CHANGING THE ACADEMIC CLIMATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII'S SCHOOL OF OCEAN AND EARTH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SOEST)

We aim to fundamentally transform undergraduate geoscience instruction at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) based on the Science Education Initiative (SEI) model. The SEI model involves redesigning courses based on learner-centered approaches that have been shown to produce significant learning gains. Twenty-seven faculty across the ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences have expressed interest. We hope to begin this experiment in 2016, pending a successful funding decision on an NSF Improving Undergraduate Science Education (IUSE) Geopaths proposal.

This project is not only evidence-based, but evidence-generating. At SOEST, we have a rare opportunity to generate a solid picture of the state of teaching and student learning before any transformation takes place, which will contribute to the body of literature on the efficacy of course transformation. Results from specific course transformations will contribute to the literature on effective learning within SOEST sub-disciplines, such as geology and oceanography.

Educational researchers will guide faculty through course design and evaluation. Their role is to share a range of proven instructional and assessment strategies, and to train faculty in their use. A key premise is that it is the geoscience faculty who are responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating an educational research experiment of their own choosing. The instructors are the experimenters, not the subjects of an SEI-led experiment.

We hypothesize that this course transformation will result in increased recruitment and retention at the University of Hawaii. As our student body is highly diverse, this can have a positive impact on broadening participation in the geosciences.