Northeast Washington Geospatial Technician Education Project

华盛顿农村地区对环境和自然资源技术人员的需求很大，他们在地理空间工具、数据和分析方面具有知识和技能。然而，农村学校在达到地理空间职业所需的STEM学科的表现基准方面面临挑战，包括环境和自然资源方面的技术职业。农村学校STEM成绩较低的原因是复杂的。农村学校在为学生走上STEM职业道路做准备方面表现较差的原因包括经验丰富的STEM教师数量较少、资源较少以及地理位置偏远。这个项目探索了更好地利用社区大学资源来克服地理隔离障碍的机会。具体地说，该项目旨在扩大接受与该区域有关的地理空间应用培训的农村高中教师人数。此外，它的目标是增加农村社区提供的双学分(高中和大学)地理空间课程。该项目将向来自四个与世隔绝的农村学区的12名高中教师提供地理空间专业发展培训，可能涉及另外两个学区。来自斯波坎社区学院的三名教师在华盛顿东北部农村社区教授大学水平的课程，他们将加入高中教师的行列，作为学习者接受专业发展培训，目的是扩大学院的能力，直接在农村社区教授地理空间主题的双学分课程。在项目过程中，PI和Co-Pis将在斯波坎社区学院的五个农村(卫星)校园设施之一举办两个为期三天的讲习班。参与的高中教师和农村大学教师还将获得额外的资源，以支持独立探索地理空间工具、数据和应用程序，以便整合到他们的课堂教学中。这些额外资源包括为高中教室创建符合当地相关标准的地理信息系统学习活动。农村社区和行业可以从更多从事STEM职业道路的学生中受益，这些学生为他们提供有意义的当地就业机会和支持当地劳动力需求做好准备。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。

Rural Washington has a strong demand for environmental and natural resource technicians with knowledge and skills in geospatial tools, data, and analysis. However, rural schools have challenges in meeting performance benchmarks in STEM disciplines needed for geospatial careers, including technical careers in environmental and natural resources. The reasons for lower rural school STEM outcomes are complex. Cited factors for lower rural school performance in preparing students for STEM career pathways include a fewer number of experienced STEM teachers, fewer resources, and geographic isolation. This project explores the opportunity to better leverage community college resources to overcome barriers of geographic isolation. Specifically, the project aims to expand the number of rural high school teachers with training in geospatial applications that are relevant to the region. In addition, it aims to increase dual-credit (high-school and college) geospatial courses offered in rural communities. This project will deliver geospatial professional development training to twelve high school teachers from four isolated rural school districts, with the potential to involve two additional districts. Three instructors from Spokane Community College who teach college-level courses in rural northeast Washington communities will join high school teachers as learners receiving professional development training, with the intent to expand the college's capacity to teach dual-credit courses on geospatial topics directly in rural communities. Over the course of the project, the PI and Co-PIs will deliver two 3-day workshops at one of five Spokane Community College rural (satellite) campus facilities. The participating high school teachers and rural college instructors will also receive additional resources to support independent exploration of geospatial tools, data, and applications for integration into their classroom teaching. These additional resources include the creation of locally relevant standards-mapped GIS learning activities for high school classrooms. Rural communities and industries can benefit from an expanded number of students who pursue STEM career pathways that prepare them for meaningful local job opportunities and support local workforce needs.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.