GP-EXTRA: Engaging and retaining students in the geosciences at two-year colleges (2YC) through undergraduate research

虽然研究已被公认为是一个高影响力，以探究为基础的做法，从事和留住本科生，它在很大程度上是在教学的头两年利用不足。特别是在两年制大学，学生参与真正的研究项目的机会更少。 奥斯汀社区学院（ACC）项目包括开发和实施：暑期本科生研究体验课程（SUREC）和实地活动，让学生在高等教育的前两年专注于科学海洋钻探的研究经验。 该项目的重要性在于，它将通过让即将入学的本科生在学年期间参与基于研究的实地活动来吸引他们的注意力，并通过夏季激烈的探究式学习来加深他们的研究经验。 这将通过促进和支持学生在关键时刻继续学习地球科学来推进美国国家科学基金会的改善本科科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育-- GEOPATHS项目的使命。通过与德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的合作，SUREC项目将在学生学习的第二年向他们开放。ACC学生将在石油和地质系统工程系（UT PGE）的实验室进行研究。研究经验将开始与指导科学的海洋钻探调查支持课堂讲解，小组会议和相关的科学阅读作业。随着学生确定研究主题，实验室设备和程序，学生团队将更加独立地进行研究。学生将介绍他们的研究代替期末考试，也有机会在当地和/或全国会议上介绍他们的工作。将在八个月内制定SUREC及其评价材料，然后进行两年的执行和评价。实地活动将开放给ACC科学和非科学专业在他们的第一年或第二年的高等教育。通过与德克萨斯A M大学的合作，参加地球科学入门课程的学生将实地考察墨西哥湾沿岸储存库，那里有来自太平洋，加勒比海和墨西哥湾的100多公里的核心。在活动开始前，学生将完成野外活动，包括阅读科学期刊上的文章和与知识库相关的练习。参观结束后，学生将整合研究结果，以产生学期论文。实地活动将包括用四个月的时间编制练习和评价材料，然后是两年的执行和评价。到项目结束时，至少有24名二年级学生将参加SUREC计划，150名一年级/二年级非科学和科学专业的学生将参加实地活动。

Though research has been recognized as a high impact, inquiry-based practice to engage and retain undergraduate students, it is largely underutilized in the first two years of instruction. At two-year colleges in particular, students have even fewer opportunities to participate in authentic research projects. The Austin Community College (ACC) project includes the development and implementation of: a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Course (SUREC) and a field activity that engages students in research experience focused on scientific ocean drilling in their first two years of higher education. The significance of the project is that it will capture the attention of incoming undergraduate students by engaging them in a research-based field activity during the school year and further their research experience through an intense inquiry-based learning in the summer. This will advance the mission of the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Education - GEOPATHS program by promoting and supporting students to continue in geosciences at the critical junctures.Through a partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, the SUREC program will be open to students in their second year of study. ACC students will conduct research at a laboratory in the department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE). The research experience will begin with guided scientific ocean drilling investigations supported by class explanation, group meetings and related scientific reading assignments. As students identify research topics, lab equipment and procedures, student teams will research more independently. Students will present their research in-lieu of a final exam and also have opportunities to present their work at a local and/or national conference. SUREC and its evaluation materials will be developed over eight months, followed by two years of implementation and evaluation. The field activity will be open to both ACC science and non-science majors in their first or second year of higher education. Through a partnership with Texas A&M University, students enrolled in introductory geoscience courses will take a field trip to the Gulf Coast Repository, where over 100 kilometers of core from the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, and the Southern Ocean are located. Prior to the activity, students will complete pre-field activities including reading articles from scientific journals and exercises that related to the repository. After the visit, students will integrate findings to produce a term paper. The field activity will include four months for development of exercises and evaluation material, followed by two years of implementation and evaluation. By the end of the project, at least 24 second year students will have participated in the SUREC program and 150 first/second year non-science and science majors will have participated in the field activity.