GP-IN: Getting your feet wet: Advancing geoscience education using water-based field experiences

地球科学家是美国劳动力的重要组成部分，他们帮助美国应对水安全和气候变化等社会挑战。预计27%的现有地球科学劳动力将在未来十年退休，这将在劳动力需求和可供职业发展的地球科学家之间产生缺口。一个挑战是，大多数高中教师和他们的学生在很大程度上没有意识到地球科学是一条潜在的职业道路。因此，该项目旨在增加这一重要领域的招生人数，并通过培训高中教师如何将基于地点的地球科学实地活动融入课堂来克服认识差距。该项目将以水为主题，展示地球科学如何融入水资源和管理活动。密苏里州S与技术学院的地球科学教师将与教师和4H领导合作，开发实地活动和配套的课程模块。活动将以实地为基础，围绕当地有溪流、湖泊、洞穴和/或泉水的野外地点进行。通过为教师提供向他们的高中生提供令人兴奋的地球科学内容的能力，该项目最终将增加从事地球科学职业的学生数量。这一结果将使社会受益，因为训练有素的地球科学工作人员是美国当前和新兴环境领域需求的核心。该项目的目标是增加地球科学和与地球科学相关学科的大学招生人数，从而增加可供职业发展的地球科学工作者队伍。方法是培训高中教师如何利用当地水资源的动态概念作为地球科学的切入点，让学生在课堂之外参与进来。通过这种方式，该项目将吸引非地球科学课堂上的学生学习地球科学概念，并使用正式和非正式的教育途径来测试这两个场所的效果。通过与密苏里州S和T；T地球科学学院的合作，该项目的重点将是为密苏里州农村社区的教师和高中生提供研究和培训经验。目标是：(1)为高中生开发实地和动手活动，向他们介绍地球科学的职业，同时建立跨学科的兴趣；(2)使密苏里州的教师准备好领导这些活动并将其纳入课堂讨论，以及(3)评估活动在增加应用地球科学内容知识和对地球科学职业道路的热情方面的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geoscientists are a crucial part of the U.S. workforce and help the nation address societal challenges such as water security and climate change. Twenty-seven percent of the existing geoscience workforce is predicted to retire over the next decade, creating a gap between workforce needs and the availability of career-ready geoscientists. A challenge is that most high school teachers and their students are largely unaware of the geosciences as a potential career pathway. Therefore, this project aims to increase recruitment of students into this important field and overcome the awareness gap by training high-school teachers on how to integrate place-based geoscience field activities into the classroom. Using water as a theme, the project will show how the geosciences are integrated into water resources and management activities. Geoscience faculty at Missouri S&T will work with teachers and 4H leaders to develop field activities and accompanying curriculum modules. The activities will be field-based and revolve around local field sites with streams, lakes, caves, and/or springs. By providing teachers with the ability to deliver exciting geoscience content to their high-school students, the project will ultimately increase the number of students who pursue geoscience careers. This outcome will benefit society, as a highly trained geoscience workforce is central to the needs of current and emerging environmental fields in the United States. The goal of the project is to increase the college enrollment of students in the geosciences and geoscience-related disciplines, thereby increasing the pool of career-ready geoscientists. The approach is to train high-school teachers how to engage students outside the classroom using the dynamic concept of local water resources as the geoscience entry point. In this way the project will engage students in non-geoscience classrooms to learn geoscience concepts, and use both formal and informal educational avenues to test the efficacy of both venues. Through collaboration with Geoscience faculty at Missouri S&T, the project's focus will be on providing research and training experiences for teachers and high school students in rural communities in Missouri. Objectives are to: (1) Develop field-based and hands-on activities for high school students that introduce them to careers in the geosciences while building on interdisciplinary interests, (2) Prepare teachers in Missouri to lead these activities and integrate them into classroom discussions, and (3) Assess the efficacy of the activities for increasing applied geoscience content knowledge and enthusiasm for geosciences career paths.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.