Combining Project-based Learning, Citizen Science, and Authentic Research to Enhance the Success of STEM and STEM Education Majors

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This project at the University of Wyoming will engage multi-disciplinary teams of undergraduate STEM and STEM education majors in designing meteorological experiments. They will then launch these experiments into near space on high-altitude balloons in collaboration with K-12 teachers and students in Wyoming. The undergraduate students will be in their second and third years of college, when students are most likely to leave STEM. It is expected that providing them with authentic, hands-on experiences will build the skills and confidence of both STEM and STEM education majors in their chosen field. Students will work in teams on a real project, effectively bringing together education and practice for both groups of students. The project integrates interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates and postdoctoral fellows to develop activities that will engage K-12 students in authentic meteorological research. The project has the potential to be transformative for the participating students, since they will be engaged in active learning, will learn by teaching one another and younger students, and will work in teams made up of scientists, engineers, and educators. A project strength is its combination of project-based learning, citizen science, entrepreneurial or experiential learning, and peer teaching. Through this project, students will learn team building skills, problem-solving skills, and STEM collaboration and communication skills by interacting with K-12 teachers and students. The project team will assess undergraduate student learning through a combination of proven and new assessment tools, compare student learning gains to a control group, and track students longitudinally as they progress through their degree and into the workforce. The project will also work with K-12 teachers and students across Wyoming, including those from schools on the Wind River Reservation. A large part of this project involves the development of scientific payloads that will be designed, built, and sent into near space by undergraduate students working closely with postdoctoral research fellows. The possibility exists that something developed in this process might have patent or technology transfer potential. Therefore, each year the postdoctoral research fellows and undergraduate students will participate in a workshop with University of Wyoming's Business Resource Network, which includes the Wyoming Technology Transfer & Research Products Center, to learn about entrepreneurship, resources, and competitions on campus.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.