Earth and Ocean Sciences

Department of Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences

Note: the department was "Earth & Ocean Sciences" for most of its time in the CWSEI, so you will see that name in most documentation here.

People

CWSEI Department Director: Stuart Sutherland, Sara Harris

STLFs: Alison Jolley, Tara Holland, Sarah Bean Sherman, Francis Jones, Brett Gilley, Erin Lane, Joshua Caulkins, Ben Kennedy

Faculty who have worked with STLFs on specific courses: S. Allen, R. Beckie, M. Bevier, M. Bostock, G. Dipple, E. Eberhardt, R. Francois, B. Gilley, E. Haber, S. Harris, F. Herrmann, K. Hickey, S. Hollingshead, T. Ivanochko, M. Jellinek, C. Johnson, F. Jones, L. Kennedy, M. Kopylova, M. Maldonado, U. Mayer, S. McDougall, J. Mortensen, D. Oldenburg, K. Orians, E. Pakhomov, R. Pawlowicz, V. Radic, K. Russell, C. Schoof, J. Scoates, M. Smit, P. Smith, D. Steyn, R. Stull, S. Sutherland, P. Tortell, M. Ver, S. Waterman, D. Weis

Additional Faculty/Instructors impacted by CWSEI: M. Allen, D. Athaide, P. Austin, A. Bain, E. Barns, T. Bissig, A. Caruthers, K. Chan, K. Grimm, L. Groat, P. Hammer, E. Hearn, O. Hungr, D. Jessop, M. Lipsen, L. Longridge, M. McKinnon, J. Monteux, L. Porritt, C. Suttle, .B. VanStraaten, D. Winget, H. Zerriffi, D. Turner, T. Dzikowski

Students contributing to SEI project components: L. Bailey, L. Beranek, J-F. Blanchette-Guertin, G. Baldeon, A. Caruthers, D. Cassis, R. Cockett, J. Dohaney, R. Eso, G. Epstein, L. Greenlaw, M. Golding, L. Gurney, M. Halverson, L. Harrison, S. Henderson, T. Hirsche, K. Hodge, E. Holmes, A. Jolley, K. Ko, P. Lelievre, C. Leslie, C. Livingstone, K. Lucas, J. Mcalister, C. Miller, P. Olmstead, K. Rasmussen, J. Rhajiak, E. Schaeffer, J. Schiller, E. Scribner, I. Shinnick-Gordon, B. Smithyman, K. Smet, L. Stock, R. Taylor, D. Tomkins, D. Tommasi, C. Wong

Activity

Activity summary report for the EOS/EOAS CWSEI group (course and curriculum projects, research, development of assessment tools) - PDF download

EOAS maintains an extensive site of its own with records, research, and more from its SEI efforts: https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/research/cwsei/

Archive of the newsletter, "EOS SEI Times", 2008-2017: https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/research/cwsei/eossei-times.html

Course Materials

• EOSC 111: Laboratory Exploration of Planet Earth
• EOSC 114: The Catastrophic Earth - Natural Disasters
• EOSC 210: Earth Science for Engineers
• EOSC 332: Tectonic Evolution of North America
• EOSC 372: Introductory Oceanography: Circulation and Plankton
• EOSC 373: Introductory Oceanography: Climate and Ecosystems

Overview

Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences received full funding from CWSEI in 2007 and began the efforts listed below in Summer 2007. The overarching goal of the Department’s science education initiative (EOAS-SEI) was to promote cultural change in our approach to teaching and learning and establish sustainable processes to continue and improve the work accomplished during the CWSEI project.

The EOAS-SEI program completed the first phase of CWSEI in 2014 with more than 40 courses either fully transformed or impacted by CWSEI. These courses are now using principles of research-based effective pedagogy in their design and implementation. Many instructors of these courses continue to iterate on improvements either on their own or with consulting help from STLFs. About 80% of EOAS faculty and over half of our sessional instructors have received direct support to adjust their courses and teaching from the SEI.

The second phase of the project - the Harris Project - is an extension of CWSEI that ran primarily from 2014 to 2017. In addition to continuing course transformations and faculty support, this phase included deliberate effort toward effective transfer of pedagogies to new instructors, experimenting with a paired-teaching model. This was funded by John and Deb Harris, the UBC Faculty of Science, and the Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences department.

The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences touches all aspects of undergraduate teaching and learning in this department. Our undergraduates include those headed for careers in science and many for whom our department is their only encounter with science during their university years. We aim to provide the best opportunities for both these groups to practice scientific thinking and to incorporate scientific skills into their lives, regardless of their career path. We have been developing and using instruments to assess student achievement of learning goals and also their attitudes about science. Our graduate students are involved as an integral part of the undergraduate teaching and learning effort and we have developed a new TA training program to better meet the needs of grad students, undergraduates, and faculty.

Goals:

• Promote student achievement of the following learning outcomes.
  • Develop skills for making reasoned judgments based on scientific evidence and organized knowledge.
  • Enhance the ability to transfer knowledge, skills and concepts to new situations or contexts, for professional, academic, or general societal purposes.
  • Develop the ability to assess and remedy one's own understanding.
  • Achieve an appropriate balance between breadth and depth of knowledge, in order to recognize and express linkages among systems and concepts.
  • Explore the interacting frameworks of economic development and environmental stewardship in the richly multi-disciplinary context of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences
• Expand and coordinate our efforts in the following areas as a department:
  • Increase teaching effectiveness and efficiency in our undergraduate courses and programs.
  • Raise university-wide levels of scientific literacy and global awareness.
  • Emphasize contemporary thought and new directions in science and science education.
  • Enable, facilitate, and support faculty and TAs to follow best practices for achieving departmental teaching and learning goals while retaining ownership of their courses.

A copy of our submitted proposal is available here: EOAS proposal.