Collaborative Research: GP-IMPACT: The Green Tech High School Academy: A Model Program of Combined Geoscience Field Learning, Classroom Instruction and Career Preparation

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The transition between high school and undergraduate institutions is a particularly important critical juncture for students considering whether to pursue degrees and careers in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. Due to state and local policies that govern high school science curriculum and graduation requirements, most high school students are not exposed formally to the geosciences prior to making choices about future careers in STEM. As a result, many of the students who do ultimately choose the geosciences have found this field through happenstance, making the geosciences a "discovery major" in college. With the anticipated need of ~135,000 geoscientists in the next several years, due to retirements and higher-than-average job growth rates, as well as the critical role that geoscientists play in the employment sectors related to energy production, natural hazards mitigation, and the infrastructure construction, more intentional approaches to recruiting students into the geosciences are needed. In addition, greater engagement of traditionally underrepresented minorities in STEM is needed to build diversity in the geosciences workforce, which is currently very limited. The University of Texas at Austin is testing the underlying theory of change for the IUSE: GEOPATHS program that "using novel ways of engaging a larger population of students and exposing them to authentic, career relevant geoscience experiences that augment the formal curriculum will increase their desire to earn degrees and pursue careers in the field." To test this theory, the project is investigating whether a collaboratively developed and implemented geoscience-focused program of career exploration, student mentoring, 6-8 days of field excursions, and evidence-based geoscience-infused classroom instruction will impact a students' sense of belonging in geoscience and help them transition into undergraduate geoscience programs. The summer mentored field program is offered through the award-winning GeoFORCE program; the classroom instruction activities are using tested pedagogical approaches and content developed with prior NSF support for the Diversity and Innovation for Geosciences in Texas (DIG Texas) and EarthLabs projects. It is expected that a sense of belonging will consequently lead to an increased desire to earn geoscience degrees and pursue geoscience careers. This three year project is establishing a robust collaboration between geoscience educators and researchers in the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT Austin and Michigan State University, educators and administrators at Akins High School in the Austin Independent School District in Texas, and geoscientists at DrillingInfo, an oil and gas firm. Activities are underway to (1) provide Akins administrators and science teachers with educational resources and professional development, allowing them to teach about geoscience, environmental systems, energy, and natural resources in the school's Green Tech Academy; and (2) conduct educational research to investigate the role that classroom and field experiences play in developing students' sense of belonging in geoscience, with anticipated simultaneous effects on (a) geoscience knowledge, (b) attitudes towards geoscience, and (c) engagement in geoscience and geoscience career activities in high school. By focusing on Akins High School, which has large a large minority (84 percent Hispanic and African American) student population, the project has the potential to achieve greater diversity in the geosciences through education, exemplary teacher preparation, and career exploration.