Preparing Undergraduates for Research: Examining the use of Remote Instrumentation in Earth and Planetary Science Classrooms

地质学（42）该项目正在实施和测试将研究微束分析仪器（电子探针显微分析仪和扫描电子显微镜，可通过远程仪器操作技术访问）纳入入门级和高级地球科学和自然科学课程的方法。 这项工作是建立在有效的教学方法，从比恩（2004年）和其他最近的项目，通过开发和测试两个面向课堂和研究为基础的活动，使教育使用微束仪器在远程操作环境。 项目评估的重点是在课堂环境中使用这些工具的后勤方面，以及它们的教育效益-它们对这些课程学习的直接影响，以及吸引和留住地球科学领域的学生的次要影响，并引导学生在以后的学术生涯中进入以研究为导向的方向。 正在编写的教育材料正在提交给科学教育资源中心（SERC）的适当地点，供大学生进行地球科学教育，并通过在大学生研究理事会一年两次会议上举办的教师讲习班以及美国地球物理联合会和美国地质学会全国会议上传播。该项目的智力价值在于它正在朝着理解在本科STEM课程中使用研究工具的教育和专业发展价值的方向取得进展。 该项目的更广泛的影响在于它提供的关于将虚拟仪器使用集成到科学教室的成功方法的见解，这有可能使学生在广泛的机构设置中接触到一些研究科学家实际做的事情。 此外，外展活动不仅在PI和许多机构的教师之间建立了联系，而且将教师参与者与尖端（和Internet 2可访问）NSF资助的材料微分析设施联系起来。 该项目的另一个教育影响涉及到即将到来的博士学位的参与。他是地球科学教育专业的学生，同时也是当地一所社区学院的教师。

Geology (42)This project is implementing and testing methods to bring research microbeam analytical instrumentation - an electron probe microanalyzer, and a scanning electron microscope, accessible via remote instrument operation technologies - into introductory and upper-level geoscience and natural science courses. This work is building on effective instructional approaches from Beane (2004) and other recent projects by developing and testing both classroom-oriented and research-based activities that make educational use of microbeam instruments in a remote operation environment. Project assessment is focusing on logistical aspects of using these tools in classroom settings, and on their educational benefits - their direct effects on learning in these courses, and the secondary impacts of attracting and retaining students in geoscience fields, and leading students into research-oriented directions later in their academic careers. The educational materials being developed are being submitted to appropriate Science Education Resource Center (SERC) sites for undergraduate geoscience education, and disseminated through workshops for faculty run at the Council on Undergraduate Research Biannual Conference, and at American Geophysical Union and Geological Society of America national meetings. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the progress it is making toward understanding the educational and professional development value of using research instruments in undergraduate STEM courses. The broader impacts of the project lie in the insights it is providing regarding successful ways to integrate virtual instrument use into science classrooms, which has the potential to expose students across a wide range of institutional settings to some of what research scientists actually do. As well, the outreach activities are not only creating connections between the PI and faculty at many institutions, but are connecting faculty participants to a cutting-edge (and Internet2 accessible) NSF-funded materials microanalysis facility. An additional educational impact of the project involves the participation of an incoming Ph.D. student in geoscience education, who is also teaching faculty at a local community college.