GP:IMPACT: Interactive Simulations and Systems Thinking to Broaden Pathways into the Geosciences

部分1.我们的项目旨在通过拓宽对科学感兴趣的学生的渠道来促进科学的进步和国家的繁荣。我们将开发和利用沉浸式学习工具，将最先进的可持续发展科学直接带给3,000名学生，并有可能扩展到数十万学生。我们的教育方法将交互式计算机模型与引人入胜的角色扮演模拟相结合，学生通过做出决策来学习，然后通过计算机模型找出地球和能源系统预计如何对这些决策做出反应。简而言之，学生不是被说教，而是通过模仿科学发现的过程自己学习。此外，我们的学习工具将采取学生？在引擎盖下，？了解重要的地球系统过程，并获得更深入的了解建模过程。我们的项目侧重于目前在STEM中代表性不足的学生目标受众：联邦资助的TRIO学生支持服务计划中的经济弱势群体，第一代大学生。这一重点将有利于该项目（1）利用和改善现有的计划和网络的传播;（2）提高参与科学企业的大学生;和（3）提高经济上处于不利地位的students.Part 2 Overview的前景：本提案的总体目标是通过开发，实施和评估可扩展的基于模拟的气候和可持续发展科学教育工具，以拓宽低收入，第一代在大学生的地球科学的途径。我们的项目团队汇集了气候和可持续发展教育方面的专业知识（麻省大学洛厄尔分校气候变化倡议，或CCI，和麦克尼尔博士），教育评估和研究（SageFox咨询集团和牛顿博士），以及推动低收入人群获得大学和成功机会的领导者，第一代大学生通过联邦资助的TRIO学生支持服务（SSS）计划在全国各地（教育机会理事会，或COE）。我们的目标是显着增加地球科学知识，兴趣和动机之间的早期，低收入，第一代本科生。该项目的三个关键组成部分包括：（1）开发和测试一个新的？地理互动？课程以参与基于模拟的学习工具为中心，采用积极的学习方法来引入气候和地球系统反馈过程，并与学术职业机会直接联系;（2）利用全国1,080个TRIO SSS项目的广泛网络，这些项目共覆盖205,000名学生，并向那些目前在STEM专业、职业或教育途径中代表性不足的人传播Geo-Interactive课程;（3）确定Geo-Interactive课程对地球科学相关动机、学习和职业兴趣的影响。我们提出的基于模拟的课程采用了一种由教育研究支持的方法：它以学生为中心，体验式，并解决了高度相关的现实问题。拟议的课程将包括世界气候模拟，这是由PI和我们的项目合作伙伴在气候互动共同开发。初步结果表明，《世界气候》在气候素养、系统思维技能以及重要的是学生学习和做更多关于气候和可持续性的事情的动机方面取得了显著进展。通过将世界气候与探索地球科学概念以及学术和职业机会的新模块相结合，将为参与和动机受到刺激的学生开辟进入地球科学的潜在途径。重要的是，我们的目标人群是SSS课程的早期本科生，这是一个在地球科学和STEM更普遍的代表性不足的人口，并且具有强大的潜力来扩大和多样化国家？更广泛的影响：拟议的项目旨在通过以下方式造福社会：（1）为面向所有学生的有效教育方法提供证据基础，重点关注在地球科学和STEM管道中服务不足和代表性不足的学生;（2）通过扩大3，000多名低收入者的地球科学参与，在填补地球科学专业人员预计短缺方面发挥作用，第一代本科生;（3）建立一个公民和劳动力，了解并能够在全球环境变化的背景下作出有效的决定。

Part 1. Our project seeks to promote the progress of science and advance the national prosperity by broadening the pipeline of students interested in the sciences. We will develop and leverage immersive learning tools that bring state-of-the-art sustainability science directly to 3,000 students, with the potential to scale to reach hundreds of thousands of students. Our educational approach combines interactive computer models with engaging role-play simulations, in which students learn for themselves by making decisions, and then finding out, through the computer models, how the Earth and energy systems are expected to respond to those decisions. In short, rather than being lectured to, students learn for themselves through a process that mimics scientific discovery. Further, our learning tools will take students ?under the hood,? to understand important Earth system processes and to gain a deeper understanding of the modeling process. Our project focuses on a student target audience that is currently under-represented in STEM: economically disadvantaged, first-generation-in-college students in federally funded TRIO Student Support Services programs. This focus will benefit the project by (1) leveraging and improving existing programs and networks for dissemination; (2) enhancing participation in the scientific enterprise by college students; and (3) enhancing the prospects of economically disadvantaged students.Part 2Overview:The overarching goal of this proposal is to broaden the pathway of low-income, first-generation-in-college students to the geosciences through development, implementation, and evaluation of scalable simulation-based climate and sustainability science educational tools. Our project team brings together expertise in climate and sustainability education (UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, or CCI, and Dr. McNeal), educational evaluation and research (SageFox Consulting Group and Dr. Newton), and leaders in advancing college access and success opportunities for low-income, first-generation-in-college students through federally funded TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs around the Nation (the Council for Opportunity in Education, or COE). Our goal is to significantly increase geoscience knowledge, interest, and motivation among early, low-income, first-generation undergraduate students. The three key project components include: (1) Develop and test a new ?Geo-Interactive? curriculum that is centered on engaging simulation-based learning tools, uses an active learning approach to introduce climate and Earth system feedback processes, and makes direct connections to academic career opportunities; (2) Leverage the extensive nationwide network of 1,080 TRIO SSS programs that together reach 205,000 students to implement, propagate, and disseminate the Geo-Interactive curriculum to those currently underrepresented in STEM professions, careers or education pathways; and (3) Determine the impact of the Geo-Interactive curriculum on geoscience-related motivation, learning, and career interest.Intellectual Merit:The simulation-based curriculum we are proposing takes an approach that is supported by educational research: it is student-centered, experiential, and addresses a highly relevant, real-world problem. The proposed curriculum will include the World Climate simulation, which was co-developed by the PI and our project partners at Climate Interactive. Initial results have shown that World Climate delivers significant gains in climate literacy, systems thinking skills, and, importantly student motivation to learn and do more about climate and sustainability. By combining World Climate with new modules that explore geoscience concepts and academic and career opportunities, potential paths into geoscience will be opened for students whose engagement and motivation has been stimulated. Importantly, our target population are early undergraduates in SSS programs, a demographic that is under-represented in the geosciences and STEM more generally, and that has strong potential to broaden and diversify the Nation?s geoscience pipeline.Broader Impacts:The proposed project is designed to benefit to society by: (1) contributing to the evidence base for effective educational approaches that reach all students, with a focus on students who have been underserved and underrepresented in the geoscience and STEM pipelines; (2) playing a role in closing the projected shortfall in geoscience professionals by broadening geoscience participation among more than 3,000 low-income, first-generation undergraduate students; (3) building a citizenry and workforce that is informed about and enable to make effective decisions in the context of global environmental change.