Award Abstract # 2403783
Designing For Pedagogical Change in the Geosciences: A Formative Intervention

NSF Org: RISE
Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER)
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM
Initial Amendment Date: August 27, 2024
Latest Amendment Date: August 27, 2024
Award Number: 2403783
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Brandon Jones
mbjones@nsf.gov
 (703)292-4713
RISE
 Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER)
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 1, 2024
End Date: August 31, 2027 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $634,856.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $634,856.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2024 = $634,856.00
History of Investigator:
  • Aireale Rodgers (Principal Investigator)
    arodgers4@wisc.edu
  • Erika Marin-Spiotta (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Elizabeth Hennessy (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Wisconsin-Madison
21 N PARK ST STE 6301
MADISON
WI  US  53715-1218
(608)262-3822
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: University of Wisconsin-Madison
21 N PARK ST STE 6301
MADISON
WI  US  53715-1218
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LCLSJAGTNZQ7
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,
XC-Crosscutting Activities Pro
Primary Program Source: 01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 4444
Program Element Code(s): 178Y00, 722200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

Building on prior efforts to shift organizational culture within the geosciences field and dominant approaches to postsecondary teaching and learning, this project makes a much-needed contribution to literature in education and the geosciences by addressing two urgent yet underexplored dimensions of equity-minded pedagogical change work in higher education: 1) the need to prepare instructors to historicize curriculum to more readily address and combat the racialized foundations of their field of study, and 2) the need to support academic departments? organizational capacity to facilitate sustained change around teaching and learning. With this approach, the project will advance knowledge and practice for cultural change in a seminal portion of the learning and training ecosystem for geoscientists.

The researchers plan to leverage methodological tools from the learning sciences, namely formative interventions, to facilitate tangible change in academic departments through the design and implementation of two learning environments: 1) an 8-hour short course, where participants will learn about and identify how racial exploitation and settler colonialism have shaped not only the history of the geosciences, but also its current practices and disciplinary culture, and 2) a 2-day, in-person workshop, where researchers will provide participants with tangible tools to identify and work through a problem of practice related to implementing pedagogical change in their department. This research will yield a conceptual model and establish a set of design principles for advancing equity-minded pedagogical change, contributing to improved learning experiences and outcomes for historically marginalized students in the geosciences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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