Teaching Geoscience in Society: Building Relevance and Interest in the Geosciences by Adding InTeGrate Resources to Your Class

Co-sponsored by AGU Education and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

Tuesday, 15 December, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.
Leaders: Rachel Teasdale (California State University, Chico) and Lisa Gilbert (Williams-Mystic)
Location: Marriott Marquis, Golden Gate C3

Workshop Description

Geoscience courses have the opportunity to engage students in the sciences through societal challenges that range climate change, water availability issues, resource depletion, geohazards, and other grand challenges. Through InTeGrate, geoscientists have developed a series of teaching modules that directly address Earth-related grand challenges through the use of engaging activities that use authentic data and pose questions that incorporate interdisciplinary considerations. Modular units can be adopted wholesale or in parts and each feature resources to develop students' abilities to address interdisciplinary problems, improve geoscientific thinking skills, make use of authentic geoscience data, and incorporate systems thinking. Materials have been developed and tested by faculty at a variety of types of institutions and come with built in assessments and resources for instructors and students. Topics include climate change, natural hazards, sustainable land use, environmental justice and freshwater resources. In this workshop, we will explore the InTeGrate materials, and work with participants to adapt the materials for their courses, in the context of their institutional and geographic setting.

Before you go

Please plan on bringing your laptop or tablet.

Workshop Program

09:00-09:10: Introductions (participant list) (Acrobat (PDF) 126kB Dec14 15)

09:10–09:30: Introduction to InTeGrate pedagogy and modules organization.

09:30–10:00: Overview of modules available and modules in development, select a module appropriate for an upcoming course.

Lisa:Hurricanes Module overview, used a think pair share activity

• Environmental Justice & Fresh Water Resources:http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/freshwater/index.html
• Climate of Change: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/climate_change/index.html
• A Growing Concern: Sustainable Soil Resources: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/sustain_agriculture/index.html
• Mineral Resources:http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/mineral_resources/index.html
• Hurricanes: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/hazards/index.html
• Living on the Edge: Hazards & Risks at Plate Boundaries: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/living_edge/index.html
• Map Your Hazards: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/map_hazards/index.html

For Teachers:

• Exploring Geoscience Methods: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/geosci_methods/index.html
• Interactions Between Water, Earth's Surface & Human Activity: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/energy_and_processes/index.html

10:00 -10:15: Break

10:15-10:30: Peruse module(s), look through activities and consider what would be easy to adapt and what would be challenging.

10:30-10:45: Small groups: Work in teams of 3-ish to talk about how to adapt a particular module to your classroom with respect to what seems easily adapted vs. what might be challenging.

10:45-11:00: Report out using a GALLERY WALK

11:00-11:15: Discussion on how to address challenges such as:

• Large # of students
• Class duration (50 min vs. 3 hrs.)
• Immobile seating
• Computer literacy/access (e.g. Google Earth)
• Knowing how to use different pedagogical activities such as a Jigsaw Activity
• Suggestion of a resource: Geomap Ap and CUASI Data sets

11:15-11:40 Individual work on InTeGrate Module in your course. Develop your InTeGrate Materials Action Plan

11:40-11:50 Report out

11:50-12:00: Workshop Evaluation and Summary