Geoscience careers and research have changed significantly in the past two decades, and for the most part, undergraduate geoscience curricula and programs have not kept up with these changes. Many geoscience programs across the country are graduating geoscience majors without the education needed for graduate school and/or the workforce  As a result of this grant, we have increased the number of departments across the country that have implemented the results of the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education initiative in their undergraduate programs. That initiative developed an academic and employer community consensus on the broad geoscience concepts, skills and competencies that need to be developed throughout the curriculum in multiple courses and educational experiences, the best teaching methods to accomplish this development, and how we can broaden participation and retention of underrepresented groups and prepare K-12 science teachers to build a robust, diverse and informed future geoscience workforce.

We have investigated best practices and strategies for implementation of these changes in undergraduate programs in different types of institutions by working with heads and chairs of geoscience departments across the country. These departments ranged from two-year community colleges to R1 research universities.  Overall 93 individual departmental action plans have been developed, and 58 have provided progress reports over 1.5 to 3 years, and eleven have submitted a second one after 3 years.  These reports have identified strategies for implementing these changes that work for all types of institutions, and those that are specific to different types of institutions or faculty sizes. Overall it is clear that it takes least three years for significant changes to be made in an undergraduate program and still may not be embedded in the departmental culture. Also, the fewer the number of geology faculty in a department, the more they had progressed toward implementing their plan. When institution's Carnegie classification is considered, 2YC, BA/BS and MA/MS institutions made more progress than R1 and R2 institutions, even when R1s and R2s had equivalently small faculty sizes.  Best practices at making curricular changes include holding faculty retreats focused on curriculum and use of backwards design techniques that allow mapping of concepts, skills and competencies across courses in the curriculum. Changes in pedagogy to include more active learning or experiential learning are best promoted through professional development for faculty and incentivizing its usage by departmental chairs. Best practices for assessment, recruitment, increasing diversity and easing the transition between two to four year colleges were also identified.  The types of roadblocks or problems heads and chairs identified and how to best overcome them and advice for other department chairs has been provided for other heads and chairs.

The education of undergraduate students in the departments that successfully change their programs will be greatly enhanced, and those students will be better prepared for graduate school and future employment.  The experiential learning recommended by the wider geoscience academic and employment community is also most conducive to learning by underrepresented groups and to their future success. Newly designed introductory and non-major geoscience courses will better inform the general public about geoscience issues affecting society and will better educate K-12 teachers.

Last Modified: 04/10/2020
Modified by: Sharon Mosher