On the Cutting Edge Professional Development Program for Geoscience Faculty David Mogk – Montana State University Darrell Henry—Louisiana State University Teaching Geochemistry in the 21 st Century

THANK YOU--  National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, CCLI-National Dissemination  National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT)  Goldschmidt Conference planning committee  Darrell Henry, Louisiana State U.  Mickey Gunter, U Idaho  All the participants for your interest and contributions.

Program aims & components  Improving undergraduate geoscience education through supporting faculty in improving content and instruction workshops  A synergistic, integrated multi-year series of workshops website  A website to support workshops and reach the broader geoscience community leadership  An expanding community of geoscience educators with a strong and diverse leadership  Research on what faculty need, how faculty work, the impact of the program

 Staying current in our science  Linking science content to effective teaching (and assessing)  Many faculty teach “out of specialty”;  How do we find:  Classroom-ready activities  Thematic resource collections on special topics of interest  “Faceted” searching of collections to help faculty find what they need by topic, audience, resource type…  Networks—dialogue, support, forum for submitting questions, etc.  What Works???  Active learning  Using Data  Visualizations (used appropriately!)  Projects, case studies, research-like experiences???  We’ll explore all this and more at this workshop and beyond We all need help…

Emerging topics workshops  Move new science content and teaching methods into mainstream  Brings together researchers, educators  2 per year  Examples:  Geology & Human Health  Biocomplexity  Teaching with Visualizations  Understanding What Students are Learning

Teaching “X” workshops  Explore teaching “X” effectively in the classroom, lab, and field  Teaching Petrology (03)  Teaching Structural Geology (04)  Teaching Hydrogeology (05)  faculty/workshop (> 10% of those teaching “X” in the US)

Web resources  Integrated, searchable topical resource

Web-based resources, activities, services…

Web resources to support your teaching; Information/data to help develop new activities….

“Faceted Searching” to help you find the right activity for your class…

We’ve made a start, but we need your help… Identifying additional resources Creating new activities Just imagine what a great teaching collection we’ll have if everyone submits 1 or 2 new exercises!!! We know you all have a cool activity to share….

Other Services… Registry of analytical equipment Listserv

Web resources  Topical resource collections

About this Workshop  New Friends  New Ideas  New Questions  Informal and interactive

This workshop is just a start…  Build a network of colleagues interested in improving teaching geochemistry  Sharing resources and ideas via the website and listserv  Follow-on activities; theme sessions at GSA, AGU, etc.  Reach out and invite a colleague to join us  Contribute!

To Start: Round Table I Discussion What are the modern goals in teaching geochemistry?  What content is taught in a modern geochemistry class? What are the essential concepts, topics and skills?  Opportunities for teaching geochemistry: courses for majors and across the curriculum. How can geochemistry complement allied sciences and engineering?  Are there local or regional approaches that are used effectively in a geochemistry course? International comparisons in approach, content, outcomes