GP-IMPACT: Establishing Partnerships to Recruit Geoscience Undergraduates from Urban Chicago

GP-IMPACT：建立合作伙伴关系，从芝加哥市区招募地球科学本科生

• 批准号: 1600508
• 负责人: Kathryn Nagy
• 金额: $ 42.94万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600508&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GP; IMPACT; Establishing; Partnerships; Recruit

Increasing demand for Earth materials, the many impacts of climate change, and the need to protect air, water, and soil quality are complex issues facing the future of humanity. Within the coming decade, our nation faces a shortage of approximately 135,000 skilled geoscientists who are able to address these problems. Active recruitment of students into the geosciences is essential to meet this projected shortfall. Urban centers, such as Chicago, provide large populations of high school and community college students who reflect the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the nation, and therefore provide a rich source for recruitment of a diverse geoscience workforce. However, these students do not typically consider geoscience as a career. They often lack educational opportunities in geoscience, and in their daily lives, urban students interact more with the built environment rather than the natural world. They do not view geoscience as a possible career path and their families are unfamiliar with the discipline. Compelling and innovative approaches are needed to attract urban students, and in particular underrepresented minorities, into the discipline. The aim of this project is to expose high school, community college, and college students from the Chicago region to the aspects of geoscience that shape their world and are essential to the economic viability and sustainability of their future. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of students who choose the field of geoscience as a major with the intent of continuing in geoscience as a career. Research results from this project will contribute to the evidence base for differing instructional models and transitional pathways that target high school and community college students. Longitudinal evaluation of the project will investigate the overall ability to attract and retain those students as geoscience majors at 4-year institutions. Broader project goals are to achieve new institutional awareness of the importance and value of geoscience in the education and training of STEM-oriented students and to establish model approaches for engaging students and accelerating graduation rates that can be extended to more Chicago area institutions and other urban-serving institutions in the future.The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a public research and underrepresented minority-serving university in downtown Chicago that draws its enrollment largely from the urban area. UIC is partnering with five regional high schools and two local community colleges, where underrepresented minority students constitute 33 to 99% of the enrollment. Only two of three high school partners in the Chicago Public Schools district (Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, Lincoln Park High School, and North-Grand High School) offer environmental science, and none offers geoscience classes. Maine East and Maine South high schools in suburban Park Ridge, Moraine Valley Community College, and Prairie State College offer introductory geology courses, all of which could launch students into the 4-year major at UIC. Project objectives are to 1) develop and implement dual enrollment courses and summer workshops at UIC that introduce students to urban-relevant geoscience; 2) coordinate with all partner institutions to establish clear transfer agreements and academic advising to reduce the time and cost of completing a 4-year degree in the Earth and Environmental Sciences major at UIC; 3) provide more interactions between students and faculty, through mentoring, recruitment visits, departmental open house events, and geoscience informational materials; and 4) assemble additional partners including families and local employers to help support students through their degree. Students participating in the program are expected to gain improved knowledge and attitude towards the geosciences, be prepared to succeed academically at UIC, and be supported by a network of peers, faculty, family, and employers. Faculty are becoming more adept at advising students in urban geoscience career options, and in implementing practices that help underrepresented groups overcome barriers to success.

对地球材料日益增长的需求、气候变化的诸多影响以及保护空气、水和土壤质量的需要是人类未来面临的复杂问题。在未来十年内，我们国家将面临大约 135,000 名能够解决这些问题的熟练地球科学家的短缺。积极招募地球科学专业的学生对于弥补这一预计的缺口至关重要。芝加哥等城市中心拥有大量高中生和社区学院学生，这些学生反映了国家的社会经济和种族多样性，因此为招聘多样化的地球科学劳动力提供了丰富的来源。然而，这些学生通常不认为地球科学是一种职业。他们往往缺乏地球科学方面的教育机会，而且在日常生活中，城市学生更多地与建筑环境而不是自然世界互动。他们并不认为地球科学是一条可能的职业道路，而且他们的家人也不熟悉该学科。需要采取引人注目的创新方法来吸引城市学生，特别是代表性不足的少数族裔学生进入该学科。该项目的目的是让芝加哥地区的高中生、社区学院和大学生了解地球科学的各个方面，这些方面塑造了他们的世界，并对他们未来的经济可行性和可持续性至关重要。 最终目标是增加选择地球科学领域作为专业并打算继续从事地球科学职业的学生数量。该项目的研究结果将为针对高中和社区学院学生的不同教学模式和过渡途径提供证据基础。 该项目的纵向评估将调查四年制院校吸引和留住地球科学专业学生的整体能力。更广泛的项目目标是让机构对地球科学在教育和培训面向 STEM 的学生中的重要性和价值产生新的认识，并建立吸引学生和加快毕业率的模型方法，这些方法可以在未来扩展到更多芝加哥地区的机构和其他城市服务机构。伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校 (UIC) 是一所位于芝加哥市中心的公立研究型和代表性不足的少数族裔服务大学， 其招生主要来自城市地区。 UIC 正在与五所地区高中和两所当地社区大学合作，其中少数族裔学生占入学人数的 33% 至 99%。芝加哥公立学区的三所高中合作伙伴中，只有两所（莎拉·E·古德 STEM 学院、林肯公园高中和北格兰德高中）提供环境科学课程，没有一所提供地球科学课程。 Park Ridge 郊区的缅因东高中和缅因南高中、梦莲谷社区学院和草原州立学院都提供地质学入门课程，所有这些课程都可以让学生进入 UIC 的 4 年制专业。项目目标是 1) 在伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校开发和实施双录取课程和暑期研讨会，向学生介绍与城市相关的地球科学； 2) 与所有合作机构协调，建立明确的转学协议和学术建议，以减少在 UIC 地球与环境科学专业完成 4 年制学位的时间和成本； 3）通过指导、招聘访问、院系开放日活动和地球科学信息材料，在学生和教师之间提供更多的互动； 4) 召集更多合作伙伴，包括家庭和当地雇主，帮助支持学生完成学位课程。参加该项目的学生有望获得更好的地球科学知识和态度，为在伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校取得学术成功做好准备，并得到同龄人、教师、家庭和雇主网络的支持。教师们越来越擅长为学生提供城市地球科学职业选择方面的建议，并实施帮助弱势群体克服成功障碍的实践。