Happy 85th Birthday, NAGT!
May 13 marks NAGT's 85th birthday! Since 1938, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers has promoted excellence in geoscience education and has supported the community of geoscience educators. Our member-driven professional organization has a strong vision: that everyone experiences welcoming, inspiring, and effective Earth education. Help us celebrate 85 years by sharing a story and/or by making a donation using the links below. Your contribution to NAGT will help us continue to inspire geoscience educators and promote Earth education for all.
- Learn about the history of the organization
- Check out this interactive on the history of JGE
- Share the story of your involvement in NAGT
- Make a donation to NAGT
Engage in Effective Planning for Change: Apply for a Fall/Winter Traveling Workshop by June 15
Is your program or department facing change? Maybe you've brought on new faculty, student demographics have changed, your administration is asking you to reorganize, or you've proposed reorganization yourself. Maybe you are revising your curriculum and want everyone involved. These big changes can be challenging and disruptive, but they can also be transformative and offer opportunities. Our experienced leader teams will work with you to design a workshop that will bring your community together, be strategic, and build an action plan that can succeed.
Visit the Traveling Workshops Program website to learn more and apply by June 15. Have additional topics you'd like to see? Complete this brief survey to help shape the future offerings to meet the needs of the community.
Details:
- Workshops can be held on a campus or at a national or regional event
- Two-, one-and-a-half-, or one-day workshops are possible
- Workshops can be in-person or online
- Workshops are not program reviews, though programs have found them to be helpful in preparing for and responding to such reviews
- Workshops are conducted by two experienced facilitators
- Cost: There is a $5,000 workshop fee, and, for in-person workshops, hosts are responsible for local expenses and the travel of the facilitators
Can't make the June 15 deadline? Don't worry - there are four deadlines per year.
2023 Earth Educators' Rendezvous
Registration and abstract submissions for poster and Share-a-Thon presentations are open for the ninth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous, taking place in Pasadena, CA, from July 10-14, 2023! NAGT members receive $100 off registration.
- Check out the program
- Registration is open through June 30
- You can also now register for pre- and post- Rendezvous field trips and Wednesday afternoon lab tours of the Caltech Seismo Lab and the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)
- Late poster or Share-a-thon presentation submission deadline is May 17
- Book your lodging
- Order your t-shirt (and other NAGT merch!) from the NAGT Store.
- Sign up to receive updates on the 2023 EER
Announcing the 2024 Rendezvous in Philadelphia, PA!
We look forward to seeing many of you at this summer's Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Pasadena, CA, and are excited to announce that the 2024 Rendezvous will be hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia, PA! The Rendezvous will take place July 15-19, 2024. Stay in the loop for the latest Rendezvous news by joining the email list.
Are you or someone you know interested in getting more involved with the Rendezvous?
NAGT looks forward to hosting the 2023 Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Pasadena, CA, and in Philadelphia in summer 2024, and the wheels are already in motion to begin the selection process for future Rendezvous site hosts. If you are interested in hosting a future Rendezvous, let us know! Hosting the Rendezvous offers a unique opportunity to showcase your institution to hundreds of researchers and practitioners working in all aspects of Earth education including a mix of college faculty, graduate students, and K-12 teachers from all disciplines who are interested in improving their teaching about the Earth. Rendezvous has rapidly become a highly sought-after and celebrated event for geoscientists and Earth educators. Site proposals are open year-round!
Submit a proposal to host a Rendezvous
Check out the April Issue of In the Trenches
The April issue of our member journal, In the Trenches, is now available! This issue's theme is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion: Geoscience for Everyone. You can view the issue at the link above or download a PDF copy.
Member Perk: 30% Discount on Books
As part of Taylor and Francis' Publishing Partnership program, being an NAGT member entitles you to a 30% discount on any full priced CRC Press or Routledge book. Use this link to the Routledge site and the discount code will be automatically applied at checkout.
As this is a NAGT member discount, please do not share this link with others.
Nominations Open for Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards
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. The next deadline to nominate students is June 15.
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).
Congratulations to the 2023 Field Camp Scholars!
Each year, NAGT makes several $750 awards to undergraduate students to facilitate their study of field geoscience. These awards, previously given to students who attend a traditional summer field camp, are now available for students attending field-based courses at any time of year and in any format: face-to-face, virtual, or hybrid. The intent of the awards is to support students' participation in intensive field courses in any aspect of geoscience (including geophysics, soil science, hydrology, etc.) that focuses on students practicing skills of field observation, data collection, analysis and synthesis. Awardees are selected based on the importance of the field experience in meeting their educational and career goals, the quality of the field aspects of the course, and the importance of the financial award in allowing them to participate in the program. In addition, the committee endeavors to select awardees that expand the diversity of people studying geosciences in the field and a collaboration with the Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG) funds two additional awards specifically for women.
Submit Community Kudos
NAGT Webinar Recording Available: Heads and Chairs: What you need to know about nominating students for the NAGT/USGS Cooperative Summer Fellowship Program
We are making changes to the student nomination process in order to broaden access to the long-running NAGT/USGS Cooperative Summer Fellowship program, and department chairs and program heads will serve a critical role in the new process. In this webinar, which took place on May 10, we shared the history and successes of the fellowship program, described the changes in the community that led us to develop a new nomination process, and walked participants through the new nomination process and what makes a strong nomination. We encourage you to view the recording.
CLEAN Webinar: Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories - Screening and live panel
Presented in Partnership with the Renee Crown Institute
Date & Time: May 17th, 2023, 5pm Eastern | 4pm Central | 3pm Mountain | 2pm Pacific
Join this special screening of Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories, followed by a live panel with Dr. Kris Karnauskas (Climate Scientist, CU Boulder), Dr. Joanna Arch (Psychologist, CU Boulder), and Tehya Jennett (Climate Activist and Film Maker). Register here.
Ninth Annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous
Registration is open for the ninth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous, taking place in Pasadena, CA, from July 10-14, 2023! NAGT members receive $100 off registration. Register by June 30!
Student Opportunity: FREE Workshop to learn Scientific Computing and Seismology
Are you looking to develop scientific computing skills while exploring the field of seismology? This FREE introductory level workshop, will increase your knowledge, skills, and interest in seismology and scientific computing, and self-efficacy using seismic data. The geophysics skills developed in this workshop will help prepare you for graduate school and rewarding careers across a range of career sectors including the federal & state governments, oil and gas, mining and mineral resources, research institutes and national labs, environmental services, academia, etc.
Who: Undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates
When: June 5 to August 25, 2023.
Where: The workshop is offered online only.
How: Approximately 5-6 hours per week
What: At the end of the workshop participants will receive a performance report/certificate via email.
The workshop is offered by the EarthScope Consortium (formerly IRIS) and Miami University
Registration Closes on May 15, 2023
at: https://www.iris.edu/hq/workshops/2023/04/ssb_4
What past participants have said...
"This workshop was run fantastically and taught new concepts, but was not set up in a way that was meant to be overly challenging or stress-inducing. Great for people with little coding experience, all info was built up from the base level."
Geoscience Education Research (GER) Division
Call for Geoscience Education Research (GER) Division Award nominations!
Nominations for GER Division awards are now open! 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. The deadline for submitting nominationsis June 1st. The deadline is the same for all three awards.
Two-Year College (2YC) Division
Nominate an Outstanding Adjunct 2YC Faculty today!
The Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award (OAFA) is an opportunity to showcase your or one of your adjunct colleague's efforts in doing great work in geoscience education. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis. See the information page for more details about the award. Nominate an adjunct faculty member
Teacher Education Division (TED)
Post to the TED Facebook Page
Members are invited to post time-critical information on the TED Facebook page.
Help Build Knowledge about Teaching Practices in Residential Field Courses
Do you teach residential field courses at field stations, marine labs, field camps, or traveling courses?
If so, the Belonging in the Field Project Team invites you to take a 20 minute survey. The purpose of the survey is to gather information on teaching practices used by field educators in residential field courses. We define residential field courses as those courses where students and faculty reside together in a specific location or locations for the purposes of taking part in the course. This definition includes traveling courses. Ultimately, this project aims to understand the unique factors that build and shape student sense of belonging through field experiences. By taking the survey, you will contribute to collective knowledge about how sense of belonging develops in field settings, and you will get an opportunity to reflect on your own practices.
For further information, visit the Project Website. Please direct any questions to belonginginthefield@gmail.com. We plan to keep the survey open until the end of May. We request that you complete the survey before you head into field teaching season. Thank you for helping to shape the future of inclusive field education!
Conference on "Visualizing Complex Systems"
The 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (GRC-VSE) has a theme this year that is well suited to Earth and environmental science educators: Visualizing Complex Systems. The co-chairs this year are Tim Shipley (known to many NAGT folks for his work on spatial thinking in geoscience), Leigh Peake (who runs the education program at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute), and Carrie McDougall (of NOAA's Office of Education). So as you might expect, this year's program is rich in talks about climate change, ecology, planetary systems, and other topics of interest to NAGT folks. GRC-VSE is a small, friendly conference that attracts an interesting group of scientists, technologists, artists, educators, journalists, and other professionals to discuss innovative ideas and cutting-edge research.
The conference will be held atBates College in Lewiston, Maine,July 16-21, 2023. Program information and the link to apply to attend can be found at: https://www.grc.org/visualization-in-science-and-education-conference/2023/
Financial support for conference attendance is available to early career professionals who apply prior to June 5, 2023 and propose a poster presentation.
Earth Sciences Instructor at Talcott Mountain Science Center & Academy
PhD Graduate Research Assistantship at Auburn University
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geophysics - Boise State University
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geography and Geospatial Information Systems - Boise State University
Available Samples
- Large collection of rocks, minerals and fossils from the US
- Petrology Samples
- Ophiolite, Tertiary sedimentary, misc. metamorphic