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

这个项目将考察在5门课程序列中嵌入的真实的多年研究经验如何影响本科地球科学专业学生的进步专业准备。STEM教育文献中发表的多项循证研究继续证实，参与本科生的研究在STEM学生中获得了许多认知、个人和专业上的收获。最近新出现的结果表明，长期的经验会增加这些好处，也是更复杂的技能成熟所必需的。然而，通过常用的方法向大量学生提供长期体验是具有挑战性的。例如，嵌入课程的研究通常是短期的，而长期的独立学习项目往往过于耗费资源，超出了选定的学生数量。调查人员将测试一种更具可扩展性的模式，该模式在提供长期统一体验的同时，覆盖更广泛的学生群体。项目团队将让所有地球科学专业的学生沉浸在核心课程中嵌入的主题多年研究项目中，包括暑期地质野外课程。调查人员将考察(1)研究技能(如数据获取和分析)的发展，(2)个人获得的技能(如学生自信和像科学家一样思考的能力)，以及(3)与科学家和普通公众的沟通技能。后者涉及口头和书面交流，以及正在出现的利用社交媒体进行科学交流的问题。通过两年多的仔细跟踪学生的进步，团队希望捕捉到这些技能何时以及如何发展和成熟，以及这些经验的哪些方面是这一发展的关键。真实的研究经验集中在(1)科罗拉多落基山脉中出土的元古时代剪切带的地震破裂动力学和较长期的流变演化，以及(2)剪切带所在岩石的岩石学。田野面积是在现有的夏季田野课程中研究的。学生们将在他们的第一堂大二水平的地球科学课程中开始一个项目，并继续进行相同的研究项目，连续5门课程，最终在夏季实地课程结束。这些学生项目将促进对大地震孕育带底部附近几千米尺度的地震破裂的物理和化学过程的理解。该项目将以一个以本科为主的机构为基础，在阿巴拉契亚农村地区，第一代和低收入家庭学生的比例异常高。这将允许对服务不足的学生群体所取得的成果进行研究，并将其与不同学生人口统计的国家研究进行比较。由于课程包含交流技能的发展，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有效地向公众传播科学。

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.