This paper examines the benefits of a transdisciplinary team in making “geological deep time” accessible through outdoor education. Makhtesh Ramon is a national park in Israel, situated in the Negev Desert. It is an eroded monocline that reveals 245 million years of geological history, offering a unique outdoor learning environment. We employed a transdisciplinary action research approach to develop a geological trail along the makhtesh rim, integrating the natural setting with mobile technology. In this second-order action research, we analyzed transcripts from our planning meetings, including reflections after receiving feedback from multi-age users. This process helped us identify interactions that fostered innovative and demonstrative methods. To help visitors grasp the vastness of time, we used learning strategies such as observational and discovery-based activities, along with visualization, simplification, and abstraction techniques. The interdisciplinary team developed accurate, informative texts accompanied by diverse illustration methods. The resulting model could be adapted for outdoor learning at other geological sites worldwide.

Virtual outcrop models (VOM), virtual field trips, and virtual field experiences have become more prominent in geoscience instruction. Many have reported on perceptions of student learning via virtual field experiences. However, few have systematically investigated their efficacy; how or what students learn. This exploratory study focuses on how students use VOMs in tandem with actual field work. Ten undergraduate participants used a VOM, of a sedimentary rock outcrop. While five of the participants used the VOM the other five were at the field site the VOM represented. They attempted to describe and explain the geology of the outcrop. Halfway through the day, the VOM students went to the field and vice versa. We recorded their actions, field notes, and conversations using a think aloud protocol. Analysis of the data resulted in three main themes, (1) Doing geology, (2) Physical observations, and (3) Comparisons of VOM with the actual field. Also, participants practicing with the VOM first were better prepared and spent less time orienting themselves once they reached the actual field, compared to those who began in the field directly. The VOM-first group looked for things, rather than just looking at things. Having built a general mental model first, they more quickly oriented themselves to the actual field site and refined their mental models with more detailed observations. Other findings point to VOMs as situated within the larger education ecosystem. This includes participant reluctance in making interpretations, not wanting to be wrong. We explain this with teaching experiences that emphasize the stuff of geoscience over the process of geoscience. In addition to recommending VOM experiences prior to fieldwork, we recommend more instruction emphasizing the process of geoscience.

Biogeochemical cycles are the fundamental construct connecting all parts of the Earth system. Cycling of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus involves multiple fluxes and reservoirs through all components of the broader Earth system, making them an excellent gateway to examining systems thinking. One tool to try to understand student conceptions of these cycles is their drawings of various biogeochemical cycles. Specifically, the way that students depict reservoirs and fluxes in their drawings can give us valuable insight into their basic systems thinking abilities. In this exploratory study, we analyzed undergraduate student sketches of the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles to determine the number of fluxes and reservoirs depicted in each one and the types of reservoirs pictured. We performed statistical analyses to explore if there were differences between the number of fluxes and reservoirs shown between students in STEM and non-STEM fields. We also performed correlation analysis to explore if the number of courses in various scientific disciplines was related to the number of fluxes and reservoirs shown. Results showed that students from STEM disciplines draw cycles with significantly more fluxes and reservoirs than their non-STEM peers. Additional analysis also showed that the number of chemistry and biology courses is most correlated to the number of fluxes and reservoirs depicted. Principal components analysis of carbon cycle drawings found that carbon cycle drawings tended to fall into “geo-centric” and “bio-centric” archetypes, with “bio-centric” drawings being more common and non-STEM majors consistently creating “bio-centric” drawings. This suggests that interdisciplinary training may be important in the development of systems thinking in undergraduate STEM students. It also suggests that more work is needed to integrate systems thinking skills into introductory courses, particularly those that serve non-STEM students.

The Geophysics of the Near Surface: an Outdoor Motivational Experience for Students, or GNOMES, program was designed to recruit, engage, and retain racially and ethnically minoritized students early in their undergraduate experience into geoscience. This goal was enacted by introducing a diverse group of students, early in their post-secondary education, to the geosciences through an inclusive experiential learning field experience that built community amongst the participants. The program focused on critical zone geophysics fieldwork to engage students in geoscience concepts. Throughout the two-week summer program, students worked in teams to address research problems in critical zone science and build geoscience and professional skills. This paper presents the results from the first three years of the GNOMES program (2018, 2019, and 2022), during which time 47 participants and 8 mentors were engaged in the program, 80% of whom were from racial and ethnic backgrounds minoritized in geoscience. Here we present the program design and show that the program was successful in impacting participants through increases in self-reported professional and geoscience skills and through increased participant science identity. In addition, we discuss the successes and pitfalls in the program and provide advice and suggestions for ensuring the successful implementation of similar programs. The GNOMES program provides a model and demonstrates an effective approach for broadening participation in geosciences.

Despite being an interdisciplinary issue, climate change concepts have typically been taught in Earth and environmental science classes at the secondary level. However, few high school students can take these classes. This means few high school graduates know or have learning experiences with these topics. This study assessed core science (biology, chemistry, and physics) teachers’ ideas “many of whom also teach Earth or environmental science,” via an extensive survey including Likert scale and open-ended questions distributed electronically across the United States to secondary science teachers. We looked at where they believe climate change should be taught, had them identify which climate concepts they connected to their subject, and identified barriers teachers encountered when incorporating climate concepts in their classes. We found that most teachers felt all core sciences should integrate climate change within their content areas. Our findings also reveal topics related to climate change that these teachers make within all science disciplines. These results have implications for science teacher professional development (PD) providers, science teacher professional associations, and preservice science teacher educators as they show there is unequal access to Earth and environmental science courses with their associated climate science content, as well as a inconsistent catalog of climate change topics being addressed in the core sciences suggesting the need for additional PD and climate change curricula be made available to all science teachers.

The three-dimensional visualization skills that are critical for using and interpreting topographic maps present a common stumbling block for students in introductory-level geoscience courses. The development of interactive technology such as augmented reality sandboxes (ARS) has provided new ways to introduce students to topographic map concepts. So far, the literature investigating the effectiveness of an ARS in a classroom setting has been inconclusive. This study presents instructional and assessment materials for teaching topographic map concepts to undergraduate students at an introductory level using the ARS in a structured, student-driven learning activity. Our instructional approach guides students through creating a 3D landscape and corresponding 2D topographic map, then using the 3D landscape to guide interpretation of topographic map components. The knowledge surveys assess student engagement and track both short-term learning gains (from pre-lab to post-lab scores) and long-term knowledge retention (from pre-lab to end-of-semester follow-up scores). Although our results do not show a significant difference (p = .15) in short-term learning gains in the ARS group compared to the 2D paper map group, a significant improvement (p < .001) was observed in long-term knowledge retention among the ARS group compared to the 2D paper map group. Students in the ARS group also self-reported higher levels of classroom engagement. This study suggests that assessing long-term learning may provide more insight into the effectiveness of interactive classroom tools such as the ARS.

This study aimed to use self-determination theory to examine the motivations of a sample of diverse undergraduate students attending a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the benefits they experienced on a field trip to southeastern New Mexico, USA, in the winter of 2023. We used a qualitative, single case study. The case comprised a field trip for undergraduate students—geology majors and non-majors. The field trip was a low-stakes opportunity for students interested in STEM and geoscience to experience fieldwork and explore new terrain at little to no cost to students. We recruited 17 undergraduate students attending the trip to participate in the study. We collected data via one-on-one online interviews prior to and after the field trip, and daily journaling during the trip. We used iterative cycles of coding to analyze the data as a team. We found that students had a mix of motivations to attend the field trip, including enjoyment, prior experiences, a desire to make new and deepen existing relationships, and an interest in learning more about geoscience and camping. We also found that their experiences mirrored their motivations—they benefited from the new knowledge about camping and geoscience, the new relationships they forged, and the enjoyment they derived from being outdoors with friends, looking at and for rocks. Our findings suggest that programs capitalize on students’ curiosity to motivate them to attend field trips, universities offer K-12 programming, and field trip organizers prepare students for the conditions they will encounter on field trips.

Meaningful learning resources for earthquake safety and survival have become an increasingly important topic among geoscientists, especially educators and researchers. Various members of the public, especially K-12 (ages 5–18) learners, continue to depend on scientific trade books available at their local public and school libraries for information about earthquake concepts. To our knowledge, no research has empirically examined how trade books represent earthquake safety and survival actions. In this research, we combine an iterative qualitative inductive and deductive analysis to explore the representation of earthquake safety and protective actions in 50 trade books. We categorize these actions into time-based practices related to preparedness before an earthquake, protective actions during an earthquake, and recovery after an earthquake. These trade books emphasize preparedness by means of building earthquake-resistant structures and urban planning, and efforts toward community resilience and keeping home supplies. The recommended personal protective action during an earthquake in the United States (“Drop, Cover, and Hold On”) is emphasized in the majority of the trade books, as well as other protective actions related to emotional actions and current technological automated actions such as earthquake early warning systems. Finally, the books highlight actions such as damage evaluation and support as ways to recover after an earthquake. Our findings highlight the issues between accepted earthquake safety and survival actions and the limited and/or inaccurate knowledge represented in some trade books. We provide interpretations of how presentation of limited or inaccurate information may increase confusion about appropriate protective actions. The inclusion of accepted and recommended protective actions in future trade books and the use of earthquake drills in public libraries as a supplement for trade book users may improve understanding and implementation of appropriate actions. We further demonstrate the potential of trade book contents in fostering earthquake education through library-community partnerships.

A quantitative literacy course titled “Computational Geology” has been taught at the University of South Florida for over 20 years at the undergraduate level, largely by the same professor. Due to the extended course tenure, a unique opportunity presented itself to qualitatively study what the perceived broader impacts of the course were on selected alumni from three or more years post-graduation. Viewing data from a 2016 course alumni interview project through a transcendental phenomenological lens, we looked for evidence to describe the lived experiences of nine course alumni. The alumni were baccalaureate geology graduates of USF, at least three years removed from graduation at the time of interview, who had taken and passed the Computational Geology course, and been working in private, public, or academic sectors. We discovered that the course positively impacted students’ self-efficacy toward mathematics, nurtured a growing appreciation for using math as a tool to solve problems relevant to the students’ personal life and career, and motivated students to learn and appreciate quantitatively literate behaviors and how quantitative literacy applies to their personal and professional life. We assert that instructors who consider the affective domain (i.e., feelings, emotions, and attitudes) while teaching mathematics leverage a powerful approach to impact student learning and incite a long-lasting impact on students’ appreciation for quantitative literacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous disruptions for educators and researchers, especially in 2020 and 2021. Critical in-person activities, including research, have been postponed or canceled throughout the academic and professional communities of the world. The Project SEED (Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged) program for high school students in the Ecohydrology Lab at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis was no exception. The 2020 and 2021 programs, originally scheduled for in person (2 months in the summer) was moved online with a similar time frame. The goals of Project SEED are to provide high school students with the opportunity to explore a career in the sciences and be involved in research at industries and universities. The goals remained the same during the virtual years and we had a total of two students who participated in the program in 2020 and 2021. In this commentary, we outline the experiences of moving the program to a virtual environment, and reflect on the experiences that motivated students’ participation and success in the program with adjusted project designs. According to student reflections and our discussions with the students, changing the research experiences to include data gathering and analysis (data mining) from published literature rather than the usual hands-on experiments, regular online interactions, enhancing student independence, and making mentors easily accessible were effective in fostering students’ participation and success in the program. With these new practices, the educational outcome of the virtual version of the Project SEED program is similar to the pre-pandemic program based on the quality of the final products (i.e., presentations) and students’ reflections. Informed by these experiences, this commentary makes recommendations for developing virtual research environments to assist students in realizing their potential and research goals. The suggested practices have implications for other educational settings (e.g., international programs through virtual environments).