Eric M. Riggs

Geologic Problem Solving in the Field: Analysis of Field Navigation and Mapping by Advanced Undergraduates.

Field instruction is a critical piece of undergraduate geoscience majors’ education, and fieldwork remains a major part of the work of professional geologists. Despite the central importance of field education, there exists relatively little educational research exploring how students learn to solve problems in geological fieldwork. This study adds tools and insight to the study of field problem solving. We used GPS tracking of students engaged in independent field examinations, and developed two parallel coding approaches for analyzing student navigational choices. Taken together, our coding enables correlation of navigational characteristics with performance and lends insight into problem solving by building on a conceptual framework modified from the cognitive science field of Naturalistic Decision Making. Our results indicate that most advanced geology undergraduates are capable of recognizing important features in the field, however lower-performing students fail to systematically test multiple interpretations of their data as reflected in poorly planned traverses across the examination field area. Specific track sequences, especially those involving reoccupation of locations, show particular difficulties in aspects of problem solving that are reflected in low quality interpretations on finished maps. Our study offers new tools and an independent approach to gauging student skills in geologic field problem solving.

Sharing the Land: Attracting Native American Students to the Geosciences

Native American reservation communities nationwide exercise sovereign control over natural resources and land-use within reservation boundaries. With the recent rapid economic growth of many of these communities, development pressures and infrastructure issues have become a foremost concern. Despite the clear need for geoscience professionals on reservations and the deep cultural connection many American Indian cultures have with the Earth, Native American students remain poorly represented in the earth sciences. The Indigenous Earth Sciences Project is an effort based at Purdue University designed to address this problem systemically by providing local, culturally-responsive avenues for success for college-bound American Indian students in the geosciences in partnership with regional universities. The Sharing the Land program is a partnership between Purdue and colleges and universities in the San Diego region, providing on-reservation education to environmental managers who often lack geoscientific expertise, and a portion of the Young Native Scholars residential summer college bridge program for area high school students. The program also reaches younger children through the Explorers Club outdoor education program. We have also constructed an internship program in tribal environmental offices for Native high school and college students. This far-reaching project provides the minimum level of support to create a truly integrated pathway for Native American students to gain geoscience degrees. Native-focused programs must have full community participation at all levels to succeed, and must provide authentic work experience to make the earth sciences relevant for students. Involvement of Native educators and elders is also critical to ensure cultural connection and continuity. This article outlines the entire STL program, strategies for replication elsewhere, and highlight research opportunities in cross-cultural science education.

A Successful Introduction of Authentic Research Early in an Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Program

Participating in scientific research as an undergraduate student provides an opportunity to increase understanding of how scientific knowledge is advanced, to learn new research tools, to develop the ability to critically analyze new ideas, and to practice disseminating scientific findings. This experience unfortunately has traditionally been limited to students that can participate in select programs (e.g., summer research experiences, undergraduate positions in a faculty members research group, special topics courses, independent study, or internships). A new laboratory course has been developed to provide sophomore- level atmospheric science students with the opportunity to participate in an authentic research project within the structure of an academic semester. The course consists of two modules based upon research topics currently under investigation by faculty (here, specific problems in cloud microphysics and severe weather research). Students participate in learning activities, work as a researc...

Broadening Participation in the Earth Sciences

Recent studies have demonstrated that the Earth and space sciences have the lowest participation rate of underrepresented minorities compared with all other physical sciences (e.g., NSF Publication 04317, 2004). Only 1-2% of the undergraduate student population enrolled in geoscience degree programs is African-American or Hispanic and only 1% of the PhDs produced in these disciplines in recent years have gone to minorities (Czujko, R., 2005). As the American population becomes increasingly diverse and minority populations expand, continued failure to interest minority students in the geosciences will likely have several negative consequences for the research community. At a time when undergraduate enrollments in the geosciences have declined and foreign graduate students have increasingly attractive options outside of the U.S., developing new strategies for attracting talented students from all possible sources will be essential for the future health of the geoscience workforce. In the last few years, the issue of recruiting underrepresented students into the geosciences has become a front-burner concern. The National Science Foundation Geosciences Directorate and NASA Earth and Space Science enterprises have established major programs to fund projects aimed at delineating both effective and ineffective strategies for recruiting and retaining minorities in the Earth and space sciences; and for building the infrastructure, partnerships, and networks necessary to help these programs succeed. This investment has reached the point where many of these projects are nearing completion and have concrete results. Growing interest in the topic of diversity and the large number or mature programs with results worth sharing are evidenced by the increasing number of diversity-related programs being offered at annual scientific society meetings. Clearly, the community working on effective strategies for broadening participation has reached critical mass and now is the ideal time to collect this body of work and share it with the broader geoscience education community. With the publishing of this Special Edition of the Journal, we share the successes, techniques, approaches and occasionally failures of many or these programs. The papers presented in this volume (called out as references below) illustrate the many dimensions of this work. The problem of reaching an underserved population is not confined to the United States. A report contributed by Nir Orion and his research group in Israel (Orion, et al.), mirrors the problems of reaching out to under-represented minorities all over the world, but also points out the compelling nature of the earth sciences to reach groups not normally attracted to the sciences. This international example, and others (e.g. Gilligan, M.R., et al.; Mannel, S., et al., show that the very nature of the earth sciences lends it a concreteness, a relevance and an immediacy that is very attractive to minority students who might not otherwise be drawn to the geosciences. Water resources, environmental quality, energy, disaster prediction and mitigation, ocean and fisheries health, space weather and communications are just a few examples of aspects of the field that are relevant to all of humanity. The origins of the problem, and the solutions required to fix it, are quite complex. In the past, conventional wisdom has focused attention on the lack of exposure to the geosciences among underserved populations; inadequate teacher preparation in secondary schools serving high minority populations; lack of relevance/lack of a clear career path; isolation and alienation of minority populations in traditionally white institutions. Nevertheless, in forty years of data collected by the National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Physics, the low numbers of minorities graduating in the geosciences has not changed in any significant way, despite decades of programs put in place to address the problem (see Robinson, L. …

Enhancement of Geology Content Knowledge Through Field-Based Instruction for Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

This study measures the effect that field-based instruction has on student learning of earth science content knowledge related to sedimentary rocks for college students intending to be pre-service elementary teachers. A total of 36 students from 2 semesters of a specialized earth science course for pre-service teachers participated in a mixed-methods study. The students received the same 3 day inquiry-based classroom curriculum and field trip preparation, but 3 variations of the field trip were administered. The first field trip was a guided-inquiry, hands-on exploration where students were actively involved in directing their learning, the second field trip was a lecture-based field trip where the instructor directed the student learning, the third was an immersive, inquiry-based virtual field trip presented in Quicktime VR. The quantitative findings indicate that all field trips produced gains in understanding beyond those produced by the classroom curriculum, and that this increase in learning came about regardless of the type of field trip the students experienced. Interviews and other qualitative analysis reveal that students who participated in the guided-inquiry, physical field trip did emerge with a deeper understanding of the conceptual ideas compared with other field trip styles.

Cross-Cultural Education of Geoscience Professionals: The Conferences of the Indigenous Earth Sciences Project

As Native Americans gain increasing control and autonomy over their lands, the lack of scientific expertise in these communities and the low representation of Native American students in science programs become more urgent problems. This is especially true in the Earth and environmental sciences because of the many resource and land management issues faced by tribal groups. Many regional programs exist to develop culturally-appropriate curricula for Native American students, but none exist which serve the Native Americans of Southern California, and few of these programs also focus on the education of non-Indian geoscience professionals who work on or near Native American lands. We present results from a qualitative study based on inaugural meetings of the Indigenous Earth Sciences Project where professional geoscientists and tribal representatives gathered to exchange scientific and Native American views of regional geology and Earth science education for American Indian communities. Major themes which emerged from analysis of written comments collected from participants after the conferences revealed a sense of the legitimate possibilities for constructively incorporating indigenous knowledge into Euro-American geoscientific knowledge. Much of this stemmed from new exposure to indigenous world-views and also underscored a need to bring more Native Americans into the study and practice of the Earth sciences. The meetings have also formed the basis for development of Earth science education programs for Native American communities and an increase in the prominence of issues relating to Native Americans in the professional geoscience community.

Sexual Harassment in the Sciences: A Call to Geoscience Faculty and Researchers to Respond

As geoscience educators we focus on teaching students about a wide range of geoscience topics and helping them develop scientific skills. However, we also (deliberately or through unconscious behavior) teach professionalism to our students. Professionalism is rooted in ethics and tailored to our disciplinary activities. How we behave to each other in the classroom, field, and lab, and at scientific meetings says a lot about who we are and what we value as individuals and as a community of practice. As educators and mentors, how we behave and what behavior we tolerate by others sets a tone and becomes a behavioral model for the undergraduate and graduate students with whom we interact. We raise these rather weighty and philosophical points to frame a discussion on a difficult topic: sexual harassment in the sciences. The urgency of addressing this issue follows several recent high-visibility incidents of sexual harassment/assault reported across the STEM disciplines (e.g., Witze, 2015; Balter, 2016; Feltman, 2016; Harmon, 2016; Williams and Massinger, 2016). More troubling, a recent survey of academic fieldwork experiences from the life, physical, and social sciences disciplines (Clancy et al., 2014) reveals that 64% of respondents (n = 666, 78% women) report personally experiencing sexual harassment (i.e., inappropriate or sexual remarks, comments about physical beauty, cognitive sex differences, or other such jokes) and 22% of the respondents reported being the victim of sexual assault (i.e., physical sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, or sexual contact in which they could not or did not give consent, or felt it would be unsafe to fight back or not give consent). This behavior is illegal. It is unacceptable. And this must stop.Community in ActionIn September 2016 the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the Association of Women Geoscientists (AWG), the Earth Science Womens Network (ESWN), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) convened a 1-day workshop on Sexual Harassment in the Sciences - A Call to Respond. The goal of this National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded workshop was to generate common principles and identify resources, and best practices to address the challenges of sexual and gender-based harassment on campus, in the field, and at scientific meetings. The workshop was powerful and informative. It brought together 60 scientists (many were geoscientists) from academia, government, and professional societies. Perspectives from victims of sexual harassment, legal professionals, and social science researchers set the stage for discussions on the challenges of, and potential countermeasures to, sexual harassment and assault in academia. We encourage you to read the press releases of the workshop outcomes (https://news.agu.org/press-release/ scientific-societies-speak-out-against-sexual-harassment/, and Wendel, 2016), as well a resource page on sexual harassment (http://harassment.agu.org/) developed by AGU.Ultimately the workshops impact will be measured by community-wide recognition of the scope of the problem and the development and adherence to a code of behavior that puts respect, responsibility, equality, and professionalism at its core. As participants in the workshop and active members of NAGT we feel compelled to extend the conversation that was started at the workshop to include members of NAGT, geoscience educators, and geoscience education researchers. Our goal is to provide starting points for conversations that we hope readers will initiate with their colleagues and students on the scope, challenges, and countermeasures to sexual harassment in the sciences. To that end, we share our reflections on points from the workshop and results from recent studies that particularly resonated with us and that we think have implications for geoscience education and geoscience education researchers. …

Creating Pathways toward Geoscience Education for Native American Youth: The Importance of Cultural Relevance and Self-Concept

ABSTRACT Native American nations in the United States have a unique legal status that is rooted in a complex relationship between the United States federal government, individual state and local governments and tribal authorities. Although geosciences are often at the center of these relationships, especially as they pertain to the development of natural resources, tribal economics, and environmental stewardship, Native Americans remain severely underrepresented in advanced geoscience education. We evaluated the effectiveness of a culturally grounded, field-based geoscience education program for Native American adolescents using pre- and postprogram surveys. The results showed that at the end of the program, youth were more likely to agree that their tribe uses science to manage natural resources, their tribe has always used science, and earth and rocks make them who they are. These responses were related to an increased likelihood to agree that what can be learned in school is important to their tribe, that they will go to university, and that they could be scientists as adults. These findings highlight the importance of two factors in helping to create pathways toward the geosciences for Native youth: 1) perceived relevance of science to tribes, and 2) self-concepts (e.g., concepts of self as earth, rocks, and scientist).

Macrosystem Analysis of Programs and Strategies to Increase Underrepresented Populations in the Geosciences

ABSTRACT Meeting the future demand for a qualified geoscience workforce will require efforts to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation of an increasingly diverse student body. Doing this successfully requires renewed attention to the needs and characteristics of underrepresented students, which include ethnic and cultural minorities, women, and students with disabilities. We synthesize the current literature on successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) diversity programs and programs in the geosciences specifically through the lens of educational macrosystems. Macrosystems are an element of an approach to analysis of educational systems and institutions that adopts a social–ecological model. Interacting subsystems of microsystems, mesosystems, macrosystems, and exosystems operate together to contribute to student success. STEM fields in general and geoscience in particular have benefited from recent research into microsystems, the student-centric, intrinsic aspects of success. The synthesis we present here is intended to add a new dimension to this body of literature, highlighting reports from successful STEM and geoscience-specific programs that have worked to strengthen macrosystems, which are extrinsic factors that surround students. These include peer support and faculty mentoring networks, institutional bridge programs, systemic pedagogy reforms, and purposeful work to improve campus climate, culture, and accountability for diversity. This synthesis is not comprehensive but rather aims to highlight and illustrate elements of selected successful programs. We conclude with general recommendations and observations intended to be helpful to the geosciences education community in directing future work to optimize macrosystems in support of diversifying the geosciences.

Editorial: Introduction to the Theme: Synthesizing Results and Defining Future Directions of Geoscience Education Research

INTRODUCTION The community of geoscience education researchers (GER) has reached a critical juncture where it is taking inventory in regard to the work that has been accomplished and what questions still need to be answered in GER. Through cross-community participation in a series of recent workshops (St. John et al., 2015, 2016, 2017; Macdonald, 2016), the GER community discussed pathways forward that may have the greatest collective impact on advancing teaching and learning in the field. As a result, this theme issue Synthesizing Geoscience Education Research: Where are we? What is the path forward? was proposed. One of the justifications for the theme issue was the identified need to increase the strength of evidence in the geoscience education research literature. Using the strength of evidence pyramid (Fig. 1; for further explanation, see St. John and McNeal, 2017), we have categorized the past year (Fig. 1) of published articles in the Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE). Using the recent JGE issue as a gauge, it is clear that the geoscience literature has been lacking in regard to systematic review papers as well as meta-analyses. Review papers provide strong evidence for what has been done in the field and what future steps may need to be taken in a particular research area through the identification and articulation of the current state of the collective research in a given topic area. Meta-analyses combine datasets that a series of researchers have published and address higher order questions that require multiple data sources through largescale analyses of the collective datasets. This JGE special issue contributes 11 literature reviews to the community. It also contributes a high number of commentary papers (six) and editorials (two). The community has collectively thought about future research needs and potential areas of growth, and the commentary paper submission category in the JGE allows for authors to discuss a variety of topics that are of interest to the GER community. Both literature reviews and commentary papers are peer reviewed in the JGE. This special issue also contributes a curriculum and instruction (C&I) paper and a research paper. Most of the previous submissions to JGE can be categorized as either case or cohort studies, with a few practitioner knowledge pieces (e.g., commentaries) (Fig. 1). Nearly equal distribution of C&I and research papers are typically published, with C&I manuscripts being slightly greater. This special issue significantly adds manuscripts within the literature review and practitioner knowledge categories of the strength of evidence pyramid. Unfortunately, the GER community is not yet capable of producing robust meta-analyses as there is currently no formal mechanism in place to share datasets. This is, in part, an infrastructure issue as well as an institutional review board (IRB) issue, since all of the data for GER research is protected by IRB human subjects review, and to share the data on a larger scale, researchers need to include such requests in their IRB applications prior to conducting the research. There are strategies to work these issues out, and they are being discussed currently within the GER community. However, to date no mechanisms for sharing datasets have been put in place making it difficult to complete metaanalysis research in GER. Highlighted in this theme issue is a collection of articles focused on GER practice and community development (Kastens and Krumhansl, p. 373; Manduca, p. 416; Shipley et al., p. 354; and St. John and McNeal, p. 363), graduate training (Bitting et al., p. 519; and McNeal and Petcovic, p. 399), access and success in the geosciences (Callahan et al., p. 563; Carabajal et al., p. 531; McDaris and Manduca, p. 407; and Wolfe and Riggs, p. 577), teaching practice (Cheek et al., p. 455; Holder et al., p. 490; Liu et al., p. 435; McConnell et al., p. 604; Ormand et al., p. 426; and Scherer et al., p. 473), and cognition and affect (Jaeger et al., p. 506; Semken et al., p. 542; Shipley and Tikoff, p. 393; and van der Hoeven Kraft, p. 594). We recognize that there are many other areas that could have been written about as important topics for consideration for future directions in GER, and this special issue is not intended to be an exhaustive list of manuscripts or ideas. Rather, it is an attempt to move the community forward adding resources as we continue to collectively consider the path forward. Whether you are long vested in GER or are new to the geoscience education research field, this special issue provides a wealth of information about some of the key research areas in GER, as well as provide the impetus for research you may be interested in pursuing in the future. We summarize each of the articles included in this issue in the sections below.