HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: SedimentSketch, teaching tool in and beyond the sedimentology classroom to provide equitable and inclusive learning for Hispanic students

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，该Track 2项目旨在通过提高HSI德克萨斯农工大学本科生地球科学教育的有效性来服务于国家利益。该项目旨在通过开发和在课堂上实施一种新型的基于草图的智能辅导系统来加强学生的学术体验。SedimentSketch是一款可视化、个性化的双语工具，它将结合新的课程材料和草图识别算法，通过草图练习和自动即时反馈来改善学生的学习。拉美裔学生的表现指标明显不同于其他种族的学生，拉美裔学生在毕业时的GPA一直较低。其目标是提高拉美裔学生的GPA和毕业时间。拟议的沉淀物素描工具可以通过使地球科学学生能够在课外与材料互动并获得有用的反馈，以及通过培养更具包容性的学习环境来改变HSIS的高等教育地球科学课程。沉淀物草图应用程序的一个结果将是帮助缩小西班牙裔和非西班牙裔学生的GPA之间的差距，并提高地学课程的保留率。沉淀物草图将是沉积学的第一个教学工具，为学生提供新颖的学习体验，以及远程访问实验材料的灵活性。教育材料将以国际海洋探索计划(IODP)等公共来源的沉积岩收藏和材料为基础，并将包括视频、游戏和互动练习。总体而言，该项目将改善拉美裔学生的职业轨迹，加强他们的学习，并使他们接触到实践学习活动的创新工具，用于现实生活中沉积学的科学和行业应用。此外，SedimentSketch将是HSI环境之外的一个很好的工具，可以容纳有特殊需求的学生，改善学习和可访问性，并可用于外展。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 aims to serve the national interest by enhancing the effectiveness of undergraduate geoscience education at an HSI, Texas A&M University. The project aims to strengthen student academic experiences through the development and classroom implementation of a novel intelligent sketch-based tutoring system. SedimentSketch, a visual, personalized, and dual language tool, will combine new curricular materials and sketch recognition algorithms to improve student learning through sketching exercises and automatic, instantaneous feedback. Hispanic student performance indicators are markedly different from students of other ethnicities, with Hispanic students consistently having lower GPAs at graduation. The goal is to improve Hispanic students' GPAs and time to graduation. The proposed SedimentSketch tool can transform the higher-education geoscience curriculum for HSIs by enabling geoscience students to interact with the material and receive helpful feedback instantaneously outside of class and by cultivating a more inclusive learning environment. An outcome of the SedimentSketch application will be to help close the gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students' GPAs and improve retention in geoscience courses.SedimentSketch will be the first teaching tool in sedimentology that provides novel learning experiences to students as well as the flexibility of remote access to lab materials. The educational materials will be based on the PI’s sedimentary rock collections and materials from public sources, e.g., the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), and will include videos, games and interactive exercises. Overall, the project will improve career trajectories for Hispanic students by enhancing their learning and exposing them to an innovative tool for hands-on learning activities for real-life scientific and industry applications of sedimentology. Additionally, SedimentSketch will be a great tool outside of the HSI environment to accommodate students with special needs, improve learning and accessibility, and can be used for outreach. 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.