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

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），这个轨道2项目将在正式课程之外每年冬季休假实地考察200名本科生和社区学院的学生。该项目的目标是提高对地球科学学位的兴趣，保留地球科学专业，以及该领域学生人数不足的毕业率。该项目还旨在使职前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课程计划。该项目小组将招募四种类型的学生：社区大学生，本科生新的地球科学，职前中学数学和科学教师从教学休斯顿计划，和先进的地球科学本科生。项目的主要组成部分将包括所有参与者的实地考察前研讨会;正在进行的垂直指导，将把地球科学教师，高年级本科生和新的地球科学学生聚集在一起;为期六天的实地考察新墨西哥州和西德克萨斯州;和实地考察后的地球科学研究的高年级本科生。将指导这种混合方法的纵向研究的研究问题是：1）如何以及为谁参加实地考察满足学生的能力，自主性和相关性的需求？2）在何种程度上和为谁参加实地考察提高地球科学的身份？3)参与实地考察如何以及对谁来说是一种变革性的学习体验？哪个项目对学生最有意义，为什么？4)学生认为实地考察对他们决定进入、坚持或离开地质学有什么作用？5)参加实地考察在多大程度上以及如何塑造休斯顿学生对科学教育的信念，并影响他们的职业规划？6)参加实地考察的休斯顿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？该项目不仅将探讨传统本科生之间的差异，还将探讨社区学院学生和职前中学数学和科学教师之间的差异，因为实地考察的研究要少得多。该项目借鉴了三个框架来指导研究：自决理论，身份理论和交叉性，以及变革性经验。将采用混合方法的方法来解决研究问题，并评估增强实地考察模型的实施和效果。通过研究和评估组件的进步将在如何HSIs可以提高本科STEM教育的质量，利用现有的有效做法，使实地考察更具包容性和响应不同的学生的需求和身份。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，并建立HSI的能力。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知识价值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.