In This Issue
News & Announcements
- Renew Your NAGT Membership for 2021
- Consider an End-of-Year Donation to NAGT
- Nominate Yourself or a Colleague for the NAGT Development Committee
- NAGT 2020 Annual Report is Now Available
- Let Us Know your Thoughts: NAGT Member Survey
- NAGT Activities at AGU
- Note: NAGT Executive Office Will Be Closed December 21-January 1
- AGI Offers Award for K-8 Earth Science Teaching
- Project EDDIE: Website Revamp, New Modules and Webinars, and Opportunity to Apply for Spring 2021 Faculty Mentoring Network
Awards and Recognition
Upcoming Webinars and Workshops
- Early Career Workshop: July 25-29, 2021, Online
- Project EDDIE Webinar: Improving Statistical Skills through Storytelling - January 12, 2021
- NAGT NGSS Webinar: Using an American Museum of Natural History Teaching Case to Analyze and Interpret Patterns of Ice Mass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica - January 14, 2021
- NAGT Webinar: Creating compelling and effective teaching activities for Teach the Earth - January 28, 2021
Deadlines
Tomorrow! (Dec 15)
- December 15: Nomination deadline for the NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards
- December 15: Nominations for NAGT Development Committee
- December 15: Application deadline for Project EDDIE-QUBES Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN)
Coming in the New Year
- January 10: Registration deadline for Project EDDIE Webinar: Improving Statistical Skills through Storytelling (webinar on Jan 12)
- January 12: Registration deadline for NAGT NGSS Webinar: Using an American Museum of Natural History Teaching Case to Analyze and Interpret Patterns of Ice Mass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica (webinar on Jan 14)
- January 15: Application deadline for the Traveling Workshops Program
- January 20: Application deadline for AGI's Edward C. Roy Jr. Award
- January 26: Registration deadline for NAGT Webinar: Creating compelling and effective teaching activities for Teach the Earth (webinar on Jan 28)
- Career Hub: Ongoing
Section and Division Highlights
From Our Members
NAGT Career Hub
- Geology Tenure-Track Position, Department of Earth Sciences, The University of South Alabama
- Assistant Professor in Earth Science Discipline-Based Education Research
- Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Geoscience Education at California State University, Fullerton
- Postdoctoral Research Associate in Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
- Visiting Assistant Professor - Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington
- Assistant Professor - Geology / Geoscience Education at SUNY Oneonta
Rock and Mineral Exchange
1. Renew Your NAGT Membership for 2021
NAGT is deeply thankful for everyone whose commitment to geoscience education leads them to become a member and support the work of the Association. Now is the time to renew your membership for 2021. Remember that you can sign up for automatic renewals or multi-year memberships if you want to easily continue receiving membership benefits without worrying about letting them lapse. Whether you're interested in promoting Earth literacy, keen on joining a community of peers, passionate about teaching the sciences, or eager to learn about new teaching tools and resources, NAGT has so much to offer! Need a reminder of the great benefits of being an NAGT member? Check out the Member Benefits web page. Renew Today!
2. Consider an End-of-Year Donation to NAGT
3. Nominate Yourself or a Colleague for the NAGT Development Committee
Looking for a way to become more involved in NAGT? Nominations are open for the NAGT Development Committee, which oversees and implements fundraising strategies to support NAGT's programs, scholarships and stipends, new initiatives, and general financial health. These efforts are crucial in NAGT's ability to support the community. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague for this or other NAGT committees.
4. NAGT 2020 Annual Report is Now Available
We welcome you to check out the 2020 annual report, which details our program activities, accomplishments, challenges, and new endeavors for the past year. It has been an exciting year and we hope our programming and resources have provided you with support you needed as we continue to navigate the unique challenges and opportunities that arise. Check out the annual reports from 2020.
5. Let Us Know your Thoughts: NAGT Member Survey
We strive to support a diverse, thriving, and inclusive community of educators and education researchers to improve teaching and learning about the Earth by providing high quality resources and programming. As such, we have launched a member survey to gauge how well we are doing and to guide future activities of the Association. We are very interested in your feedback on our membership services and our publications, so please take a few minutes to complete the survey. The survey is open now through January 12, 2021. Thank you for your feedback and for being a member!
6. NAGT Activities at AGU
NAGT is proud to sponsor several events as part of the AGU Fall Meeting, taking place December 1-17, 2020, online. Be sure to check out the NAGT-sponsored educational sessions going on at AGU. You can see all the NAGT programming and associated sessions happening at AGU's Fall Meeting on NAGT's AGU web page. We also invite you to check out this year's NAGT virtual booth.
7. Note: NAGT Executive Office Will Be Closed December 21-January 1
2020 has been an exciting year and we've enjoyed navigating it with you. In an effort to recuperate from all that 2020 has brought us, the NAGT executive office will be closed December 21-January 1. However, we very much look forward to working with our members in 2021!
8. AGI Accepting Applications for the Roy Award for K-8 Earth Science Teaching
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) invites science educators to enter its upcoming award competition, the 2021 Edward C. Roy Jr. Award for Excellence in K-8 Earth Science Teaching. Given annually, this award is presented to one kindergarten through grade eight teacher in the United States or Key stage 1-3 teacher in the United Kingdom. The award recognizes leadership and innovation in Earth science education.
The winner of the Roy Award will receive a monetary prize and a travel grant to attend the upcoming National Science Teaching Association National Conference in Chicago, April 8-11, 2021. To be eligible, applications must be submitted by January 20, 2021.
The award is given in honor of Dr. Edward C. Roy Jr., a strong and dedicated supporter of Earth science education. For more information on requirements, application procedures, and deadlines, please visit https://www.americangeosciences.org/education/awards/roy and/or view a brief webcast at https://www.earthsciweek.org/webcasts/EdRoy. Questions may be directed to awards@americangeosciences.org.
9. Project EDDIE: Website Revamp, New Modules and Webinars, and Opportunity to Apply for Spring 2021 Faculty Mentoring Network
NAGT-sponsored Project EDDIE (Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry and Exploration) is a suite of education projects composed of STEM disciplinary and educational researchers. The project provides flexible classroom teaching modules using large, publicly available datasets to engage students in STEM and improve their quantitative reasoning. Teaching modules span topics such as ecology, limnology, geology, hydrology, and environmental sciences. Project EDDIE also offers professional development to support the effective use of its teaching modules. Check out the newly revamped website, view the modules, keep an eye out for new webinars, and consider applying for the 2021 Project EDDIE Faculty Mentoring Network, which operates in conjunction with the QUBES project. Applications are due December 15.
Cathryn A. Manduca Awarded AGU Education Fellow
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Nominator Basil Tikoff writes that: "Dr. Manduca is a recognized geoscience education expert at both national and international levels, having played a foundational role in establishing geoscience education as a research field, and has had a sustained positive impact in that community for over 25 years." Nominators Kim Kastens and Dave Mogk add that "Dr. Manduca catalyzed the existence of the field that is now known as Geo-DBER, and the framing of its goals and research agenda, introduced innovative research methods to Geo-DBER, with a particular genius for research at scale, and built effective institutions and systems to turn research findings into widespread impactful instructional practice." Tikoff continues, "Dr. Manduca is also a one-woman catalyzer of scientific activity across STEM disciplines. She is a one-person clearinghouse, advocating for the geoscience education and the geological sciences more broadly. In her role as the director of SERC and executive director for NAGT (National Association of Geoscience Teachers), she was able to interact across the sub-fields of the geological sciences but also into allied STEM fields. But, more than her official role, she also promotes relations between researchers from intellectually disparate communities. Her link with cognitive science, in particular, motivated research and publishing behind the Geological Society of America Special Publications on Earth and Mind."
Kastens and Mogk further write, "Dr. Manduca was a founder of the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), which moved geoscience education from a cottage industry in which each practitioner crafted his or her own wares by hand one at a time, towards an information enterprise in which exemplary materials are distributed via the internet and used by many. She is the Founder and Director of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC; established in 2001), the nerve center for geoscience education reform in America." Today, the SERC education portal is far-reaching - hosting the work of thousands of authors from more than 1000 institutions, spanning over 40,000 pages of original content, and includes community contributions of more than 6,000 peer-reviewed teaching activities. More than 5 million unique users visited SERC-hosted sites in 2019.
Manduca has been involved with many projects, perhaps her most recognized being as one of the original PIs on the On the Cutting Edge (2002-2018) project, which merged face-to-face and virtual workshops and digital library technologies to support geoscience faculty professional development. This project also introduced the National Geoscience Faculty Survey, which, in Anne Egger's words, was designed to "shed light on [the] important question" of "the nature of instruction in undergraduate geoscience courses" across the nation. She was also the lead PI on the InTeGrate project (2011-2019), which brought a new emphasis on teaching about Earth in the context of societal issues, aiming to make high-quality Earth education appealing and available to all students, regardless of their major. InTeGrate teaching activities, designed and tested by interdisciplinary teams of faculty using evidence-based pedagogy, have reached more than 110,000 students.
In 2004, Dr. Manduca received AGU's Award for Excellence in Geophysical Education; she led the team that won the SPORE prize from Science Magazine in 2010. Dr. Manduca is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academies Board on Science Education.
Do you have good news related to your geoscience education work that you would like to share with your NAGT Community? Would you like to call attention to a paper, presentation, or resource you developed or helped develop to share with your fellow Earth educators? Submit to NAGT's Community Kudos!
1. Early Career Workshop: July 25-29, 2021 (Online)
The Early Career Workshop: Teaching, Research, and Managing Your Career will be held online July 25-29, 2021, (with an optional visit to NSF - date TBA). This annual workshop is designed for those in their first three years of a tenure-track or equivalent faculty position. The workshop is part the On the Cutting Edge professional development program for current and future geoscience faculty, and is sponsored by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers with funding provided by NAGT, and a grant from the National Science Foundation - Division of Undergraduate Education and other contributing sponsors. The application will be available in early 2021, so be sure to check back if you are interested in participating in this popular workshop.
2. Project EDDIE Webinar: Improving Statistical Skills through Storytelling - January 12, 2021
Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at 11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET. Join presenters Diana Garcia Silva and Dax Soule (CUNY Queens) as they present about Project EDDIE's Statistical Vignettes in the Improving Statistical Skills through Storytelling webinar. The vignettes focus on quantitative concepts that have been commonly found to be difficult for undergraduate students to accomplish when utilizing statistics like significant figures and correlation when analyzing data. The goal of these vignettes is to address statistical misconceptions and improve quantitative reasoning skills through an engaging storyline with diverse characters. Each vignette is intended to guide students and instructors through the material as either a stand-alone teaching aid or in conjunction with EDDIE modules. Register by January 10, 2021.
3. NAGT NGSS Webinar: Using an American Museum of Natural History Teaching Case to Analyze and Interpret Patterns of Ice Mass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica - January 14, 2021
Thursday, January 14, 2021, at 1pm PT | 2pm MT | 3pm CT | 4pm ET. Join presenter David Randle (American Museum of Natural History) as he talks about a series of teaching cases that use videos, age-appropriate readings, and data analysis tools to help students contextualize and draw conclusions from large sets of scientific data that were developed by American Museum of Natural History. The session will look specifically at a teaching case that tells the story of NASA's GRACE satellites with a focus on the effects of climate change on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Register by January 12, 2021.
4.NAGT Webinar: Creating compelling and effective teaching activities for Teach the Earth - January 28, 2021
Thursday, January 28, 2021, at 9am PT | 10am MT | 11am CT | 12pm ET. Join presenter Kyle Fredrick (California University of Pennsylvania), for this webinar, which focuses on two major themes: developing effective classroom activities that challenge and excite your students and optimizing those activities for the review process for contributed activities to Teach the Earth. Participants will use the review rubric and best practices established from thousands of previous activities to create their best, most transferrable teaching activities. You will gain insights into what other teachers value in content and pedagogy, as well as learn about the review process and how to get more involved in the community of geoscience educators. Register by January 26, 2021.
These are the first two webinars in NAGT's Spring Webinar Series geared toward strengthening work in Earth education. The series features themes such as improving teaching and learning, addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in Earth education, implementing the NGSS, strengthening your department, and engaging with communities and society. Webinars in the series provide opportunities for you to learn from your peers, as well as experts, and are designed to provide ample opportunity for discussion and interaction. Webinars will feature novel and innovative work in Earth education research and pedagogy, new teaching materials, and classroom and professional experiences of people like you. Keep an eye on the schedule for additional upcoming webinars.
December 15: Nomination deadline for the NAGT Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards
December 15: Nomination deadline for the NAGT Development Committee
December 15: Application deadline for Project EDDIE-QUBES Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN)
January 10: Registration deadline for Project EDDIE Webinar: Improving Statistical Skills through Storytelling (webinar on January 12)
January 12: Registration deadline for NAGT NGSS Webinar: Using an American Museum of Natural History Teaching Case to Analyze and Interpret Patterns of Ice Mass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica (webinar on January 14)
January 15: Application deadline for the Traveling Workshops Program
January 20: Application deadline for AGI's Edward C. Roy Jr. Award
January 26: Registration deadline for NAGT Webinar: Creating compelling and effective teaching activities for Teach the Earth (webinar on Jan 28)
Ongoing - NAGT Career Hub: NAGT Career Hub allows institutions and organizations to advertise geoscience education related job openings, postdoctoral positions, internships, assistantships, and undergraduate research opportunities. All Career Hub postings are also featured in the NAGTNews e-newsletter and on NAGT's social media. Learn more about posting your opportunity to Career Hub.
GER Division
Nominations for the GER Transformation and Collaborations Awards open January 1, 2021! These awards recognize those who have made significant contributions to the development of and capacity for geoscience education research, including non-GER colleagues (e.g. geophysicists, educational psychologists, education researchers, etc.) who have infused the GER community with new ideas. Find out more about both awards and make your nominations by June 15, 2021!
TED Division
Feel free to post time-critical info on the TED Division Facebook page.
Contributions are invited for a special issue of the Copernicus (EGU) journals Solid Earthand Geoscience Communication entitled: Virtual Geoscience Education Resources.
Submissions will be accepted from 1 Dec 2020 - 31 May 2021, and can be made using the online submission system of either journal. Please contact one of the Topical/Associate Editors for advice if you are unsure which of these two to select: Solid Earth or Geoscience Communication.
This joint special issue between Solid Earth and Geoscience Communication aims to present the highlights of recent efforts of a global community of educators and researchers to develop virtual field activities to enhance student learning, research, and broader outreach. These resilient, non-traditional solutions to field-focused investigations ensure that students achieve intended learning outcomes and curricular requirements even when physical contact and travel are restricted. The special issue will ensure that the virtual field experiences initially developed as short-term solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic will become valuable longer-term resources that will increase the accessibility of field experiences for students and society.
We invite contributions that describe, discuss, and evaluate aspects of virtual field experiences, trips, and exercises, including, but not limited to: Intended learning outcomes, Methods employed in exercise design and construction, Outreach / communication to broader society, and How the field excursion enhances relevant previous research on the topic or location.
We have made special provisions to publish supplementary datasets that could include: photographs, videos, and 3D models, Geographical Annotation Files, such as Google Earth presentations and/or KML/KMZ files, ESRI shapefiles, etc., educational materials, such as exercise descriptions, rubrics, background literature, etc., and links to datasets hosted in external repositories, preferably via doi, but if necessary as hyperlinks to material hosted on websites, such as the NAGT Teaching with Online Field Experiences site and V3Geo 3D models.
If you have other ideas, please do not hesitate to contact the special issue Topical/Associate Editors prior to submission to discuss whether they can be included.
Thanks for considering this opportunity,
Topical/Associate Editors, Prof. Dr. Virginia Toy (Universität Mainz; virginia.toy@uni-mainz.de), Prof. Simon Buckley (NORCE; sibu@norceresearch.no), Prof. Marlene Villeneuve (Universität Leoben; marlene.villeneuve@unileoben.ac.at), Prof. Steven Whitmeyer (James Madison University; whitmesj@jmu.edu)
NAGT does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained on an externally-linked website. NAGT does not necessarily endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, nor endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
Geology Tenure-Track Position, Department of Earth Sciences, The University of South Alabama
The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of South Alabama invites applications for a full-time (9 month), tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Geology, starting January 1st, 2021. We seek candidates with research experience in Sedimentology, Sedimentary Petrology, Stratigraphy, and/or Paleontology.
Assistant Professor in Earth Science Discipline-Based Education Research
The Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) invites applicants for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professorship in Earth Science Discipline-Based Education Research. We seek an innovative researcher and educator who will conduct internationally-recognized research on the development, application, and assessment of best-practices in Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER), with a focus on experiential learning in the Earth Sciences (e.g., Geology, Geological Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Atmospheric Sciences, Geophysics, Hydrogeology). Experiential learning is defined here as an educational process that engages students with authentic situations and applications in classroom, laboratory or field settings, and includes experiences that occur outside of a traditional university learning space.
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Geoscience Education at California State University, Fullerton
The Department of Geological Sciences invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professorship in Geoscience Education beginning August 2021. CSUF is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to increasing campus diversity. We seek a geoscience educator who develops, applies, and evaluates new geoscience teaching innovations and curricula, and conducts innovative geoscience education research. We expect candidates to show evidence of an existing or developing, active, externally funded, student-centered research program. We seek a scholar who demonstrates interest and ability to teach courses in geoscience education and general geology at various levels including; general education, lower- and upper-division undergraduate, and graduate courses.
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) invites applications for a Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate in Earth and Environmental Sciences, beginning August 16, 2021. The Bridge to the Faculty program is a University-level initiative to increase the pipeline toward faculty diversity at UIC by attracting and retaining promising scholars from different backgrounds, with an emphasis on individuals from groups who are underrepresented in their discipline. The two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, which may culminate in the opportunity to transition to a tenure-track assistant professorship starting in the 2023-2024 academic year. The position is open to all disciplines in the Geosciences.
Visiting Assistant Professor - Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington
The University of North Carolina Wilmington is seeking two nine-month non-tenure track visiting assistant professors in Earth and Ocean Sciences. This is a two year, fixed-term appointment opportunity starting August 2021 and ending May 2023. The UNCW Earth and Ocean Sciences Department seeks to hire earth and ocean scientists to teach introductory courses in weather and climate, natural hazards, and/or oceanography and courses in their specialty that align with existing department programs in geography, geology, geosciences, and oceanography. This position carries a teaching load of 12 contact hours per semester. Selected candidates will engage in departmental meetings, committees, and special project work to further goals of the department.
Assistant Professor - Geology / Geoscience Education at SUNY Oneonta
The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the State University of New York College at Oneonta invites applications for a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor with broad experience in geology and ability to contribute to a nationally recognized program in Earth Science teacher preparation beginning Fall 2021. The professional obligation is for a ten-month academic year. Expectations include teaching, research, student advisement, college service, and continuing professional development. Candidates for this position must have a doctorate in geology or geoscience education. They will teach undergraduate courses in areas related to geology and be involved with science teacher preparation.
Need help getting the word out about your position opening, event, or field trip? Submit your posting to the NAGT Career Hub!
Available Samples
Desired Specimens
- Small rural school needs a classroom rock and mineral collection
- Rock samples to do a lab for the kids to teach them the Mohs scale
- Precambrian chert. Stromatolites.
- #50States50rocks
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.
