This document outlines the development of teaching materials for the Geodesy Tools for Societal Issues (GETSI) project. It discusses: 1. The goals of developing materials to teach geoscience literacy and quantitative skills through the application of geodesy data to societal issues like climate change and natural hazards. 2. The process of aligning these materials with established frameworks for geoscience literacy, developing learning goals and objectives, designing assessments, and testing the materials through classroom pilots and revisions. 3. The collaboration between GETSI and the Interdisciplinary Teaching of Geoscience consortium to develop open educational resources using their proven model for transforming undergraduate geoscience education.

1. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM program within the
Directorate for Education and Human Resources (DUE-1245025).
INTRO TO GETSI-INTEGRATE CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT MODEL & GUIDING PRINCIPLES

2. GETSI – TEACHING MATERIALS W/ GEODESY DATA

3. A five-year community effort to improve
geoscience literacy and build a workforce
prepared to tackle environmental and
resource issues
An NSF STEP Center
DUE-1125331
InTeGrate supports the teaching of geoscience in the context
of societal issues both within geoscience courses and across
the undergraduate curriculum.

4. Collaborative project w/ SERC as the lead institution

5. • Geoscience must come together with
other disciplines as our nation and the
world struggle with significant
environmental and resource
challenges.
• Meeting these challenges will require a
savvy public, a new kind of workforce,
and a broader understanding of
geoscience by all who engage these
issues
USGS
Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia
Interdisciplinary Teaching
of Geoscience for a
Sustainable Future

6. Implicit in this model is that InTeGrate supports transformation of teaching in
higher education to support engaged learning.

7. Example modules under development (all Intro)

8. Global climate system - link
together many of the topics on
the basis of the most recent
modeling for future trends
Climate patterns - short-term
time scales (seasonal, decadal),
implications for severe weather
events, ocean/atmosphere
Hydrologic cycles –
supply and demand,
contamination,
landscape change
Infectious diseases
- environmental
factors may affect
distribution,
transmission,
severity of
diseases
Biological diversity -
biomes, geological past,
implications for future
Biogeochemical
cycles -
movement of
key elements
(e.g., C, N)
Land use - ecosystem
changes (e.g., deforestation)
and implications for
biological diversity and
biogeochemical cycles
Energy resource availability -
balance between energy security
and development of less
environment-friendly sources in
North America
Hazard awareness -
preparation for future
natural disasters,
predictions, cost/benefits
Mineral resource
development -
population, wealth
distribution, technology,
limited supplies,
recycling, waste
management
Grand Challenges - InTeGrate
Jones Kershaw, P., 2005, Creating a disaster resilient America:
Grand challenges in science and technology. Summary of a
workshop. National Research Council,
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11274.
National Research Council, 2001, Grand Challenges in
Environmental Sciences. Washington, D.C., National Academy
Press, 106 p.
Zoback, M, 2001, Grand challenges in Earth and Environmental
Sciences: Science, stewardship, and service for the Twenty-First
Century. GSA Today, December, p.41-47.

9. The Geoscience Literacy Documents

10. GEODESY TOOLS FOR SOCIETAL ISSUES GETSI
• Develop and disseminate teaching and
learning materials that feature geodesy data
& quantitative skills applied to critical societal
issues such as climate change, water
resources, and natural hazards

11. GRAND CHALLENGES GEODESY/GETSI
--subset of these of particular societal
importance

12. GUIDED BY EARTH SCIENCE & CLIMATE LITERACY DOCS

13. Constructive Alignment
Literacy Big
Ideas
Module Goals
Learning
Objectives
Assessments

14. GETSI-SERC RELATIONSHIP
• GETSI & GETSI Field Education largely use the
InTeGrate model for development (as practical)
• GETSI largely uses InTeGrate assessment process for
module quality and student learning evidence
• GETSI site is hosted by SERC
• Ellen Iverson (SERC) will our project
evaluator and lead assessment consultant
(if we get the IUSE funding)

15. GETSI FIELD EDUC GUIDING PRINCIPLES
A. Address one or more geodesy-related grand challenges
facing society
B. Develop student ability to address interdisciplinary problems
and apply geoscience learning to social issues
C. Improve student understanding of the nature and methods
of geoscience and developing geoscientific habits of mind
D. Make use of authentic and credible geodesy field methods
and data to learn central concepts in the context of
geoscience methods of inquiry
E. Increase student capacity to apply quantitative skills (GETSI)
to geoscience learning
(InTeGrate focuses on systems thinking)
* Referred to as Guiding Principles for Curriculum Design

16. PEDAGOGIC GOALS
• Engaged, student centered, research based
pedagogy supports higher order learning
• Alignment of goals, materials and assessments
supports and documents learning
• Develops scientific thinking and an understanding
of the process of science
• Materials can be used successfully in multiple
settings

17. IMPLEMENTATION GOALS
• Materials are used widely by faculty across the
country
• Learning by students can be documented to
show increased higher level understanding of
sustainability and geoscience
• Materials are used in courses outside
geoscience departments

18. LINKING GOALS AND PROCESS:
THE MATERIALS DESIGN RUBRIC
1. Guiding Principles
2. Learning Goals and Outcomes
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Resources and Materials
5. Instructional Strategies
6. Alignment

19. LINKING GOALS AND PROCESS:
PART 2: TESTING AND PUBLISHING
• Collection of assessment data
• Revision of materials
• Publication of teaching materials and
supporting information for faculty
• “Instructor Stories” document
implementation at different institutions

20. DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (+1 YEAR)
1. Materials in Development
2. Pass Assessment Rubric
3. Classroom Pilot & Data Collection
4. Review and Revision
5. Publishing

21. LINKING GOALS AND PROCESS:
THE MATERIALS DESIGN RUBRIC
1. Guiding Principles
2. Learning Goals and Outcomes
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Resources and Materials
5. Instructional Strategies
6. Alignment
7. GETSI-specific Instructional Strategies

22. A. GRAND CHALLENGES – GETSI YEAR 2
• GPS methods can be used to address what
societal issues…?

23. C. NATURE AND METHODS OF SCIENCE
Integrating Geoscientific thinking into learning materials
Single most important thing you can do is to simply
make your thinking explicit
Include opportunities for scientific communication
(writing, presentations
• Think aloud to students as you reason through a geoscientific
question
• Ask students to explore the uncertainty in data rather than
just the data itself
• Add reflective prompts to existing activities that involve open-
ended inquiry or research projects
• Ask students how and why they would address a problem
rather than solve the problem (Ex. designing a field
investigation)

24. C. NATURE AND METHODS OF SCIENCE
1. What are ways you help your students learn geoscientific
ways of thinking?
2. How might it be included in the High Precision Positioning
module?

25. D. AUTHENTIC GEODESY FIELD METHODS AND DATA
• Particularly critical aspect of GETSI-Field
Thoughts?

26. E. QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
• What are quantitative elements of GPS?

27. Identify
Module
Learning Goals
Identify
learning
outcomes for
individual units
Determine
how to assess
and measure
student
success on
goals and
outcomes
Design
teaching
resources and
materials to
match
assessments
Plan
Instructional
Strategies to
implement
teaching
resources
THE APPROACH