GP:IMPACT: Interactive Simulations and Systems Thinking to Broaden Pathways into the Geosciences

第1部分。我们的项目旨在通过扩大对科学感兴趣的学生的渠道来促进科学的进步，促进国家的繁荣。我们将开发和利用沉浸式学习工具，将最先进的可持续发展科学直接带给3000名学生，并有可能扩大到数十万名学生。我们的教育方法将交互式计算机模型与引人入胜的角色扮演模拟相结合，在这种方法中，学生通过做出决定来自己学习，然后通过计算机模型发现，地球和能源系统将如何对这些决定做出反应。简而言之，学生通过模仿科学发现的过程自己学习，而不是听别人讲课。此外，我们的学习工具会让学生？在引擎盖下？了解重要的地球系统过程，并对建模过程有更深入的了解。我们的项目专注于目前在STEM中代表性不足的学生目标受众：经济状况不佳的第一代大学生，他们参加了联邦资助的TRIO学生支持服务项目。这种重点将通过以下方式使项目受益：(1)利用和改进现有的传播方案和网络；(2)加强大学生对科技事业的参与；(3)改善经济困难学生的前景。第二部分概述：本提案的总体目标是通过开发、实施和评估可扩展的基于模拟的气候和可持续性科学教育工具，拓宽低收入的第一代大学生学习地球科学的途径。我们的项目团队汇集了气候和可持续发展教育方面的专业知识（马萨诸塞大学洛厄尔分校气候变化倡议，或CCI，和麦克尼尔博士），教育评估和研究（SageFox咨询集团和牛顿博士），以及通过联邦资助的TRIO学生支持服务（SSS）计划在全国各地（教育机会委员会，或COE）为低收入的第一代大学生推进大学入学和成功机会的领导者。我们的目标是显著提高早期、低收入、第一代本科生的地球科学知识、兴趣和动机。项目的三个主要组成部分包括：(1)开发和测试一个新的地理互动？课程以参与基于模拟的学习工具为中心，采用主动学习方法介绍气候和地球系统反馈过程，并与学术职业机会直接联系；(2)利用由1080个TRIO SSS项目组成的广泛的全国网络，总共覆盖205,000名学生，向目前在STEM专业、职业或教育途径中代表性不足的人实施、宣传和传播地理互动课程；(3)确定地理互动课程对地球科学相关动机、学习和职业兴趣的影响。智力优势：我们提出的基于模拟的课程采用了一种由教育研究支持的方法：它以学生为中心，具有经验，并解决了一个高度相关的现实问题。拟议的课程将包括世界气候模拟，这是由PI和我们在气候互动的项目合作伙伴共同开发的。初步结果表明，“世界气候”项目在气候素养、系统思维技能、以及（重要的）学生学习和做更多关于气候和可持续性的事情的动力方面取得了显著进展。通过将《世界气候》与探索地球科学概念、学术和职业机会的新模块相结合，将为那些参与和动力受到刺激的学生打开通往地球科学的潜在道路。重要的是，我们的目标人群是SSS项目的早期本科生，这一群体在地球科学和STEM领域的代表性不足，并且具有扩大和多样化国家的强大潜力。美国地球科学管道。更广泛的影响：拟议的项目旨在通过以下方式造福社会：(1)为所有学生提供有效教育方法的证据基础，重点关注在地球科学和STEM管道中服务不足和代表性不足的学生；(2)通过扩大3000多名低收入第一代本科生对地球科学的参与，在弥补预计的地球科学专业人才短缺方面发挥作用；(3)在全球环境变化的背景下，建立一支了解并能够做出有效决策的公民和劳动力队伍。

Part 1. Our project seeks to promote the progress of science and advance the national prosperity by broadening the pipeline of students interested in the sciences. We will develop and leverage immersive learning tools that bring state-of-the-art sustainability science directly to 3,000 students, with the potential to scale to reach hundreds of thousands of students. Our educational approach combines interactive computer models with engaging role-play simulations, in which students learn for themselves by making decisions, and then finding out, through the computer models, how the Earth and energy systems are expected to respond to those decisions. In short, rather than being lectured to, students learn for themselves through a process that mimics scientific discovery. Further, our learning tools will take students ?under the hood,? to understand important Earth system processes and to gain a deeper understanding of the modeling process. Our project focuses on a student target audience that is currently under-represented in STEM: economically disadvantaged, first-generation-in-college students in federally funded TRIO Student Support Services programs. This focus will benefit the project by (1) leveraging and improving existing programs and networks for dissemination; (2) enhancing participation in the scientific enterprise by college students; and (3) enhancing the prospects of economically disadvantaged students.Part 2Overview:The overarching goal of this proposal is to broaden the pathway of low-income, first-generation-in-college students to the geosciences through development, implementation, and evaluation of scalable simulation-based climate and sustainability science educational tools. Our project team brings together expertise in climate and sustainability education (UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, or CCI, and Dr. McNeal), educational evaluation and research (SageFox Consulting Group and Dr. Newton), and leaders in advancing college access and success opportunities for low-income, first-generation-in-college students through federally funded TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs around the Nation (the Council for Opportunity in Education, or COE). Our goal is to significantly increase geoscience knowledge, interest, and motivation among early, low-income, first-generation undergraduate students. The three key project components include: (1) Develop and test a new ?Geo-Interactive? curriculum that is centered on engaging simulation-based learning tools, uses an active learning approach to introduce climate and Earth system feedback processes, and makes direct connections to academic career opportunities; (2) Leverage the extensive nationwide network of 1,080 TRIO SSS programs that together reach 205,000 students to implement, propagate, and disseminate the Geo-Interactive curriculum to those currently underrepresented in STEM professions, careers or education pathways; and (3) Determine the impact of the Geo-Interactive curriculum on geoscience-related motivation, learning, and career interest.Intellectual Merit:The simulation-based curriculum we are proposing takes an approach that is supported by educational research: it is student-centered, experiential, and addresses a highly relevant, real-world problem. The proposed curriculum will include the World Climate simulation, which was co-developed by the PI and our project partners at Climate Interactive. Initial results have shown that World Climate delivers significant gains in climate literacy, systems thinking skills, and, importantly student motivation to learn and do more about climate and sustainability. By combining World Climate with new modules that explore geoscience concepts and academic and career opportunities, potential paths into geoscience will be opened for students whose engagement and motivation has been stimulated. Importantly, our target population are early undergraduates in SSS programs, a demographic that is under-represented in the geosciences and STEM more generally, and that has strong potential to broaden and diversify the Nation?s geoscience pipeline.Broader Impacts:The proposed project is designed to benefit to society by: (1) contributing to the evidence base for effective educational approaches that reach all students, with a focus on students who have been underserved and underrepresented in the geoscience and STEM pipelines; (2) playing a role in closing the projected shortfall in geoscience professionals by broadening geoscience participation among more than 3,000 low-income, first-generation undergraduate students; (3) building a citizenry and workforce that is informed about and enable to make effective decisions in the context of global environmental change.