Research on Institutional Change and Professional Development

Over the past 20 years, numerous institutions and groups have repeatedly called for changes in undergraduate STEM education in the United States in order to develop a stronger, more diverse STEM workforce, to foster a more scientifically literate society, and to improve equitable access to education for all. To achieve these goals, substantial improvements in areas as broad as instruction, mentoring and advising, and departmental climate must be made. Our ability to change can be supported by a better understanding of how educators, departments, and institutions change and how professional development opportunities foster and support productive change. This theme chapter considers how future geoscience education research can address issues of change in institutions of higher education and professional development that will promote high-quality geoscience education. Specifically, it identifies and describes three grand challenges that connect to the following components: the individual geoscience instructor, the departments and programs in which geoscience instructors teach, and the broader communities in which these departments operate

Creating Maps with Terraserver

This site from SERC's Starting Point describes the creation of specialized maps for lab or lecture locations within the United States using the Terraserver site, a collaboration between the USGS and Microsoft. The site provides instructions for using Terraserver to create custom, downloadable, site-specific maps, as well as an example lab exercise that uses Terraserver

Online GIS Resources

This site from SERC's Starting Point provides a brief list of online GIS data sources, tools, and mapping utilities meant to give instructors a starting point for learning to use GIS in the classroom

Creating Topic-Specific Maps for Geoscience Classes

This site from SERC's Starting Point describes how to develop site-specific maps that relate to lecture, discussion, lab, or exercise topics. The creation of site-specific maps can help students better understand spatial relationships. This page also provides links to a variety of GIS and map resources

Visualization of Model Output

This Starting Point page provides links to examples of visualizing output from mathematical or statistical models. This has proven to be one of the best ways to introduce introductory geoscience students to the results and behavior of sophisticated models. Educational levels: Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

Why use Just-in-Time Teaching

This site from SERC explains the benefits of 'Just-in-Time' teaching. JiTT increases the amount of interaction between faculty and students and has benefits for everyone involved. Students are better prepared for class, improve writing and problem solving skills, and gain a sense of ownership over their learning. Instructors get feedback faster, can eradicate any misconceptions early on, and can assess students' prior knowledge of a topic. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

ConcepTests

This site from SERC describes ConcepTests, which are conceptual multiple-choice questions that were originally designed by Eric Mazur at Harvard University for students in large physics classes. ConcepTests are generally short, and as they are multiple-choice, they are useful for immediate quantitative assessment of student understanding. It may be useful to the instructor to know how many correct responses there are to a question both before and after peer instruction to better gauge student understanding. There are also links to ConcepTest examples and other resources. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

Teaching with GIS in the Geosciences

This site from SERC's Starting Point introduces methods of teaching with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It offers information and links that explain what GIS is, describe why and how GIS can be used in introductory geoscience classrooms, and give examples of using GIS in geoscience education. Linked topics include spatial relationships in geoscience, the basics of spatial data collection, organization and map preparation, a detailed description of methods to include GIS within introductory geoscience courses, options to sidestep limited resources within the classroom, and a collection of examples that illustrate GIS concepts that appear in geoscience topics. Educational levels: Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

How to Use Just-in-Time Teaching

This site from SERC explains how to implement the Just-in-Time Teaching method. The instructor must choose a course, determine the objective and format of JiTT questions, and carefully construct these questions. Next the instructor must design a web-based JiTT submission platform, let students know that their responses count, give one set of questions a week throughout the course, review students' responses, and prepare for an active-learning session. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division