GP-IN: Bridging the Gap into Geosciences for Underrepresented Pre-college Populations through Experiential Learning Opportunities

尽管在过去几十年里投入了时间和资源，但攻读STEM学位并进入STEM劳动力市场的学生数量几乎没有增加。这在地球科学领域尤其有问题，因为许多学生直到本科晚些时候才意识到这个领域及其职业轨迹。该项目旨在提高对地球科学感兴趣的学生的认识，并通过男孩和女孩俱乐部夏令营方案提供的体验式学习机会，让结构上人数不足的大学前学生接触地球科学，从而提高对地球科学感兴趣的学生的百分比和多样性。研究表明，在各种非正式学习环境中，校外活动，如夏令营，通过提供学生认为有吸引力的娱乐和社会活动，在为学生提供大规模参与科学的机会方面发挥了重要作用。该项目将开发和实施四个不同的为期4周的夏令营模块，通过围绕当地社区面临的环境挑战进行探究式学习，积极吸引大学预科学生参与科学进程。为了实现提高对地球科学的认识的目标，项目负责人创建了一个地球科学学习生态系统(GLE)，由大约10个已有的地球科学合作伙伴组成，他们将自愿提供资源和/或担任参加夏令营的学生的研究导师。夏令营的每个单元都将反映环境问题的跨学科特点，让学生与活跃的地球科学家一起收集数据，分析和解释收集的数据，并以书面和视频形式交流研究结果。这些活动将扩大学生的经验和对他们所在社区的认识，同时也为学生提供机会，让他们了解地球科学如何与他们自己的生活和潜在的未来职业道路相关。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。

Despite investments of time and resources over the past few decades, there has been little increase in the number of students majoring in STEM degrees and entering the STEM workforce. This is particularly problematic in the geosciences as many students are unaware of the field and its career trajectories until late in their undergraduate years. This project aims to improve the awareness and increase the percentage and diversity of students interested in geoscience by exposing structurally underrepresented pre-college students to the geosciences through experiential learning opportunities facilitated through the Boys and Girls Club summer camp programs. Research has shown that among the various informal learning environments, out-of-school activities, such as summer camps, play an important role in providing large scale opportunities for students to engage in science by providing an aspect of recreation and social activities that students find appealing. This project will develop and implement four distinct 4-week summer camp modules that will actively engage pre-college students in the process of science, through inquiry-based learning around environmental challenges facing their local community. To achieve the goal of increasing awareness of the geosciences the project leaders have created a Geoscience Learning Ecosystem (GLE) comprised of approximately 10 vested geoscience partners who will volunteer resources and/or serve as research mentors for participating summer camp students. Every module in the summer camp will reflect cross-disciplinary characteristics of environmental issues and involve students in data collection with active geoscientists, analysis and interpretation of data collected, as well as communication of research findings both in written and in video formats. These activities will broaden student experiences and awareness of their community while also providing opportunities for the students to see how geoscience is relevant to their own lives and potential future career pathways.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.