GP EXTRA: Engaging Students in the Geosciences Using a Lake Watershed Geosystems Path

为了回应国家和州的关切，新汉普郡-S公立高等教育系统制定了到2020年STEM毕业生增加50%，到2025年翻一番的目标。招收、留住和毕业STEM专业的本科生，如地球科学，是一项重大挑战，尤其是在以本科为主的院校(PUI)。湖泊流域地球系统路径(LWGP)直接响应这些地方和区域任务，同时帮助满足国家需求，以增加受过地球科学培训的劳动力。当概念作为相关的应用程序提供时，学生学习科学概念的速度更快、更持久。该项目采用以问题为基础、实地研究密集、应用跨学科的科学方法这一教育原则，并将其无缝地融入现有的课程和研究机会。它还包括教师和同行指导，并将参与者与应用地球科学、实习和职业机会联系起来。湖泊流域地球系统路径(LWGP)项目旨在通过以下方式增加STEM的准备和毕业生：1)与普利茅斯州立大学招生合作，在STEM领域招收不同的一年级学生；2)鼓励参与的学生报名参加新设立的一年级研讨会课程，通过地球科学镜头发展批判性思维；3)吸引学生参与课外实地和实验室研究，作为PSU新的集群项目的一部分，该项目涵盖分水岭系统的主要水文组成部分，包括大气沉积、地表径流、溪流以及由此对湖泊流域的影响，以及4)帮助参与的学生进入预先安排的实习和外部实习，以利用他们新获得的地球科学培训。LWGP校友将通过1学分的独立学习选修课帮助同行指导和培训后续参与者。最终，LWGP将把以湖泊流域水文路径为导向的野外和实验室学生经验与社区合作伙伴关系和教师/同行指导相结合，以：1)在学生开始大学经历时介绍地球科学原理、系统思维和技能发展；2)提高学生在非地球科学学位课程中的留存率和成功，作为进入地球科学领域的途径；3)培养强大的群体识别能力；4)应用学生在该项目中获得的知识和技能，以增强他们未来的工作经验、教育目标和职业目标。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审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In response to national and state concerns, New Hampshire?s public systems of higher education set a goal of a 50% increase in STEM graduates by 2020 and to double that by 2025. Recruiting, retaining, and graduating undergraduate students in STEM disciplines, like geoscience, is a major challenge especially at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs). The Lake Watershed Geosystems Path (LWGP) directly responds to these local and regional mandates while helping meet national needs to augment the geoscience trained workforce. Students learn scientific concepts quicker and more permanently when the concepts are provided as relevant applications. This project uses this educational principle of a problem-based, field-intensive, applied interdisciplinary science approach and seamlessly scaffolds it into existing curriculum and research opportunities. It also includes faculty and peer mentoring and links participants to applied geoscience internships and career opportunities. The Lake Watershed Geosystems Path (LWGP) project seeks to increase STEM preparation and graduates in the following ways: 1) partnering with the Plymouth State University Admissions to recruit a diverse cohort of first-year students in STEM fields, 2) encouraging participating students to enroll in a newly created first-year seminar course that develops critical thinking through a geoscience lens, 3) engaging students in extracurricular field- and lab-based research as part of a new PSU Cluster project which spans the major hydrological components of watershed systems, including atmospheric deposition, land surface runoff, stream flow, and resulting effects on lake basins, and 4) assisting participating students in entering into pre-arranged internships and externships which leverage their newly acquired geoscience training. LWGP alumni will be recruited to help peer mentor and train subsequent participants via a 1-credit independent study elective. Ultimately, LWGP will blend field and laboratory student experiences oriented around hydrologic pathways in lake watersheds with community partnerships and faculty/peer mentoring to: 1) introduce geoscience principles, systems thinking and skill development at the onset of student university experiences; 2) increase student retention and success in non-geoscience degree programs that serve as pathways into geoscience fields; 3) foster strong cohort identification, and 4) apply knowledge and skills gained by students in this project to enhance their future work experiences, education goals, and career objectives.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.