Testing the Impact of a Multi-Year, Curriculum-based Undergraduate Research Experience (MY-CURE) in the Geosciences

该项目将研究如何一个真实的，多年的研究经验嵌入在一个5门课程的序列影响本科地球科学学生的逐步专业准备。在STEM教育文献中发表的多项循证研究继续确认，参与本科研究会导致STEM学生获得许多认知，个人和专业收益。最近出现的结果表明，长期的经验增加了这些好处，并且需要更复杂的技能才能成熟。然而，通过常用的方法向大量学生提供长期经验是具有挑战性的。例如，嵌入式研究通常是短期的，而长期的独立研究项目往往过于资源密集，无法超过选定的学生人数。研究人员将测试一个更具可扩展性的模型，该模型提供长期的统一体验，同时覆盖更广泛的学生群体。该项目团队将沉浸在一个主题多年的研究项目嵌入核心课程，包括夏季地质实地课程的所有地球科学专业。调查人员将检查（1）研究技能的发展，如数据采集和分析，（2）个人收益，如学生的信心和像科学家一样思考的能力，以及（3）与科学家和公众的沟通技巧。后者涉及口头和书面交流以及新兴的社会媒体用于科学传播。通过仔细跟踪学生2年的学习进度，团队希望掌握这些技能何时以及如何发展和成熟，以及经验的哪些方面是这种发展的关键。真实的研究经验集中在（1）地震的破裂动力学和科罗拉多落基山脉中一个挖出的元古代剪切带的长期流变演化，（2）剪切带岩石的岩石学特征。在现有的夏季实地课程期间研究该领域。 学生将开始在他们的第一个硕士级地球科学课程的项目，并继续在夏季野外课程达到高潮的连续5个课程相同的研究项目。学生项目将推进与地震破裂相关的物理和化学过程的理解，在大地震成核的孕震区基地附近的数千米尺度。该项目将以本科院校为基础，该院校的第一代学生和低收入学生比例异常高，居住在阿巴拉契亚农村地区。 这将使学生获得的服务不足的人口取得的成果的研究，并比较他们与不同的学生人口的国家研究。由于该课程纳入了交流技能的发展，其他影响包括培养下一代科学家通过面对面的外联和使用社交媒体向公众有效传播科学。

This project will examine how an authentic, multi-year research experience embedded within a 5-course sequence impacts the progressive professional preparation of undergraduate geoscience students. Multiple evidence-based studies published in the STEM education literature continue to affirm that participation in undergraduate research results in numerous cognitive, personal, and professional gains among STEM students. Recently emerging results suggest that longer-term experiences increase these benefits and are needed for more sophisticated skills to mature. It is challenging, however, to offer long-term experiences to large numbers of students via commonly used approaches. For example, curriculum-embedded research is typically short term, and longer-term independent study projects are often too resource intensive to reach beyond a select number of students. The investigators will test a more scalable model that provides a long-term unified experience while simultaneously reaching a broader cross section of students. The project team will immerse all geoscience majors in a thematic multi-year research project embedded within the core curriculum, including a summer geology field course. The investigators will examine the development of (1) research skills such as data acquisition and analysis, (2) personal gains such as student confidence and the ability to think like a scientist, and (3) communication skills to both scientists and the general public. The latter addresses both oral and written communication as well as the emerging use of social media for science communication. By carefully following student progress over 2 years, the team expects to capture when and how these skills develop and mature and what aspects of the experience are key to this development.The authentic research experience focuses on (1) the rupture dynamics of earthquakes in and the longer-term rheological evolution of an exhumed Proterozoic age shear zone in the Colorado Rockies, and (2) the petrology of the rocks which host the shear zone. The field area is studied during an existing summer field course. Students will begin a project in their first sophomore-level geoscience course and continue with the same research project for 5 consecutive courses culminating at the summer field course. The student projects will advance the understanding of physical and chemical processes associated with earthquake rupture at the multi-kilometer scale near the base of the seismogenic zone where large earthquakes nucleate. This project will be based at a primarily undergraduate institution with an unusually large percentage of first-generation and low-income students in rural Appalachia. This will allow the study of outcomes achieved by an underserved population of students and compare them to national studies with different student demographics. Since the curriculum incorporates the development of communication skills, additional impacts include preparing the next generation of scientists to effectively convey science to the general public through face-to-face outreach and the use of social media.