NAGTNews - Vol 16 - No 12 - December 2017

An archive of past NAGTNews messages is available to members at http://nagt.org/nagt/news/nagtnews.html.
View online supplements for In the Trenches at http://nagt.org/nagt/publications/trenches/index.html.
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In This Issue:
  1. Meet NAGT's New President: A Brief Interview with Dr. Don Duggan-Haas
  2. NAGT Events at AGU Meeting December 12-16
  3. NAGT Thanks Penny Morton for Fourteen Years of Contributions
  4. Welcome, New Members!
  5. Consider an End-of-Year Donation to NAGT
  6. The InTeGrate Fall Webinar Series Continues
  7. Memorandum of Understanding between NAGT and The Clay Minerals Society
  8. Leadership Strategies for Equity and Inclusion in the Geosciences—Webinar Recording
  9. Rock Inquiry 101—Webinar Recording and Resources
  10. Share How You are Serving in Your Communities
  11. NAGT Sponsored Project Spotlight: EDDIE
Approaching Deadlines:
  1. 2018 InTeGrate Faculty Mentoring Network—Application Deadline December 11
  2. The Class that Time Forgot: Best Practices in Teaching Earth History—Abstract deadline December 12
  3. Applications for Scholarships to attend the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting are due December 14
  4. NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards—Nomination Deadline December 15
  5. Next Traveling Workshops Program Deadline is January 15
  6. Save the Date—Abstract Deadline for Resources for Future Generations Conference is January 15
  7. Nominations for AAPG Foundation Teacher of the Year Award due January 15

Rock and Mineral Exchange

Community Advertisements

  • Assistant Professor Tenure-Track Position - Tarleton State University - Structural Geology
  • University of Utah Petroleum Geoscience Field Course
  • Open rank position in STEM at Bates College

1. Meet NAGT's New President: A Brief Interview with Dr. Don Duggan-Haas

Dr. Don Duggan-Haas, succeeding Dr. Anne Egger as the new President of NAGT, is Director of Teacher Programs at the Paleontological Research Institution in New York. He played an active role in the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and served as Chair of GSA's Geoscience Education Division as well as on the New York State Science Leadership Team for the NGSS. Dr. Duggan-Haas's research and teaching target the same goals and involve the same strategies: using place-based, inquiry-oriented approaches to teaching and learning in order to build deep understandings of Earth system science. To learn more about the new President, the NAGT Executive Office asked Dr. Duggan-Haas a few questions:

How long have you been involved with NAGT, and how has being a part of the NAGT community influenced you as an educator?

Don Duggan-Haas: While I've been an Earth science educator for thirty years (since I started teaching high school Earth science in Upstate New York in 1986), I've only been involved with NAGT for about ten years. My first twenty years would have been more effective if I'd joined earlier! The resources and opportunities provided through NAGT have sharpened my educational approaches. Likely the most important piece of that for me personally is the broadening of my professional network. The smart, wonderful and amusing colleagues I've connected to through my participation in NAGT are too numerous to count. Of course, the resources available through JGE, In the Trenches, and the Teach the Earth website are helpful as well, but it's the people that really make the organization.

What is one of your favorite things about teaching?

DDH: I think I want to tweak the question a little, or at least offer a weird preface to my answer....

To read Don's full response—as well as learn what he's most excited about for the future of NAGT, his favorite place on Earth, and more—read the full interview.

2. NAGT Events at AGU Meeting December 11-15

Planning on attending the AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans December 11-15? Don't miss the wide range of NAGT education activities taking place at the meeting, including a topical session on amazing technologies that contribute to STEM, hands-on teaching demonstrations and activities, several sessions on diversity in geoscience education, and so much more! For the full list of NAGT-sponsored events at the Fall 2017 AGU meeting, see NAGT's AGU webpage.

Also be sure to stop by our booth (#1527) in the exhibit hall to learn about recent NAGT activities and connect with other NAGT members. We hope to see you there!


Seeking Volunteers for the NAGT Booth at AGU - We are still actively soliciting NAGT members to help staff the booth during the AGU meeting in New Orleans. If you've never volunteered at the booth before, rest assured it's both easy and fun! There will also be experienced NAGT officers and staff on-hand to assist you as needed. If you're able to give even a little time to representing NAGT, please contact Krista Herbstrith (kherbstr at carleton.edu) in the Executive Director's Office and she can add you to the schedule.

3. NAGT Thanks Dr. Penny Morton for Fourteen Years of Contributions

Dr. Penelope Morton, Associate Dean of the Swenson College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, has run the NAGT-USGS Cooperative Summer Field Training Program since 2003. First established in 1965, the program is the longest continuously-running internship program in the Earth sciences. Over the past fifty years, more than 2,300 students have participated in this program with an impressive number of these individuals becoming full-time employees of the USGS.

Over the years, Dr. Morton has succeeded in identifying top-flight students for the program, and the USGS has garnered the interest of competent and enthusiastic supervising mentors. Across the years of Dr. Morton's leadership, the annual number of participating student interns grew seven-fold. Evaluations of the program by the students have been strongly positive, and the interns have continually received outstanding reviews from USGS managers. Thanks to Dr. Morton's efforts, the NAGT-USGS Cooperative Summer Field Training Program has upheld a vision of greater educational involvement and continues to provide a first-rate professional experience to students early in their careers.

NAGT thanks Penny Morton for fourteen years of outstanding contributions to the NAGT-USGS Cooperative Field Training Program. Beginning in 2018, Dr. Kurt Burmeister of University of the Pacific will take over leadership of this program.

4. Welcome, New Members!

Now is the time to renew your membership for 2018. In addition to renewals, NAGT is always delighted to welcome new members. Do you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in joining? Be sure to share information about the wonderful benefits all NAGT members receive. In addition to discounts, innovative teaching resources, and a strong community, a few of our newest members share the following reasons that led them to join the NAGT family. All comments were kept anonymous.


  • "I decided it was high time to become a member because I'm always using the website. I've attended four workshops over the past year and am greatly impressed with the work. I utilize the methods often in my classes. I finally feel like I'm getting into a good groove after 20 years of teaching in the geosciences and I realize a lot of it is due to the work of NAGT, so I became a member."
  • "I teach geology at a community college in Canada, and am a fairly new teacher, having spent many years working in the mining industry, so I didn't know where to start with teaching. Since I use NAGT resources frequently, and have attended several of the InTeGrate webinars, I thought it was about time I joined. I may even contribute some material one day! NAGT is a great resource."
  • "I've recently stepped into a role as an associate dean for academic programs in our college, and I've started to think more broadly about how to improve our instructional programs. Becoming a member of NAGT seemed like an obvious first step toward a deeper engagement with the Geoscience education community."

5. Consider an End-of-Year Donation to NAGT

Please consider supporting NAGT's activities and programming with an end-of-year contribution. NAGT is a membership-based organization and additional funds make possible the numerous scholarships, award-winning resources, and professional development opportunities the association offers. ​Even if you have signed up for automatic renewal of a multiple-year membership, you can still make a tax deductible donation to NAGT. To learn more about the many scholarships and programs you can support, visit the NAGT Donations Page. Thank you to those who have already donated!


6. The InTeGrate Fall Webinar Series Continues

Join the next webinar in the InTeGrate Fall Webinar Series:

InTeGrate 101: How to incorporate InTeGrate classroom materials into your courses, Friday, December 8

9:00 am PT | 10:00 am MT | 11:00 am CT | 12:00 pm ET

Presenter: Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman (Pasadena City College),

With guest module authors: Lisa Gilbert, Williams College; Lisa Doner, Plymouth State University; Patricia Stapleton, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

In this free, one-hour webinar participants will be introduced to the large collection of InTeGrate teaching materials and provided with strategies to incorporate activities into their own college classrooms. These data-rich activities provide up front learning outcomes, embedded assessment tools, and instructor stories from a variety of institution types. Following a brief overview of how the InTeGrate materials were designed, we will navigate through the online collection and examine several specific activities that use active learning strategies such as jigsaws, role-playing, and gallery walks. Several module authors will also join us and give brief overviews of highlights of their modules.

By the end of this webinar, participants will have:

  • understood how the InTeGrate materials were developed and met required criteria.
  • learned how to navigate within the InTeGrate website to find activities that they can use in their courses. They will become familiar with the general format and common features of all modules, such as links to Earth Science Literacy Principles, formative and summative assessments, instructor stories, lecture (ppt) slides, answer keys, and many more.
  • heard directly from module authors about highlights of their modules (including Systems Thinking and Major Storms and Community Resilience)

The deadline to register for this webinar is Wednesday, December 6.

7. Memorandum of Understanding Between NAGT and the Clay Minerals Society

NAGT is excited to enter into a new partnership with the Clay Minerals Society of the USA (CMS). Last month, NAGT and CMS signed a Memorandum of Understanding, the purpose of which is to promote educational and scholarly exchange, collaboration, and technical interchange between clay scientists and geoscience educators. The Memorandum of Understanding creates a committee with equal representation from both organizations to review, update, and create freely-available educational topics on the Teaching Clay Mineralogy website. The Memorandum of Understanding will be effective for a period of six years, at which time it will be reviewed.


8. Leadership Strategies for Equity and Inclusion in the Geosciences—Webinar Recording

On November 17, 2017, the AGU/AGI Heads and Chairs hosted a webinar on Leadership Strategies for Equity and Inclusion in the Geosciences. A recording of the full webinar is now available. The webinar can also be viewed directly on YouTube. This recording is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about initiatives to increase equity, diversity, and inclusion in the geosciences. The webinar is one hour long, and describes five different NSF-sponsored "GOLD" projects.

9. Rock Inquiry 101—Webinar recording and resources

On October 18th, 2017 the Science Friday Education team hosted a rock inquiry discussion with a group of passionate and experienced geoscience educators. They have now made links available to the slide deck, resource list, and a recording of the webinar in case you missed the webinar or wish to utilize the materials. These resources and others can also be found on the Science Friday's website.


10. Share How You are Serving in Your Communities

From local communities to international efforts, education and geoscience both play important roles in our society. NAGT is proud to host the Serving Our Communities blog, which showcases ways in which geoscience educators are supporting their communities through service learning, community-based research, societal discussions, and more. The newest story on the blog, authored by geologist Kevin Theissen, discusses how scientists, residents, and decision-makers are collaborating to address the degradation of Minnesota's Metro Area lakes and rivers caused by human induced nutrient loading.

All NAGT members are invited to contribute stories about how geoscience serves communities of all sizes. Comment on one of the current blog posts to show support for those who have contributed, or submit a post to the blog so that others may be inspired and learn from you.

11. NAGT Sponsored Project Spotlight: EDDIE

NAGT is proud to sponsor programs and activities that align with the association's mission to support a diverse, inclusive, and thriving community of educators and education researchers to improve teaching and learning about the Earth.

Scientists are increasingly using sensor-collected, high-frequency and long-term datasets to study geological and environmental processes, yet such datasets are often difficult for educators to incorporate into their curriculum. In answer to this problem, Project EDDIE (Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry and Exploration) drew together an interdisciplinary team of faculty and research scientists to develop and assess flexible curricular modules that allow students to explore a range of concepts utilizing large, long-term, geological and environmental datasets. The modules can be adapted to a variety of introductory, mid-level, and advanced courses in ecology and related fields.

Project EDDIE consists of two components. Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry & Exploration, led by Catherine O'Reilly of Illinois State University, incorporates datasets from online sources such as discharge and water quality data from the US Geological Survey, ecosystem carbon dioxide flux data from FLUXNET, lake temperature data from the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, and seismic data from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.

EDDIE Macrosystems, led by Caeylan Cary of Virginia Tech, expanded on the original Project EDDIE to offer additional curricular modules that introduce students to core concepts of macrosystems ecology and stimulation modeling through the lens of limnology. The modules incorporate large datasets from public sources such as the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network, the United States Geological Survey, the Long Term Ecological Research Network, and the National Ecological Observatory Network.

EDDIE offers educators:

-Flexible classroom modules that can be adapted to a variety of introductory, mid-level, and advanced courses in ecology and related fields

-Resources to help students develop skills to manipulate large datasets and conduct inquiry-based investigations

-Materials that assist educators in engaging students in authentic scientific discourse

-Tools to help students develop reasoning about statistical variation and become excited about first-hand experiences with the scientific process

Recent Analysis of Project EDDIE

Project EDDIE modules have been implemented in a range of courses, class sizes, and institutions. Project EDDIE PI's recently assessed six of these modules over eight courses, which were taught to a total of 1,380 students. The results of the study were published last month in BioScience in a paper titled Using Large Data Sets for Open-Ended Inquiry in Undergraduate Science Classrooms. The study showed that EDDIE modules led to significant improvements in students' competence using spreadsheet software, as well as their conceptual understanding of how to use large, complex data sets to address scientific problems. Furthermore, the students reported positive and informative experiences using large data sets to explore open-ended questions.


Deadlines

1. 2018 InTeGrate Faculty Mentoring Network—Application Deadline December 11

Are you a biologist interested in adopting interdisciplinary modules that address sustainability and climate change? Apply now to join the 2018 InTeGrate/ QUEBS Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN). Accepted applicants will focus on how to use data-driven modules designed by the InTeGrate Project in undergraduate biology courses. They will participate in virtual sessions (including the January 2018 kick-off event) and then continue to collaborate and receive mentoring online as they customize and implement activities in their own classrooms. There are no costs to participate. Applications are due December 11, 2017. Space is limited, and the network is launching soon, so apply now!

2. The Class that Time Forgot: Best Practices in Teaching Earth History—Abstract Deadline December 12

The Class that Time Forgot: Best Practices in Teaching Earth History, is a session taking place at the 2018 Northeastern Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America March 18–20, 2018, in Burlington, Vermont. Joseph Reese and Eric Straffin of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania will lead the session, which will seek to explore and share experiences related to best practices in the teaching of Earth History. Contributions that highlight these and other advancements in the teaching of Earth history are currently being sought. The deadline for abstract submissions is Tuesday, December 12, 2017, 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time).

3. Applications for Scholarships to attend the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting are due December 14

The SAGE 2YC program and COACh are able to partially support faculty from two-year colleges who teach oceanography or ocean sciences to attend and participate in two 1/2 day workshops on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting, which will be held in Portland, Oregon, February 11-16.

Applicants may request funds for anticipated travel costs, the Ocean Sciences meeting registration fee, and reasonable lodging expenses up to a maximum of $2,000. Registration and participation in the Sunday workshops Coaching Strong Faculty in Art of Strategic Persuasion and Building Pathways for Success: Supporting Student Transfer in the Ocean Sciences from Two-Year Colleges to Four-Year Colleges and Universities is required. Applicants must also attend at least one full day of the Ocean Sciences meeting.

Applications for the travel stipend must be submitted by December 14, 2017.

4. NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards—Nomination Deadline December 15

NAGT recognizes outstanding teaching assistants in geoscience education with up to 30 awards annually. Both undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants are eligible for the award. Award winners receive a one year membership to 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.

5. Next Traveling Workshops Program Deadline is January 15


The Traveling Workshops Program (TWP) brings national leaders in geoscience education to your campus or regional event. Designed for departments, institutions, or groups of institutions with shared interests, TWP offers workshops on strengthening cross-campus environmental and sustainability programs as well as supporting the success of all students. The TWP is a part of NAGT's integrated Workshop Program.

Application deadlines for the 2017-2018 academic year:

  • January 15, 2018 (for Summer 2018 Workshops)
  • March 15, 2018 (for Fall 2018 Workshops)
  • October 15, 2018 (for Spring 2019 Workshops)

6. Save the Date—Abstract Deadline for Resources for Future Generations Conference is January 15

Please consider attending the Resources for Future Generations Conference (a meeting associated with IUGS), which will be convened in Vancouver, British Columbia, June 16-21, 2018. Registration is now open, and the abstract deadline is January 15, 2018. Over 20 topical sessions on Education and Knowledge are scheduled on subjects related to the public, future impacts on society, indigenous ways of knowing, teaching, and career. Other sessions related to resources and society address social and ethical values, indigenous and community collaborations, and global change and sustainability. This is a great opportunity to extend to an international audience the recent work on sustainability and workforce development from InTeGrate activities and from Cutting Edge programs such as Teaching Environmental Geology. Details of this conference can be found at http://rfg2018.org/rfg/2018/home.

7. Nominations for AAPG Foundation Teacher of the Year Award due January 15

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Foundation Teacher of the Year award is part of AAPG Foundation's Excellence in Teaching Awards program. The TOTY award is funded and given annually by the AAPG Foundation to a deserving K-12 Earth science teacher within the United States who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of geoscience education. The award includes a commemorative plaque, an expense paid trip to the next AAPG Annual Convention & Exhibition in Salt Lake City, and a $6,000 monetary award. The deadline for this application cycle is Jan. 15, 2018. You can nominate a teacher here.


Rock and Mineral Exchange

Available Samples

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Are you looking for new specimens for your collection? Do you have extra samples to share with colleagues?
Post in the Rock and Mineral Exchange.


Community Advertisements

Assistant Professor Tenure-Track Position - Tarleton State University - Structural Geology

Posted: Nov 6 2017

The Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Physics at Tarleton State University, in Stephenville, Texas, invites applications for an Assistant Professor tenure-track position in structural geology to start Fall 2018. The successful candidate will support the geosciences program by providing engaging, student-centered teaching; develop an active research program that involves undergraduates; and actively contribute to service and outreach initiatives that advance the department, college, and university. Review of applications will begin February 1, 2018, with a position start date of September 1, 2018.

University of Utah Petroleum Geoscience Field Course

Posted: Nov 10 2017

University of Utah offers a 17-day Integrated Petroleum Geology Field Course focusing on Foreland Basins and Fold-thrust Belts. The course, for graduate students and advanced undergrads, will be taught in late May—early June 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and surrounding areas.

Open rank position in STEM at Bates College

Posted: Nov 13 2017

Bates College invites applications for an open rank faculty position, broadly defined, to encompass any STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) discipline at Bates. The successful candidate will demonstrate expertise in supporting the success of students from underrepresented groups, in addition to commitment to excellence and innovation in both teaching and scholarship.


Need help getting the word out about your position opening, event, or field trip? Advertise with NAGT!


Happy Holidays from NAGT!