FORMING A NETWORK TO DEFINE STUDENT SUCCESS IN THE GEOSCIENCES IN THE 2YC: WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, OUR STUDENTS, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

In New York, community colleges now account for 52% of all students currently working towards a degree in higher ed. As a result two-year colleges (2YCs) are now playing an increasingly important role in producing a competent and creative geoscience workforce, teaching science to pre-service K-12 teachers and providing a foundation for broadening participation in the geosciences. Although improving student success is a significant priority at most 2YCs, it is especially challenging given the wide range of levels of preparation, abilities, and goals of 2YC students as well as the limited resources of most 2YCs.

In March 2014 we facilitated a day long workshop sponsored by SAGE 2YC that brought together undergraduate and graduate students, 32 faculty from ten regional community colleges and 4 year colleges and universities, an educational psychologist, and working geoscience professionals to study issues impacting student success and to develop strategies to increase success in geoscience programs. Because understanding how individual populations define success is crucial to developing effective teaching methodologies, student and faculty participants first worked to develop a greater understanding of success as it may be defined by faculty and by students (both majors and non majors).

Then, utilizing contemporary understandings of how we learn as well as input from industry professionals, participants developed strategies for effectively teaching all students, including distinct subpopulations, to improve success within our courses and programs. Here we present the major findings of this workshop as they relate to student and faculty perceptions of success including how understanding educational psychology may improve student success in geoscience courses and how industry expectations for geoscience graduates differs from programatic goals of institutions. We will also show the value of SERC support for these pedagogical endeavors and the importance of forming a network of faculty and students across both 2yr and 4yr colleges.