From High School Students to College Geoscience Majors: The Critical Math Connection

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The GeoFORCE Texas Critical Math Connection targets a group of high school juniors and seniors who have a strong interest in majoring in geology in college, and provides them with critical interventions while in high school in order to 1) improve their math knowledge, confidence, and preparedness, and 2) engage their geoscience problem solving skills. The target students are participants in a high school outreach program called GeoFORCE Texas. The group is 82% minority, from challenged schools in rural southwest Texas and inner-city Houston. While GeoFORCE gives them a strong interest in geosciences, their high schools leave them poorly prepared for college level math. This project is investigating two critical research questions: 1. Can the persistence of students in geoscience majors be affected by improving math preparedness in high school? 2. Can an engaging geologic problem sustain interest in the geosciences and prove to be a critical incident in moving students from liking geology to majoring in geology? It is expected that together these activities will result in an easier path from high school into a college geology major, and that this will be reflected in retention and persistence data. Ultimately, the project seeks to identify an effective model for engaging more minority youth in the geosciences.