GP IN: Developing a Water Research, Assessment, and Networking Ecosystem (WRANE) for Informal Geoscience Instruction on Water Resources

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This project is jointly funded by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program. The overarching goal of this project is to increase the exposure of high school and community college students to the geosciences and improve the diversity and quality of geoscience education through the development of a sustainable Water Research, Assessment, and Networking Ecosystem (WRANE). The project will recruit students from historically excluded communities who attend Oklahoma schools and involve them in hands-on research activities related to their lived experience to improve their understanding of geosciences and increase the number and diversity of future geoscience majors. The activities are designed to educate students and teachers, encourage engagement in participatory science, and increase the exposure of teachers, students, and the general public to geoscience and STEM fields. To accomplish this, WRANE will establish out-of-school-time groups directly supervised by a teacher at the school with regular assistance and input from OSU Boone Pickens School of Geology professors, students, and other mentors, create educational videos and activities, provide instruction in field and lab techniques, and assist in the development, design, and execution of a water-based citizen science research project. The aim of the Water Research, Assessment, and Networking Ecosystem (WRANE) program is to improve long-term geoscience education at high school and community college levels so that participating students will have better academic records and scientific literacy and an interest in geoscience majors and careers. Participants in the out-of-school groups will learn water-related geoscience concepts and participate in water-related citizen science research projects, mentored by PIs from Oklahoma State University. By focusing on water-related research projects and stimulating students to develop research ideas, the results of the WRANE citizen science projects will be of greater importance and relevance to the local communities and could result in efforts to understand, improve and protect water resources in Oklahoma. Products from this project include instructional and content specific videos, scientific data from student research projects, and assessments of program success, pedagogy, and management.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.