Collaborative Research: Faculty as Change Agents: Transforming Geoscience Education in Two-year Colleges

两年制大学（2YCs）在满足国家地球科学和STEM劳动力需求以及提高公众科学素养方面发挥着至关重要的作用。在全国范围内，2YCs招收了超过45%的美国本科生，并为大量女性、少数民族和第一代大学生提供服务。2YC的教学环境是最具挑战性的环境之一，因为社区大学主要是开放获取的机构，为极其多样化的学生群体提供服务；教学负担沉重；越来越多的人使用兼职教师；参与教师专业发展活动的支持是有限的。后一个问题尤其关键，因为这些活动被广泛认为是许多创新教学方法的来源，这些方法对提高学生的学习至关重要。这个教师专业发展项目将建立一个由2YC地球科学教师和管理人员组成的自给自足的地方社区的全国性网络，他们使用循证策略来提高所有学生的学业成功，并促进进入STEM劳动力的专业途径。一个相互联系和相互支持的研究和评估计划将完全整合到项目中，这将促进对2YCs全职和兼职地球科学和STEM教师专业发展模式有效性的认识和理解。该项目的目标是1)实施高影响力的循证教学和课外实践，支持所有学生的学业成功，并促进进入地球科学的专业途径；2)建立一个由2YC领袖组成的可持续的全国网络，这些领袖在从他们的课程到当地机构和实践社区的多个层面上催化变革；3)研究2YC地球科学全职和兼职教师的专业发展模式，促进创新循环，教师从他人的研究中学习，在自己的实践中做出改变，并与教育界分享他们所学到的知识。该项目的专业发展计划将为两批2YC地球科学教师团队做好准备，以便在各自机构实施循证教学和课外实践。第一批学员包括来自美国10个地区17所院校的24名全职和兼职教师。全国研讨会、虚拟专业发展机会（如期刊俱乐部、网络研讨会、实施和讨论小组）以及在线资源将支持教师在校园实施变革。将管理人员纳入项目将为每个机构的系统变革提供支持。教员团队将利用研讨会和后续活动相结合的方式，与所在地区的其他两年制和四年制院校合作，扩大项目的影响范围。虚拟专业发展机会将作为增加项目覆盖面的机制，在线资源将为整个地球科学和更广泛的STEM社区提供持久的资源。项目团队预计，600名全职和兼职2YC教师以及50名四年制学院和大学教师将在项目过程中参与专业发展活动，该项目将影响约25万名参加地球科学课程的2YC学生。

Two-year colleges (2YCs) play crucial roles in meeting the Nation's geoscience and STEM workforce needs and in increasing public scientific literacy. Nationally, 2YCs enroll over 45% of all U.S. undergraduates and serve a large number of women, minority, and first-generation college students. The 2YC teaching environment is one of the most challenging as community colleges are primarily open-access institutions that serve an extremely diverse student body; teaching loads are heavy; there is an increasing use of adjunct faculty; and support is limited for participation in faculty professional development activities. The latter issue is particularly crucial since such activities are widely recognized as the source for many innovative teaching methods shown to be critically important for improving student learning. This faculty professional development project will build a national network of self-sustaining local communities of 2YC geoscience faculty and administrators who use evidence-based strategies to improve all students' academic success and facilitate professional pathways into the STEM workforce. A program of interconnected and mutually supportive research and evaluation that is fully integrated in the project will advance knowledge and understanding of the effectiveness of a professional development model for full-time and adjunct geoscience and STEM faculty in 2YCs. The project goals are to 1) implement high-impact evidence-based instructional and co-curricular practices that support the academic success of all students and promote professional pathways into geoscience; 2) build a sustainable national network of 2YC leaders who catalyze change at multiple levels from their courses to institutions in their local regions and within the community of practice; and 3) investigate models of professional development for full-time and adjunct 2YC geoscience faculty that promote the cycle of innovation, where faculty learn from the research of others, make changes in their own practice, and share what they have learned with the education community. The project's professional development program will prepare two cohorts of 2YC geoscience faculty teams to implement evidence-based instructional and co-curricular practices at their institutions. The first cohort includes twenty-four (24) full-time and adjunct faculty from seventeen (17) institutions in ten regions in the United States. National workshops, virtual professional development opportunities (e.g., journal clubs, webinars, implementation and discussion groups), and on-line resources will support faculty in implementing changes on their campus. Inclusion of administrators in the project will provide support for systemic change at each institution. The faculty teams will expand the reach of the project by engaging additional two-year and four-year institutions in their regions using a combination of workshops and follow-on activities. Virtual professional development opportunities will serve as a mechanism for increasing the reach of the project and on-line resources will provide persistent resources for the full geoscience and broader STEM communities. The project team anticipates that six-hundred (600) full-time and adjunct 2YC faculty and fifty (50) four-year college and university faculty will be engaged in professional development activities over the course of the project and that the project will impact an estimated 250,000 2YC students enrolled in geoscience courses.