover accommodations, meals and travel.
Workshop Staff:
  • Jim Ebert, SUNY Oneonta
  • Todd Ellis, SUNY Oneonta
  • Steve Kluge, Freelance Earth Science Guru
  • Heather McArdle, Earth Science Teacher, Mahopac High School (tentative)
  • Drew Patrick, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Bedford Central School District (tentative)

Logistics and Location:
Morris Conference Center, SUNY Oneonta Campus, and a hotel to be determined

Participant Selection Criteria:
Preference will be given to teachers that participated in our STANYS workshop in November and to teachers from districts that serve large numbers of minority students.

For More Information:
If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please e-mail Jim Ebert at James.Ebert@oneonta.edu. Workshop applications will be made available to those that inquire via e-mail.

Interested in Starting a Similar Program at your College?:
We can help you get started; no sense in reinventing the wheel! Contact Jim Ebert at James.Ebert@oneonta.edu for more information.