AUGEN NEWS - October 2021
From the President
It’s late October and, for most, Semester 2 teaching has now finished and it’s time for assessments and marking.
The AUGEN TEAM have had a successful month with the launch of our new T&L discussion series - beginning with the first AUGEN Conversations session held on 14 October and led by Dr Dom Wolf-Boenisch (Curtin University). We had a fascinating and engaging discussion and have a short review of the event below.
And next month we have our first Geoscience Education Research Discussion session on Monday 15 November! More details below. We hope you can join us.
Lockdown has begun to ease in the southeastern States as various vaccination targets are reached in Victoria, NSW and the ACT. Of course there are several months before University begins in 2022, but it will be interesting to see how on-campus and field teaching will be managed by different Universities. A number of universities have mandated vaccination for staff and students which is a great sign and helps give everyone involved in teaching some reassurance.
Your AUGEN TEAM committee have also begun to make plans for a virtual meeting to kick-start 2022 - more information below - please save the date for 23 February 2022!
Please get in contact with Sandra by email if you’d like some AUGEN stickers for your office door or department/school. Reach out to any members of the team if you have ideas for a presentation or event. Encourage your colleagues and friends to sign up to the AUGEN TEAM to help us grow and do more for geoscience education!
Best, Sandra
A/Prof Sandra McLaren
School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Melbourne
sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au
Geoscience Education Research (GER) Discussion
LAUNCHING NOVEMBER 15!
Our first Geoscience Education Research Discussion will be held via zoom on Monday 15 November 2021
1 pm (Vic, NSW, ACT, Tas), 10 am (WA), 11:30 (NT), 12 noon (Qld), 12:30 (SA)
Zoom registration required here:
https://unimelb.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ocOGhqDsiGNKw-5n3ulv4qT9MFwV4SHeZ
In our inaugural Geoscience Education Research (GER) Discussion, we will talk about the GER framework (Summary report: St Johns et al., 2021). This introductory discussion will go through the ten key topics in GER, their meanings, and brainstorm research questions to support improvement and innovations in geosciences learning and teaching. No pre-reading is required.
There are many possible projects we could explore within the AUGEN TEAM network and joining in these discussions is a great way to get started! We look forward to seeing you online
More information is available on our GER webpage
AUGEN Conversations
On 14 October an enthusiastic band of AUGEN TEAM members joined online for our first AUGEN Conversation!
Led by Dr Dom Wolff-Boenisch from Curtin University, our first event began with a discussion the old classic, The Dr Fox study, as a lead in to a broader discussion on the topic of whether teachers need to be field experts or performers to entice student engagement. We had an excellent and wide-ranging discussion with some great resources shared amongst the group. Key take home points were that student engagement and learning are greatly enhanced by active learning methods and teacher authenticity. We also reflected on how authenticity is much easier to show when a teacher has longer time with a group of students. Indeed this may be one reason why earth science students have such good experiences in their studies - small groups means that teacher authenticity is easier to achieve and the connection between teacher and student is more obvious. So our generally small cohorts are a real blessing for student learning (but not for University accountants …)
Please check out the Conversations page on our website for the recording of Dom’s introduction to the topic
SAVE THE DATE for our next AUGEN Conversation: Tuesday 14 December @ 10.00 (AWST) Note that this is 1 pm in eastern States with daylight saving
We look forward to seeing you online and having some Conversations!
For further queries or to suggest a topic for discussion please contact Dom (Domenik.wolff-boenisch@curtin.edu.au)
Meet the Team
Dr Jacqueline Dohaney
Swinburne University, VIC
jdohaney@swin.edu.au
My current teaching role
Lecturer in STEM Education
Areas of special interest/expertise
Petrography, Field work, Assessment, First year geoscience teaching, Industry skills, Outreach (primary and secondary schools), Work-Integrated-Learning, SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), Geoscience Education Research
Feel free to get in touch if you have questions on these topics!
What’s the best teaching advice anyone has ever given you?
How we teach now is influenced by how we were taught growing up. Some of those pedagogies are effective, and some of them are not.
What do you enjoy most about your teaching role?
Developing mentoring relationships with students and helping them develop into conscientious scientists
What advice would you give someone starting out in geoscience teaching?
Read 'How People Learn - Brain, Mind, Experience, and School' and build a community of geo teachers who can discuss practices together
What is the greatest challenge to increasing the reach of geoscience education?
The socio-political landscape tarnishes the geosciences with a mining-only and exploitative reputation. Economic geology is only one part of what we do
Which wins for you? Rock, mineral, fossil, structure?
Rock!
WE NEED YOU! Complete the form at https://forms.gle/kPk5YQwFDXh4S8vD8 to be profiled on our website and in an upcoming newsletter!
Teaching online
Semester 2, 2022 was another semester of fully online teaching for all our members in Victoria and NSW, and partially online for the ACT. The challenges of teaching online are known to many in the southeastern states (particularly Victorians) and although everyone understands that public health is an absolute priority, having another fully online semester was disappointing for teachers and students alike. But what resilience we all showed! And now the horizon is looking brighter for a return to face-to-face learning in 2022 (taking with us important pedagogical lessons from these experiences, of course)
** 2022 AUGEN TEAM annual meeting **
Save the date for Wednesday 23 February 2022 and join us for our annual meeting!
Presentations on teaching and learning in geoscience are welcome, but only an informal abstract paragraph will be required. Did you approach an aspect of your teaching differently in 2021? Did you have some successes you would like to share? Did you have some failures you’d like to share? We want you!
The meeting will be around 3 hours (with a break or two) depending on the number of presentations
1 pm NSW, Vic, Tas, ACT
12:30 am SA
11:30 am NT
12 noon Qld
10 AM WA
Format - short talks (10-15 minutes) on teaching innovations, disasters, and successes as well as School/Department updates or Geoscience Education Research are welcome. Only short (two-three paragraph) abstracts are necessary. We will also have time for discussion on topical general issues such as the future of geoscience education in the current higher education climate. If you wish to propose a topic for discussion please email sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au
Registration is completely free and is now available on the AUGEN TEAM website:
Links, reading and resources
Some recommended reading and online resources from the AUGEN TEAM:
Looking for digitised hand samples? Check out the collection from Nathan Daczko at Macquarie University: https://fse.mq.pedestal3d.com/grid
A new advocacy piece published in Eos, led by Sam Boone from The University of Melbourne: https://eos.org/opinions/australias-unfolding-geoscience-malady
Alex Strekeisen’s fabulous collection of photomicrographs is a ‘must bookmark’ site: http://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/
Do you do any outreach at primary or secondary schools? Make sure you keep up with the latest resources shared by the fab team at Australian Earth Science Education https://ausearthed.com.au If you know school teachers make sure they also know about the resources available there to support earth and environmental science learning at schools. Also let them know that joining AUGEN (and attending AUGEN events) is free! All teachers are welcome
Have you been following Melanie Finch’s #100DaysOfGeoscience on Twitter and Instagram? If not, search the hashtag in your favourite search engine to see the posts. Melanie has been doing a brilliant job sharing a wide range of earth science photos (with explanations) She would be happy if some images were useful to you in your teaching - if you do find any useful, please acknowledge your source and let Melanie know!
EARTH SCIENCE WEEK 2021
10-16 October 2021 was Earth Science Week, a global initiative to increase understanding of our science. Some events in Australia included:
So much shared content and news on the hashtag #EarthScienceWeek
#ThisIsGeoscience hashtag on twitter and Instagram and the #YourPlaceGeology hashtag on twitter
The seeds of an idea for formalising state rocks for each state and territory began at this twitter thread - do you have an opinion? Let the AUGEN team know!
Some great resources made available by Geoscience Australia, including a fun quiz that is useful for engagement, outreach and first year teaching, available here
The annual GSWA Earth Science Week photo competition - check out the winning entries here
The Inaugural GSANeo event for early career geoscientists - a fantastic initiative involving group coaching sessions with the Happiness Concierge, and two fantastic panel discussions. Highly recommended event that will hopefully run again in 2022 and be ideal for 3rd year, Honours, Master and PhD students (and others)
Lots of discussions online and some great coverage on radio and tv media
Through the lens: Semester 2, 2021
Contributions to AUGEN News are welcome! Please send your updates, commentaries, book or journal article reviews, photos and ideas through to the team - sandra.mclaren@unimelb.edu.au