GP-IN: Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS)

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The goal of the Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS) project is to enhance understanding of how to introduce pre-college students to geoscience content in an inclusive environment. Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations continue to be underrepresented in the geoscience and environmental science fields, and the geosciences are among those Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with the lowest levels of representation amongst these marginalized student groups. Through ILEEPS, in-service public high school teachers will learn to use Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) for engagement with students in a geoscience context. This theory fosters the development of student cultural identity as a means of both supporting student academic success and encouraging students to critically engage in the classroom. During the study, 11 teachers will learn and incorporate CSP practices focusing on student connectedness, asset-building, and reflection for use in their earth science classrooms. Earth science lessons will be collaboratively developed with Rice University geoscience research faculty, curriculum development experts, experts in culturally sustaining pedagogy, high school earth science teachers from diverse Houston schools, and professionals from societies including the National Association of Black Geoscientists (NABG). The goal of the GP-IN: Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS) project is to understand how Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) can enhance high school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers' cultural awareness and create inclusive, equitable teaching environments that broaden the participation of women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in the geosciences. This collaboration between the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM), faculty in the Rice Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, and partners from the Houston Independent School District and GeoFORCE Texas, will realize this overarching goal through three co-current objectives: 1) identifying how teachers develop CSP within geoscience concepts; 2) investigating how teachers' use of CSP affects students' sense of belonging, and 3) determining whether using CSP in the geosciences impacts teachers' culturally responsive self-efficacy.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.