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NAGT at the AGU Fall Meeting 2021

NAGT is pleased to sponsor a variety of geoscience education sessions and activities planned for the Fall 2021 AGU meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, and online from December 13-17, 2021. The meeting theme this year is Science and Society. For those that will be onsite, we will have a some information at the NAGT booth (#427).

Learn more on the Registration Information page.

Contribute to the Earth and Space Science Education Commentaries

Contribute to the Earth and Space Science Education Commentaries on ICON (integrated, coordinated, open, networked) processes and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles!

Submit evidence and arguments in support of key points by November 15, 2021.

Using the UFERN model for studying undergraduate field experiences

The Undergraduate Field Experiences Research Network (UFERN) would like to invite the geoscience education research community to their November Community Conversation on using the UFERN model for studying undergraduate field experiences.

Integrating research on undergraduate field experiences (UFEs) and general STEM education and the expertise of the UFERN community, the UFERN Model describes the impact of intended student outcomes, student context factors (e.g., identity, motivation) and program design factors (e.g., setting, social interactions) on UFE student outcomes. The UFERN Model is relevant for a diversity of UFE formats (e.g., short field labs to months-long research experiences) and disciplines and the diverse students potentially engaged in them, and thus it supports the field science community to consider a range of ways students can engage with "the field." During this community conversation, we will give a short overview presentation of the UFERN Model, and facilitate an open discussion about how the UFERN Model can be used for research. All are welcome to join the conversation, however, we will especially tailor our presentation and discussion to social scientists.

• Date: November 19, 2021 at 9 AM PST (12 PM EST)
• Register for this talk
  

Applications open: Project EDDIE January 2022 Module Development & Community Building Experience

Facilitated by Catherine O'Reilly, Illinois State University, Dax Soule, Queens College, Thomas Meixner, Arizona State University, Andrew Haveles, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Sarah Fortner, Science Education Resource Center, and Cailin Huyck Orr, Science Education Resource Center

Participants will create an EDDIE teaching module that uses an openly available dataset for an ecology, limnology, geology, oceanography, hydrology, or environmental science course. 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. Virtual collaboration will help you improve your teaching module as you develop it and use it in your course. We are actively recruiting instructors from different disciplines and encourage you to apply. Participants will be expected to develop their module during the workshop, which includes a virtual peer review. Participants are expected to complete a module, teach it, and incorporate revisions from an external review. Final modules will be published by December 2022. Participants will be provided a $1500 stipend for completing their work.

• Apply by November 28
  

Near-Surface Geophysics Survey

Could you use near-surface geophysics course materials or equipment in your teaching? Please help us identify community needs and desires by taking this survey. This survey is part of a community assessment and ideation project, to be followed by a Feb 2022 workshop.

Near-surface geophysics covers methods and approaches for studying Earth's surface and uppermost crust, and is aimed at understanding all the processes impacting this environment. It has applications in addressing climate change, responding to natural hazards, managing resources, and training next-generation scientists.

The motivation for this effort comes from the recent National Academies Report A vision for NSF Earth Sciences 2020-2030: Earth in Time. The report recommends developing a Near-Surface Geophysics Center to "enable novel observations that lead to new questions and insights" on the majority of the critical Earth science questions identified for the 2020-2030 decade.

This survey is the first step in a community engagement and ideation process. The survey will inform a community discussion at a Town Hall at the AGU Fall Meeting 2021 (#AGU21), a multi-day virtual workshop in February 2022, and an open report to NSF.

This survey and work is supported by the National Science Foundation grant: 2139353

Instructions are provided for each section. Your feedback as part of this community is critical. Thank you for your time and input.

• Take the survey
  

Nominate yourself or others to serve on an NAGT committee

NAGT is seeking nominations for individuals wishing to serve on NAGT committees and provide guidance and expert advice to NAGT. To uphold the association's mission of supporting a diverse, inclusive, and thriving community of educators and education researchers to improve teaching and learning about the Earth, NAGT seeks individuals with varied experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds across region, race, gender, age, and identity.

NAGT has several standing committees whose membership includes a combination of ex officio and at-large members. These committees have specific charges and tasks and report to the Executive Committee. Committees may not always be seeking new members, but nominations remain active for three years.

Nominations are open for the following committees:

• Program committees
  • Advocacy Committee
  • Development Committee
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
  • Professional Development Planning Committee
  • Teach the Earth Website Committee
  • Webinar Planning Committee
  • Investment Committee
• Award committees
  • Neil Miner Award Committee
  • Dottie Stout Professional Development Grants Committee
  • James H. Shea Award Committee
  • Field Camp Scholarship Committee
  • *New* Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Committee
  • Outstanding Earth Science Teacher (K-12) Award Committee (chair)

Please use this form to nominate yourself or a colleague for a committee position with NAGT. Nominations received by December 1, 2021 will be considered for upcoming committee vacancies.

Nominate by December 15: Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards

Do you know an outstanding teaching assistant? NAGT recognizes outstanding teaching assistants in geoscience education with up to 30 awards annually, with two deadlines for nomination (December and June). Both undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants are eligible for the award. Award winners receive a one year membership in NAGT, which includes an online subscription to the Journal of Geoscience Education and our In The Trenches quarterly magazine. The yearly membership starts January 1st of the upcoming year. The undergraduate student awards are the gift of Thomas Hendrix, Grand Valley State University. Tom was the recipient of the 1994 Neil Miner award and he also served as President of NAGT as editor of the Journal of Geoscience Education. The graduate student awards are funded by NAGT.

• Nomination Deadline: December 15th
• Nomination letters may be submitted by using our online nomination form.

Update your NAGT Member Profile

We recently updated the questions in your member profile to reflect best practices and the information that supports setting and achieving our diversity goals. Please take a moment to check your profile to see if we have the correct and complete information about you. You can find the questions by clicking on Member Login on the Membership page, and then selecting "Profile" in the left navigation. It just takes a minute: update your professional and personal profile today!

RENEW YOUR NAGT MEMBERSHIP TODAY TO CONTINUE RECEIVING MEMBER BENEFITS:

• Online access to In the Trenches, a full-color quarterly magazine focused on improving geoscience education at all levels
• Discounted registration rates on NAGT Professional development workshops including Earth Educators' Rendezvous
• Monthly NAGT e-newsletter, featuring articles, updates, and deadlines in the world of Geoscience Education
• Online access to the Journal of Geoscience Education, the premier peer-reviewed publication for geoscience education research, curriculum, and instruction
• A voice in the development of Teach the Earth, NAGT's portal to online teaching and professional development resources for geoscience educators
• The ability to recognize your colleagues and students through NAGT's awards
• Opportunities to volunteer in NAGT committees and offices, from advocacy to professional development

NAGT MEMBERSHIP PEER REVIEW:

"I was a member of NAGT when I first started teaching, fresh out of grad school. I have participated in many On The Cutting Edge webinars and online courses through the years. I am in my second year at my current institution, so I decided to renew my NAGT membership to find additional professional development options."

HOW TO RENEW

• To renew your NAGT membership, simply click here to pay by Credit Card.
• 3-year Memberships are also available. To view all Membership rates, click here.
• To pay by check, send this completed PDF form along with your check to:
  • NAGT, Attn: Membership Renewal, Carleton College W-SERC, 1 North College St, Northfield, MN 55057

Application open: Workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty 2022

The Early Career Geoscience Faculty workshop is for faculty in their first three years of a tenure-track or equivalent position, with priority given to applicants entering their second or third years in their position. Participants must have a full-time faculty position at a two-year or four-year college or a university at the time of the workshop and must be in their first three years of full-time teaching or starting a full-time position in the Fall. See the overview page for details. Join us for a multi-day workshop in a stimulating and resource-rich environment where you will participate in sessions on topics including effective teaching strategies, course design, establishing a research program in a new setting, working with research students, balancing professional and personal responsibilities, and time management.

• Date: June 20-24, 2022, with an optional virtual visit to NSF in Summer 2022
  University of Maryland, College Park, MD
• Apply by March 1, 2022

Do you have good news related to your geoscience education work that you would like to share with the NAGT community? Submit to NAGT's Community Kudos!

• NAGT member Aida Awad of American Intercontinental University Honored for Service to AGI. Read more on AGI's information page.
• NAGT member Kaatje van der Hoeven Kraft, professor of geology and oceanography at Whatcom Community College will be serving as the chair of the Advisory Committee for the Geo-Directorate at NSF. She is the first person from a community college to serve in the position of chair.

The NAGT webinar series is free and we encourage you to invite your colleagues to attend. Check out the webinar schedule.

The Law of Superposition

Visualizing the law of superposition through the art of storytelling by NAGT member Zarin Ali. Listen to "To which page of your life do I belong to?" from The Geology Tribe on Anchor.

New venture in student publication stemming from online "Earth Futures" class

Timothy Bralower, NAGT member and professor of Geology at Penn State University.

In the class students are required to write a six-part capstone Communities in Crisis: Student Voices on Climate Change that focuses on the impact of climate change on communities around the world. Students must choose six individual communities and for each describe the impact of different aspects of climate change. The capstone 300-500 word entries occur every two weeks and students are expected to focus on a topic relevant to the material at that part of the course. Each entry must address the specific threat on the community and why it is vulnerable, describing forecasts for the future and discussing the solutions. Emphasis is placed on students writing in their own words, citing original references.

The Communities in Crisis capstone exercise gives students an appreciation of the future threats of climate change on communities. The assignment requires them to integrate knowledge from various places in the course grounding the theoretical aspects of climate change with real life examples. Students take a great deal of ownership in their capstones and the overall quality of the entries is inspiring for a general education course. At the same time the compilation of hundreds of student entries provides a powerful testament of the threat of climate change on communities, often including the most vulnerable ones, written by the citizens who will be impacted the most.

We have now begun to publish a compilation of the Communities in Crisis entries in Pressbooks, an accessible open educational platform for publishing student work. In case you haven't heard of it, Pressbooks is free and accessible and streamlines the copyright process. Pressbooks allows us to categorize entries by topic, for example drought, sea level rise, or ocean acidification. Every entry is also a point on a map so they can be searched geographically. Our goal is to ultimately cover the globe and present the full array of threats on communities. At the same time, the book gives students the opportunity to showcase their work in an accessible setting.

Our Pressbook: Communities in Crisis: Student Voices on Climate Change is now published.

Geo-Launchpad: Paid internship for community college students in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming

Do you have an interest in geoscience but are unsure where to take your next step? Geo-Launchpad is a paid 11-week summer internship program for community college students attending college in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Geo-Launchpad runs from mid-May through July, pays a stipend of $600/week, and provides housing if needed. This program provides community college students with an introduction to research, a reliable source of summer income ($6600+ for the entire summer), geoscience and engineering knowledge and technical work, career path experience, professional development activities including science communication, resume building, and extensive networking opportunities, the opportunity to become part of a cohort of interns from all over the U.S., and experience presenting at a local and national conference (all expenses paid, including travel if needed). All this as a community college student - before you transfer to a four-year university!

Only students attending community college in CO, NM, and WY are eligible.

• Applications open November 15, 2021 and close on February 8, 2022.
• Learn more on the information page.

Seeking participants for a research study of experiences of geoscience students with learning disabilities

You are invited to participate in a research study designed to learn about your experiences as a geoscience undergraduate student. The purpose of this study is to understand how geoscience students with a learning disability navigate their geoscience course work. I am hoping to better understand your challenges and opportunities in order to improve the teaching of geosciences.

In order to participate in this study, you must meet three criteria: 1) be a geoscience /geology major at a university or college in the United States; 2) have completed at least one geoscience / geology course; and 3) have a learning disability and be registered with your university or college student disability center.

If you agree to participate in this study, you will first complete a short survey about your learning disability, then participate in an interview that will take approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete. Once the interviews have been completed, transcripts will be produced, and any personal identifying information will be removed.

If you are interested in learning more or participating in this study, please visit the information page. You may choose to discontinue participation in the study at any time and you may also choose not to answer any question that you find uncomfortable.

If you have any questions or concerns about this study, feel free to contact me by the e-mail listed below.

Thank you for your time,

Nina Morris
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences
Western Michigan University
nina.r.morris@wmich.edu

Teacher Education (TED) Division

TED would like to start a monthly series of online drop-in sessions to build a community of practice for Earth sciences educators. Topics may include: (1) How to present science methods to teacher candidates? (2) What makes a great NGSS-based in-class activity according to active teachers? (3) Are there winning arguments to make at the school or district level for more outdoor science education? What would you like to share with your peers in TED?

• Please direct responses to suzanne.metlay@wgu.edu
• This will be an agenda item at the next TED ExComm meeting on 9 Dec at 3:00pm PT/6:00pm ET

Post to the TED Division Facebook Page

Members are invited to post time-critical information on the TED Division Facebook page.

Assistant Professor Environmental Science Education or Geological Science Education - Chico State

Scientific and Instructional Support Technician - Amherst College

Graduate Assistantships; PhD Education option in Science Education - Oklahoma State University

Assistant Professor of Teaching (tenure-track) in Geological Engineering - University of British Columbia

Assistant Professor of Hydrogeology - Oklahoma State University

Director for Education for COLDEX Science and Technology Center - Oregon State University

Teaching Faculty in Environmental Science - Johns Hopkins University

A full-time, tenure-track position in Physical Geography in Earth Science, Utah Valley University (UVU)

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Earth Science, Mount Holyoke College

Submit an opportunity to the NAGT Career Hub