Abstract
The National Geoscience Faculty Survey (NGFS) was designed to probe how
faculty teach in undergraduate geoscience courses, learn about pedagogy
and instructional content, and participate in the geoscience education
and research communities. The survey has been administered four times in
2004 (n = 2207), 2009 (n = 2874), 2012 (n = 2466), and 2016 (n = 2615).
The original survey was developed as part of On the Cutting Edge, a
National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded professional development
program for geoscience faculty sponsored by the National Association of
Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). The 2016 survey was developed by a research
team involving leadership of On the Cutting Edge, InTeGrate, and SAGE
2YC, with support from their NSF grants. The NGFS dataset is a unique
and valuable longitudinal resource. One of our strategies for providing
access to NGFS data is to publish a free-to-download report with
response frequencies for all questions in order to make aggregate,
baseline data available to the community and to place the NGFS in the
context of other national datasets. The report consists of five
chapters: 1) An introduction to the survey, including how it was
designed and administered; 2) A description of survey respondents,
including demographic data, the type and amount of teaching they do, and
how they engage with the geoscience education and research communities;
3) The characteristics and topics of courses taught; 4) The teaching
strategies used in introductory geoscience courses and courses for
geoscience majors; and 5) How and why instructors learn about and change
their teaching practices. Our demographic data suggest that the 2016
survey respondents represent about 25% of the population of
college-level geoscience instructors in the US. The 2012 and 2016
respondents are a representative sample of the range of disciplines,
institution types, and geographic locations of the larger population,
but slightly overrepresent more senior faculty (professors and associate
professors). Our analyses highlight differences in the nature of
teaching and classroom practices between introductory and majors-level
geoscience courses, and differences in participation in the geoscience
community between instructors at different institution types (two-year
vs. four-year).