This project is supporting digital resource development and faculty workshops aimed at building capacity within the geosciences community to increase both the quantity and quality of grant proposals submitted to the NSF TUES program and other NSF education programs. This project is delivering a menu of proposal writing workshops (at sectional and regional geoscience conferences, and stand-alone multi-day workshops) aimed at earth, oceans, atmospheric, environmental, and geospatial science faculty from research and comprehensive universities, and two- and four-year colleges. The project is targeting faculty with limited or no previous NSF education funding. An important part of this project involves collecting survey data aimed at identifying reasons contributing to low geoscience submission rates to the TUES program in particular.
A primary outcome of this project is increasing both the quality and quantity of TUES proposals submitted by geoscience faculty. Increasing the number of quality TUES proposals submitted may lead to greater numbers of TUES proposals funded, but more importantly indicates a greater number of geoscience faculty engaged at a highly creative level in improving the quality of geosciences education for all students. This project is also increasing the awareness among geoscience faculty of NSF education programs, and of the characteristics of competitive proposals. Faculty attending the workshops and using the digital resources are joining a network of geoscientists who share a common concern for engaging students through active learning. To help build expertise and leadership in the successful development of education-related grant proposals within the geoscience community "facilitator-training" activities are being integrated into several of the workshops.
By targeting geoscience faculty at all institutional types across the country, this project is improving the quality of geoscience education for large numbers of undergraduates, both STEM majors and non-majors. Project efforts targeting faculty with no previous NSF education funding experience is broadening participation by faculty and institutions that have had limited prior interaction within the geoscience education community. Closed-captioned digital resources developed by this project are facilitating information sharing among faculty workshop participants and among faculty who are accessing these information resources over the Internet.
