iEarth at the NGF Winter Conference 2025

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Thomas H. Thuesen

On the 6-8th of january 2025, the Geological Society of Norway (NGF, Norsk Geologisk Forening), arranged their biennial winter conference at HVLs facilities at Kronstad in Bergen.

What was new this year, was that the first ever "Geoscience Education" session at the Geological Society in Norway was hosted by iEarth network coordinator Thomas H. Thuesen during the 3-day conference. For the T9 session, we had a full day program (see below), with talks ranging from work placements in GeoPraksis to Geosciences position primary school and teacher education.

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Program for the session T9 Geofagutdanning / Geoscience Education at the NGF Winter Conference 2025.

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Several iEarth members attended, including presentations from Kenneth Mangersnes on the GeoPraksis subject at the Department of Earth Science (GEO), University of Bergen (UiB), our national student leader Siri Tungland presenting the "Continuous feedback in teaching and learning project" where it was run at 10 subjects at GEO during the fall semester of 2024. For the spring semester 2025, a total of 14 subjects will host this student-driven initiative aiming to increase the communication between instructors and students about teaching and learning at GEO, UiB.

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Please contact Siri Tungland at: siri.tungland@student.uib.no if your interested in running this feedback system at your department!

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National student leader Siri Tungland presenting results and ideas from the 2024 run of the student-led project "Continuous feedback in teaching and learning".

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iEarth postdoc and now recently hired associate professor in structural geology, Carly Faber at the University of Tromsø, the arctic university, presented her work on "What drives educational change among geoscience university faculty in Norway?"

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"What are the barriers to educational chnage among geoscience university faculty in Norway?" by Carly Faber.

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Atle Rotevatn (iEarth board member, professor and head of department at the Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen) presented the new bachelor's program at the University of Bergen, the Earth Science and Informatics program that was launched in the fall of 2024 that has received great interest from students and has also aided in recruting new geoscience students to our previous programs.

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The new bachelor's program: Earth Science and Informatics (Geofag og Informatikk) and the course schedule at the Department of Earth Science (GEO), University of Bergen.

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Nilas T. Mikkelsen presented the University snow sciences courses at UiT, the arctic university in a project where they analysed the students outcomes within the subjects.

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Nilas T. Mikkelsen, bachelor student and iEarth student leader at UiT, the Arctic University presenting at NGF Winter Conference.

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Gerry, an iEarth PhD linked to the University of Oslo, presented his work on student compensation and motivation. An interesting find in the study shows that student compentation acted as an enabler for students to take part in partnerships and thereby affecting their own education.

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Gerald Decelles III, iEarth PhD presenting at the Winter Conference on the 6th of January 2025.

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Next up was Vilde Dimmen, a senior consultant at the Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen held the talk: "Livslang læring i eit samfunn i endring" focusing on life-long learning through EVU subjects (etter- og videreutdanningsfag) at UiB. More than 1000 students have completed EVU courses at the University of Bergen since 2021, making this a large endeavour!

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Vilde Dimmen, senior consultant at UiB, presenting life-long learning at UiB. More than a 1000 students have taken the subjects offered since 2021.

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Ingjald Pilskog, associate professor at the department of sport, food and natural sciences, presented "Stebarnet - geofags plass i naturfag i lærerutdanningen" where he focused on how central geosciences are, but how abscent they are throughout the LK20 competence goals through our education (primary school, secondary school and upper secondary school).

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Ingjald Pilskog presenting his mapping of the LK20 (Kunnskapsløftet 2020) and checking how geoscience fits into this renewal of the curriculum and competence goals.

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Last but not least, Kristine Fjordheim (associate professor at the department of pedagogy, religion and social studies at HVL) presented how local field localities were used in the geography education at HVL and how the application, Fotspor, was used to create simple digital field trips with waypoints, videos, quizzes and more.

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