NAGTNews - Vol 15 - No 6 - June 2016

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1. NAGT Officer Elections are in Progress

The 2016 NAGT Officer Elections are open and in progress. You can get information on the candidates for National and Division officers by going to the Elections page of the NAGT website. Voting is open until July 1, 2016.

Go vote and make your voice heard in the leadership of NAGT!

2. Earth Educators' Rendezvous 2016 News

We are 6 weeks away from the 2nd Annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous in Madison!

  • Your grades are posted, your students have departed campus, and another academic year has come to a close. As we all take a collective "sigh of relief" take a moment to consider attending this year's Earth Educators' Rendezvous. This will be an event Earth educators will not want to miss. Now is the time to [link /earth_rendezvous/2016/registration.html 'register']! If you are already registered, pass the word to your friends and colleagues.
  • Check out the newly created Participant Information Page where you can find an up-to-date confirmed participant list, evening events listing, and handy maps and on-site registration details. Check back frequently as we will continue to update the participant list and provide further details on the upcoming Rendezvous.
  • Order your own Earth Educators' Rendezvous t-shirt to celebrate the event! Pre-Order by Wednesday, June 22 to have your t-shirt available for pickup at the Rendezvous.
  • We still have space available for the Pre-Rendezvous, Sunday (7/17), Baraboo field trip. Discover why the Baraboo Ranges are a classic geology field-trip destination for colleges and universities from throughout the upper Midwest.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Madison next month.

3. Upcoming NAGT Award Program Deadline: Outstanding TA Award

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

NAGT recognizes outstanding teaching assistants in geoscience education twice a year 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 our In The Trenches quarterly magazine. Nominations for the Summer 2016 Awards are due by June 15, 2016.

4. May 2016 JGE Available

The May 2016 (v 64, n 1) of the Journal of Geoscience Education is now available. Members can access all the articles via the JGE website. The table of contents for the issue is below.

EDITORIAL

IRB Protocol Starting Point for Those New to Geoscience Education Scholarship and Publication
Kristen St. John
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 99-100.

COMMENTARY

Social Learning Theories—An Important Design Consideration for Geoscience Fieldwork
M. J. Streule and L. E. Craig
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 101-107.

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION

Mineral Supertrumps: A New Card Game to Assist Learning of Mineralogy
Carl Spandler
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 108-114.

Environmental Systems Simulations for Carbon, Energy, Nitrogen, Water, and Watersheds: Design Principles and Pilot Testing
Christopher Lant , Blanca Pérez-Lapeña , Weidong Xiong , Steven Kraft , Rhonda Kowalchuk , and Michael Blair
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 115-124.

Quantifying the Level of Inquiry in a Reformed Introductory Geology Lab Course
Elizabeth Moss and Cinzia Cervato
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 125-137.

Transforming Undergraduate Research Opportunities Using Telepresence
Amy Pallant , Cynthia McIntyre , and A. Lynn Stephens
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 138-146.

RESEARCH

Understanding Perceptions of the Geosciences Among Minority and Nonminority Undergraduate Students
Kathleen Sherman-Morris and Karen S. McNeal
Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2016: 147-156.

5. Webinar: Results from the Geoscience Education Research (GER) Survey

Please join us for a webinar on Monday, June 13 to learn and discuss the results from the Spring 2016 geoscience education research (GER) community needs survey. There were 185 responses from geoscience education researchers and scholars. This is a rich dataset that can be used to help set priorities for the GER community on career navigation, professional development, publication needs, access to GER data to support meta-analyses and other studies, and access and development of geoscience education research instruments and tools. The survey and the webinar are supported by the NSF.

Webinar: Results from the Geoscience Education Research (GER) Survey - Data for Setting Priorities in the GER Community
Monday, June 13, 2016
12:00 PM Pacific | 1:00 PM Mountain | 2:00 PM Central | 3:00 PM Eastern

Registration Deadline: Friday, June 10, 2016

Webinar leaders: Kristen St. John (James Madison University), Karen McNeal (North Carolina State University), Heather Macdonald (The College of William and Mary), and Kim Kastens (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

To register go to: http://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/workshops/GER_community/GER_webinar.html

This webinar is open to anyone who is interested in Geoscience Education Research or Discipline-Based Education Research, more broadly. The webinar is free but registration is required.

6. InTeGrate Webinar Series

The Spring InTeGrate webinar series was a huge success—thank you to all the leaders and participants that contributed their time, resources, and experiences to create these engaging and robust learning opportunities. Although the webinar series has come to a close, you can still access the eight webinar topical web pages that include not only the screen casts of each webinar presentation, but additional resources and program links. If you missed any of these high-quality, timely webinar topics, visit the InTeGrate workshop and webinar page for access to the Spring schedule.

Check back in the next few months as we roll out our InTeGrate Fall webinar series. Topics to be covered include Teaching about Natural Hazards and Integrating Sustainability into your Course among others.

InTeGrate is funded by a 5-year STEP Center grant from the National Science Foundation. The program supports the teaching of Earth in the context of societal issues both within geoscience courses and across the undergraduate curriculum. Our goal is to develop a citizenry and workforce that can address environmental and resource issues facing our society. Visit the InTeGrate website for additional information and teaching resources.

7. Invitation to the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Workshop

We invite you to the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB workshop focused on building students' ability to solve problems with computation using MATLAB in their STEM courses. Participants will share their successes developing computational skills using MATLAB in the undergraduate classroom and discuss best practices for the community. By attending the workshop, you will be part of a community effort to bring together best practices and teaching materials that will be made freely available through the SERC website. MathWorks (makers of MATLAB®) is sponsoring the workshop.

Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB

Carleton College, Northfield, MN
October 23-25, 2016 (5PM Sunday – 2PM Tuesday)
Application Deadline: September 2, 2016

The Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB workshop will bring together faculty from the sciences, including Chemistry, Geoscience, Physics, Biology, and allied fields, who teach computation and quantitative thinking skills using MATLAB. Computation is broadly defined as using computers in scientific work to understand and solve problems, or formulating problems in ways that can be computed. Computational skills are critically important for students to understand complex systems, analyze data, and create numerical models and visualizations–all essential aspects of modern science. These skills require students to have comfort and skill with languages and tools such as MATLAB. To achieve comfort and skill, computation and quantitative thinking must build over a 4-year degree program across courses and disciplines. Participants will help build a collection of teaching activities that showcase computation, quantitative thinking, and applied math using MATLAB and design approaches to integrating these skills throughout science degree programs.

This workshop target is 30 college educators (by application). There is no registration fee to attend.

We hope to see you there!

Lisa Kempler
MATLAB Community Strategist, MathWorks

Cathryn A. Manduca
Director, Science Education Resource Center
Executive Director, National Association of Geoscience Teachers

Kristin Jenkins
Executive Director, BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium

Kelly Roos
Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, Bradley University
PICUP Leadership Council

Frederik J. Simons
Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University

Wendy Thomas
Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington

8. AGU Education and Outreach Internship

AGU is looking for an intern to work closely with the Education and Public Outreach Manager as well as other AGU staff. The Education and Public Outreach Intern will work in assisting with preparations for upcoming events at the annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco, which draws more than 20,000 participants. The internship provides an opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes process of planning education events first-hand and to gain knowledge about the Fall Meeting and current science education issues along with program management experience.

For more information on the position, check out the announcement on the AGU website.

9. NSF STEM Video Showcase

NAGT members may be interested in participating in the NSF STEM Video Showcase that is now live at http://stemforall2016.videohall.com/.

The virtual event features more than 150 short videos highlighting innovative programs and advances in STEM teaching and learning, including 62 initiatives that are specifically focused on science education.

The showcase is free and open to the public.

10. 25th Canadian Paleontological Conference

We'd like to invite you to Nova Scotia to the 25th Canadian Paleontological Conference. This year we also have a special subtheme focusing on paleotourism, education, and site stewardship, and so would love to hear from educators, policy professionals, guides, and other stakeholders. Very affordable early bird rates up right now (and remember the low Canadian dollar!), as is the call for abstracts. We invite presentations on all aspects of paleontology and related disciplines, e.g., history of paleontology, education, folklore, etc.

This year's CPC is a pretty neat opportunity. We've woven a fantastic number of activities into the conference to showcase the island's unique Celtic culture and coal/fishing history that pretty much make it a vacation and professional meeting all in one. (And we've purposely kept the price down low to make it accessible grad students and the underemployed.) There's also a two day guided field trip around the world-renowned Cabot Trail as a lead up to the conference.

See the conference description here: http://www.cbu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CPC-2016_Schedule-and-Abstracts.pdf

Everyone is welcome! And you do not have to make a presentation to attend.

Thanks (and hope to see you this summer)!

Jason Loxton
CPC-2016 Co-organizer
Cape Breton University

11. 2016 GSA Sessions and Activities

The 2016 GSA Annual Meeting will be in Denver, CO, September 25-28. This early meeting date means that the abstract deadline is similarly early. Abstracts must be submitted by July 12, 2016. Be sure to read up on the Education sessions that NAGT is sponsoring this year on the website and then submit your abstract.


Rock and Mineral Exchange

Available Samples

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.


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Posted: Mar 24 2016

12-month (renewable) graduate assistantship in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources. The position involves water resources education and education research through a new project (recommended for funding by the National Science Foundation) focused on fostering undergraduate students' science literacy about water.

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