Reaching Out to Communities and Kids with Science in San Francisco, California: SF-ROCKS

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ABSTRACTReaching Out to Kids and Community with Science in San FranciscoThe "Reaching Out to Kids and Community with Science in San Francisco (SF-ROCKS)" program at San Francisco State University (SFSU) aims to increase the number of traditionally underrepresented students who enter college as geoscience majors through a multi-faceted collaborative research project that will provide teacher training, student education, and several tiers of mentoring relationships. The activities include: (1) strengthening partnerships with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) by engaging high school teachers and their students in supervised environmental research projects and training; (2) building bridges between SFSU and City College of San Francisco (CCSF), where many underrepresented students in San Francisco are first introduced to geoscience at the college level; and (3) fostering mentoring relationships among SFSU geosciences faculty, undergraduate students, and high school students through guidance and supervision of field projects. SF-ROCKS also partners with local community groups and government agencies for project support and mutual benefit. The collaborative program has a research base at SFSU and satellite centers at CCSF and five high schools in eastern San Francisco in the Islais and Mission creek watersheds. At each satellite center, instructors responsible for teaching earth and environmental science work with SFSU Department of Geosciences project scientist to develop a community- centered, multi-layered, hands-on mapping and sampling partnership to identify and to monitor environmental hazards and watershed characteristics. Each satellite center focuses on the area around their school, with connections to the other centers via teacher workshops, interactions with the SFSU research base, and a comprehensive interactive web site.