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

该项目将考察5门课程中真实的、多年的研究经验如何影响地球科学本科学生的专业准备。在STEM教育文献中发表的多项基于证据的研究继续证实，参与本科研究可以在STEM学生中获得许多认知、个人和专业收益。最近出现的结果表明，长期的经历会增加这些好处，并且需要更复杂的技能成熟。然而，通过常用的方法向大量学生提供长期体验是一项挑战。例如，课程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，无法覆盖特定数量的学生。研究人员将测试一个更可扩展的模型，提供长期的统一体验，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都沉浸在核心课程中的一个主题多年研究项目中，其中包括一个夏季地质学实地课程。调查人员将考察以下方面的发展：(1)研究技能，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；(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在科学传播中的应用。通过仔细跟踪学生在两年内的进步，团队希望掌握这些技能何时以及如何发展和成熟，以及哪些方面的经验是这种发展的关键。真实的研究经验集中在(1)科罗拉多落基山脉元古代剪切带的地震破裂动力学和长期流变演化；(2)剪切带岩石的岩石学。在现有的夏季实地课程中对实地区域进行了研究。学生将在二年级的第一个地球科学课程中开始一个项目，并在连续的5门课程中继续进行相同的研究项目，最终在夏季实地课程中结束。学生项目将促进对地震破裂的物理和化学过程的理解，这些过程在震源带底部附近的几公里范围内发生，那里是大地震的中心。该项目将以阿巴拉契亚农村地区的一所本科院校为基础，该院校的第一代和低收入家庭学生比例异常高。这将允许研究服务不足的学生群体取得的成果，并将其与具有不同学生人口结构的国家研究进行比较。由于课程包含了沟通技巧的发展，额外的影响包括准备下一代科学家通过面对面的推广和使用社会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.