Preparing Undergraduates for Research: Examining the use of Remote Instrumentation in Earth and Planetary Science Classrooms

地质学(42)该项目正在实施和测试方法，以便将研究微束分析仪器--一个电子探针微型分析器和一个扫描电子显微镜--纳入地球科学和自然科学入门课程和高级课程。这项工作建立在Beane(2004)和其他最近的项目的有效教学方法的基础上，通过开发和测试面向课堂和基于研究的活动，在远程操作环境中使用微束仪器进行教育。项目评估的重点是在课堂环境中使用这些工具的后勤方面，以及它们的教育益处--它们对在这些课程中学习的直接影响，以及吸引和留住地球科学领域的学生以及引导学生在以后的学术生涯中走向研究方向的次要影响。正在开发的教材正在提交给适当的科学教育资源中心(SERC)网站，用于本科生地球科学教育，并通过本科生研究理事会两年一次的会议以及美国地球物理联盟和美国地质学会全国会议上为教员举办的讲习班进行传播。这个项目的智力价值在于它在理解在本科STEM课程中使用研究工具的教育和职业发展价值方面取得了进展。该项目更广泛的影响在于它提供了关于将虚拟仪器的使用融入科学课堂的成功方法的见解，这有可能使各种机构的学生接触到科学家实际做的一些研究。此外，外展活动不仅在PI和许多机构的教职员工之间建立了联系，还将教职员工与NSF资助的尖端(和Internet2可访问)材料微观分析设施联系起来。该项目的另一个教育影响涉及一名即将入学的博士生参与地球科学教育，他也在当地一所社区大学任教。

Geology (42)This project is implementing and testing methods to bring research microbeam analytical instrumentation - an electron probe microanalyzer, and a scanning electron microscope, accessible via remote instrument operation technologies - into introductory and upper-level geoscience and natural science courses. This work is building on effective instructional approaches from Beane (2004) and other recent projects by developing and testing both classroom-oriented and research-based activities that make educational use of microbeam instruments in a remote operation environment. Project assessment is focusing on logistical aspects of using these tools in classroom settings, and on their educational benefits - their direct effects on learning in these courses, and the secondary impacts of attracting and retaining students in geoscience fields, and leading students into research-oriented directions later in their academic careers. The educational materials being developed are being submitted to appropriate Science Education Resource Center (SERC) sites for undergraduate geoscience education, and disseminated through workshops for faculty run at the Council on Undergraduate Research Biannual Conference, and at American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America national meetings. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the progress it is making toward understanding the educational and professional development value of using research instruments in undergraduate STEM courses. The broader impacts of the project lie in the insights it is providing regarding successful ways to integrate virtual instrument use into science classrooms, which has the potential to expose students across a wide range of institutional settings to some of what research scientists actually do. As well, the outreach activities are not only creating connections between the PI and faculty at many institutions, but are connecting faculty participants to a cutting-edge (and Internet2 accessible) NSF-funded materials microanalysis facility. An additional educational impact of the project involves the participation of an incoming Ph.D. student in geoscience education, who is also teaching faculty at a local community college.