HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: FIELDGeo - Field Investigations and Education Leading to Degrees in Geoscience

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，这个Track 2项目将带领200名本科生和社区大学生在正规课程之外进行一年一度的寒假实地考察。该项目的目标将是增加人们对地球科学学位的兴趣，留住地球科学专业的学生，并提高该领域代表性不足的学生的毕业率。该项目还寻求让任职前的数学和科学教师接触地球科学，目标是将地球科学纳入他们未来的教学计划。该项目团队将招收四种类型的学生：社区大学学生、刚刚接触地球科学的本科生、TRETHHOUSTON项目的职前中学数学和科学教师以及高级地球科学本科生。项目的主要组成部分将包括为所有参与者举办的实地考察前研讨会；将汇集地球科学教员、高级本科生和新接触地球科学的学生的持续垂直指导；为期六天的新墨西哥州和德克萨斯州西部实地考察；指导这项混合方法纵向研究的研究问题是：1)参加实地考察如何以及对谁来说满足了学生对能力、自主性和关联性的需求？2)参加实地考察在多大程度上对谁提高了地球科学认同感？3)参加实地考察如何包括对谁来说是一种变革性的学习体验？哪个项目对学生来说最有意义？为什么？4)学生认为实地考察对他们进入、坚持或离开地质学的决定有什么作用？5)参加实地考察在多大程度上和如何影响HOUSTON学生对科学教育的信念并影响他们的职业规划？6)参加实地考察的HOUSTON教师在多大程度上以及如何将地质学融入他们所教的课程？该项目不仅将探索传统本科生之间的差异，也将探索社区大学学生和职前中学数学和科学教师之间的差异，这些学生在实地考察方面的研究要少得多。该项目借鉴了三个框架来指导研究：自决理论、认同理论和交叉性，以及转型经验。将采用混合方法处理研究问题，并评估改进的实地考察模式的实施情况和效果。通过研究和评估部分，将在HSIS如何利用现有有效做法使实地考察更具包容性和响应不同学生的需求和身份来提高本科STEM教育质量方面取得进展。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will take 200 undergraduate and community college students on an annual winter-break field trip outside the formal curriculum. The project will have the goal of increasing interest in geoscience degrees, retention of geoscience majors, and graduation rates among students underrepresented in this field. The project also seeks to expose pre-service math and science teachers to geoscience with the goal of including geoscience in their future lesson plans. The project team will recruit four types of students: community college students, undergraduates new to geoscience, pre-service secondary math and science teachers from the teachHOUSTON program, and advanced geoscience undergraduate students. Key project components will include a pre-field trip seminar for all participants; ongoing vertical mentoring that will bring together geoscience faculty, advanced undergraduate students, and new-to-geoscience students; the six-day field trip to New Mexico and West Texas; and post-field trip geoscience research for the advanced undergraduate students.The research questions that will guide this mixed-methods longitudinal study are:1) How and for whom does participation in a field trip fulfill students’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness? 2)To what extent and for whom does participation in a field trip enhance geoscience identity? 3) How and for whom does participation in a field trip comprise a transformative learning experience? Which program component is most meaningful to students and why? 4) What role do students perceive the field trip has for their decision to enter, persist in, or leave geology? 5) To what extent and how does participating on the field trip shape teachHOUSTON students’ beliefs about science education and affect their career plans? 6) To what extent and how do teachHOUSTON teachers who participate in the field trip integrate geology into the classes they teach? The project will explore differences not only among traditional undergraduate students but also among community college students and pre-service secondary math and science teachers, where there is substantially less research on field trips. The project draws on three frameworks to guide the research: self-determination theory, identity theory and intersectionality, and transformative experiences. A mixed methods approach will be employed to address research questions and evaluate the implementation and effects of the enhanced field trip model. Through the research and evaluation components advancements will be made in how HSIs can improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education by leveraging existing effective practices to make field trips more inclusive and responsive to diverse students’ needs and identities. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.