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Calls have been made to determine optimal learning progressions for geology students so that best practices for teaching content knowledge and skills during an undergraduate degree can be determined. To address these calls, there first needs to be understanding of what courses are required. This study was conducted to provide a systematic evaluation of courses currently required to earn a bachelor of science degree in the field of geology. Once qualifying programs were determined using the American Geoscience Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments, an inductive content analysis was used to determine categories representative of the most commonly required geology courses. Testing with an expert panel showed this binning system and codebook to have an interrater reliability (Fleiss' kappa) of 0.908, demonstrating that they can be applied reliably in future research to assess longitudinal changes in course requirements. The seven most commonly required courses include structure, sedimentology/stratigraphy, introductory courses, general field methods courses, introductory level historical geology courses, mineralogy and petrology. On average, 12.69 geology courses are required for a B.S. degree. A longitudinal comparison is also made here to highlight changes since Drummond and Markin's (2008) review, which include an increase in the frequency at which introductory, upper level seminar, research based and general field methods courses are required. The results presented provide a snapshot of the current state of the field, and allow for comparisons with content knowledge deemed a priority by the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education Report.

COVID-19 has created challenges and opportunities across higher education, with flow-on effects for teaching, research, and publishing. Using an archival case study approach, we analyzed 543 Journal of Geoscience Education submissions from 2018 to 2020 to determine potential impacts of the pandemic on our authors and reviewers. Trends in submission numbers and types, gender, and institutional affiliation were characterized pre- and post-COVID onset. Results indicate that though there was an initial drop in submissions post-COVID onset, submission numbers rose to typical levels a few months later. However, the proportion of Curriculum and Instruction submissions dropped by 10% post-COVID onset, whereas research submissions increased by 12.6%, representing a tenfold increase in the gap between the two. In contrast to other studies that found a decrease in submissions by women authors post-COVID onset, JGE had a 3.8% increase in initial submissions by women corresponding authors. However, there was a 12.2% decrease in revisions by women corresponding authors post-COVID onset. Women reviewers had a 2.2% lower acceptance rate post-COVID onset, though still make up over half of JGE's reviewers. Although there were more contributions from corresponding authors at research intensive institutions, reviewers from these institutions had lower acceptance rates post-COVID onset. Review and revision durations both increased post-COVID onset, and reviewer decline reasons became more specific. In response to these findings, we recommend that the geoscience education community continue to be openly understanding of work-life balance, encourage more Curriculum & Instruction scholarship, and support more contributions from authors and reviewers at non-research intensive institutions.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are responsible for direct instruction of geoscience undergraduate students at an array of universities and have a major effect on the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of their students. GTAs benefit from in-department training in both beliefs and practices that align with the existing literature on teaching and learning in the discipline, and such training can have long-standing effects when GTAs transition into faculty roles. However, the most recent review, in 2003, revealed little literature examining outcomes of geoscience GTA training programs. Using the framework of the GER Strength of Evidence Pyramid, this article outlines the development and application of a rubric to allow the user to analyze the existing geoscience GTA training literature and provide example study designs at each level of strength. Extending back to 1980, we discovered a total of three peer-reviewed articles describing and empirically evaluating the effect of GTA training programs in the geosciences. Thus, this article also draws from other science disciplines to provide examples for the levels of the rubric not currently represented in the geoscience literature, providing a set of contextually similar models that future designers of geoscience GTA training might draw on to maximize their strength of evidence, given specific institutional and programmatic constraints. Furthermore, we describe ways in which the use of the rubric provides a framework for characterizing the GTA training literature, which revealed areas of research and characteristics of rigor needed for future work.

The adoption of active learning instructional practices in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been shown to result in improvements in student learning, contribute to increased retention rates, and reduce the achievement gap among different student populations. Descriptions of active learning strategies have been reported in other disciplines; however, the research literature that documents the success of these strategies may be unfamiliar to many geoscience instructors. This literature review seeks to serve as a bridge that connects the reflective practitioner, the research literature on instructional strategies, and the network of community resources available to the geoscience educator. We review the characteristics of 11 active learning strategies and weigh the evidence that these strategies improve student learning. Furthermore, we analyze the utility of these strategies in the context of their use in geoscience classrooms. We seek to provide geoscience instructors with a decision-making guide and evidence-based recommendations that they can use to select and implement active learning strategies that have the potential to enhance undergraduate learning experiences in geoscience courses.

Many agencies, organizations, and researchers have called for the incorporation of inquiry-based learning in college classrooms. Providing inquiry-based activities in laboratory courses is one way to promote reformed, student-centered teaching in introductory geoscience courses. However, the literature on inquiry has relatively few geoscience examples and features an array of modifiers that complicate instructor efforts to identify or adapt inquiry-based activities for their courses. We review several measurement protocols developed to assess inquiry in laboratory activities. We apply one of these to assess the level of inquiry present in four published physical geology laboratory manuals. While the majority of activities used in the published manuals were classified at low levels of inquiry, these manuals also contained examples of higher-level activities that were not identified in previous analyses. We describe the development of inquiry-based lessons for inclusion in a freshman-level physical geology laboratory course at a large public research university in the southeast U.S. and apply the same protocol to assess the laboratory course activities and discuss how some activities were adapted to increase inquiry levels. We discuss how other instructors or laboratory course developers can adapt existing activities to incorporate higher levels of inquiry in their laboratory courses, matching them with the type of information or skill they want students to learn.

The geoscience education research (GER) community has produced a collaborative research framework that summarizes guiding questions for future research to inform and improve undergraduate geoscience teaching and learning. The GER Framework (St. John [Ed.], 2018a) was developed through an iterative process involving multiple stages of community input. In total, approximately 200 geoscience educators and researchers contributed to this project in one or more of the following capacities: as authors, reviewers, survey respondents, workshop participants, webinar participants, town hall participants, and/or focus group participants. Review of survey data, reports, publications, and discussions resulted in a set of guiding questions and research strategies for ten research areas where individual researchers can make important contributions. While presented as distinct research areas, the ten themes have numerous cross-theme opportunities that integrate content areas, skills, and types of students. Cross-theme recommendations regarding strategies for future research are described here, along with suggested synergies with other national efforts in geoscience and STEM education.

We developed and tested different pedagogical treatments using an Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox to teach introductory geoscience students about reading topographic maps at five institutions in both pilot and full implementation studies. The AR Sandbox treatments were characterized as 1) unstructured play, 2) a semi-structured lesson, and 3) a structured lesson. The success of each was contrasted with the control condition of a traditional topographic map lab without the AR Sandbox. Students completed a subset of questions from the Topographic Maps Assessment (TMA) and a series of mental rotation questions post-implementation. No significant differences were found on TMA post-test scores between groups who used the unstructured Sandbox play treatment compared to the control condition. Semi-structured and structured lesson formats similarly failed to produce a statistically significant difference on the TMA post-test. This indicates that no single treatment worked universally better than another. However, regression analysis showed two factors significantly predicted performance on the TMA, including spatial performance and self-assessed knowledge (or confidence) of topographic maps. Of the groups that used the Sandbox, students with low and high scores on the mental rotation test performed best on the TMA following the structured treatment.

Background: The Classroom Observation Project employs direct observations of geoscience teaching across the USA using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to quantify the use of reformed teaching practices. We report on 345 RTOP observations used to evaluate the extent of teaching reform when curricular materials developed as part of the InTeGrate Project (ITG) were used. The InTeGrate Project has published 40 modules of curricular materials that teach geoscience in the context of societal issues and support instructors through guided use of student-centered instructional practices. All ITG materials were developed by teams of instructors, follow a consistent structure, and were evaluated against a project rubric. Results: RTOP scores for classes observed when ITG materials were used (ITG; n = 50, M = 54.0) are significantly higher than RTOP scores for classes observed when ITG materials were not used (non-ITG; n = 295; M = 39.8; p < 0.0001). ITG observations all have RTOP scores in the student-centered ([greater than or equal to] 50) or transitional (31-49) instructional categories, and none in the teacher-centered instructional category ([less than or equal to] 30), demonstrating that ITG materials support more student-centered teaching in class sessions where they are used. In 33 paired observations of the same instructor teaching with and without ITG materials, mean RTOP scores when teaching with ITG are greater than mean RTOP scores when teaching without ITG (M = 54 and M = 47.1, respectively). Conclusions: RTOP observations reveal that more student-centered instructional practices occur in class sessions in which ITG materials are used. There is a small range of RTOP scores when individual ITG activities are used by multiple instructors, suggesting that using ITG materials results in a consistent quality of instruction. The complete absence of teacher-centered instruction when using ITG materials means the materials are a useful resource for practicing reformed teaching methods. The model of the ITG Project in the creation and broad dissemination of ready-made curricula for use in large numbers of classrooms can be replicated to transform teaching and learning in other disciplinary communities.

In response to calls for reformed teaching practices in college STEM labs and courses, and to support graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in their general teaching responsibilities, other STEM disciplines have recently increased their focus on GTA training and preparation. However, current practices in GTA training in the geosciences and geoscience faculty values regarding GTA teaching preparation have not been documented. In this study, survey results are used to compile the roles of GTAs in geoscience departments as well as the types and extent of training in which they participate with respect to teaching professional development (PD). Responses indicate that most GTA training depends on the instructor supervising the course (57%), with more formal GTA training coming from university or departmental requirements. Survey results suggest that some barriers to implementing GTA training are similar to those found for faculty teaching PD, including time and funding, along with unsupportive departmental culture. Responses also indicate that although faculty generally rate teaching PD as important for their GTAs, those values do not correlate strongly with the amount of training their department currently provides.

Undergraduates who participate in research experiences are more likely to persist as majors and pursue careers in STEM fields. Traditional undergraduate research experiences often involve field or lab work, which can be costly or have participation barriers for some students. Large, publicly available online datasets provide an alternative. This article provides a case study of how one such large database, the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), has been leveraged in two ways to support the engagement of students in undergraduate research experiences. First, the authors report on inquiry-based PBDB activities embedded within introductory science courses and participating students' perceptions about research and interest in research (n = 264). Second, they report how the PBDB has been used to support independent research experiences across 19 institutions and share implications.

Spatial skills, which represent the ability to visualize and imagine manipulating objects in one's mind, are necessary for success in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and are particularly relied upon by geoscientists. Although scholars recognize the importance of these skills, explicit training is inconsistently offered throughout courses. Furthermore, the relationship between spatial training and students' perspectives on STEM fields is underexplored. To address this, we developed a case study that included over 700 students enrolled in introductory geology classes over three semesters. These students were randomly divided into control and experimental groups; the experimental group completed 10 spatial training assignments, and the control group completed the course as usual. We relied on situated expectancy-value theory to interpret changes in students' perceptions of both the course and science overall, and asked the following research questions: (1) Do students who complete the spatial training assignments (i.e., the experimental group) have a statistically significant improvement in their final course grade, self-efficacy, and/or value when compared to the control group? (2) If so, what are the effect sizes of these changes? (3) Is there a minimum number of trainings that need to be completed to achieve this effect? (4) Is there a maximum number of spatial training assignments where we stop seeing improvement (ceiling effect)?. We surveyed all students enrolled using 38-question pre- and post-assessments of their self-efficacy, defined as a belief in their ability to succeed, and value. We found that between the control and experimental groups, there were significant differences in students' pre- to post-changes in perception of science self-efficacy, class self-efficacy, and class value. We found non-significant between-group differences in final grade and science value. We interpret this to mean that using weekly spatial training assignments could increase students' perceived self-efficacy in their introductory geology course as well as in science more broadly, potentially having ripple effects that support students' long-term engagement with the sciences. Findings suggest that practitioners should include explicit spatial training in their courses to improve students' perceptions of the course and science overall. Building on this work may include describing to students the purpose of spatial training (which was deliberately avoided in this study) and outlining the research that supports the relationship between spatial skills and success in STEM fields. Future directions may also include longitudinal tracking of spatial and related skill development throughout students' college careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the implementation of teaching strategies by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in inquiry-based introductory geology labs at a large research university. We assess the degree of inquiry present in each Physical Geology lab and compare and contrast the instructional practices of new and experienced GTAs teaching these labs. We demonstrate that GTAs are able to teach these labs consistently but use different instructional strategies. Further, we found that the incorporation of particular teaching strategies was related to prior GTA experience. Experienced GTAs teach in a more reformed, student-centered manner than new GTAs. Teaching practices were assessed through direct classroom observation and the application of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol. The lessons learned from this project can be used to inform other science departments seeking to effectively incorporate inquiry based labs that encourage effective teaching practices from GTAs.

The construct of active learning permeates undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but despite its prevalence, the construct means different things to different people, groups, and STEM domains. To better understand active learning, we constructed this review through an innovative interdisciplinary collaboration involving research teams from psychology and discipline-based education research (DBER). Our collaboration examined active learning from two different perspectives (i.e., psychology and DBER) and surveyed the current landscape of undergraduate STEM instructional practices related to the modes of active learning and traditional lecture. On that basis, we concluded that active learning—which is commonly used to communicate an alternative to lecture and does serve a purpose in higher education classroom practice—is an umbrella term that is not particularly useful in advancing research on learning. To clarify, we synthesized a working definition of active learning that operates within an elaborative framework, which we call the construction-of-understanding ecosystem. A cornerstone of this framework is that undergraduate learners should be active agents during instruction and that the social construction of meaning plays an important role for many learners, above and beyond their individual cognitive construction of knowledge. Our proposed framework offers a coherent and actionable concept of active learning with the aim of advancing future research and practice in undergraduate STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]