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Publications on undergraduate geoscience education in the U.S.

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Over the past two years, I have had the opportunity to contribute as a research team member on the National Geoscience Faculty Survey project led by SERC and made possible by funding from NSF. As part of this effort, I was fortunate to collaborate with Dr. Karen McNeal, as well as doctoral students Diane Lally (UNL) and Nick Soltis (Auburn University), on analysis of data from the 2016 administration of the survey to investigate U.S. geoscience faculty members’ reported emphasis on scientific modeling and systems thinking in their undergraduate courses. Based on a sample of over 2000 postsecondary instructors, this shows these elements to be more heavily emphasized by faculty members from certain geoscience subdisciplines than others and who generally show greater engagement with instructional innovation. This was a great experience working with a wonderful team on a unique dataset and we all hope these are findings that will be accessible and useful to postsecondary geoscience faculty nationwide.

Lally, D., Forbes, C.T., McNeal, K., & Soltis, N. (2019).  National Geoscience Faculty Survey 2016: Prevalence of systems thinking and scientific modeling learning opportunities. Journal of Geoscience Education, 67(2), 174-191.

Soltis, N., McNeal, K., Forbes, C.T. & Lally, D. (2019).  The relationship between active learning, course innovation, and teaching Earth systems thinking: A structural equation modeling approach. Geosphere, 15(5), 1703-1721.

2014 Forbes Group Presentations

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Sabel, J., Forbes, C. T., & Zangori, L. (2014, November). Preservice teachers’ use of content knowledge to inform formative assessment strategies in an integrated life sciences methods course. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), Cleveland, OH.

Vo, T., Forbes, C.T., Schwarz, C. (2014, October). Fostering 3rd-grade students’ use of scientific models with the water cycle: Teachers’ conceptions and practices.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Vancouver, BC.

Forbes, C.T. (2014, March).  Discipline-based research on elementary science learning environments designed to foster students’ learning about water systems.  Invited presentation at the UNL Discipline-Based Educational Research (DBER) Group Seminar.

Forbes, C.T., Schwarz, C., Zangori, L., & Vo., T. (2014, August). Modeling Hydrologic Systems in Elementary Science (MoHSES) project.  Poster presented at the 2014 NSF DR K-12 PI Conference, Washington, DC.

Forbes, C.T., Schwarz, C., & Zangori, L. (2014, June). Development of an empirically-based learning performances framework for 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about hydrologic cycling. Paper presented at the bi-annual International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Boulder, CO.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Schwarz, C. (2014, June). Investigating the effect of curricular scaffolds on 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations for hydrologic cycling. Paper presented at the bi-annual International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Boulder, CO.

Forbes, C.T., Zangori, L., & Schwarz, C. (2014, April). Mapping concepts to systems: Fostering 3rd-grade students’ use of models to explain hydrologic phenomena. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Pittsburgh, PA.

Forbes, C. T., Schwarz, C., & Zangori, L. (2014, April). Development of an empirically grounded learning performances framework for 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about water. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Sabel, J., Forbes, C.T., & Biggers, M. (2014, April). Elementary teachers’ implementation of formative assessment strategies: Supporting students’ learning about water and Earth materials. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Pittsburgh, PA.

Vo, T., Forbes, C.T., Zangori, L., & Schwarz, C. (2014, April). Elementary teachers conceptions and practices: Fostering students’ use of scientific models of the water cycle. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Pittsburgh, PA.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C. T., & Schwarz, C. (2014, March). Elementary students’ model-based explanations for botanical components of the water cycle. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Research Teaching, Pittsburgh, PA.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Schwarz, C. (2014, April). Investigating the effect of curricular scaffolds on 3rd-grade students’ model-based reasoning about the water cycle. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.