The State of Earth Systems Teaching 

This work was based on teaching practices reported in the National Geoscience Faculty Survey.  This study used structural equation modeling to understand the relationship between instructors' active learning practices, courses changes, and systems thinking practices.  This work found that instructors engage in three broad systems thinking practices; however, these practices are not directly related to active learning teaching practices.  The implications for this work is that systems thinking teaching practices must be a major focus of professional development opportunities.  Additionally, systems thinking practices related to modeling are far more weakly related to the other systems thinking teaching practices, meaning that teaching practices relating to modeling and quantitative skills need more focus in the development of teaching resources and professional development.  A paper based on this work has been accepted to publication in Geosphere.  A companion paper with colleagues at University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been published in The Journal of Geoscience Education.