NSF Award
1939060
Part 1<br/>The Nation recognizes the need to improve STEM education to meet the workforce needs of the 21st century, increase the scientific literacy of its citizens and communities, and improve participation by groups currently underrepresented in the sciences. These challenges are particularly acute in the geosciences where: workforce need is predicted to grow; geoscientific literacy is foundational for an effective response to natural hazards, environmental challenges, and resources needs; and diversity lags behind other science disciplines. The cyberinfrastructure and community support infrastructure provided by SERC and NAGT play a key role in supporting geoscience educators and the geoscience education research communities in improving geoscience education and increasing equitable access to learning opportunities. This workshop will support the evolution of this community infrastructure, maximizing its utility and reach in meeting these challenges.<br/><br/>Part 2<br/>A workshop will be held to consider the infrastructure needs of the geoscience education community and make recommendations for future infrastructure development. A broadly representative group of 30 geoscience educators and geoscience education researchers will be assembled for a two-day meeting at Carleton College. Meeting attendees will review the infrastructure support currently provided to the<br/>geoscience education community by the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) including its collaborations with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) and make recommendations focused on four areas:<br/>1. Strengthening existing infrastructure elements including the underpinning cyberinfrastructure.<br/>2. Bringing the infrastructure into wider use, including addressing any barriers to use by different<br/>elements of the community.<br/>3. Additions to the infrastructure that would enhance use including within geoscience education<br/>research.<br/>4. Use of the infrastructure to support improvements in diversity, equity, and inclusion in geoscience<br/>education and geoscience education research.<br/>The workshop recommendations will be shared broadly with the community through a dedicated website.<br/><br/>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.
