AN IPO TEAMWORK THEORY FOR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH

Despite the identification of teamwork as an essential employability skill and learning outcome in the geosciences, information relating to explicit practices and how students develop teamwork skills during their educational preparation is scant in the STEM literature, including the geosciences. There is a lack of consensus concerning the dimensional and conceptual structure of teamwork behaviors. While some dimensions are specific to affect management and self-management, others consider general dimensions such as interpersonal processes. Again, many of the teamwork frameworks are not based on existing theories which makes the construct difficult for both researchers and professionals to effectively operationalize. In this talk, we will share how an influential and parsimonious teamwork framework, Input-Process-Output model, IPO was adapted for geoscience education research. The model identified through comprehensive critical review of the teamwork and community of practice literature has been used in a series of studies that explored teamwork from the perspectives and practices of geoscience employers and students. Results from these studies validates the IPO model as a reliable and novel approach for teamwork research and education in the geosciences, and the broader STEM field.