Members matter! Thank you for joining us at GSA
NAGT had a big presence at GSA Connects this year in San Antonio. Thank you to all the members who helped out by staffing the booth and sending potential members our way. We signed up over 15 new members! Didn't make it to the meeting? No problem: Remember to renew your NAGT membership for 2026 to ensure that you continue to receive your member benefits, like this monthly newsletter. Now is also a great time to invite a colleague to join as well! Do you have new faculty in your department, or a new graduate student? Tell them about NAGT, and encourage them to join. If they join now, their membership will be valid through the end of 2026.
Giving Tuesday is coming up: You can support Earth education for all
December 2, 2025, is Giving Tuesday— a day to show your support for the causes and organizations you care about. At a time when so many programs and sources of support have been lost, you can make a difference by donating to NAGT's Broadening Participation fund, which supports initiatives that broaden access to our professional development activities through stipends and scholarships for underrepresented and underserved groups. Donate today, or join us on Giving Tuesday.
Advocate for Geoscience: Contact Your Legislators
Federal government support has been lost or threatened for a wide range of services that support geoscience research, as well as students and educators. The NAGT Advocacy Committee has created a web page, Be an Advocate for Earth Science, to help our members and other advocates who wish to call Congress to express support for these important programs. If you have questions about specific Congressional decisions affecting geoscience or need assistance on related policy matters, please email us.
New Faculty Resource: AI in Geoscience Education Website
The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) is rolling out a new website for Earth educators as they navigate the pedagogic twists and turns of Generative AI. This new website supports Earth educators as they navigate the pedagogic twists and turns of Generative AI. Get pointers to key resources, share your experiences, and sign up for notifications about future developments.
2026 Earth Educators' Rendezvous
University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, July 20–23, 2026
Program and Registration will open in January!
Sign up to be an EER Exhibitor
Share your products or services with EER participants by taking advantage of the University of South Carolina School of the Earth, Ocean, and Environmental Sciences venue. Exhibitors can showcase their products and services throughout the event in a dedicated exhibitor area. Exhibitors will have dedicated time to share information during the Exhibitor Showcase.
Sponsor EER2026
Gain visibility for your organization, program, or institution with EER Participants who work in the Earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences and allied fields in the full range of institution types and organizations around the country. Attendees include college and university faculty, graduate students, education professionals, K-12 teachers, and administrators, at a wide range of career stages.
Journal of Geoscience Education
The Journal of Geoscience Education is always looking for submissions related to learning and teaching in the geosciences and related domains.
Submit a paper to JGEView the latest issue of JGE
Article of the Month
Each month, the editorial staff for the Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE) selects a paper to be freely accessible. For November 2025, they selected "Successes and challenges in developing an educational program to engage underrepresented college students in environmental science research" by Isabella B. Bennet, Paul R. Bierman, Krizzia Beléb-Trineo, Veronica Sosa Gonzales, and Lee B. Corbett, and published online 11 August 2025. Congratulations authors!
In The Trenches
In the Trenches (ITT) is an interactive online publication designed to provide a venue for NAGT members to learn about and discuss teaching strategies and resources, the work of NAGT committees, sections, and divisions, and other ideas relevant to Earth educators and education researchers. Share your work through ITT!
Suggest ITT Content Submit an Article
Check out ITT's October Article
- Documenting the "Vacher Effect": Reflections on Dr. H. Leonard Vacher, University of South Florida, by Jeffrey G. Ryan, KT Moran, Lee Florea, Victor Ricchezza, Meghan Cook, Mark Rains, and Todd Chavez
Teach the Earth
Teach the Earth (TTE) 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.
Featured Exemplary Resource
Expedition Sediments: Mud's journey through the watershed by Jessie Turner, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.
Expedition Sediments is a game-in-a-lesson that allows students to explore the movement of sediments through watersheds by moving around the classroom. Through a fun game, this lesson explores how grains of estuarine mud and sand move throughout estuaries and coastal regions, with a focus on processes surrounding a highly populated estuary such as the Chesapeake Bay. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to explain how sediments are transported through an estuary, graph sediment residence times in different locations, and compare the timescales of different sediment transport processes.
Nominate your Outstanding Teaching Assistants
Nominations due 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 in NAGT. Award recipients will be acknowledged in the January 2026 NAGTNews. Submit a nomination by December 15, 2025.
Nominate Outstanding Earth Science Teachers
Nominations due February 1
Outstanding Earth Science Teacher (OEST) awards are given for "exceptional contributions to the stimulation of interest in the Earth Sciences at the pre-college level." Any teacher or other K-12 educator who covers a significant amount of earth science content with their students is eligible. Eight national finalists are selected, one from each NAGT regional section. Some sections also recognize state/province winners. Individuals may apply themselves or nominate a colleague for the award.
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!
Generative AI in the Geoscience Classroom - Webinar
Free Online Webinar — December 5, 2025, 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET (1 hour)
Explore how generative AI is impacting geoscience education in this free webinar. We will highlight some emerging practices and perspectives, allowing us to share our experiences with each other and begin to build a collective understanding of the current landscape. The event is free, but registration by December 3 is required.
Mentoring for Student Success - Workshop
Online Workshop — February 23, 25, and 27, 2026, 12:00 pm PT | 1:00 pm MT | 2:00 pm CT | 3:00 pm ET (2 hours)
Are you ready to take your mentoring to the next level? This three-day, interactive online workshop is held in real time to empower mentors with practical tools and fresh insights to better support students as they navigate their research experiences. Through guided discussions and hands-on activities, participants will reflect on their own journeys as mentees and mentors, explore strategies for setting expectations and communicating effectively, and collaborate to address common mentoring challenges. Together, we'll focus on fostering student belonging, growth, and independence—helping them thrive as emerging geoscientists. Expect a supportive, participant-centered virtual space where you'll connect, share ideas, and learn alongside fellow mentors and facilitators.
Traveling Workshops: Bring Our Experienced Leaders to You
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.
Catch past NAGT Webinars on YouTube!
Did you miss a webinar hosted by NAGT? Check out the NAGT Webinar Series YouTube Channel ! Find a selection of recordings from webinars in the series and sponsored projects at your fingertips. Remember to subscribe!
Regional Sections
NAGT Regional Sections are the grassroots of geoscience education in North America. The 2023 reorganization of Sections focused members' efforts on regional issues. If you haven't connected with your section leadership, we encourage you to do so! Check out the Regional Section Web pages to learn more about your Section and efforts to engage and support geoscience education in your region.
Topical Divisions
Geo2YC Division
The Geo2YC Division is a home for NAGT members who have a shared professional interest in geoscience education at two-year colleges. Two-year college faculty are an integral part of NAGT. Explore the seasonal Geo2YC Newsletter!
Congratulations to Beth Johnson, New Geo2YC Division President!
Beth A. Johnson of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has just started her term as president of the Geo 2YC Division of NAGT. She recently transitioned to the UWO campus, teaching intro courses, geoscience education, and glacial geology, having spent many years teaching geology at 2YCs in three states.
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.
NAGT GER Division Annual Business Meeting
Online — Friday, November 14, 2025, 11:00 am PT | 12:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm ET (1 hour)
All members of the NAGT are invited to attend the GER Division Annual Business meeting. Division leaders will share updates from the past year, get feedback on our ideas for the coming year, and hear new suggestions that we had not considered. We expect the conversation will be fairly informal. Please join if you are interested in shaping the Division's direction for the coming year.
Zoom Link: https://gvsu-edu.zoom.us/j/97278395228?pwd=uydeOYrRmH9Y2J8izxtXxMbXkvScbg.1&from=addon
Meeting ID: 972 7839 5228 and Passcode: 775508
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. Do you want to know what we've been up to? Do you want to stay informed about how the Teacher Education Division supports you, as members of NAGT and TED? Find us on Facebook!
Instructor Survey: What skills do students develop in your courses?
Complete the survey by December 31.
We are surveying instructors to learn more about the skills students develop in undergraduate geoscience courses. Please help! We are recruiting instructors of undergraduate geoscience courses to complete a survey about the skills and dispositions students practice. If you teach an undergraduate course for geoscience majors at a U.S. institution of higher education, please follow this link: https://boisestate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4N1ZRpuiEqDLWZw to complete the survey. It should take you about 10 minutes to complete.
Survey responses will be used to better understand the practice of workforce skills by geoscience students and to identify potential professional development needs of geoscience instructors.
Thank you for your help,
Karen Viskupic and Anne Egger
This research has been reviewed by the Boise State University IRB and approved as protocol #IRB25-392
Bringing Coding the Geoscience Classroom - Virtual Workshop
Free Online Workshop — January 13-14, 2026, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm ET daily
Computational skills and tools are increasingly important in the workforce and provide a powerful mechanism to explore large datasets. To prepare students for this need, it is crucial that instructors integrate activities that introduce students to these tools, increasing their familiarity with tools and building their computational and quantitative skills over the course of their academic career. This workshop is designed to equip participants with the knowledge and tools to effectively integrate Python and open-source workflows into their undergraduate geoscience curricula, providing practical experience in building classroom activities and leveraging real-world data to develop students' twenty-first-century skills.
Participants will discuss opportunities and challenges of teaching computation using Python, learn how to access and use basic Python and computing tools, work through example activities with geologic applications, and work toward developing an activity for classroom use.
Current undergraduate instructors, including community college, introductory-level, as well as major-level instructors, are all encouraged to apply to attend this free workshop.
NASEM Status of Discipline-Based Education Research
Hybrid Event — November 17, 2025, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm ET & November 18, 2025, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm ET
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine is hosting a workshop on November 17–18, 2025, to discuss the status of discipline-based education research, such as geoscience education research. You can learn more about the workshop details and register to participate online by going to the Registration Site. You can also include a request to attend in person.
Looking to connect with a wide audience in the geoscience education community? Post your job openings, postdoctoral positions, internships, assistantships, or undergraduate research opportunities on the NAGT Career Hub! Your posting will be featured on the NAGT Career Hub website, posted on NAGT's social media, and included in next month's NAGTNews newsletter!
Tenure Track Faculty: Earth Science/Sedimentary Geology at Utah Valley University
The Department of Earth Science at Utah Valley University (UVU) invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Geology, beginning August 2026. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. by August 2026 in sedimentary geology or a closely related field. We invite applications from candidates with expertise in any area of sedimentary geology, including, but not limited to, sequence stratigraphy, basin analysis, paleontology, sedimentary geochemistry, or paleoclimatology. We are a multidisciplinary Earth Science department with a strong dedication to empowering students through effective science education and research opportunities in preparation for a wide range of Earth Science career pathways.
Assistant Professor of Hydrogeology at Western Washington University
The Geology Department at Western Washington University (WWU) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position specializing in Hydrogeology to begin September 16, 2026. They seek individuals who are enthusiastic about teaching and who will establish a productive research program that involves undergraduate and Master's level students. The ideal candidate will support our department's ability to produce workforce-ready geoscientists.
Review of applications begins December 15, 2025, and continues until the position is filled.
Available Samples 
Desired Specimens
- A small rural school needs a classroom rock and mineral collection
- #50States50Rocks
- Precambrian chert and Stromatolites
- Science Department Head/Earth Science Teacher
- Deformation Microstructures
Post available samples and desired specimens in the Rock and Mineral Exchange
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