Effective Teaching Strategies Workshops and Sessions for the 2019 Earth Educators? Rendezvous

University Of South Carolina At Columbia, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

Since geoscience content is not readily found as a core science in most U.S. K-12 schools, students are often not exposed to the geosciences until later in their pre-college matriculation if at all. Even when students encounter geoscience courses or departments as undergraduates, the foggy line to career opportunities and dated teaching methods could be primary causes of high attrition rates. A major way to revamp the undergraduate experience in the geosciences (with increased student retention) is through faculty development efforts that focus more on creating active learning environments than perpetuating unsuccessful traditional educational models. Engaging the geoscience community in rich conversations about the goals and content of geoscience and other courses, has the potential to impact many thousands of students across the US. As more faculty attempt reformed teaching practices in their classrooms, the community of faculty using active learning practices in their classrooms will become more common. The proposed suite of The Effective Teaching Strategies workshops has been designed in response to the stated needs of the geoscience education community attending the EER, as well as anecdotally by science colleagues, especially those in non-geology disciplines such as atmospheric sciences who have historically not been as well represented at the EER. The proposed workshops and activities will promote the use of active learning strategies in the geosciences through the sharing of best practices and promoting dialogue between like-minded colleagues. The goals of the workshop are to: 1. Share best teaching practices for geoscience courses, including geologic, atmospheric and ocean Sciences, 2. Engage geoscientists from multiple institution types (i.e. HBCUs, community colleges, primarily undergraduate or research) in conversations about improving introductory and majors courses, 3. Promote networking among participants to broaden perspectives and connect beyond EER, 4. Nurture a community of future leaders for the geoscience education community. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.