Career and Research Exploration for Students and Teachers (CREST) -- (For Track 1)

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Career and Research Exploration for Students and Teachers (CREST)Career and Research Exploration for Students and Teachers (CREST) provides amodel for integrating research and education by enhancing teacher content knowledge in the geosciences while providing students with exposure to geosciences and environmental research and related careers. During each of two summers, five teams, composed of one science teacher and three middle school students per team, will spend two weeks working with personnel from Mississippi Lignite Mine Company's Red Hills Mine and Mississippi State University scientists. Students and teachers learn academic content and research methods relative to development and utilization of a lignite coal resource, including resource identification, pre-mining, mining, and post-mining. Hands-on research accompanied by appropriate lectures in the areas of ecology, geology and reclamation gives students and teachers experiences with data collection, data analysis and data interpretation. Students and teachers are exposed to issues of mining and the environmental impact of the Red Hills Mine by working with scientists and participating in on-going research projects at the mine and in the local area. Academic year follow-up occurs through electronic communication among student-teacher teams, project and mine personnel and scientists. CREST has the potential to introduce geosciences and research to underrepresented groups. Participants are selected from school districts in counties surrounding Red Hills Mine. The middle schools identified for participant recruitment have a minority population ranging from 25% to 100%.