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

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，本项目旨在通过提高德克萨斯农工大学HSI本科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课堂实施一种新颖的基于草图的智能辅导系统来加强学生的学术体验。SedimentSketch是一种可视化、个性化的双语工具，它将结合新的课程材料和素描识别算法，通过素描练习和自动、即时的反馈来提高学生的学习。西班牙裔学生的表现指标与其他种族的学生明显不同，西班牙裔学生在毕业时的gpa一直较低。其目标是提高西班牙裔学生的gpa成绩和毕业时间。拟议的SedimentSketch工具可以通过使地球科学专业的学生能够与材料互动，并在课外即时获得有用的反馈，以及通过培养更具包容性的学习环境，来改变hsi的高等教育地球科学课程。SedimentSketch应用程序的一个结果将有助于缩小西班牙裔和非西班牙裔学生之间的gpa差距，并提高地球科学课程的保留率。SedimentSketch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，以及远程访问实验室材料的灵活性。教材将以海洋科学学院的沉积岩收藏和公共资源（如国际海洋发现计划）为基础，并将包括视频、游戏和互动练习。总的来说，该项目将通过加强西班牙裔学生的学习，并使他们接触到一种创新的工具，用于沉积学的实际科学和工业应用，从而改善他们的职业发展轨迹。此外，SedimentSketch将成为HSI环境之外的一个很好的工具，以适应有特殊需求的学生，改善学习和可访问性，并可用于外展。HSI计划旨在加强HSI的本科STEM教育和能力建设。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。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 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.