NAGT has had a great time at the AGU Fall Meeting 2024!
December 9-13, 2024 Washington, D.C.
NAGT has been pleased to sponsor a variety of geoscience education sessions planned for the Fall 2024 AGU meeting. We visited our friends from the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College at their booth #1015.
Renew your Membership Today
NAGT is more than just a membership—it's a vibrant, supportive community where geoscience educators, researchers, and advocates come together to share ideas, push boundaries, and make a lasting impact. By renewing your membership, you contribute to the strength and vitality of geoscience education. Learn how your involvement is making a lasting impact!
Renew today and enjoy uninterrupted access to In The Trenches, the Journal of Geoscience Education, and this newsletter. Connect with others in your regional Sections and in topical Divisions. Access discounted professional development. Take advantage of leadership opportunities and eligibility for awards, grants, and scholarships!
Upcoming Workshop: Facilitating Effective Group Projects in Geoscience Courses 
Online - Wednesdays, January 22, January 29, and February 5, 2025
Be sure to register soon for our upcoming workshop where you can discover strategies to make course-based group projects a powerful tool for skill-building! Leverage discussions and hands-on activities to structure, facilitate, and assess group projects effectively. Get practical tools to help you set up groups, keep them on track, and manage conflict.
Register by January 15 to secure your spot!
NAGT is on Bluesky!
If you are on the social media platform Bluesky, NAGT would love to connect with you. Our handle is @nagtgeo.bsky.social
In The Trenches
Contribute your original content to the new In the Trenches (ITT). ITT provides the chance to contribute and start a professional conversation about successful strategies you've used in your teaching, administration, mentoring, outreach, research, publishing, or any other venue that you think would be of interest to other NAGT members. Articles will be published online as they are finished, and each article will include a threaded discussion board, providing the community with the opportunity to comment on the article, ask the author(s) questions, and interact with other NAGT members. Access to the articles and interactive discussions is a benefit of your membership in NAGT. Sign up to receive updates as new articles are released and browse by categories.
Suggest ITT ContentSubmit an Article
Journal of Geoscience Education
Article of the Month
Each month, the editorial staff of JGE select a paper to be free to access. For December 2024, they selected An evaluation of instructional strategies for improving student understanding of the elastic rebound theory of earthquakes with spatial visualization by Michael R. Brudzinski, Thomas F. Shipley, and Joy Ham published online April 8, 2024. Congratulations authors!
The Journal of Geoscience Education is always looking for submissions related to learning and teaching in the geosciences and related domains.
The Geological Mind: A joint effort between NAGT and GSA Today
Be sure to check out "The Geologic Mind" in the December 2024 issue of GSA Today and learn how the mental model of laccoliths came to be in, "Henry Mountains, Utah: The Construction of Mental Models and the Role of Geological Exemplars."
The Geologic Mind is a featured year-long series of essays co-authored by members Basil Tikoff, a structural geologist, and Tim Shipley, a cognitive scientist, and edited by Executive Director Anne Egger. You may be familiar with Basil and Tim's work from the Spatial Thinking Workbook or their many other collaborative efforts to elucidate how geoscientists think.
Explore Exemplary Teach the Earth Activities 
Teach the Earth is a portal to thousands of resources from dozens of Earth Education websites. Managed by NAGT, this portal supports teaching and learning about the Earth by providing online resources for K-12 and undergraduate educators in the geosciences and related fields. Resources include classroom activities, course descriptions and syllabi, information about pedagogical strategies, topical collections, and more.
Guidance for Developing Robust Data-rich Activities
Community-generated recommendations for developing more robust data-rich activities.
Engaging students with data offers great educational benefits, but many of us have struggled with data-rich activities becoming outdated. The Guidance for Developing Robust Data-rich Activities, created during a 2024 Rendezvous workshop, supports the community in designing more durable activities from the start.
December's Teach the Earth Featured Resource: Detecting Cascadia's changing shape with GPS
Research-grade Global Positioning Systems (GPS) allow students to deduce that Earth's crust changes shape in measurable ways. From data gathered by EarthScope's Plate Boundary Observatory, students discover that the Pacific Northwest of the United States and coastal British Columbia (the Cascadia region) are geologically active: tectonic plates move and collide; they shift and buckle; continental crust deforms; regions warp; rocks crumple, bend, and will break.
Earth Educators' Rendezvous 2026
Save the date for the 2026 Earth Educators' Rendezvous, which will be held at the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, SC, July 20-24, 2026. Co-chaired by Barbra Sobhani and Alix Davatzes, with local host Katherine Ryker, the Rendezvous will continue to feature highly interactive workshops, roundtables, field trips, and more. The contributed program, co-chaired by Annie Klyce and Ginny Isava, will include talks, posters, and an opportunity to share your teaching activities. Keep an eye out for additional information and the opportunity to submit session and workshop proposals soon!
Sponsor EER26 Exhibit at EER26
Join the EER Email list to stay in the loop!
Draft NAGT Position Statements Open for Comment
The Advocacy Committee invites NAGT members to comment on two draft position statements:
Responsibility to Teach Earth Sciences
NAGT affirms the importance and value of academic freedom in the Earth sciences classroom.
The Value of Undergraduate Geoscience Courses and Programs
The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) holds that geoscience skills and knowledge are indispensable for individuals and communities to address complex socioscientific issues
Nominate yourself or your colleagues for an NAGT committee
Much of NAGT's work is accomplished through the work of members who volunteer their time and effort on our committees. Many of the committees are seeking new members to help to guide the work of our organization. For more information about each committee and to nominate yourself or a colleague, please visit NAGT's Get Involved in NAGT Leadership web page.
Nominate Yourself or a Colleague Now!
Taylor & Francis Book Discount For NAGT Members!
As NAGT publishes with Taylor & Francis, members are entitled to a 30% books discount on any full-priced CRC Press or Routledge book. To acquire this discount and see other journals you have access to, visit your NAGT Member Homepage and select Journal Access. This is one of many of our membership perks!
Congratulations Dr. Bridget Mulvey
NAGT TED President, Dr. Bridget Mulvey, won the 2nd place Emerging Learning Technology Award from the the Association for Education Communications and Technology. Dr. Mulvey used 3D printing to create a STEM dinosaur unit for early elementary grades.
Nominate an Outstanding Teaching Assistant
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 in NAGT, which includes an online subscription to the Journal of Geoscience Education and the In The Trenches quarterly online magazine. Please consider nominating your top teaching assistants. The process is not cumbersome and means a great deal to the recipients. For any questions, please contact Katherine Ryker, kryker@seoe.sc.edu. The next deadline to nominate students is December 15, 2024.
Do you have good news related to your geoscience education work that you would like to share with the NAGT community? Submit it to NAGT's Community Kudos!
Facilitating Effective Group Projects in Geoscience Courses Workshop
Online - Wednesdays, January 22, January 29, and February 5, 2025
Join our upcoming workshop and discover strategies to make course-based group projects a powerful tool for skill-building! Through discussions and hands-on activities, you'll learn to structure, facilitate, and assess group projects effectively. Each session provides practical tools to help you set up groups, keep them on track, and manage conflict, ensuring a meaningful experience for your students. Sessions take place online on Wednesdays: January 22, January 29, and February 5, 2025. Register by January 15 to secure your spot!
Course Design 2025 Workshop
Online - Wednesdays, June 4, 11, and 18, 2025
Ready to level up your course design? Join our interactive 3-part workshop to align assessments with your course goals and connect with peers for feedback and support. Register by May 28! Get ready to design or redesign your course with our interactive Course Design Workshop! Using backward design principles, this 3-part online workshop helps you create assessments and activities that align with your course goals. Join us for hands-on sessions on June 4, 11, and 18, 2025, where you'll explore best practices, collaborate with colleagues, and receive valuable feedback to refine your course plan. Open to educators at all stages—register by May 28 to secure your spot!
Early Career Geoscience Faculty Workshop
In-person - June 22-26, 2025, with an optional virtual visit to NSF June 27
Faculty in the first three years of their position are invited to join this multi-day workshop that features sessions on topics including effective and engaging teaching strategies, designing a course, conducting research projects with students, balancing professional and personal responsibilities, managing time, and establishing a research program. Build your network and community of early career peers.
Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences Workshop
Online - August 4-8, 2025, exact dates and times to be determined
This online workshop is designed specifically for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and others interested in pursuing academic careers in the geosciences. Workshop facilitators will lead sessions and provide guidance that will help participants become stronger candidates for academic positions and succeed in academic jobs.
More details coming soon!
Traveling Workshops: Bring Our Experienced Leaders to You
Requests accepted anytime
The Traveling Workshops Program (TWP) brings NAGT's professional development program to you, working with you to customize a workshop to meet your group's needs. The TWP has well-tested workshop sessions on adapting to change, (re)designing your courses and curriculum, inclusive mentoring, supporting all students, and more. Are you preparing for a program review or responding to feedback from one? Have you seen changes in the faculty in your department through new hires or retirements? Do you feel you could do a better job serving your students? We can help you! Choose your workshop or learn more about the program.
Learn more about the history of the Traveling Workshop Program in April's In the Trenches and in AGU's June 2024 Eos.
The North Central Section Needs YOU!
Calling all North Central Section Members - time to get involved and have your voice heard.
With the adjustment of the new sections, members in IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, eastern ND, eastern NE, OH, eastern SD, WI, Manitoba, Nunavut, western Ontario, and Saskatchewan are NEEDED. We are looking for people who would love to get involved (as a section officer) or be a state representative and help us identify great work being done in the geoscience world in your state.
Contact Michelle Cauley (michelle.cauley@dakotacollege.edu) to see what opportunities are available! Let's showcase our amazing region!
Geo2YC Division
Come be part of the NAGT-Geo2YC community! The Geo2YC Division is looking for volunteers to serve on our Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award committee. Committee members are responsible for reviewing nominations on a quarterly basis, communicating with awardees, and preparing a short write-up about the awardees for the quarterly Geo2YC newsletter, Foundations. We are also looking for a volunteer to support the efforts of the NAGT webinar committee. This committee meets virtually several times a year to plan and recruit for the NAGT webinar series. Having a 2YC voice on the committee helps to ensure topics of interest to our community are included in the webinar offerings.
If interested in these positions, email Karen Layou (Geo2YC newsletter editor) at klayou@reynolds.edu for more info.
Geoscience Education Research (GER) Division
The Geoscience Education Research Division (GER) is committed to the promotion of high quality, scholarly research in geoscience education that improves teaching and learning in K-12, higher education, and informal learning environments.
Teacher Education (TED) Division
The NAGT Teacher Education Division (TED) seeks to improve geoscience teaching by improving teacher content and pedagogical knowledge and by encouraging research on best teaching practices.
- TED is in search of a new Media Director! We have a great leadership team. All that's missing is you!
- Check out this short article on climate change resources compiled by TED: https://tinyurl.com/437ub835
- Don't forget to renew your NAGT and TED memberships!
Do you want to know what we've been up to? Do you want to inform how the Teacher Education Division supports you, as members of NAGT and TED? Find us on Facebook!
Girls* on Rock - engaging high school girls in the geosciences through a backcountry expedition!
Applications are open now for Girls* On Rock (GOR), a FREE pre-college program engaging youth in the geosciences through a 12-day wilderness expedition in the Rocky Mountains filled with scientific research, artistic expression, and technical rock climbing.
Girls* On Rock (GOR)is a FREE pre-college program consisting of a 12-day wilderness expedition to explore the Rocky Mountains through scientific research, artistic expression, and technical rock climbing. The program is designed for girls*, ages 16-17, from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in the geosciences and have faced barriers to partaking in similar experiences. We do not evaluate based on grades or prior outdoor experience—our focus is on engaging diverse youth who are eager to grow. We particularly welcome those who face barriers to similar experiences. Everything participants need, including gear, is covered, and we work with participants to get funding for travel from all over the United States.
We need your help, as geoscience educators, to identify girls* who might be excited about this adventure and who would benefit from our mentorship and leadership opportunities.
Visit our website (https://www.inspiringgirls.org/gor) to learn more and reach out to gor@colorado.edu with any questions!
*We welcome all girls* including cis girls, trans girls, and any girl-identified youth, as well as non-binary and gender non-conforming youth.
ADVANCEing FieldSafety Training Program Launch
ADVANCEing FieldSafety is excited to share the official launch of the ADVANCEing FieldSafety training program! The training program was developed to help the field-going community in creating and building safe and welcoming field environments. The training program consists of an asynchronous online course, a virtually facilitated debrief workshop, and an accompanying toolkit full of resources and templates for you and your team to use in the field. Visit our website to learn more!
Sign up for the ADVANCING FieldSafety online course, the synchronous debrief workshop, and check out our toolkit to support field teams in planning welcoming, inclusive, and safe field campaigns.
Survey Exploring Connections between University Field STEM & Outdoor Programming
If you are a university STEM instructor interested in field education OR if you are involved in outdoor experiential education (academic, co-curricular, private sector) and you have questions that keep you up at night, please consider completing this survey. It should take 15 minutes or less.
This survey study is being conducted to:
- Better understand the landscape of STEM (e.g., biology, ecology, geology, environmental studies, etc) and Outdoor Experiential Education and Recreation Program (academic and co-curricular) field activities
- Identify the current extent to which university STEM and Outdoor Experiential Education and/or Recreation programs are already collaborating across the higher education landscape in the United States,
- Identify potential opportunities and barriers to developing such collaborators, and
- Identify potential stakeholders (like you?) who would be interested in working further to develop such collaborations at their local institution(s).
Please share with anyone or group lists that you feel might be interested!
University of Texas at Austin - Assistant Professor of Practice in Geoscience Education
North Carolina State University - Assistant Professor in Geoscience Education Research
Boise State University - Assistant Teaching Professor of Geospatial Teaching & Analyses
Clemson University - Assistant Professor in Earth Sciences
University of Alabama - Geoscience Teaching Assistant Professor
San Diego Community College District - Contract Instructor of Earth Science
Available Samples 
Desired Specimens
- A small rural school needs a classroom rock and mineral collection
- Science Department Head/Earth Science Teacher
- Deformation Microstructures
- #50States50Rocks
- Precambrian chert. Stromatolites
Post in the Rock and Mineral Exchange