Steven Semken, Ph.D. - US grants

We recognize systemic science education problems: The majority of science courses, grades K-16, offer only the "products" of science and sparse teaching of the "process" of doing science. Due to this emphasis on products, college introductory science courses often fail to retain students in science, mathematics, and engineering majors, and fail in pre-service training for teachers, and minority populations. Systematic change is problematic. The different academic standards in different schools, colleges, and universities prohibit real articulation among faculty at these different levels and places, and there are few real systemic approaches to curriculum that are empirically derived or driven. Our objective is to provide a multi-institutional process of empirically driven curriculum development that emphasizes real-world scenarios in environmental science. We will develop three research- rich, inquiry-based courses and laboratories that will help students develop abilities to identify environmental problems, to design and implement research to study environmental problems, to develop functional literacy in the analysis and interpretation of data, to attain functional literacy in the application and use of advanced technologies, and to draft technical reports. These courses and laboratories are based on societal environmental focal points: Nuclear Waste Storage, Coal Power Plants, and Solid Waste Landfills. Our consortium of five institutions will form an Interdisciplinary Faculty Institute to review and implement the simulations. The Institute would create an across-institution infrastructure of professional development and collaboration through curriculum seminars and practical workshops for faculty. Our use of an outside review panel of industry and government content experts grounds these courses in the real world processes, and the model we will develop and quantify will be used at other institutions, especially those with populations o f native Americans and hispanic-Americans.

The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) will hold a two-day planning workshop to discuss strategies and develop an action plan for increasing the participation and leadership of two-year institution faculty in the geoscience education community. It is critically important to increase the participation of two-year institution faculty in efforts to reform geoscience education. Nearly half of all undergraduate students currently studying sciences and mathematics are enrolled at two-year institutions. Furthermore, two-year institutions are critically important in the science and mathematics preparation of future K-12 teachers, in the professional development of in-service teachers, and in increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities in the geosciences. Beyond this, the development of the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) presents many opportunities for the entire geoscience community and the larger integrative science community, and the two-year institutions need to
be full partners in these efforts. However, participation of two-year institution faculty in the geoscience education community has been limited. Given the important role of two-year institution faculty in geoscience education, they must be better integrated into the geoscience education community, both in terms of participation and in terms of leadership.

The planning workshop will provide a forum for bridging two-year institution faculty and four-year institution faculty to discuss and develop strategies that will result in greater integration of two-year institution faculty in the geoscience education community. The workshop will provide an opportunity to share the challenges and opportunities of the professional life of two-year institution faculty members, identify specific strategies that would reduce the professional isolation felt by some two-year institution
geoscience faculty members, develop plans to increase the professional development and leadership opportunities of two-year institution faculty members in geoscience education, discuss successes (and failures) of collaborations with four-year institutions and universities/faculties, consider strategies for fostering communications to two-year institution faculty, and plan a leadership conference for two-year institution faculty that would be held in the following year. The workshop will also include brief
presentations by representatives from other professional societies regarding their approach to two-year faculty issues. Prior to the planning workshop, all participants will discuss electronically the major issues faced by two-year institution geoscience faculty, discuss strategies for increasing participation and leadership in the geoscience and geoscience education community, and respond to the workshop agenda. The participants in the planning workshop will leave the workshop with an action plan for increasing the involvement of two-year faculty in various activities of the larger geoscience education community.

Collaborative research: Evaluating the contribution of Late Cretaceous biogeography to earliest Cenozoic biodiversity in North America

Anne Weil, Thomas Williamson, Steven Semken

In this project, the investigators will use a recently discovered, diverse, terrestrial microvertebrate fossil assemblage, found in the Naashoibito Member of the Kirtland Formation, in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, to test the following hypotheses: (1) that there was mammalian faunal provinciality in the latest Cretaceous of North America, and; (2) that recovery faunas of earliest Cenozoic North America are derived at least in part from diverse provinces present in Late Cretaceous North America. Terrestrial ecosystem recovery following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction is best known from studies of the North American Western Interior. This recovery is typified by the appearance of mammals whose lineages are unknown from North America in the preceding Late Cretaceous period. That may be because knowledge of latest Cretaceous mammalian faunas has been geographically restricted to the northern region of the Western Interior. In collecting this new, southern fauna, better establishing the age of the Naashoibito Member, and incorporating this new fauna in analyses of existing phylogenetic and biogeographic data bases, the investigators will advance understanding of how biogeographic factors preceding the most recent mass extinction contributed to the subsequent recovery of terrestrial ecosystems.
A secondary goal of this project is undergraduate education through involvement in original research, directed in part toward Native American students. The Kirtland Formation outcrops along the edge of the Navajo (Dine) Nation; this project offers an unique opportunity to educate Dine students in the geological history and vertebrate fossil resources of this part of their homeland, as well as in field and laboratory research methods. The findings of this project will be integrated into undergraduate geoscience curricula for science majors and pre-service K-12 teachers in the region.

Planning Grant for the Enhancement of Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics at Dine' College
Project Summary

Dine' College seeks a TCUP planning grant to evaluate its science, technology, engineering
and mathematics (STEM) curriculum with the objectives of: (a) improving as needed upon existing
strengths in the health, biological and physical sciences together with mathematics; (b) expanding
our capabilities in engineering and computer science, and (c) working with the College's Center for
Dine' Teacher Education and articulating universities to develop an effective discipline-based
STEM Education curriculum. That study will then be used as the basis of an action plan for
developing a full implementation grant--to be submitted the following year--leading to an improved
and expanded STEM program, ranging from a revised curriculum to improved classroom and
laboratory infrastructure, added faculty, and an upgraded working relationship with Reservation
employers and regional universities. The planning period will be for 12 months and will include
four phases.

* Phase 1 (August 15-November 15, 2003): An overall assessment of the present STEM
program within the College infrastructure. It will include the aggregate impact on students
of course offerings in STEM; of STEM faculty; and of such physical resources as laboratory
and classroom space, laboratory equipment, and computer resources.
* Phase II (November 16-February 14, 2004): A course by course evaluation of the STEM
curriculum, including content, student preparedness and achievement, student demand, and
teaching effectiveness.
* Phase III (February 15-May 15, 2004): Development of an institutional plan leading to the
preparation of a full implementation grant to facilitate growth and improvement.
* Phase IV (May 16-August 15, 2004): A preliminary analysis of Phases I, II and III, leading
to the development of a plan for evaluating progress during the implementation period.

This planning process and the implementation to follow will have the intellectual merit of
advancing STEM literacy within a significantly underserved population, Native American students.
Their broader impacts will be derived from the development of a model academic STEM program
that other Tribal Colleges will be able to use as a template in developing their own programs.

0454502
Semken


Native American Perspectives and Preferences
Bearing on EarthScope Deployments in the Southwest:
A Workshop to Build Awareness and Support

Arizona State University, Principal Investigator: Steven Semken

Researchers will deploy a grid of EarthScope geophysical stations in the southwest USA within the next four years, including a significant number sited on Native American homelands. To facilitate permitting and access to Native lands for research activities, and to initiate EarthScope education and outreach partnerships with Native American schools and communities in concert with the research, a special spring 2005 workshop, Native American Perspectives and Preferences Bearing on EarthScope Deployments in the Southwest (NAPP-ES), is being held at Arizona State University. The workshop brings together a group of experts in cultural resources and education from each of the seven Arizona Native nations affected by EarthScope.
At the NAPP-ES workshop, researchers are presenting a thorough introduction to EarthScope objectives and logistics, including physical demonstrations of station deployment and removal. The visiting Native experts are providing information on timely permitting and access, potential cultural conflicts with the research, and appropriate and effective ways to conduct education and outreach activities in their communities. The results of this workshop will be disseminated by means of an online, technical report and interactive website linked to EarthScope. An Advisory Board of Native experts is also being formed to review and guide future proposed projects.

In this collaborative project, the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Arizona State University (ASU) will create a paved 3-km long walking trail along the south rim of Grand Canyon in partnership with the National Park Service. The "Trail of Time" is to be marked as a time line with one meter corresponding to one million years of Earth history, along with interpretive wayside exhibits. This place-based geoscience exhibition using Grand Canyon as an immersive environment is designed to help visitors gain an understanding of the magnitude of geologic time, as well as key processes and events in the geologic evolution of the region. An online Virtual Trail of Time and printed materials will also be developed.

The "Trail of Time" will reach a large percentage of the four to five million people each year who visit the Grand Canyon, including many who would be unlikely to attend an exhibition at a science museum. It also offers new methods of interpretation, with the potential to impact many other sites within the large National Park Service system. The evaluation of learning in this natural setting should add to our knowledge of outdoor interpretation, as well as how best to communicate the concept of deep time.

Geology (42)


We are exploring the impact of using electronic student response systems to facilitate learning in large introductory geoscience courses across the country. Students are provided a personally registered remote control that is used to answer conceptual questions during the actual class. The questions are text-, diagram- or graph-based multiple choice questions that focus on one key concept. They are intended to reinforce material presented in class. They provide immediate feedback to students as class responses are collected in near-real time and displayed on a graph at the front of the classroom. Students and instructors analyze the graphs, discuss the results and use that information to guide subsequent activities. Small group discussion of class responses is the primary mode of instruction. We are analyzing over 9000 student responses to identify questions that can be used as reliable in-class assessments at other institutions. Teaching and learning aids are also being developed to help students identify ways to better prepare for class so that they are successful in and out of class. We are varying the types of questions, amounts of response data students see and questioning techniques to determine which combinations provide the richest learning experiences. Data are being collected in six different states at community colleges, four-year colleges and research universities. The intellectual merit of this proposal includes analyses of data regarding the utility of using electronic response system and questions across populations, disciplines and educational settings and identification of better ways to ensure a scientifically literate population of non-science majors. The broader impact of this proposal includes the thorough study and documentation of student response to these questions by gender and ethnicity. Such documentation is leading to recommendations for how faculty can employ such assessments in the most inclusive way possible.

This award is being used to conduct a quantitative evaluation of the hypothesis that place-based Earth science teaching will better engage and retain students who are indigenous to or historically linked to their homelands, such as American Indians and Mexican-Americans in the Southwest. A spectrum of cognitive and affective outcomes are being measured and analyzed using data taken in conjunction with a one-time experimental Southwest-based Earth systems science course (Situating Earth Science and Mathematics in Superior) for 30 in-service teachers from an ethnically, culturally, and geologically diverse rural region in central Arizona. The project aims to demonstrate quantitatively, through a majority-minority comparison, whether the place-based approach improves teacher content knowledge and scientific thinking, while enhancing sense of place. Participating teachers will be evaluated using established survey tools that will gauge pre- and post- geoscience content knowledge, level of place attachment and awareness, and beliefs about teaching and learning science. Results of these validated survey instruments will be used to help establish a new instrument that is tuned for place-based Earth science courses, but generalizable to any location. Teachers will participate in action research activities to further define connections to place and related pedagogical applications that will be videotaped, transcribed and incorporated into additional course products. This pilot study is expected to establish a model with the potential for broader use in diverse modes of situated teaching and learning.

In the Phoenix metropolitan area, high-need schools often experience on-going vacancies in the teaching staff and a high turnover rate of qualified teachers. This project attempts to identify and support up to 60 qualified secondary science teachers who will persist in high-need environments. Using different methods of recruitment, in conjunction with a marketing plan, science students are being identified and recruited to participate in undergraduate or post-baccalaureate programs that have extensive field experiences with diverse students, strong content knowledge requirements, and on-going opportunities to build their understanding of science as inquiry instruction. While students are completing their initial certification course work, field placements are being arranged in high need settings that consist of students who are Native American, Latina/o, or African American. Upon graduation, STARR Noyce teachers participate in science-focused induction programs, which specifically support their use of science as inquiry in diverse classrooms, their development as science teachers, and their socialization into the school community.
Ultimately, the dissemination of these findings is expected to direct future recruitment endeavors in this area.

This project is a collaboration among educators from Blackfeet Community College, Diné College, Arizona State University, and Michigan State University to meet a need for culturally relevant geoscience assessment that complements place-based curriculum and pedagogy. Cultural validation of geoscience assessment contributes to more equitable assessment of undergraduate geoscience students, provides educators with a relevant means for assessing their students' conceptual understanding, involves educators in designing assessment appropriate for diverse students, and contributes to the conversation about cultural validity of science assessment in the broader science-education community. This project enhances Earth Systems Science Literacy by developing place-based assessment for diverse student populations engaged in learning geoscience through leveraging of local knowledge. As part of this collaborative work, this project provides in-service training to Tribal College educators in assessment design (including proper question layout, language use, and importance of cultural and communication validity), establishes new relationships between Tribal College and university educators, and leverages existing scholarly networks to help facilitate access to research-based educational assessment in the geosciences.

EarthScope enables the exploration of the structure and evolution of the North American continent by scientists accessing a range of seismological, geodetic, in situ fault zone sampling, and geochronology and high resolution topography resources. EarthScope science is notable for its interdisciplinarity. Science results from EarthScope go beyond narrow analyses of individual datasets, and combine diverse observational datasets with innovative experimental and theoretical exploration. These results produce transformative knowledge for studying earth's structures and processes and in understanding hazards and guiding exploration of resources. In addition, these data and technologies offer superb opportunities to enhance formal and informal science education in the solid Earth sciences. The EarthScope National Office (ESNO) at Arizona State University serves the broad and diverse community of EarthScope stakeholders, including EarthScope researchers, formal and informal educators in Earth science, and the general public.

The ESNO will serve the scientific community through leadership and support of the EarthScope Steering committee, via close communication with the EarthScope program at NSF and the EarthScope Facilities (USArray, PBO, SAFOD), and by frequent solicitation of feedback and new ideas. The ESNO will maintain these activities as well as further promote EarthScope by assuming a meta-leadership role in coordinating current and new earth science initiatives (such as a major focus on Cascadia, the eastward movement of the Transportable Array, developing a plan for Alaskan EarthScope investigation, impending Frontiers in Earth System Dynamics projects, and earthquakes directly affecting the US). The need to integrate EarthScope and related data and other geoscience tools remains a critical need which can be addressed using the tools of cyberinfrastructure. Interesting new and unexpected applications of the EarthScope observational systems will be encouraged (e.g., atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere).

The ESNO foregrounds education and outreach (E&O): giving it attention, expertise, and resources at the same level as EarthScope science. This is accomplished by maintaining and expanding on effective services such as the EarthScope E&O website, Newsletters, Speaker Series, Interpretive Workshops for informal educators, and the biannual EarthScope National Meeting. Further, ESNO adds value to the programmatic E&O portfolio through new initiatives to:

- Rapidly channel EarthScope science through new social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and the 'Geoblogosphere';
- Pilot and disseminate exemplary new solid-Earth science content and inquiry-driven pedagogy for K-12 STEM teacher development (in partnership with organizations such as AGI and PRI);
- Catalyze the use of regional and local results from EarthScope research in promoting place-based Earth science teaching at all levels to better engage and retain diverse students; and
- Deliver a new continuing professional education service for EarthScope researchers and educators at the university and graduate levels: the University of EarthScope.

E&O at ESNO, infused with a place-based and educator-centered ethos, coordinates the compilation and presentation of the spectacular findings and scientific legacy of the EarthScope program, and is a reliable and effective partner to stakeholders.

Intellectual merit: Exploration of the 4-D structure of the North American continent is spectacularly underway with EarthScope by a vigorous community of scientists. The results are fundamental to increasing our understanding of the Earth, for characterizing how we live with potentially hazardous Earth processes, and for guiding exploration of resources. They are transformative in Earth science and technology education. The ESNO at ASU will be well-situated, planned, and configured to foster continued Earth exploration and discovery.

Broader impacts: The ESNO at ASU will enhance and continue to expand a high-profile public identity for EarthScope, establish a sense of ownership among scientific, professional, and educational communities, promote science literacy and understanding of EarthScope and Earth science in general, advance formal Earth science education, and foster use of EarthScope data, discoveries, and new technology in resolving challenging problems and improving our quality of life. Scientists, educators, students, decision makers, and our fellow citizens, in the Southwest as well as across the US and abroad, will all benefit from these activities.


Non-technical explanation of broader significance and importance: Exploration of the four dimensional structure of the North American continent and Earth processes operating on and within it is spectacularly underway with EarthScope by a vigorous community of scientists. The results are fundamental to increasing our understanding of Earth, for characterizing how we live with potentially hazardous Earth processes, and for guiding exploration of natural resources. They are transformative in Earth science and technology education. The EarthScope National Office at Arizona State University will be well-situated, planned, and configured to foster continued Earth exploration and discovery. It will enhance and continue to expand a high-profile public identity for EarthScope, establish a sense of ownership among scientific, professional, and educational communities, promote science literacy and understanding of EarthScope and Earth science in general, advance formal Earth science education, and foster use of EarthScope data, discoveries, and new technology in resolving challenging problems and improving our quality of life. Scientists, educators, students, decision makers, and our fellow citizens, in the Southwest as well as across the U.S. and abroad, will all benefit from these activities.

The Copper Triangle Pilot Project (CTPP) is a partnership among Arizona State University, Central Arizona College, a rural high-need school district (Superior Unified School District) and local industry (Resolution Copper Mining Company) to develop a research-based, sustainable pathway to baccalaureate degrees and careers in the Earth and environmental sciences for underrepresented minority students (mostly Hispanic and Native American) who reside in an underserved rural mining area (the "Copper Triangle") of central Arizona. CTPP is directed toward a type of geographic and demographic region not commonly served by other programs to promote equity and diversity: a rural community with a population that is more than 50% underrepresented minorities, and historically dependent on the extraction of natural resources. The interlinked components of CTPP, informed by current research on the most effective practices for minority-student recruitment and retention in the Earth sciences comprise an effective stakeholder partnership, concurrent-enrollment college courses, place-based instruction, a smoothly articulated academic program from high school to the B.S. and B.A., regional summer STEM internships, mentoring and support, and embedded teacher professional development. The Earth science curriculum is richly place-based (situated in Southwest landscapes, geologic phenomena, resources, and environmental issues) and informed by the diverse cultures and history of the local community. Each component is formatively and summatively assessed using mixed methods. The project has received strong endorsement and support from all community stakeholders and will be sustained into the future with regularly scheduled course offerings, continued support by the mining firm, and by the economic diversification and growth of the community and region catalyzed by the new mine.

This award will support a two-day Earth Science Education and Outreach Provider Summit at Tempe in the winter of 2012, hosted the EarthScope National Office. Participants will include E&O personnel and advisors from facilities and large research projects supported by the Division of Earth Sciences and other related organizations. The Provider Summit will be co-facilitated and evaluated by E&O experts from the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. The outcome and products of the meeting will constitute a unique resource for shaping informal and formal Earth science education and public outreach. The EarthScope National Office will ensure that the findings and products of the Provider Summit will be widely disseminated through its own channels, through SERC, and via the other participating organizations. These resources will be highly visible and freely available to all Earth science educators, educational institutions, and societies.

Society's response to climate change and many other challenges hinges on public understanding that science is not a body of facts and certainties in tidy disciplines, but rather a process of reasoning which often crosses disciplines and which narrows the uncertainties of knowledge. Unfortunately, the way science is taught to non-science students at most large universities tends to reinforce misconceptions. For example, many students satisfy their general science requirement in very large introductory lecture courses based on traditional disciplines. While some of these courses are excellent, they often emphasize facts rather than scientific reasoning. Lectures are often supplemented by laboratories to address this gap. However, when class sizes reach the hundreds, laboratories often feature scripted "cookbook" activities that do not teach students to reason scientifically.

In this project, the investigators are deploying and assessing a large-enrollment undergraduate general education science course that places scientific reasoning and multidisciplinary perspectives at the heart of the experience. This model is possible because of developments in online, computer-assisted education (cyberlearning). The project builds on Arizona State University's semester-long "Habitable Worlds" course, which is organized around the search for intelligent life beyond Earth. Motivated by the question "Are we alone?" students explore key science concepts from astronomy to sustainability using online tutorials that employ interactive simulations and immersive, media-rich "virtual field trips" (VFTs). Video lectures are embedded in the tutorials, but as scaffolding rather than as centerpieces. The tutorials utilize an intelligent software platform that responds adaptively to student input--essentially, a virtual tutor--and collects data on students' actions and inputs useful for learning research and course development. Such platforms that can be programmed by the instructor are now becoming commercially available. The investigators' thesis is that for large student populations this model is superior to conventional lecture-based online and face-to-face courses.

"Habitable Worlds" was piloted in Fall 2011 and will have been offered to about 800 ASU students online by the end of Fall 2012. In this project, the investigators, in collaboration with Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) faculty, are deploying and assessing a new version, "Habitable Worlds 2.0," which is optimized to scale to even larger and more diverse student populations. In this revised course, tutorials follow a learning progression from less to more mathematically involved, and are better aligned with K-12 education standards for pre-service teachers enrolled in ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC). Data collected by the tutoring platform is being used for research on student problem-solving. The investigators are also comparing the effectiveness of VFTs to physical field trips and are rigorously evaluating course effectiveness using both formative and summative methods.

Because of the size of ASU and MCCD, this project could have far-reaching effects on undergraduate science education nationwide. Because "Habitable Worlds 2.0" is part of the redesigned teacher preparation program at MLFTC, which is one of the largest teacher preparation programs in the United States, the project is also likely to have a broad impact on K-12 education.

Part 1: Nontechnical Description of the Project

Natural hazards exist in all parts of Earth, and pose risks to humanity, human institutions, and infrastructure. These risks are rendered even more extreme, more complex, and more difficult to manage by global climate change. Effective preparation for and mitigation of natural hazards is not simply a problem for natural scientists and engineers, but also for social sciences, since hazards originate and occur in the interfaces between natural systems and societies. Research has demonstrated that better-educated societies with better-educated decision-makers are best equipped to prepare for, mitigate, and recover from natural disasters. While hazards-related public and professional education are common missions for many universities and colleges, the HazPM project will improve on this model by drawing on expertise from both the social and the natural sciences of hazards to design and implement an undergraduate workforce-training program that integrates both realms from start to finish. Our design plan is fully supported by current research and will result in an innovative, fully accessible, and rigorously tested undergraduate curriculum that will be implemented regionally and disseminated nationally. Through parallel collaboration with faculty at regional two-year colleges that serve major populations of Native American and Hispanic/Chicano/Latino students, the HazPM project team will also increase access and professional opportunities in the sciences for underrepresented minority students.


Part 2: Technical Description

The overall goal of the HazPM project is to better prepare undergraduate students in geoscience and many other relevant fields, such as engineering, planning, management, pre-law, and sustainability, for careers or post-graduate studies related to natural-hazards preparedness and mitigation. Drawing on a research-based design plan that integrates natural and social sciences and employs a nimble partnership of expert professionals and educators from industry, government agencies, and academia, we will develop and bring to fruition an innovative, sustainable, and readily transferable workforce-training program that will be implemented locally and disseminated nationally and globally to enable wider adoption. The primary deliverable will be an innovative, online-native, fully accessible, rigorously assessed, modular curriculum for an undergraduate certificate program. Collaboration with agency and industry professionals will ensure program validity and relevance to career opportunities. HazPM will also increase access and professional opportunities for underrepresented students (including Native American and Hispanic/Chicano/Latino students in the U. S. Southwest) by means of pedagogy that addresses the impacts of socioeconomic inequality on vulnerability to hazards in underserved communities; direct partnership with regional two-year colleges that serve significant numbers of underrepresented students; and collaboration with minority professional STEM organizations (e.g., SACNAS, AISES, NABG) in dissemination of products.

Drawing on the diverse collective expertise of the principal investigators and collaborators, the HazPM project will integrate geoscientific principles and current geospatial, remote sensing, and monitoring technologies with social science principles and practices to inculcate a far broader understanding of the human, scientific, and engineering dimensions of hazards in students. Full collaborative participation of agency and industry experts in curriculum planning, development, and evaluation will ensure the validity of the program. Formative and summative assessment will maintain academic rigor.

Partnering with regional community colleges will allow for the recruitment of a diverse cadre of students who reflect the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of the Southwest, and who will apply their expertise where it is most needed, especially in underserved areas. Students will be able to enter the program at these partner institutions and transfer to ASU to complete their studies. Impacts of the program on diverse students will be tracked and measured by means of institutional demographic data. The undergraduate certificate program will be fully available and accessible online, and formalized in the academic programs at ASU and collaborating community colleges to ensure its sustainability. All HazPM curriculum resources and research findings will be broadly disseminated among the academic and professional communities by means of conference presentations, refereed publications in journals of education research and teaching practice, and web hosting with links to community digital libraries such as SERC, DLESE, and UCGIS. Adoption and implementation of the program resources by other institutions will be encouraged.